Since Christmas, time has just flown by. So much so that we realised we hadn't done an update for a few months. So we'll go back to Christmas in Byron Bay which was very eventful to say the least!

Most of you will know by now that we are 'officially engaged' after Jim's romantic proposal on the beach on Xmas Day. After acting a bit strange beforehand, it all made sense when he got down on one knee in the sand in front of 100's of beach-goers! My embarrassment kicked in instantly and I found myself falling to my knees too, not wanting to draw attention to us, but it was a bit late for that. Everyone around us cheered as I said 'yes' and Jim popped open the Moet he'd been hiding.

Byron Bay was special to us as it was one of the few places we met up with eachother on our first trip, back in 2002, so it was a perfect day - gorgeous weather, amazing beaches, great food, lots of champagne and then eventually being able to call home in the evening to tell friends & family and surprise them.

Boxing day was just as eventful but not for the same reasons. Jim had just bought his new surfboard and towards the end of the day decided to go out for 'one last surf'. Within 10 minutes he came out limping in agony and then got worse and worse before the 'ambo's' were called. He'd had a bad reaction to a blue-bottle stinger and it had got in to his lymph glands. All very scarey but not life threatening and he was back at our hotel that evening with a nice big scar down his leg and codeine'd up to the eye-balls. Jim will ofcourse fill in all the blanks from this story for many years to come!!

To top-off our lovely break in Byron, we realised that the motel room we were staying in was infested with bed-bugs and we were covered from head-to-toe in bites. So we headed back to Brisbane looking like a dot-to-dot puzzle, but smiling away that we were now engaged and decided to crack on with wedding planning! Why wait?!

New Year's Eve was spent on Rainbow Beach camping which was good but different. The weather wasn't great so we kind of wished we'd got dressed-up and gone out in Brisbane, but we had a good time all the same and it made a change from our usual disco at the Victory pub!

Then Wiggsy's 30th birthday soon came round and we had a birthday meal with friends, tickets to 'Le Grande Cirque' and a lovely weekend in Surfers Paradise.

So since then we've been working hard trying to save up the dollars for our trip home and making the most of the weekends with surf trips here & there in-between the storms of a Queensland summer. This last weekend was spent in Noosa where we had to contend with torrential downpours one day, then Tsunami alerts with beach closures the next day when the sun did decide to shine! It's all part of it though and we were just relieved that the Aussies were taking it seriously after our last experience.

So our Oz Adventure comes to an end next week. It's been amazing and we've loved experiencing what it's like to live & work somewhere different, plus we've made so many good friends too. But sadly it's just too far away from home and at this point in time we've decided it's the right time for us to come home. Who knows in the future though.......

We've got lots to look forward to though. We head to Kuala Lumpur next week for a few days shopping, then 3 weeks holiday in Sri Lanka, before heading to Dubai to finish the trip (and buy the long-awaited rock!). Then it's home sweet home.....catching up with friends & family, a 90th birthday, friend's wedding & 4 new babies to meet. Plus our wedding in only 7 months time!

We'll let you know how the homeward-bound trip goes and keep a look out for more photos. Bye for now xxx