Day 45 (Thursday 30th November 2006)

Our flight landed in Melbourne at 07:20 local time...Sarah's face pressed up against the window desperately trying to spot kangaroos...and then displaying real horror when the captain announced the temperature outside as 9*C!!

We had plenty of time (or so we thought) to make it to our connecting flight which departed at 09:10, but we were in for a rude awakening. No one quite does customs like Melbourne and after dodging 50,000 Asians making their way in to the country, we got got held up in quarantine. They ransacked our backpacks and went over everything with a fine toothcomb. Our walking boots were taken off in plastic bags to be sterilized.

It was taking ages and we were in serious danger of missing our flight to Adelaide. Of course Marc was coping really well with it all, occasionally muttering sarcastic comments such as "take your time guys"...we're surprised he didn't earn himself a strip search!!

With the contents of our bags still hanging out the sides, we raced through the airport towards the check-in desk for our connecting flight to Adelaide. As we approached the desk, the information board flashed up with 'flight closed'. As you can imagine Marc was pretty impressed and after he'd finished swearing and trying to ram his boots back in his bag in a paddy, we were booked on to the next flight, leaving about an hour later.

Our biggest fear was keeping Keith waiting at the airport in Adelaide, so we shred our bags apart further in an attempt to find his mobile number. We found it and he was surprisingly laid back about the whole thing, even though he was taking time out of work to get us.

When we finally touched down in Adelaide he was there waiting at the arrivals lounge and he helped us with our bags back to his car. He quickly cheered Marc up when he revealed he'd managed to get him a ticket for the fourth day of the test, but sadly Sarah had to miss out.

That said, he'd obviously put a lot of thought in to our arrival and as well as arranging horse riding lessons for Sarah, he'd already made several enquiries in to finding us a car...what an uncle!

After a long old drive we finally reached the Barossa Valley and the sleepy town of Truro where he and his wife Jo and their kid Liam live. It's a beautiful place, terribly quiet, but just the kind of place we like. Their cottage is lovely, the garden too and whilst showing us around, he laid down a few of the house rules.

With that he was back off to work and we were left to our own devises. First things first we had a thorough wash of our clothes and backpacks and it all dried in no time in the crisp South Australian sun. We still didn't feel like we were in the land of Oz yet though...perhaps because we hadn't seen a kangaroo yet!!

Jo was the first one home and we chatted out on the veranda whilst sipping the local green tea. Keith and Liam soon followed and we all sat outside to eat Keith's wonderful stir-fry he cooked up on the barbie...there were no shrimps though!

Like a long summer's evening back home, it didn't get dark until late and together Keith and Jo helped us with a rough plan of what we could do whilst in Australia. It took us untill dark to figure out what that rediculous thing called 'Fluffy' was, sitting in the plant pot outside the house. 'Fluffy' is Keith's special chicken, who unlike the rest of the chickens, is free to wander the garden at it's own leisure. It is unlike any chicken the world has ever seen and as the name suggests, it is simply a big ball of fluff with a beak!

It was all very perculiar and by now it was definitely like a evening back home because Sarah had her fleece on! Yes guys, we were actually getting a bit chilly!

Bit cold...no kangaroos...was this all really some kind of conspiracy...

Day 46 (Friday 1st December 2006)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARC'S MUM!!!!

After a nice cool evening and comfortable sleep, we slept right in untill 10:00. Marc was up just in time for the first day of the Adelaide test match to start on the tv and although he wasn't there as planned, he was more than happy, nestled on the couch...Sarah had an exciting day ahead of her!

With everyone else off to work and school, Sarah turned to 'Fluffy' for company and her and her new feathered friend, chilled out in the garden listening to her i-pod and watching the galahs. Thoughts of Alf Stewart began running through her head..."You flaming galah"!

Meanwhile Marc vegetated in front of the tv watching Collingwood and co. kick Aussie arse, but at lunch, Sarah did get him up for a stroll down to the town here in Truro. The town consists of a petrol station (that's a 'servo' Ria) and a bakery. That's your lot folks and as quick as you could say 'Cornish parstie' we were back again...Marc was happy, the second session was just about to start!

In the evening we all went for dinner to 'Fasta Pasta'. No the catchy title does work because just like their 'parsties', they eat 'parsta' too!! Marc caused total mayhem by ordering steak...gotta' love him!

At dinner we decided that tomorrow's agenda would be to find a cheap car for us to get around and on the way home, Keith was busy searching the back roads for kangaroos...just to prove to us they're not merely a myth. However, our disillusions grew when after a whole two hours, we still hadn't found our first kangaroo...do they really exist???

PS Marc's mum, and Monty for that matter, hope you both had a wonderful Birthday guys!! Miss you loads xxx (the kisses are for Monty)...