Continuous rain - not much to report

Happy 65th Birthday Helen's Dad!

So, to important matters first; we have been informed that the black frilly dude of a fish I referred to in my previous entry is actually blue and is called a Siamese Fighter. Just so you know.

George and Janice, two of Andrea and Karl's friends, their 9 year old son Aidan and 2 newly acquired kittens joined us for Christmas day. George and Janice are Scottish but lived in NZ for 10 years and moved here a few months ago. They have both retained very strong Scottish accents while their son sounds every bit Kiwi which is quite bizarre. We, of course, had a barbie but had to eat indoors as it was too windy outside. The animals tried to bond albeit rather unsuccessfully on the whole. However we all had a good day.

We have also been house hunting with Andrea and Karl as their house is up for sale and they want to move up the Sunshine Coast to a place called Caloundra. I think this was the first step in persuading us to move over here; showing us what we could get for our money. We visited some AMAZING show homes for around £250000 which would easily fetch £500000 upwards in the UK. With a main lounge, a kids lounge, a parents lounge, and a spare lounge (called a 'rumpus'), a pool, wardrobes the size of a regular UK single room, double showers in the en-suite, stunning kitchens, walk-in pantries…you get the idea….we were impressed, so, see ya folks!!! Just kidding, for some reason don't mind old blighty so will return at some point. For a bit anyway!

We called in to see George and Janice, who live in a beachside area called Redcliffe. Just to give you an insight as to how nice and hospitable they both are; we called in for coffee and on arrival George had put a leg of lamb to roast in the oven and we ended up stopping for dinner (he made me pasta).

We haven't been doing much more really, the weather is still grey and rainy but it's nice to re-charge for a bit.