Our Life Down Under

Started my new job today and it seems to be ok so far.

Here is a picture of me arriving at work this morning. Got covered in chocolate, but these guys cleaned me up pretty good.

Just uploaded loads of new pictures to the flickr site here. So go have a look.

We are planning a camping trip for this weekend in Seal Rocks so that should be fun. Stand by for loads of photos from that. notice also the Twitter updates that I’ve added in the top right corner. They are actually sent from my mobile as SMS messages. go to www.twitter.com to sign up yourself.

Got a new job on Friday. Maintenance Manager at a chocolate factory.

Sounds like the beginning of a joke, I know. It’s a small place, around 30 other people work there. It’s normal hours (no more shifts). Money’s good and it’s only 30 minutes away. So it all sounds good so far, I’ll find out for sure when I start on the 3rd of March.

Just been to a little reunion this afternoon with some folk I used to work with at Fosters Botany. This Picture of Ella was take there with our new Camera, which we bought today. It takes great pictures (8 mega pixel) . Ella was having a dance along with some dancers that where up on stage. As you can see she was really enjoying it.

Just a quick update…

The girls are back.

They arrived this morning at 9:30. Val text me as she was getting off the plane and I thought I had at least 30 minutes before she emerged through the gate, so I found myself a chair near the exit gate and got out my video ipod to pass the time.

The ground staff put them on one of those electric golf-buggy-type-things and whizzed them though Passport Control, Baggage Claims and Customs so that they were out in about 15 minutes.

I didn’t see them come out of course, and was greeted by a slightly grumpy face when I found them (about 3 minutes after they emerged). Doh!

The grumpiness lasted about 10 seconds though and we have had a great day. Ella has grown so much. Even though I’d seen pictures, and seen her on the web-cam, she has changed so much it took me by surprise.

Val sent me an email this morning with some pictures of Ella. You can really see her tooth coming through now. You can see the pictures at the usual place here.

Stephen and Jen arrived on Thursday and as it was a long weekend this week, we went up to stay with Chris in Blackheath.

We went for a 3 hour bush walk on Sunday and a game of golf on Monday. You can see all the pictures on our flickr page here.

We had a great time, it was nice to chill out and get a bit of fresh mountain air.

Val and Ella will be back next Tuesday.

I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. After doing 2 hours of driving every day, my car finally gave up today.

About twenty minutes into my drive to work today I noticed the temperature gauge had gone all the way up to the top. I turned around and gambled on making it home.

Well, you can see the gamble didn’t pay off. The engine cut out about 15 minutes away from home and I just had enough momentum to roll off the road and onto this embankment.

I waited an hour for a tow truck.

The car is in the garage now, hopefully it will survive.

Knibby arrives tomorrow for a couple of weeks with his girlfriend Jenny. Think they might have to make their own way from the airport now.