Aussie Christmas

Hello strangers!
It has been a while, bet you thought we had forgotten to update this. In actual fact it has been overtaken in usage by Toni's sewing blog: here are the stats
- sewing blog updates since Sep 15: 7
- this blog updates since Sep 15: 0
Hmm. Maybe that's a hint that I should be more proactive in updating this blog
(By the way DO NOT look at the sewing blog as it contains Christmas spoilers for some people. You were warned!)

Since the last update in mid-September, I have spent 2 weeks in Germany (I may even have seen some readers of this blog in person in my 40-hour trip to London in the weekend in between). Then a couple of short weeks in Sydney where I caught up with Dom Cookson again for a beer or two, but since then I am happy to report I have only been away 3 nights in the last 6 weeks.

It is great to be back at home so much - and with so much to look forward to! Only 2wks +1 day until our son's due date: we are now at the point where we are hoping he will come sooner as Toni is pretty much over being pregnant. She is doing brilliantly though and looking very well, good reports from the midwife so I hope this one will be as good as Maddie's birth was. (Although less back pain would be good. For Toni that is. I didn't have any back pain.)

We have been trying to sell our house but unfortunately we put it on the market at just the wrong time. In the 4wks from the start of marketing it to the auction the global financial crisis (TM) struck and not much property is moving now. It's now been on for 12wks (feels like longer) and I don't think we're going to get an offer. We will still move though, just by renting ours out and renting somewhere else (more on that later).

As a result of having to spend a lot of time at the weekends out of the house (due to house inspections for non-existent buyers), we've been spending some more time exploring Victoria. We found a great dairy up in the Yarra Valley where Maddie can feed the cows, and we've also spent a lot of time on the Mornington Peninsula. Like the Yarra Valley there are a lot of wineries (Aussie for vineyards) but lots of rolling green hills and interesting boutique & foodie places; our faves being the chocolate factory/shop, cheesery (er, Aussie for dairy?) and Red Hill Brewery.

It is a great place to spend the weekends which is why we have decided to give it a go living down there. The only downside is it is quite a long way to work for me - over an hour each way, so we'll have to see how it works out. We're excited about the move though, which will probably happen in Feb. New baby, new house....we just can't seem to keep still.

That said, we are feeling very settled in Australia and it really feels like home. It's such an easy place to settle and a great lifestyle. I think we now know 3 separate lots of people who have come out here since we did and all are enjoying it too. And the 4th lot are on the way in January...looking forward to seeing you in Brissy guys (you know who you are!).

No pics this time as we blew our internet quota (12Gb! Whoops) downloading Spooks Series 6 so we are now limited to dial-up speeds which is too painfully slow to contemplate uploading photos.

Will put some photos up later in the week - our internet quota is renewed on Weds.

Dom