Well, once again I fear i'll have to start this blog entry with an apology - erm, make that TWO apologies. Firstly, I know we've been rubbish at updating the blog in the last few weeks, but my parents have just arrived in Oz, so it's been a whirlwind of activity - we're dead busy! And secondly, i'm afraid this is just a brief note to let you know that we're definitely alive, and are definitely intending to get good at this blog-malarky in the near future - just as soon as the Dalton mafia have returned to London...

As I write this, i'm sitting in my PJ's on a farm in Tynong, near Melbourne. We're staying with my parent's friends, Anne and Tom, and they've made us hugely welcome. In fact, my poor stomach is currently fit to pop, due to the vast quantities of home-reared beef that farmer Tom has fed Mike and I. Hmmm, let me rephrase that in farmer language - we've eaten home-reared 'beast'. Mike is delighting in the fact that when he asks for his stake cooked rare, Tom defines that as 'horns off and arse wiped' - charming 'eh?!

Aside from current events, here's a quick update of where we've been, who we've seen blah blah blah...

Movies - Before the Daltons arrived, Mike and I grabbed the chance to have a couple of lazy days, and we took in 2 movies. The first was a Nicholas Cage number 'Knowing'. We should have known better. When Mike started to look hopeful in the cinema queue, I should have stomped my tiny size-2 foot and demanded that he take me to see Watchmen. Tragically I didn't - I actually encouraged him to buy the tickets - so we suffered a painful 2 hours as Nicholas Cage furrowed his brow and tried to save the world. A truly scary (i'm a wuss) experience. We also saw Duplicity, and i've decided i'd like to look like Julia Roberts when I grow up...

Boozing - A couple of family friends, Paul and Vicki, very kindly lent Mike and I their central-Melbourne skyscraper flat for the weekend. It was a fab experience, as we took in the museum, had coffee and cake on the trendy Lygon street, watched the sunrise and sunset over the city, mooched around the trendy boutique shops, and saw a very funny comedian, Reginald D Hunter, at the comedy festival. And then we hit the bars with Martin - and I haven't had a hangover like that in YEARS. I blame the boys really - they encouraged me to try several of the local ales, followed by some classy cocktails. After one 'Fairy Punch' and 'Tina's Got Nice Melons' we were seeing stars. Ouch...

Family - A couple of my relatives live in the Melbourne area, so Mike and I grabbed lunch with my mum's cousin Ginny and her lovely daughters in the Botanical Gardens. We've also been to see my great uncle David, and we took him for a family BBQ at Ginny's beautiful holiday home in Portsea, the trendy part of the Mornington Peninsula. Lurverly stuff.

The seaside - Mike and I joined my mum and dad for a 3-day stay in a friend's beach house in Blairgowrie, just a hop-and-a-skip from the uber posh area of Sorrento. There were 11 of us crammed into their holiday house, though we coped with sharing the one shower admirably. It was over the easter weekend, so we all joined in with a mass Easter-egg hunt (it's lovely pretending to be 7 years old again), nibbled cakes in the bustling town of Sorrento and ate ice creams on the seaside. I'm going to be fat by the time my mum and dad eventually leave!

The Mountains - Over the last couple of days, we've been staying on the farm, and have been enjoying life as country folk. Tom took us to watch his horse race, though he was done out of his victory by a fellow jockey who was miffed that he'd never been offered the chance to race 'Distraction' (Tom's beautiful grey horse - his teeth are scarily big). We've also visited some stunning vineyards in the Yarra region, and eaten cream teas in the Dandenong mountains. It's such a hard life - we even had the nerve to whinge about the storm that belted the farm yesterday morning. Us Cheethams need to stop whining and find a job! Mike also made the huge mistake of letting me wander around an antiques shop, and i've now got my heart set on a lovely 1920's tea set. We're just waiting to see how much it will cost to mail it home, before I go in for the kill - watch this space!

Anyhoo, after initially saying that this was going to be a very brief entry, i've now realised that my fingers ran away with me and it's actually rather lengthy. Ooops. I'd really better go, as today we're moving on to Ballarat and we've got a ferry to catch. I can only imagine how pleased my parents will be when they see that i'm still in my jimjam's, I haven't had breakfast, and I haven't packed my bags - despite the fact that we're leaving in 30 mins. Yikes.

Much love to everyone, and I promise we'll try to get a bit better at blogging.

T'ta for now! xxxxx