We went to Apple Howling.
Ruby went skiing in Austria with the school. Pictures please, Ruby!
Steve's brother Mark (a.k.a. Moose) was elected President of the Cliffe for the duration of Cliffe Independence Day and there was a funfair in the middle of the street
At the end of May we went to the New Forest, to our friend Sally's surprise birthday party.
Here is one of the locals with Olivia. And a family shot on the forest.
And finally a nice nature shot, if you like that sort of thing
Cliffe Bonfire Society entered a float in Lewes Carnival. Steve and Olivia helped make it, and it won first prize.
The carnival's theme was "Medieval" - we did a feast in Lewes castle.
There are more pictures on the Roz South's website.
June also saw our local pub the Horns Lodge change hands. It is now owned by our friends Mike and Linda, and it has an excellent selection of beer and wine. (It also has lager for anyone that way inclined!)
Olivia dressed as a Victorian boy (her decision) for a school Victorian Day and assembly. Here she is demonstrating the use of our mangle.
We went to the Greek island of Zakynthos for two weeks.
The Lewes Arms was bought by Fuller's, a London brewery. Rumour has it the beer prices have gone up.
Ruby had to have her appendix out. She got rushed to the Sussex County Hospital in Brighton one Friday night, and after 12 hours deliberation they whipped it out Saturday lunchtime. She finally came home on the following Tuesday.
We have now moved out of our house at Chailey and are staying with Steve's Mum and Dad in Kingston near Lewes. The house contents are on their way to Brisbane. The picture shows the overflowing garage, with our stuff before it was loaded on to the container.
Bonfire night was one of the best ever, despite the wet firesite (and the rain during the firework display!).
There was also an item on the BBC news.
Ruby's friends threw her a surprise party
We had a party at some friends' house near Barcombe.
Well we have finally made it to Australia.
We have signed a lease on a house to rent, but as our container hasn't yet made it through customs,
we are still staying with Deirdre's Mum, from whose balcony we took this photo of a King Parrot.
Olivia has started school so we have to drive her there every day - about a 50 km round trip!
We have bought a car - a 2000 Ford Falcon, 4 litre automatic.
Great news! Our stuff has finally cleared customs and is now in our new house in The Gap. The only fly in the ointment was that customs allegedly found a borer in a small table (that had been in our lounge for the last 13 years) and charged us $450 to fumigate it. There was no choice, either pay up or don't get our stuff. The fun and games isn't over though because two carpets are getting replaced on Monday, and the painters need to fix up the ceilings - all because of the recent storm damage. Because of this, we were unable to get all of our stuff unpacked properly so most of it got stacked in the garage.
We have had to buy a couple of cycle helmets because the nanny state over here insists that you wear one if you ride a bike.
Olivia's birthday started with lunch at Glenda & Tim's. It was a combined party/farewell to Kyle and Kurtis who were heading off to England the following day for Christmas. After a BBQ and cake Steve (J), Steve (R) Olivia and Ruby got a train into the city to go and see Queensland Roar (the local football team) play Newcastle Jets. The Roar gave Olivia's school as load of free tickets to cheer up the kids after the recent storm (which rendered many houses uninhabitable in The Gap!). Steve (R) already had two tickets, on the other side of the ground, but as the crowd wasn't huge we could wave to each other!
Well we have finally moved in and after a week with no phone or internet we are back in contact with the world. We have not had a day yet when we haven't been visited by a "trady" - we had builder fixing up the ceiling, painters painting the ceilings and walls, carpet layers, an electrician and a phone engineer. There are still lots of boxes of stuff around the house, plus a few still in the garage, but we are getting there. At least we can get the car in the garage now! Tomorrow we are getting our new fridge/freezer delivered. This may not sound much but it is very hard living with just a small under-the-counter larder fridge in this climate. (This will become my beer fridge as of tomorrow).
Christmas Eve. Sitting outside after dinner, we saw this tree frog.