Kerry's "Letter from Australia" - January 2008 Well January continued in much the same vein as December, Kevin’s sister and brother in law were here until 4th Jan. The temperatures soared to 42c making everyone wilt. Even the pool was too hot to swim in. The top six inches were actually scorching you it was so hot. It cooled down a little when swimming around mixed the surface water with the deeper and cooler water. Talking of the pool, Lauren, Terry and Holly went out to have a swim and were about to wind up the pool cover when they saw a snake slithering across it towards the house. Terry reached for the very long broom we have for cleaning the pool floor and tried to encourage it to leave. It had a very determined streak because it was refusing his polite request to go forth and multiply. After 20 mins or so of snake versus Terry as to who would get the upper hand it left, only to re-emerge half an hour later in the garage. That being further from the house we left it to its own devises and after a day or so it sought more friendly pastures. Lauren and Terrys’ reign of destruction continued unabated until their departure on 2nd February, culminating in Lauren using my liquidizer to crush ice in and breaking the blades. She kindly offered to buy me a new one as a going away present but added could I please pay for a third of it as she didn’t have enough money!! They did manage to get some work fruit picking and much to Terrys’ amazement earned more in 4 days than he did for a full month in South Africa. This month was one for cinema visits, with Holly being on school holidays... we saw quite a few good films, although I did go one Tuesday night with Lauren and Terry to see “P.S. I love you”. For those of you who haven’t seen it, it is the story of a young woman who loses her husband to cancer and the film shows her road to recovery. Well within the first half hour Lauren was crying, Terry was very tearful and by the end of the film I was awash with their combined tears. Lauren was still sniffling all the way out of the cinema with other cinema goers looking on in bemused amazement. Such a sensitive girl!! Holly was away at her friends’ beach house again for a week and we took the opportunity to go into Melbourne and do some more adult sightseeing. (Walking around the city is not Holly’s idea of a good day out!) We went up to the observation deck in the Rialto towers which is 823ft above ground level, giving you 360 degree views of the City. Then onto the Docklands area where we walked along the Yarra River (photo is of Lauren and Terry on one of the bridges over the Yarra River) to the Botanic Gardens. We also went to the Immigration Museum which detailed what it was like for the migrants traveling so far from home and arriving in Australia in the 50’s and 60’s. It was a fab day, Melbourne is such a clean and green city: I love it. However my poor old legs didn’t, they suffered from the 7 hours of walking. Kevin’s friend Rob is now in 'B' grade and beating Kevin, much to his disgust. He will no doubt be back in his rightful position in 'A' grade very soon. His recovery has been nothing short of fantastic. However his will and determination are what have pulled him through. On that happy note I will bid you goodbye till next month Kerry