Sydney!

Monday 13th December - Saturday 22nd January 2011

Blog 1 - 20th December 2010

The final blog of the mission! If you are reading this one first then make sure you go back to the Fiji one and start from there! I hope all the pictures are on ok but I'm guessing you'll need an extended lunch time or at least of couple of 'frees' to get through them all! Sorry about the 'blobs' on every picture, the camera is getting worse but bless it, it's done a good job until now!

So, I am eventually writing a blog reflecting our current situation so you won't have to worry about me jumping around the tenses and getting confused! We arrived in Sydney last Monday after spending the weekend in Bondi. It was eventful as Joe's bag was a nightmare to transport and I was getting so excited by the double-decker trains that I was totally useless at navigating! We got to Gordon station and Joe's aunty Gillian picked us up and took us back to the house in West Pymble. It was lush for Joe to see his family that he hasn't seen for years and it was lush for me to meet them. We were also very excited to meet their Cavoodle, Louie! He's class! But the first thing we did when we got to the house was hammer the internet and phone calls trying to get work. The reality of actually getting to Sydney after saying, "as soon as we get to Sydney we'll look for work!" for the past few months, was quite intense and we panicked on arrival! I scoured the internet for swimming pools and swimming clubs and phoned and emailed all of them! Joe found all the local landscaping companies and phoned all of them, we were on a total mission! I was really struggling as no one would employ me for their summer schools unless I was prepared to teach lessons in the new school term in January. This is worrying as I was banking on getting some summer school work! Eventually though, I found three schools who can give me work in January, teaching swimming for two weeks' worth of intensive courses which should get me about $1000. I still haven't found anything to until then though, all the bars and restaurants have their Christmas and New Year staff organised. Joe has done well though and got himself a few days work with a landscape company. He is just labouring for eight hours a day but is getting $150 cash per day! That is amazing for us and will hopefully keep us over Christmas and give the plastic a much needed rest! Ha! Because of the stress we experienced looking for work to start immediately at such late notice, I have also been investigating places to work in Maroochydore. I think we are going to head up there at the end of January as Joe's family are moving house and it will be very expensive to rent in Sydney. If we live with the Wellers and half their rent it will be much better! I contacted so many places and have been offered a job at Maroochydore Swimming Club starting 24th January. Its two hours everyday from 3:30 - 5:30 and two hours on a Saturday morning and the hourly rate is good! I am starting to look for a part time job to run alongside that now so we are sorted for when we get up there. The only problem is, its Joe's birthday on 23rd January and we really wanted to go to the One Day International in Sydney but we are going to have to be back on the Sunshine Coast by then L BUT, we have tickets for the fourth day of the Ashes in Sydney instead! Yey!

As well as organising our lives, we did a little bit of sight seeing too. Katie (Joe's cousin) took us into Sydney for the day last Tuesday and we walked around Circular Quay, The Rocks and under the bridge! It's a much prettier city from ground level. We peeked into the Westin and Four Seasons and they look just as spectacular as ever, it literally is just the buildings that look crap. Although the quay was bustling with Oprah lovers as she was doing a show at the "Oprah House", it was still a cool place with street performers and aborigines playing the didgeridoo with funky drum and base backing music! The Rocks was really nice too and we could see people doing the bridge climb! The bridge looks amazing from the ground, it's huge! It's really easy to get into and around Sydney from where we are as the train service is really good and we also have a car. We are planning on doing the Blue Mountains, Hunter Valley, Manley Beach, Palm Beach (where Home and Away is filmed!), and other places when we get settled and start earning some money but the priority right now is to earn and not spend! We haven't got any plans for Christmas or New Year yet and haven't even got any money to buy each other Christmas presents! Sure we will sort something out though and at least it will be memorable!

I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas and we are missing everyone, especially because of the time of year! L We will be in touch again soon when we have been exploring some more!

Lots and lots of Christmas hugs and kisses,

Joe and Elle x x x

Blog 2 - 4th January 2011

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hello again from Sydney! We hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year! All of our efforts to get work eventually paid off and I got a phone call from a restaurant and I worked the Wednesday before Christmas. I did the shift at the restaurant and they asked me to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. At first I was dubious but we are so skint I couldn't refuse, and she's paying me cash in hand! I got $80 tips on Christmas Eve and $30 per hour on Christmas day! This, along with what Joe earned labouring meant we had a tidy little cash supply to get us through Christmas. The restaurant is a really nice little place, right on a creek (hence the name!) and the food is amazing! It's also only a ten minute drive away and the drive takes me through Lane Cove National Park and at one pint there is an amazing view of the city. It can be quite stressful as the owners are angry Greeks and I forgot how tiring bar work is! But its ok and she hasn't asked me if I have my RSA or even a visa so the cash in hand stuff is very handy! Before I went to work on Christmas Day, Joe made croissants, tea and orange juice and we opened our Christmas presents together! Joe's Mum had sent us loads of things to open and there was three of everything for me, Joe and Macca! We opened a mince pie, a mini bottle of wine, chocolate coins, a rain hat (very funny Louise!), a Christmas cub, a Christmas pudding, a big Quality Street chocolate, racing Christmas gnomes(obviously!), novelty tissues and lots of other little Christmassy things! I also got a lovely ring off Louise and Martin and some funky undies (one pair have "snowed in" on the bum!) from Marie. Sam and Helen sent us a prezzie each to open and Joe got a 'Gold's Gym' vest which just about covers his nipples - thanks Sam! Ha! We bought Macca a Wallabies vest (rugby!) and Joe bought me the dolphin Pandora charm and some denim shorts. I bought Joe the Ashes T shirt and some Warriors shorts (rugby again!). Macca got me an anklet (very travellery!) and some nice smelly stuff and he bought Joe a T shirt with the face of Alan from The Hang Over on the front and "One Man Wolf Pack". Good T shirt! It was a really sweet Christmas morning and I even managed a bucks fizz before work. While I was at work on Christmas day, Macca and Joe cooked Christmas dinner. I wasn't too confident about this as they had finished the bottle of champers before I had even left for work! But I was home by half four and they had excelled themselves! We had roast beef, roast potatoes, green beans, carrots, Yorkshire puddings (thanks Macca!) and gravy (which we almost forgot about and had to make instant at the last minute!). There were no pigs in blankets or stuffing anywhere in the supermarkets! Gutted. After dinner we played the 'name-on-head' game and had a giggle.

On Boxing Day Aaron and Francine (the couple we met in Fiji) came over and we had a BBQ. We created a right feast and got through a fair amount of alcohol as standard. Aaron and Francine were wrecked after spending Christmas Day on Coogee Beach so Aaron was in a right state by the evening! We played the 'name-on-head' game again which was much funnier this time round! Macca had "Mr. Kippling" and Francine had "Mrs. Doubtfire", so when it cam to; "am I dead or alive?"; "am I male or female?" and; "am I fictional or real?" we couldn't give them a straight answer and it amused all very much! (maybe you had to be there!). We also played Charades (one of Louise's Christmas presents!) and it went from bad to worse. Aaron was so destroyed he could barely function and when it was his turn, he established that it was a movie with one word then he started waving his arms around as if he was flying and doing the under water dance from the 70's. He did this for the 2min duration and got nowhere. It wasn't surprising really when his movie was "Ray" and he was trying to do a sting ray impression in order to get us there! It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Closely followed by Macca impression of a Transformer which looked like the gayest Transformer I have ever seen! We had a right hoot. The next day we watched cricket all day with David Boone and Ian Botham on the arms of the chair (don't ask).

On Friday 29th December we went into Sydney with Macca. It was a beautiful day but so hot! We walked around circular Quay again and this time we could get right up to the Opera House as Oprah wasn't there! It was much more impressive close up. Its actually two separate buildingsand the shapes and angles are amazing. The whole area around the quay was so busy and buzzing with anticipation for NYE. We found a cool bar at the Opera House which has a wall of seating which runs right alongside the water almost back to Circular Quay. We had a cold beer and sunbathed on the wall with a backdrop of the harbour bridge and a view of the Opera House! We had to leave to go to Aaron and Francine's wedding so we left Macca to explore the rocks himself.

We met A&F in Fiji and they had already done South America and NZ. They had booked their wedding before they left but all they had booked was the person to legally marry them somewhere in Sydney, they had no idea where it was going to be or who was going to be there! When they were round on Boxing Day they were starting to panic so it will be interesting to see how it all goes!

We got the address Francine had emailed out and made our way across to the other side of Sydney to a suburb called, Rose Bay. We parked down a small, winding street, lined by extremely affluent houses with boats parked on driveways and followed the rest of the directions on foot. The suburbs of Sydney are quite hilly so there are some great views. We found our way down a tiny back street leading to some secluded stone steps, we could be in a small, Spanish town. From the top of the steps you could see the entire Sydney skyline. As it had been such a beautiful day and the sun was setting behind the Harbour Bridge, it was an almost golden light shining behind the city skyline of skyscrapers and the centre point tower. The sun on the water also looked amazing and there were boats of all shapes and sizes enjoying the same view from the water and even sea planes landing. When we got to the bottom of the steps we could see a small gathering of people on the cutest beach ever! The beach had golden sand and was only about 50m long. Francine looked amazing in her maxi/wedding dress and Aaron looked so nervous! The were ten guests including ourselves; Frank ann Mariella from Holland, Johan from Holland, and a couple of English girls who they met in NZ, a pair of English girls they met in South America and one of Francine's friends from home who lives in Bondi. The weather was still amazingly hot even though the sun was setting and it was just a perfect setting for a small wedding. There had been a few people having a party on the beach but kindly hopped on their boat when they saw the wedding party and moored up slightly off the beach. There was a small family who pulled up off their miniature sail boat and had a swim but apart from that, it was perfectly private! The lady turned up in a cap and trainers to marry them which we all found very amusing but she conducted a sweet ceremony. When Aaron had to choose a witness he looked very confused and panicked slightly before pointing to Joe! Ha! So, Joe signed the wedding certificate and is their official witness! We chilled out on the beach for a while then me and Joe drove to Bondi and went to Trattoria for dinner before getting lost in the city on the way home. We had such a nice evening and we are so pleased that their wedding turned out so perfectly. Congrats guys!

The build up to NYE is actually quite frightening as we have no idea where to go to watch the fireworks. Most places are alcohol free zones but there are loads of places where you can either buy alcohol or BYO too, there are so many choices we have no idea what to do for the best! It also doesn't help that the last day of the year (New Year's Eve) is also the hottest day of the year! 43 degrees! We made the decision to leave as late as possible for the dog and get a taxi to the train station in case we found somewhere to drink. So, we went into Sydney at about 4 and tried to get into the Opera House bar where we were the other day. But it had already closed as it was at capacity! So, we walked up to Mrs. Macquarie Point which is one of the best places to view the fireworks and had a capacity of 20,000 so surely we will get in there. No, also full to capacity. I feel like crying now as I'm so worried that I won't get to see the fireworks, the prospect of drinking has gone out of the window and simply finding a good vantage point is the only priority. So, we walked back to the Rocks and managed to get to this area after being herded like sheep through huge gates. The place is like a zoo. There is no space to stop and sit down and the walkways are jammed with people moving in different directions at the same time. People are camped in bushes and up trees and its awful! It's full of Asian tourists who have no manners and are all just desperate to ram there camera in the direction of absolutely anything! There are kids and buggies everywhere so I'm hoping they all leave after the 9pm fireworks. We managed to fin a bush to stand in which is slightly higher than ground level but it's so squashed in there with everyone trying to do the same thing. When the 9pm fireworks kicked off it went mad! There were people pushing into us and stepping on us and there was nowhere for them to go so they pushed past us then stood right in front of us, it was infuriating! They were all excited Asians rudely rampaging around with their bloody cameras! At one point, I had to hold up a Chinese family's pushchair to stop in falling on me and Joe got so angry I thought it was all going to go horribly wrong. We could really see the bridge but the fireworks over the Opera House and off the tops of buildings all around us were quite impressive. I managed a giggle when a VERY excited Asian man started whooping and squealing with genuine pleasure at every firework. We decided half way through the display that we would mission to the Opera House straight afterwards to try and get in somewhere else, there's no way we could stay in the bush of death for three hours without Joe getting arrested!

So we tried to make our way from West Quay to East Quay but so did the rest of the place at the same time as more people were trying to get in, it was bedlam! I couldn't even move my arms it was so rammed and people were barging around like loon dogs. One girl blew a voovoozela right in my face and I nearly rammed it up her arse. We managed to get round to the other side of quay closer to the Opera House with the hope that people would leave after the family display, but apparently that's not what happens. It was closed to capacity and we contemplated going home, it was definitely a more appealing option than fighting our way through the zoo of crazy people just to stand in a bush with no view. But some people were coming out with 'pass out' cards and Macca managed to get a few off some people who left! It saved our night and we went into the East Quay which was much quieter than the other zone with a perfect view of bridge! Halleluiah! It was still a pretty horrendous sight, with families and groups of people camped everywhere and so much rubbish all over the floor but it was still better than the other place. We decided to chill out away from it all until nearer twelve when we would weave our way to the front of the railings so we could see the bridge. Macca said it looked like there had been a natural disaster! Ha! Its funny how there were no Australians around and only tourists! When it got to near twelve, I found a bin to sit on and we had a perfect view of the bridge. The fireworks were absolutely incredible. Apparently it was Sydney's biggest display since 2000. They were coming off building in every direction and there was a waterfall off the harbour bridge, it really was worth it! All of the boats on the harbour were lit up, yachts looked like pirate ships and with the backdrop of the city lights it was a beautiful view! We managed to get home relatively hassle free which is a credit to the city council considering there were 1.5 million people down on the harbour! The streets were rammed with people in every direction, people were partying on road barricades and just in the middle of the street! We got home to Louie who was very pleased to see us and had our first drink of 2011. Although it was a stressful evening and an alcohol-free NYE, I am still pleased we saw the fireworks as they were well worth it. Happy New Year everyone!

We had a class New Year's Day too! Joe's Uncle Steve and Aunty Gillian go to Radwick races every New Year's Day with their friends Dawn and Richard and Dawn rang us and invited us! It was a scorching hot day and it was so much fun sitting in the sun drinking cider at the races on NYD! We won a few bets (Joe won a few bets, I picked the first two losers and got banned from betting) and chilled out in the sun! It wasn't too busy either, unlike any big day at the races in the UK, it had a good atmosphere but you could get to the bar really easily and everyone was wearing shorts and flip flops, it was really cool. Thanks to Dawn and Richard for the invite and a brilliant New Years Day!

On Sunday Aaron and Francine came over again and we thought we'd make the most of the good weather and go the Northern Beaches. These are a string of gorgeous beaches just north of Sydney which most people go to instead of Bondi and Many as they are quieter and prettier.We decided to go to the most northern of the beaches, Palm Beach which is also known as "Summer Bay", yes - the set of Home and Away! It took ages to get there as it seems the rest of Sydney has the same idea but it was cool seeing the set of Home and Away! There were so many places we recognised like, the wooden fencing that looks out onto the beach and café/diner! We also couldn't park as it was so busy but eventually got onto the beach in time for the sun to go in! Ha! The boys played for ages and me and Francine froze to death and got battered off the sand blowing into us at 100mph! Then it took 3hrs (normally a 30min journey) for us to get home due to the volume of traffic on B road which was very boring but we managed to entertain ourselves! We played "I went to the supermarket and bought…" Joe and Aaron managed to make it extremely amusing by doing it in ridiculous voices! Eventually we arrives home (along with 2 slabs) and created a mammoth BBQ feast. We played some card games afterwards (Aaron refused to do charades!) then Joe suggested watching the Hang Over but we were all assigned a names of characters and had to drink every time one was mentioned. The boys lasted about 20 minutes until they were all fast asleep! So me and Francine watched the end of the film and abused them! We had to wake them up when the film finished which was easier said than done. Aaron was dragged off the sofa without waking up and I put the controller in Joe's hand for him to turn off the film, just for him to drop it and go back to sleep. Joy! The next day we all woke up with horrible hang overs and lounged around all day watching the cricket. The boys played cricket at the Boronga Oval (in the garden) and me and Francine updated our blogs! A&F are off up the East Coast now so hopefully we'll see them when we're up in Maroochydore.

We have our flights booked to go back up there to live with Sam and Hayley. We fly on Saturday 22nd January as I start teaching swimming when the school term starts on Monday 24th January for 10 weeks. I still need to find another job and Joe needs to get sorted but its so much better being able to rent off S&H instead of having to sort out a $2000 deposit and contract of our own. We are very grateful to the Wellars! But hopefully halving the rent and bills will help them out too so we can all save some money for more Aussie explorations!

So, we are off the SCG for the fourth day of the Ashes on Thursday (6th) then we are doing the bridge climb on Friday afternoon! We get breathalysed before the bridge climb so we are going to have to behave at the cricket! Hopefully I'll get another blog done soon to fill you in on the cricket and the bridge climb!

Love to everyone, we miss everyone lots and lots!!!

All our love,

Joe and Elle x x x

Blog 3 - 20th January 2011

Sydney - The Rest of!

N.B. The "Happy New Year" photo album is backwards! If you want to look at them chronologically start at the end and work backwards! I've added some extra ones from Maccas camera too! Enjoy!

Hello again everyone! I've been told that my blogs are too long and boring so I'm going to try to condense them from now on but I'm not sure how successful I'll be!

The Sydney blog has been an epic one! Even longer than the Fiji one which is impressive! But we have been here for 6 weeks and have done so much so please forgive me if I go on! It feels like ages since we've seen Aaron and Francine now. They have left Australia even though they had plans to travel the east coast because the weather has been so bad. We thought we were unlucky but they have been forced to leave as the Greyhound buses are not running and National Parks such as Fraser Island have been closed and the sailing trips to the Whitsundays have also been put on hold. It's a total shame but they are in Asia now finishing off their travels there so we wish them the best of luck and lots of sunshine!

On Thursday 6th January we went to the fourth day of the Ashes! The weather had been hit and miss all week and we were quite worried but for once we were lucky and it was boiling hot sunshine all day! We almost wanted it to rain so we could cool down! The SCG was amazing and the Barmy Army were there going mental before play had even started. However, the rest of the ground was quite sedated and calm compared to an International game in England - never mind the Ashes! But we still had a few beers and sat in the sun watching the cricket so it was still a good day.(probably my favourite day in oz yet! J) Macca managed to get a ticket too so it was a good day out! We got to watch a good day of cricket with both teams batting and loads of wickets! It's been class how we have destroyed the Aussies! The funniest song was about Mitchell Johnson but I won't recite it! Ha! (My uncle very nicely bought us our tickets, which we really appreciated so we could afford a few more beers than we thought! J)

On Friday 7th January we did the bridge climb. We definitely wouldn't have done it if it hadn't have been for the girls buying it for me because it's quite expensive but we are so glad we did! Once again, we were lucky with the weather, it rained all morning then the sun came out in the afternoon ready for our climb! It was quite scary on the 'catwalk' which is a metal track hundreds of feet above the ground and you can see people walking around beneath your feet! It was really interesting the views from the top were amazing! The city is so beautiful. I wasn't too impressed with my first impressions but it has grown on me. There aren't many cities in the world with so much water, greenery and beaches! (for anyone who doesn't know the bridge climb is where you walk right over the top over the harbour bridge, and its very very high! The guide told us about how the bridge was made and many other things about the city. 13 people died building the harbour bridge, this was the first question I asked on the climb! J) We had great fun on the climb and Joe loved his jumpsuit so much he took it with him! Ha! Yes, Joe nicked the jumpsuit! (it was obviously very cheap and they had more than they needed, and it has proven very good for painting and other household chores! J)Thanks for a great prezzie girls!

Afterwards we went to The Rocks for the moonlight markets. They are fabulous markets with loads of stalls, live music, street entertainment and pubs! Ideal! We had half a litre of beer in a pub and I trawled the stalls for trinkets, dragging Joe behind me! It's another really cool part of Sydney. We also couldn't resist going for a quick beer at the Opera bar as we love it so much! It's got to be one of the best locations in the world to go for a beer! We love Sydney!

I worked at the restaurant at the weekend (two ten hour shifts!) then started teaching swimming on Monday 10th. I've been doing 3hrs in the morning and 3hrs in the afternoon in the water with total beginners! VILE! But I've got amazing wetsuit tan! Although it doesn't look so good with short denim shorts! I've also been working at the restaurant on Wed and Thurs evenings so I am totally knackered! Joe has to make me a pack up ready for when I come in from swimming so I can eat it in the car on my way to the restaurant! I feel like I'm either in the water or in the car all day! But I can't complain as its money we need and I went looking for it! Joe has been struggling for work since Christmas as most landscape companies have time off and the weather has been mixed. But he has been a fabulous house husband! He's even cleaned the bathrooms and done some painting for his uncle! (Ive also done a lot of gardening, runs to the tip and general household maintenance. But yes… I am a good house wife. J)

We went to The Summit restaurant in Sydney on Monday night. It's a restaurant at the top of a building with 360 degree city views of the Opera House, the bridge, the Centre Point Tower, and the rest of the city. We zoomed up to the 47th floor in about 10 seconds and entered this magnificent room with red lighting and tables along the floor to ceiling windows. The restaurant revolves at 1 metre per minute and takes an hour to do one lap so you get to see everything no matter where you sit, although you can never find the toilets! The food was also incredible (although it bloody well should have been!) and we had a lush night.

Steve, Gillian and Katie got back on Saturday 15th and we spent the weekend sight seeing at it was our last opportunity to do it before flying the Saturday after. We went to Manly beach and Darling Harbour on the Saturday. We drove to a beautiful little suburb called Cremorne and parked and got a day pass on the ferry to see Sydney from the water! We've seen it from the bridge and the harbour so might as well do it from the water too! Darling Harbour is really touristy with plenty to do but mostly for kids except the restaurants and cafes. We were both really tired too so we just wandered around aimlessly most of the time. We went back to Circular Quay to get the ferry to Manly and Joe slept all of the way there. I enjoyed the views from the boat as you could see Queen Beach where A&F got married and all the other posh suburbs in the hills with private jetties and swimming pools overhanging the harbour. There are so many private boats on the harbour and one guy was wakeboarding off the back of a speedboat which was quite cool considering there were waves! Manly was cool, but not as good as Bondi in my opinion. Just another beach really! I know I shouldn't complain but we've seen so many now it's getting hard to distinguish which ones are better than others.(biggest waves we seen yet though, unreal surfing beach. J). We had taken a picnic so we had our crackers and dips at Manly then headed back for a BBQ. That night, me, Steve and Joe sank a bottle of goon! It made me laugh as Steve is really into his wines but quite enjoyed our $10 box of Sauv Blanc! We didn't get to bed until 2am and woke up feeling very rough! Not a good idea as we had planned to go to the Blue Mountains.

Even though we felt rough, we still ventured to the Blue Mountains, and I am SOOO glad we did! It is a one and a half hour drive away but it was another beautiful day so driving up to Leura in the mountains wasn't such a bad mission. When we got there we had a lunch at the Bon Ton Café which is a quaint little café under a big old tree. The food was amazing and it sorted our hang overs right out. Then we drove to the viewing point of the Three Sisters. Usually, 'looking at things' and 'seeing views' can be quite boring, but this one really takes your breath away. I've seen the Grand Canyon and it wasn't as exciting as this. The rainforest covers every inch of the hills and mountains and it looks like they go on forever, rolling into the distance. The sun and clouds cast shadows in the valleys and sometimes the clouds lie lower than the summits of the highest hills. The Three Sisters look manmade standing there and the sheer vastness of it all is incredible to see. You can see the blue haze over the canapé caused by the eucalyptus leaves. We wanted to see one of the water falls so we walked to Katoomba Falls. It was really muddy as it had been wet and even though it was sunny it was too shaded to dry. The walk took us through the rainforest and past some smaller falls before we could see the big falls through a gap in the trees as well as the Three Sisters. Joe took an amazing panoramic shot with the new camera! We eventually got to the viewing platform of the falls which is much nearer the top where the water runs of than the bottom to say the least! Some people had jumped the barrier and were walking around on the cliff face where there was a ledge between the two sheer cliff faces. So we joined them! We went under the water and sat on with our feet dangling over the cliff edge thousands of feet about the canapé of the rainforest below. It is probably the best place I have ever stood. To be able to look down and see the water trickling over the edge to a mammoth drop, then look up and see gallons of water gushing over the rocks towards you was unreal! (There was another English guy there so I got talking to him. It turned out he was a good friend of a lad I played rugby with at Uni! J) We walked back to the car and drove home to have an early night before another week of death for me! We are flying next weekend and we are sad about it as we love it here and I have three jobs! Joe has also been offered work recently from a guy at the rugby club he's been playing at. They cannot do enough for him at the club and we almost feel bad leaving. But we are also looking forward to going up and staying with the Wellers and hopefully things will happen for us up there like they have down here. Maroochydore hasn't been hit by the floods like the rest of eastern Queensland but they are having a lot of rain so fingers crossed the weather picks up!

We are going into Sydney on Friday with the Joe's family for his birthday then leaving early Sat morning so the next time I'll be in touch will be from the Sunshine Coast! I hope everyone is well and keep the emails coming - so sorry I haven't been able to reply to them all but I love hearing from everyone!

Lots of Love from Elle and Joe x x x