Happy Christmas!

Christmas on the beach - that's what everyone promised.

Unfortunately the weather turned and we had rain, rain, rain on Christmas day. Never mind. Clare and I had a fabulous view of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race from our balcony (lots of boats out the back there if you look closely!).

Helen, Fergus, Jock and Minnie decided I needed to start aclimatising to life in the northern hemisphere so they bought me some gorgeous, warm UGG boots as a pressie. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be wearing them with shorts in the UK....

No turkey for us on Christmas Day - we literally did have "shrimps on the barbie" - and a huge salmon - deelicious....

The tradition on Christmas day (in all countries) is to wear all your new clothes plus any decorative items you can find lying around. Here Helen and I are sporting out new French Connection summer casuals...

Happy Christmas Everyone!!!!!

Trevor and His Amazing Cigarette Lighter

Melbourne is famous for lots of things: coffee, good food, The Melbourne Cup, four seasons in one day..... but not many people have been to Melbourne and experienced TREVOR.



As part of my trip (thanks to Helen and Jock!), I went on a tour of the botanical gardens, led by Trevor, the half Irish half Aboriginal resident guide. He told us lots interesting things including:

Which native shrubs to eat when feeling a bit peckish...


Which trees to hug to keep you cool in summer.....


And some natural ways to help you feel sleepy?!?

Trevor also welcomed us all with a traditional Aboriginal "smoking" ceremony. I got ready to be really impressed with the way that he created fire by rubbing two sticks together. Unfortunately he couldn't make the sticks work and used his very own cigarette lighter instead. Oh well.

The highlight of the trip was seeing a play with two of my favourite Australian actors from the series "RUSH" - excellent programme, excellent play. The worst part of the trip was coming home to an email from Sally saying her and Matt are moving to Melbourne just as I'm about to leave Australia!

At least I can give them some Melbourne recommendations....

Christmas Is Coming....

Can you believe it's December already?! I certainly can't believe it... firstly because this means I have nearly been in Australia for a whole year and secondly because December = Christmas.

The 37 degree temperatures and permanently blue skies are not really putting me in the festive spirit but our lovely Christmas tree has.... just a little bit....

Up.....

Up.....

And away!

What a beautiful tree - well done us. I've so far only got one present underneath. We are considering wrapping up some empty boxes to make us look more popular....

On a different, non-Christmas note...... We went down to Bondi beach at the weekend for a swim at Icebergs (the lovely ocean water filled pool). After a couple of lengths we decided it was far more enjoyable to sit and watch the incredible waves. We got a bit wet.

Clare's Photo School

Clare is doing a photography course. This Sunday she saw my model potential and decided it would be a good idea to practise her new skills.

This is the relaxed, ethereal look....
The "If only I had been looking at the waves rather than the camera" look.....

The dry land swimming minus an arm look....

The running on sand (it's good for your ankles) look.

This one is impressive: notice the in focus me and the out of focus background people....

The "where DID you get those manly shoulders?!" look....

and finally the skydiving pose..........!

I don't think modelling is for me but at least I got to ride on the back of the scooter all the way home.

Could my helmet be any bigger!?!

Bye Bye Mikey, Hello Minnie!

It was very sad to say goodbye to Mikey after another fantastic campervan trip. As a special farewell ,we went to the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition down at Bondi Beach.

I tried to reassure him that it couldn't possibly be that bad in England - at least not in Bournemouth - at least not in November - at least there wouldn't be any really bad storms.......?

While Mikey headed back home, I flew to Brisbane for a quick visit to see Michelle, Edee, Theo and Paul. They are all living in Australia for a while to decide if it's somewhere they want to settle.

Edee said she liked Australia a lot, especially the ice creams.....

I arrived back in Sydney just in time to see the very new and beautiful addition to the Whittle family - welcome to the world Minnie!

Fergus really loves his new baby sister and especially enjoys riding in her new hug-a-bub baby sling. All credit to hug-a-bub... I hardly noticed he was there. Helen had to remind me to take him off before I went home....

How Many Mechanics Does It Take to Fix A Camper?

ONE....

TWO....

THREEEEEEE......And finally, when no one can fix it.... a replacement van and a tow for the old one!

This does not make for happy campers. Lots of time to check out the map (to look at all the places we're not able to visit), read our books and drink tea.

Finally after 24 hours of "down time" (for which we're still waiting for a refund), we were able to enjoy some more of the rainforests and tablelands.

Quel est le mot pour dolphin?

FNQ (Far North Queensland) is what it's all about if you're looking for scary wildlife.

If you're not being paranoid about crocs jumping out of the mangroves at the edge of the beach....




.....you're constantly checking all the available signage for safe swimming areas to ensure not being stung by jelly fish!



Lucikly we found a very safe and friendly boat to take us to the Great Barrier Reef. They promised us that we would NOT see any sharks... We didn't - but we did see some truly amazing fish and coral.

Everyone on our trip was French so we both had a chance to practise our GCSE phrases while modelling the latest in snorkelling fashion.

I didn't really get any photos of the wildlife that we did see but here is a list for information:
Numerous bush kangaroo rats
A really big, scary cricket
Fresh water turtles x 2
Cassowary + 2 cassowary children (a VERY rare spot)
One fake shark......

and the best spot of all....

A PLATYPUS!!!!!!! - "10 points, automatic win" - well done me.

So far, we love FNQ....

ReTuRn Of ThE mIkE

Mikey is really happy to be back in Australia - the best part of being in Australia is featuring on my blog (that's what he told me). He loves having his photo taken....


We tried to pack in as much as we could in a few days in Sydney before our big adventure up north.

Another trip to the Blue Mountains for me - much more fun with someone to talk to! It's beautiful up there and a lot warmer than last time. I didn't even need any fizzy snakes to keep me going...

We superimposed ourselves on this lovely backdrop as we couldn't actually find it on our walk around the mountain tops...

Then we headed to Palm Beach for a day of sunbathing. The sea was trecherous but we were very careful to swim between the flags. I felt a sense of responsibility towards Mikey who is only used to the calm waters of Bournemouth...

And finally we went to the "Art and About" exhibtion in the city centre. It was lots of art installations in quiet, dark, deserted alley ways. Not sure how sensible this was at 10pm at night, but I'm told Sydney is a relatively safe place and we lived to tell the tale.

The Red Centre - Part Three: A Bit of a Hike and a Rock

A big part of the trip was HIKING! This is what the Americans called it. It wasn't too hot while we were there and our guide was kind enough to make sure that we were up and out by 6am each morning which meant that it was actually a bit cold some of the time.

We saw some spectacular scenery...

... climbed some very steep rocks.....

... felt very small at the base of Uluru - "Where's Wally?"

And we were lucky enough to watch the sunset at Uluru - impressive!

The Red Centre - Part Two: Swag Bag

I was picked up at 6am by our 4 x 4 and Tony, our guide. There were 9 people in my group, including 3 girls from California, a German (not the ridiculous kind), 2 Danish girls and 2 Australians.

Our first job was to collect firewood for our campfire. Not the stuff on the floor already.. no good. The boys had to break down the trees - the one behind me didn't last long.

We stayed in some beautiful campsites in the middle of the bush, watched gorgeous sunsets, toasted marshmallows and had a disco. And not a spider or snake in sight.

This is my swag. I loved it so much - I would like one for Christmas but not sure how much use I'd get out of it with 230 days of rain in the UK (this is not a joke - I looked it up on the internet).

There was a gorgeous view when I woke up in the morning after a very peaceful night's sleep, disturbed only by a couple of dingos and a hopping mouse - hop, hop.