Lots of news!

Well it has been awhile and it is going to take some time to catch up with the holiday home and the first few days back here. Suffice to say, I now have a counter on my blog (the shocking pink thing somewhat down the page) which I fluked getting on and I can see either one person has been looking a lot or there are several people waiting for an update LOL.

I will start this update with just the Oz bit as I am short of time but wanted to let everyone know I am OK. Got dropped up by brother Brett and his wife to the airport somewhere around midnight on ANZAC day/next day and proceeded to wait until 4.00pm when I was able to start the boarding process. In the meantime, I weighed my bags and found that I was several kilos overweight so sat and went through paperwork etc and managed to lose 3 xtra kilos by juidicious pruning of what was absolutely necessary. Had to wait until 4.30am to pay the tax to leave and then wait some more before customs opened and then I was on the way. To my surprise, I was on a Spanish plane or some airline (I thought I had booked quantas all the way) that Spanish was the first language with English as second. What a waste on me and how perfect it would have been for Kay and Viv LOL. Regardless of language, I was on board, a quick breakfast and then I woke up in Sydney. This step was not too traumatic - they have "friends of the airport" - people in uniform who are happy to direct you to the right place. I ended up by sitting with a very friendly woman from Matata who knows another friend of mine in Tauranga - go figure- so we chatted from the International airport to the domestic one where we went our separate ways.

Slept most of the way from Sydney to Perth and again everything went relatively smoothly. Took ages at each airport to wait for luggage to arrive but all was good and only had to walk from one area to the next part of the airport to get to Sky West. Had some time then to have a snack and buy some mags for the week ahead and then the last leg back. Was about to doze again when I heard a voice say hi, and it was a teacher from school on the same plane so ended up by moving seats and catching up on all the news for the rest of the flight. First thing on reaching Geraldton I noticed was the warmth - bliss as I nearly froze to death (small exaggeration) on each plane on the way over. The workmate, husband and family arrived not long after and it was great to see them.

They had bought a new beast of a car whilst I was away - an 8 seater, 4wheel drive (with snorkel for going through water!!!!) so after lurching my way into it we were off. It was decided I needed to see the new place they had found over the holidays so off we went to the sand dunes at Geraldton for a look. The place is like a moon scape and there were several adventure tours there with bikes, sand boards, etc. Because I needed to see the full impact (yeah right) I needed to climb! up to the top. Yes, well, I did make it without oxygen, some of the time, like a crab on all fours as it was a case of going one step up and sliding two back in places. Yes and for all those outdoor junkies out there, the view was spectacular with the sea down one side of the dunes and a vista like the arabian desert on the other. (My own intrepid journey LOL). After a quick slide down the dunes, we went to town for a quick Chinese meal, and then joy of absolute joys, they had found an IGA in Geraldton that opens on a Sunday and is open to 7pm in the evenings. A reasonably quick peruse (it specialises in homebrew, bread making and asian type ingredients), and a small buy up and we finally headed back to Tardun. A coffee and more catch up and I finally got to my own bed just before midnight. It was absolute bliss to dive in and I pretty much was asleep before I hit the pillow.

In a weak moment the night before I agreed to go to Mass in Mullewa the next day so no sleep in and once again I was collected by the workmates family and off we went. The church is amazing!! It is on the heritage trail and was built by the same person who designed the one at Tardun. Stone, with stained glass windows, statues, etc it is very colourful and looks like it should be in Italy instead.

ARRGh, have just noticed the time and will have to sign off and go to work. Just to make me feel at home, the server went down yesterday in a thunderstorm (spectacular) from which we got 60mls of rain here ( more in other places) and once again, the roads are all closed out of here. We have only got the students back that arrived before dinner last night. The workmate's husband got back from Geraldton at 7.30pm and the teacher who came back at 8.30 got stuck in Mullewa the night and had to swim through the flooded bits this morning to get back to teach. The boys did manage to make it up but all the roads further up from us and from Geraldton are still closed. LOL.

Will try and get back on tonight and hope this does publish. Love from Lynn