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Published: September 26th 2006
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Hiya everyone. We hope you are all well and it is great to hear from you.
Unfortunately no one had the correct answer to the quiz, which was Steve Irwin. However we would like to congratulate Janet and Keith as they were the only people to mention a non politcal person (Peter Andre) so well done!
A lot has happened since we last blogged so I hope I can remember it all. We can happily say that we survived the all nighter at the internet cafe since writing last. At 7 am we were booted out and we got on the train to Berowa, which is about an hour away from central Sydney. We had a little nap on the way there and we were greeted by Terry, our new host. He showed us our new abode, a caravan in his garden which was lovely. We then went to a great view point in a nearby national park which was litterally a 5 minute walk away. It was such a nice change not having to wade past massive bushes for hours to see a nice view. We did two hours of work that day which involved cutting down dead palm
trees which was fun.
Other work we did included making a small patio area (which made us feel like the chuckle brothers as we were quite clumsy at times with all the big equipment), weeding and helping prepare his garage sale and selling at the sale too. We were up and ready by 7am for the hoards of people, but it turned out to be more like a trickle of people. Therefore me and Bob managed to get a lot of free things afterwards (speakers, an office stamp, belt....) etc.
As well as working we managed to get a lot of time off for day trips. Our first trip was to Manly. It rained throughout the day which was a shame and it got worse when we got lost in the rain in a national park area. We ended up totally drenched (espeically our feet as we waded through very deep muddy puddles). Anyway, there were great views. Another trip was to Pittswater. It was a lovely bus ride up there and we stopped off at many beaches along the way, including Avalon Beach. The weather was really nice so that was good too. We decided to do
another day trip to Manly as the weather was great and we also went up to a nearby beach (Dee Why) and then we went all the way down to Botany Bay (which is where Captin Cook first landed) and that was good. Also a neighbour we met at the garage sale kindly wanted to take us out and she took us up to the Pittswater area to the national park and we enjoyed it very much. We saw some aborignal art dating back to 30, 000 years which was pretty amazing. We also saw kangaroos as well as wallabys (including a nearly dead wallaby at the side of the road which we tried to help).
We also did some more local day trips such as doing some of the great north walk down to the harbour and we also did canoeing down the Hawksbery River. We ended up with muscles similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger. We also had a nice lunch at a local pub one day with his friends which included an ex BBC director which was cool. He told us many stories including that he used to go out with the same girl as David Jason.
We
enjoyed the food at Terrys very much, especially the Wheatabix in the morning. I would also like to point out how proud I am of Bobby. A normal Bobby at home would get through many litres of Pepsi/Coke a day and since we have been in Australia she has only had a total of 5 litres over 5 weeks which is amazing!
We left Berowa the next day and spent 8 hours on the coach up to Coffs Harbour. When we arrived we were picked up by our next hosts, Lisa and Tom. They had a lovely view of the harbour from their pent house appartment and we went to explore the area in the evening. She was an artist and a dress up entertainer and she used to work at the zoo with Steve Irwin too. We walked across to Mutton Bird Island the next day which was so beautiful and we came across a massive blue tongue lethal lizard just near the pavement (see picture). We walked along the beach and down past the creek to the botanical gardens which was nice.
The next day we went down to Byron Bay on the coach. We were
met by our new beautiful host (ex model) and her beautiful daughter (5 years old), and we were taken to their beautiful home. It is so lovely as it is on top of a mountain overlooking fields and Byron beach. It feels like we have entered the Ikea catalogue! Their home is also espeically wonderful because it has a UK TV channel so we have enjoyed many programes such as an out of date coronation street and parkinson etc.
The work we have been doing is mainly weeding which has been fun and we play with the kid in our free time. She has been the first person to pick up the whole Bobby thing and she calls us Bobby which is sweet. Actually, she is so into the whole bobby thing anything we touch becomes bobbified- so for example we have the bobby bag which the bobby weeds go in while little bobby(the dog) runs round. They have kindly shown us around the area and they have taken us to a 'Godstone Farm' type place where we fed kangaroos amongst all the little kids. We have also been to the nearby beaches and to a local hippy crafty market.
Yesterday the dad came home (who was also an ex model) and today we went to her school and watched the assembly where they all sang the national anthem, after taking off their little aussie hats, which was cute.
The food is great here too and Bobby managed to identify the Vietnamese food we had the other day so she is definately becoming more 'cultured'!
Tommorow we are heading to Brisbane where we will spend our last few days before flying out to Chrischurch, New Zealand. So if you have any picture requests be quick. We also have quite a bit of Australian dollars so we dont know whether to exchange them or is there anyone out there who is planning to come down under? Bobby wants to buy a cork hat with the money but I think it is a silly idea. What do you think?
The weather is now too hot! It really has changed over the time we have been here and now the sun is out every day and it is back to being burnt all over again.
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Sheila and Rolf
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We won again!!
Can't believe we have won twice now - can't wait for the prizes!! Keith is off work this week with a poorly foot, but he did manage to wheel nanny round a farm on Saturday in his slippers. Grandad followed behind as nanny fed the animals (goats, sheep, larmas etc). Scott has started his third year at Uni now. What has been your best bargin in Australia? We are still having quite warm whether over here "above average temperatures". You are missing all the family fun - we had cousin John over here last week and you never guess what .........