Another weekend in Aussie bush paradise

Well it has been a lovely few days up here at Glanmire - kids have been good, weather been great, raging fire in the big stove, keeps the house warm and I cooked up a storm ( nice to make biscuits when there are people to eat them up!)

Had visit from Rebecca and her boys - hadnt seen them before - going well, and Sam looked great in the fairy dress - off to a birthday party (insisted on wearing her Dora shoes with fairy dress and wings!).

Cas had dreadful cough - yukky and my heart went out to her - she obviously felt dreadful. A break in NZ will do her good I hope.

Peter is in organising mode back in Auckland and obviously doing him good - he sounds very well.

Life never quiet - Shifting house

After four years at Kenneth Small Pl, we were planning on downsizing when I returned to NZ later in the year, especially considering I no longer will need to travel to uni every day. Peter, the obsessive real estate follower, had been looking for some months and we had been discussing our needs whenever I came home. Well last visit home he took me to see a palce that he felt was ideal, and I agree it ticked most of the boxes. After a month in which I honestly believe the angels were on his side, our conditional offer on the place we wanted to buy went unconditional 4 hours before deadline, after our home had gone unconditional the evening before. Talk about timing! Never known my life could change around so quickly. I will go home to help with the shift - and Catherine will be coming over a week earlier to help her father pack. Photos are of the new place - location is good, next to a park, arts centre, and motorway with room to park bus, have visitors, very little garden, huge sunny deck, great kitchen - it will work out fine. Bit of a shock to the system, but the process went amazingly Ok - the land agents both deserve a medal.

Up here at Glanmire again this weekend, watched Josh play rugby league today - improving all the time he scored two tries today and a conversion ( smaller field and lower goalposts).

Latest photos of Callum indicate he is growing rapidly and developing his own personality, not jsut a cute baby. Wish i was there - but it will be a month or more until I get to see him again.

Skype is great!

Bonfire night Glanmire style

After a weekend in the bush last weekend, south of Sydney, I headed west to visit the kids again - and it is cold and crispy up here. I worked at home here on Friday and I love the space and quietness.

Josh played footy this morning and I wore lots of layers - his team did well and after transferring from soccer he and Sean are enjoying playing rugby league more. Must run in the Godfrey and Hanrahan families I think. This afternoon they had invited lots of friends up for a bonfire and bush barbecue. Lots of utes, and lots of kids who all enjoyed lots of space to run around in. It got dark quickly and everyone stood close to the fire the kids were playing footy in the dark, and then playing spotlight - the littlies enjoyed the sparklers more.

It was a very chilly night but crystal clear and the stars stand out so brilliantly on such a night.

I feel a bit sad, if I get up here once a month in the coming months I will only get up here about four or five more times before I head home to NZ.

A weekend in the bush

After a week of depressing rain and cold in Sydney, I accompanied my new friend Betty down to her bush block ( 34 acres) in the Southern Tablelands of NSW. She and her botanist husband have owned the block for over 20 years and over the years they turned it into a great place to get away and just relax and chill out. Two sets of friends joined us down there to help Betty with some of the essential clearing and burning off. No electricity, no traffic, very quiet, and a real sense of back to basics ( even the toilet is basic!) It is different to our NZ bush being mostly she-oaks (I think they are called casuarinas) and gum trees with resident wombats and kangaroos ( I didnt see any but there were lots of burrows and droppings). We had wonderful weather - no rain - a bit chilly but clear skies. I raked leaves and lit fires, kept the wood fire going and chopped wood! Went to bed at 8:30pm ! with no reading light! Longest sleep i have had in a while! Betty cooked up a storm on the wood fire and came feeling really energised, to a wet Sydney!

Work is stepping up as we have only 6 months more to go and need to start planning the writing up, feedback forums ...

I am off up to Glanmire this weekend - need to get the car aircon changed from cooling fan to heating! ( old car needs doing manually)