Blogs from Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, Oceania

OMG Only 2 sleeps to go until our flight leaves.................................... Firstly my apologies for not publishing my first 2 blog entries. I assumed the lack of response was just my boring waffle. And you don't all need to respond to them now BTW. (BTW means 'by the way' - for non techie readers) Packing is an adventure all on its own. With the help of my girlfriend, Bronwyn I collated a wardrobe of options and felt rather calm until................................... It was all bulging in the suitcase. A quick weigh with the nifty gadget I bought didn't help cos I couldn't hold it all up so regrettably I used the weigh yourself and then with case and subtract the difference method. *Note to self You must go on a diet - more stress. (Loads of fat pictures ... read more

Whilst high pressure cleaning our rubbish bin yesterday I paused and pondered "Do all persons who 'Do the Grand Tour of Europe" get splattered with phenyl before departure or am I just the lucky one ? I then moved onto washing down the exterior walls of the house which only resulted in a further drenching of icy cold water. It was only 10C Brrr ! This sudden deranged activity was brought upon by a panic that I won't be here to Spring Clean in September. Fortunately, I got my shivers under control and dashed into a hot shower to get a grip on reality. I won't be here in September to welcome any visitors !! So who cares ! Recently, my late mother's voice telling me to 'wear clean underwear' has been ringing in my ears. ... read more

I truly can't believe that in just 30 days time I will be fulfilling my lifelong dream of touring Europe. And even better I will be doing it with my husband Lou. He, being German born has been before, (Says she; stating the obvious) but for me I am a virgin World Traveller. On the exterior I seem quite calm about the entire thing but it is merely because I am frozen in terror when I try to think about organising everything. Although two of our sons will remain in the house to care for the menagerie of three cats, five chickens and two sheep this is not a comforting thought. Neither are they the independent type who can cook or clean so my devious plan to keep them linked to my umbilical cord is ... read more

A big part of this portion of my trip through Australia is to see where Natalie grew up and experience the country. The other part is to meet people. This includes Natalie's family and all of Natalie's friends . I got a big introduction on Day 1 with her parents. Day 2, I got thrown under the bus with a "couple's getaway" to the Mornington Peninsula with 3 other couples. I just love the idea of a "couple's getaway" (sarcasm). It was with 3 of Natalie's high school friends and their boyfriends/husbands. It was a bit strange at first, but everyone turned out to be very nice and the weekend provided no meltdowns. We were staying in a brand new beach home, decked out to be somewhat of a party place. We were treated to great ... read more

2 days in I've just come in from the beach, where I have dipped my toes and watched the sun set over Port Phillip bay. I think this may the place I am going to find my inner peace. So the journey was okay, although my flight was delayed from Manchester, and it cut my time to get across Dubai down to 30 mins, which was not the most fun I've ever had!! My ankles and legs were so swollen, but that is almost gone now. I had a half hour stop in KL, which was unbearably hot! Arriving in Melbourne at 1.30 in the morning was incredibly surreal, I couldn't believe I'd arrived! I slept most of Saturday, which with hindsight was a really bad idea, as I couldn't sleep last night!! So been to ... read more

As we packed up to head to Phillip Island, The groundsman asked where we were heading, I answered the question, explaining we were heading to Cowes on Phillip Island, (we are both keen to see the penguins). The Guy in the next van told us that Phillip Island was booked out for the motorbike race. What is it about our luck? We struck Sturgess in the USA and now a motorcycle gathering in Australia! How’s our form? So a quick change of plans, we chose to head directly to the Mornington Peninsular and check out the penguins at another time. We are proud of ourselves now, as the travel stress is lower with the van brakes working correctly, and we travel at a comfortable pace with not to many hassles, except when the driver doesn’t take ... read more

Day 274 - Rye Hip Hip Hooray, its Charlotte’s 9th birthday today! Happy Birthday Charlotte! The girls are already playing with Georgia and Ethan in the family room, on the Wii of course. It’s a hoot to watch them all, the little group dynamic is very entertaining. We pop out really early this morning to check the placement of a Geocache that we thought would be fun to do with the kids before the rest of the birthday guests arrive. We’ve borrowed Bill’s handheld GPS to navigate our way there and despite me ignoring its instructions and heading in completely the wrong direction we did find the cache so the check out mission was a success and worth while. We just wanted to be sure that we could find it and that it wasn’t in a ... read more