Belated Christmas wishes allsevenettes. With all the excitment of arriving into Australia, Sue being reunited with her folks and the G&T spectacular that followed, this site has suffered some neglect.

Before we talk more about our sun filled 'crimbo' extraveganza, lets take a look back at our blow round New Zealand's South Island. Sue will be quick to inform that we endured 29 consecutive nights in a tent. Yes, yes, 29. Unpredictable weather, bitterly cold southerlies, hot intervals and lots and lots of rain. We've had the lot. We snaked our way in an elaborate S bend through sights, some of you will no doubt be familiar with. Picton, Kaikoura (where we saw the tails of 50 tonne Sperm Whales), Hanmer Springs, Josef Glacier, Lake Wanaka, Mount Cook, Dunedin, Milford Sound and of course, Queenstown.

Our genuine attempts to sky dive were foiled on several occasions due to weather, though we did pluck up the courage to run off a cliff on our penultimate day in NZ - tandem paragliding. In a word, wicked. We have video clips to share with our expectant public (tongue in cheek) though Phill's growing frustration with aging technology in these internet cafes means any such upload will wait until Asia, where a much vaulted Apple Macbook purchase will be made. We are counting the days. Actually, no, Phill is counting the days.

So, having been collected by ex-colleagues and friends from the UK at Sydney airport and whisked to our harbourside apartment, we met up with globtrotters Mazza and Dazza. We have moved from a 4 m2 tent to a 150 m2 (thats around 1600sq2 USA allsevenettes) pad with 2 bathrooms and a sizable balcony, white leather couches and a Denon DVD player which, you guessed it, also can't play our AVI video clips. Eric gets to enjoy watching car carrying ships arrive opposite our flat, Sue and Mazza get to chat and Phill manages to distract the lot with exciting quotes from his new Astronomy book. Ah, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas.

We will enjoy a wonderful vantage point for Sydneys almighty fireworks display New Years Eve, before collecting our rental Holden and casually wandering up the coast to Queenland.

Happy New Year everybody!

All for now.

PaS