Kerry's "Letter from Australia" - May 2007Well, it has cooled down here somewhat this month. Not by English standards but it suits me. The autumn here is fabulous, the temps are in the mid 20’s; the leaves on the trees are the most vibrant shades of red, gold, yellow and maroon. I have been taking my camera with me everywhere. I even made Kevin stop on the highway out of town to take a picture of all the over hanging trees that were making a spectacularly coloured tunnel. You can do that here as there is much less traffic. In the ten or so minutes that I was taking the photos only about 15 cars went passed.
We went for a walk in one of the local parks one Sunday and it was full of families having BBQ’s and enjoying themselves. Simple pleasures!! The parks here cater for that sort of thing though, they have numerous covered areas with either wood or electric BBQ’s for you to use. So everyone makes full use of the facilities, it is not unusual to see parties of between 20 and 30 people all together having fun. We have also had more welcome rain, mostly at night time though so, it doesn’t spoil the day.
Holly’s room is now completed ( light blue and caramel) and her new window is in. At least one room in the house now looks nice and has that lovely new carpet smell. Holly has been living it up again this month. She went with a friend to Philip Island for a long weekend of surfing, body boarding and cycling. She also caused much hilarity at school by being the only one in her class to get tangled up in her abseiling line and descend upside down, on a recent adventure day. Luckily she saw the funny side of it too!! She along with a couple of class mates were featured in the local paper at the farm where they visit weekly, with a litter of new piglets.
Lauren, as I told you, has been doing some 10km races and winning. Anyway she was “talent-spotted” by a local athletics club, who have asked her to run for them. If she wins they will pay her money on top of any prize money the race organisers have paid. Converted to pounds it doesn’t amount to that much but in local currency it is quite a bit so will help with her expenses.
Diesel made us proud this month at his passing out exam at dog training and is now “An ideal dog of Australia” with a certificate and sash to prove it. Though not before sending me flying in the practice sessions in the weeks running up to the test. We had to leave our dogs with the trainer and walk 25 long paces away and then call our dogs to us. They should come directly to you and then you ask for a “sit” when they get there. Well Diesel came directly to me alright at break neck speed and hit me squarely in the shins with his head and felled me like a tree. He then ran back to the instructor and performed a “sit” just for her. I meanwhile was in a very undignified heap on the grass. I recovered my composure and returned to the group amid worried looks and enquiries about my legs. Some lovely big beautifully coloured bruises appeared over the next few days. They matched well with the embarrassment I felt!!!
He also sneakily eat a shepherds pie I was cooling on the worktop, ready for the next day. After a telling off he was very contrite for the evening but kept giving us his “puppy dog eye” look, so we couldn’t stay angry long!
We have changed our car to an estate variety because having Diesel on the back seat was not ideal. The garage we bought the original one from part exchanged it against the new one. They said it was the fastest change over of a new car they had ever had. However they said we weren’t the first to change over cars in the first year of ownership, it is common with new immigrants. When you get here because the country is so vast, the first thing you need is a car but you don’t really know what your requirements will be by the time you have settled in. He reckons the English are the worst for it though, but we are contributing to the economy, so it is all to the good. When we picked it in from the first service, the cheeky mechanic said see you in 6 months, 10,000km or with a new car which ever comes first!!
We had a power cut this month and it couldn’t have come at a more inopportune moment. We had been watching a series on TV (one of the few good ones) and just as the climactic episode was due on, the power went out. Never mind, Kevin to the rescue; he got out the petrol generator that he used to use on the building site and rigged it up to the TV. We sat watching by candle light but at least we didn’t miss it. Got to get your priorities right!! That’s what you get for living in the boonies.
Well that’s it for this month,
Love Kerry
