All I want for Christmas is Peter the Possum man

Well here we were thinking we'd have no family around at Christmas and low and behold we have a complete family staying with us in the attic! The Possums moved in about 3 nights ago so now Max isn't the only one keeping us awake at night. I have a bad feeling they will be with us for some time as Peter the possum man tells us they are a protected species so they can't actually be removed - he has to wait until they leave and then block the hole in the roof so it looks like Peter the Possum man may be moving in aswell!?
Apart from our possum problems we've had a lovely Christmas eve. We had a carol concert and barbeque in the church gardens and it was a very sunny 23 degrees.
Presents and dummies are all wrapped (Santa is taking Celia's dummies to give to the new babies!!), stuffing is made and ham is glazed. Andy is barbequing the turkey tomorrow so I think we will get our Christmas dinner at about the same time as all those at home i.e. about 10pm!
Merry Christmas to all. x

It's snowing!

No, I am not talking about the UK - I am talking about Victoria, Australia! I turned on the news this morning and thought the pictures were of Britain cause yesterday when I turned on the local Australian news I was confronted with pictures of Belfast city airport! But no, the pictures were of upstate Victoria and New South Wales - and this is the Australian summer??
We were meant to attend a carol concert in the park last night but the weather was so horrendous (wind, torrential rain, thunder and lightening) we stayed in and wrapped Max & Celia's presents instead. Looking on the bright side, it made it feel just like a Christmas back home!

Getting ready for Santa

As Andy already mentioned Ruth had a baby boy 2 weeks ago and nobody was more pleased with the name than me. This is due to a rather foolish oversight of mine a few weeks back. I was in the local charity shop where I spotted some Christmas stockings and as I'm always on the lookout for a bargain (or just plain tight as Andy prefers to call it) I thought I'd save a few dollars. I did think it slighty odd that the lady at the counter asked if I was sure I wanted both stockings as she could plainly see that I had two children but it wasn't until I got home that I realised I'd bought personalised stockings. In my dyslexic state I just saw a jumble of letters which I thought read 'XMAS' but as luck would have it the first one I pulled out of the bag was for a MAX! The second one was for a 'SAM' and of course at the time we knew no Sams so thank you Ruth and Gary as I'd hate to think my purchase would go to waste. I'll post it over for next Christmas!
This week has been full of parties (mainly for Celia but Max and I tag along). She is being a very stroppy teenager these days as all she wants to do is stay in her room and listen to CDs or sleep. She refuses to even come out for meals. How did we manage to bypassed the terrible twos plus10 years?!
Well I will leave you with an update on what is the biggest Australian news story this week - no, not the climate summit or Stockholm terrorist attacks or even Julain Assange - its 'Queen of TV Oprah Winfrey visits Australia'. And it's been on the news and in the papers for weeks now! They showed people crying yesterday because they got to be one of 12,000 people in the audience of her Sydney show - some people need to get out more (including the whole of the Australian media!) 

A New Nephew - Congratulations baby sister

Normally when I get woken at 3am it is by Max who has decided he wants food, a trip to Mum and Dad's bed or just a good old cry for no particular reason whatsoever. He has been waking up a bit too often for my liking recently. Anyway, last Tuesday I was woken for an altogether more acceptable reason...a call from brother-in-law Gary in Scotland to say that I had a new nephew, Sam, born on the 1st December.

That's two girls and a boy now for Ruth and Gary - bigger house required soon I would say. Congratulations one-and-all. Sam is just 5 months younger than Max so I'm sure the two of them will have some great times in the years ahead, assuming they get to live in the same continent at some point.

Apart from baby news (other friends are having twins soon too), Christmas party season is in full swing. It is full-on rooftop terraces, barbeques and posh restaurants every other night right now. I have to say I'm not missing the sub-zero temperatures or snow one little bit.

Uncle Roger comes to stay

Continuing on the theme of 'firsts' we have a few more to add to the list from last week.
1. We had our first visitor in the form of Andy's good friend Roger who moved to Sydney just before we moved to Melbourne. It didn't stop raining the whole time he was here so I think he'll bring a jacket next time!
2. As I am now a fulltime mum / housewife / domestic goddess in the making, I conformed to the stereotype and attended my first tupperware party. How expensive is plastic!?......

3. The sun made an appearance last week so Max, Celia and I headed to the beach and built sandcastles for the first time (well, not my first time obviously). It was 28 degrees and the beach was deserted - if this beach was in London or NI how crowded do you think it would be on a hot sunny day??!.....

 4. Celia met Santa for the first time! We were at Deloitte's family Christmas Party up in the Dandenong Hills and although it was cold, wet and windy (this was the day after the beach!) we still had lots of fun especially on the steam train Puffing Billy.

5. Wrote my Chrsitmas cards in the garden on a sun lounger - very strange!

Another week of firsts

1.I got my first ever Thanksgiving card and my first hand written letter in about 10 years! Email, Facebook and blogs are great but you cannot beat an old fashioned letter so thank you very much Suzann.

2. Max had his first taste of solid food on Monday and the old baby rice is going down a treat as I suspected it would - if ever there was a boy who looked like he enjoyed his food it's Max!

3. Celia got her first birthday party invite. It's at the same house we went to on Melbourne Cup day for the barbeque but I am still counting it as a 'first'!

4. We both got our first speeding tickets this week - mine arrived 2 days after Andy's so I had to wipe the conceited snear off my face pronto! They are really strict on speed limits over here (I got $150 fine plus points for doing 75 KPH in a 70 KPH zone)

5. Celia didn't throw a tantrum when I left her at nursery today for the first time which is a relief, although I was a bit concerned last week when I collected her and the first thing she said was "Mummy, I had fun today - I slept with all the boys!". The nursery staff have assured me the 'group sleep' at lunchtime is perfectly innocent!

Birthday, Barbeques, Bikes and Bowls

I think it is fair to say we're settling in to a more Australian way of life now. This week I've managed to do a couple of morning runs round the park - it is amazing how many people are up doing fit things at 6am! I also managed a 25k ride on my new bike in 32 degrees, the hottest day of summer so far. Had a lovely evening of bowls and a few beers on a sweating hot evening on Thursday. I beat the boss at bowls, having beaten him at golf a couple of weeks ago...I better let him win at something soon.  We rounded the week off with a birthday BBQ on Saturday and a nice drive into the Dandenong hills on Sunday.
Thought it was high time we managed to post a few more blog photos so here they are.


I think this is actually the first time we have managed to get a photo of all four of us since we arrived in Australia

Birthday day out - Dandenong Hills

So what did I get myself for my birthday. A shiny new BBQ of course...had to be done. Celia and Max kindly contributed to some nice cook books to encourage me even more. Will have to get practicing, it will be Christmas in no time.

Dad with his birthday presents

Saturday we did the extremely grown up, modern man thing of taking a first aid class with Lydia's mummy friends and all the husbands. If you ever collapse in my presence I'm now fully equipped to give you mouth to mouth resusitation! This was followed by a fantastic indoor birthday BBQ (it rained heavily for 24 hours on Saturday in a humid monsoon sort of a way). The chat was fantastic, roast lamb and cake hit the spot and and the shiraz was outstanding. Thanks Megan and Scott. We'll return the compliment soon, minus the first aid and with a much more novice BBQ fayre.

Boys with babies at a BBQ talking B******

 Most of our trips out of the city so far have been sourtwards to the Mornington Peninsula in search of sun and sea. This Sunday Lydia treated me to a wonderful lunch in the beautiful Dandenong Hills about an hour to the west of Melbourne. We've been meaning to check out these lovely hills, forest, gardens and quaint villages for some weeks now. Sasafass and Olinda didn't let us down. Think quirky little English village circa 1950 and you'll not be far off. All tea-rooms, craft shops and rhododendron gardens. Mum, if she ever made it to Victoria, would love it.

Birthday day out in the Dandenongs

It's been a tough few months for Lydia with all the upheaval. This week she's been so much happier and my birthday weekend has been just lovely. Here she is looking very relaxed with Max outside a quaint mountain tea shop.

Pit stop for some devonshire cream tea

Apart from the odd short trip to the local park my new bike has not seen much action yet. This week it had it's first proper outing as I took it too and from work on Friday ( I was doing a day's hard labour in a packaging factory...long story!). I loved it, felt brilliant despite the heat and the volume of cycle paths in this city is extraordinary. It will be seeing a lot more action during the summer as my new source of exercise and sightseeing combined...sod the 6am runs round the park!

My new bike, complete with passenger

In 365 days time I'll be 40. Let's see how much fun it is possible to have in 365 days!

Sam Fox - all is forgiven...........

The only time I watch TV now is a Sunday night mainly because:
- There's not much on the rest of the week
- I'm too busy running round tidying/cleaning once the kids have gone to bed
- I've gone to bed myself
- Sunday, not Saturday, is X Factor night!
Everything is a carbon copy of the British X factor e.g. they have a Dermot O'Leary looky likey presenting, Ronin Keating is Louis Walsh and Natalie Imbruglia is Cheryl and Danni rolled into one, etc, etc
This Sunday, however, I also got to experience the ARIAs (Australia's music awards) and it was so shambolic it made Sam Fox and Mick Fleetwood look like professional presenters. Someone had the bright idea of staging it on the steps of the Sydney Opera house so you can imagine what the outcome would be if the Brit Awards were held on the steps of the Royal Albert Hall?!
In case you think we're complaining unjustly about the TV programmes over here I'd like to let you know what the 'Pick of the Day' was for Tuesday in the Sunday paper's TV guide - Playschool.
No joke, here is what they said :
"A delightful episode featuring the gorgeous Luke Caroll. Two blokes dress up, sing songs, read stories and make delicious icy poles"
Maybe I am not getting the ironic Aussie sense of humour??.....

p.s. Celia and I watched Playschool today and it was actually a very good episode    

It's official - Max is clinically obese

I never thought I would be the 'feeder' type but the nurse confirmed it today - Max is overweight and he hasn't even had one mouthful of the home baking! So he's on a diet from now on but how you put a baby on a diet when all they 'eat' is milk and that's only when they're hungry I haven't quite worked out yet. I think exercise must be the key so it's just as well he started swimming lessons last week. Not sure how many calories 'floating' burns up but I'm sure he will be doing the front crawl by the end of tomorrow's lesson.
He also attended the 'Prams in the Park' fitness session with me yesterday but he hardly broke sweat unlike me! I'm glad to say it wasn't just jogging round the park with your buggy but full on personally tailored circuit training so I am VERY sore today which is great as no gain without pain!

Public Holidays Melbourne Style - a day of firsts

So I think it is fair to say today was the day we really got our first serious dose of what the Ozzie lifestyle is all about. Today was Melbourne Cup Day, the day the state of Victoria has a day off to watch a horse race and the rest of Australia has an unofficial afternoon off to watch it as well - why should Victorians have all the fun! The Melbourne Cup horse race really is the race that stops a nation.

So, today's firsts:

1. Well, having a Tuesday off work for a horse race is definitely a first but there were also others...
2. Today I had my first game of golf in Melbourne - half of which was in drizzly rain reminiscent of many a November day back home. Still, Kingston links was a lovely course (despite the flooding!) and I did beat my boss on the 18th. Nice.
3. Lydia baked muffins. I like this new Lydia. Although with me baking brownies at the weekend we are fast turning into a family of sumos...I blame Max. Still, the rain will stop soon and the new mountain bike will emerge from the garage to put an end to all this weight gain!
4. We went to our first barbeque. Lydia's efforts at finding friends through visiting multiple playgroups is finally paying dividends. We had a lovely afternoon in the company of Sharon, Andrew and friends in Bentleigh. Celia got to see some of her friends and spend the afternoon throwing herself around in a bouncy castle. I was given a lesson in the art of the BBQ by an expereinced local and Lydia had more cakes, washed down with Pimms. Oh yes, and some French bloke won the race and I got 2nd in the sweepstake. BBQ afternoons in other peopes' gardens are definitely the way to go.
5. Max had his first full-on giggling fit, thanks to Lydia's rendition of The Grand Old Duke of York. I think he was laughing at her terrible singing.
6. Finally, in another sign of the onset of middle age, another first - I did some gardening! Nothing too strenuous mind. I planted some herbs. Outside. In our very own garden. Nice. This is feeling more like Neighbours all the time.

So that was our first Australian bank holiday. Hopefully a sign of things to come...once the rain stops!

Thank You Bonnie!

Last night Andy and I went out for dinner - ON OUR OWN! Bonnie (Andy's work colleague) kindly offered to babysit so we headed down to buzzing Fitzroy Street and after a 50 minute journey that should have taken 10 mins (combination of sat nav issues, 2 near miss car crashes and parking trouble) we had a fabulous meal in a gorgeous restaurant - just what the doctor ordered!
Yesterday also saw Celia start her new nursery which she'll attend one day a week and I'm glad to say she was very upset when I left her there. I know I shouldn't wallow in poor Celia's distress but it's the first time she's showed any signs of missing me. When she went to the childminder in London she would cry when I came to pick her up!
I was lucky to get the nursery place as childcare here is in really short supply. When I called the nurseries in our local area they asked me which year I was enquiring about as 2010 and 2011 were full - I only wanted one day! Anyway, she now goes to one in Elwood which is a 7 minute drive away so Max and I are going to start doing some exercise on a Thursday morning (Prams in the Park - yes, I am going to be one of those mugs who pays someone loads of money to tell them  how to jog round a park!)
Well, its a beautiful sunny day and the park is calling so I will just share one more thing with you - I was listening to my favourite radio station this morning (Gay FM I think its called) when they announced today's phone in "Call in all those who think Martina Navratilova is absolutely gorgeous" !?!......

My turn!

As Andy has done the previous 3 updates I thought it high time I gave it a go. I know we already did initial highs and lows but I have a few more I'd like to add, especially in the 'lows' section (ever the pessimist!)



LOWS

• Radio - have yet to find a decent radio station. The best I can find is the local Gay and Lesbian station which does have some amusing commercial breaks but the music makes Radio 2 look like the hippest thing out! 

• Fruit - I thought there would be stacks of lovely fruit and loads of variety here with it being a sunny country but the quality is rubbish and as moaned about before it is also really expensive ($2 or about £1.50 for 1 nectarine that tasted of nothing??)
• Parks - This in itself is actually a 'high' cause our local park is great and has 3 play areas but my 'low' is that they don't have cafes in their parks (london Mummy friends will appreciate this one) nor do they have sand pits or paddling pools - Queens Park we miss you!

• Broadband installation man - The rental agent called yesterday to advise that the owner was not happy about the new cable coming off his roof. When I explained that the BIM (Broadband installation man) told me this was the only way you can get broadband round here she laughed and said all the cabling was already intalled underground and that he was just being lazy which I didn't understand as how can drilling a hole in an extenal wall, fitting a new socket and running cable up the wall and over the roof then connecting it to the main pole across the road be the 'lazy' option?? 
• Max' weight problem - I know my pet nickname for him is Sumo but I was a bit alarmed when the nurse at this morning's immunisation session laughed when I took his clothes off and shouted  'Wow, its Budda himself!' He is just big boned (round the middle!?)......

Our little Sumo (aka Budda)

HIGHS


• Andy's colleague has offered to babysit some night this week
• A girl at playgroup invited us to a BBQ next week on Melbourne Cup day (they LOVE their racing here, so much so that it's a public holiday on Cup day) I'm not sure if the invite came out of pity or because she actually liked me or cause she just wanted to shut me up as I was harping on about having no friends but either way its our first social outing in two months so who cares!
• 'Next' now deliver to Oz - You may scoff but this was huge news among the expat mummy community last week (I got 2 e-mails about it from different Brit mums who live here - i.e. everyone I know e-mailed me about it!)
• That's it for the highs I'm afarid as not having a very positive week so far!  

Beach in winter - can't be bad

Contrary to popular opinion the weather can be great in Melbourne in Winter. Actually we have been to the beach three weekends in the last four.

Time to stop the shopping!

So there we go, another weekend been and gone and still the shopping isn't finished.
OK, so we knew moving from a flat in London to a house in Melbourne would require a bit of an upgrade on the furniture front, but it is fair to say we seriously underestimated the extent of the outlay that would be required.
This weekend saw the delivery of a new bookcase and coffee table for the lounge. Previous weeks saw sofa, TV unit, digibox, DVD, iPod docking station, stools, garden table and chairs, garden umbrella, a new bed and bedroom furniture for Celia, a new mattress, an office table and chairs, endless supplies of lamps - proper lighting is very important Lydia says!, bedside tables, special table and chairs for Celia, an easel for the little budding artist.
Transport has been interesting too. The past month has seen the arrival of a new car, two new baby seats (UK ones are illegal here!), a new double buggy for the bigger family, two new bikes and associated safety and transport equipment. All this and I haven't even hit the BBQ superstore yet.

After such a ridiculous amount of shopping we thought it was about time we visited the local church to remind ourselves that there is so much more to life than this crazy materialistic society we live in.
St Marys Anglican Church, Caulfield is a rather jovial, happy clappy sort of an affair with guitarists and singers who think they should be on X-factor and a number or rather strange middle aged women who like to wave flags during the singing. Not exactly the Ulster Presbyterianism of my youth but it sort of worked OK and Celia loves it as she also goes to the playgroup there in the week. As is the case everywhere we go the people were super-friendly and most important of all the pastor was very impressive. Good stuff.

So there we have it. The hectic stresses of the last few months are definitely drawing to a close and an air of normality is starting to decend. We spent a quiet afternoon in the sunshine at the stunning botanic gardens. The relief of being set free from furnitureshopland was a beautiful thing.

Next weekend I'll actually ride that new bike - especially as one of the analysts at my work told me I was looking a bit lardy on Friday!

Starting Out

Ok, so here goes our first ever attempt at blogging. Please be patient as we learn the ropes...

We hope this blog will serve a number of purposes.
First and foremost a record for ourselves of our experiences down under as we watch Celia and Max grow up very quickly. In addition of course we hope to inform and entertain our family and friends in the process and keep you up to date with how it's all going. If others who are thinking of making the move come across the blog and  find it helpful then all well and good. Enjoy!

In future posts we'll relive the ups and downs of the past few months in more detail but for now here's a quick summary...

Highs

• It was 29 degrees yesterday
• We have a lovely house (five times as big as London flat!)
• LAFHA...will explain another time
• friendly and relaxed people everywhere you go - London bus drivers could pick up some tips!
• driving...a complete pleasure compared to UK
• work...definitely more relaxed
• myP2p.eu, a lifesaver for the footie - thanks for that one Sukie
• Max now sleeps all night!
• Seeing Celia's face light up when she runs around on the beach
• Our new sofa
• Coffee
• Mega wine shops

Lows

• Skype connection a bit tempramental
• Melbourne's ridiculously unpredictable (and often freezing) weather
• No babysitters
• Full time parenting is tough with no social network
• Cost of living...makes London look cheap!
• Australian TV
• Choice and cost of children's clothing
• No social life...yet!