Hello everyone, Saturday the 24th Madeleine and I took the train up into the Blue Mountains to stay with the Powys family since Madz had a week off uni. It was AFL Grand Final Day... Aussie rules footy is big out here we decided to do it proper and sat eating meat pies and drinking Boags beer (from Tassie) the Sydney Swans won in a very very close match, I think there were four points in it, their first win since '72! Wentworth Falls is a beautiful village, Madeleine's Dad is the headmaster at the Blue Mountains Grammar School in the village and her Mum is a psychologist. Their lovely house is right at the end of the village in the bush surrounded by gum trees as far as the eye can see. I love it. Scary to think how close the bush fires came a couple of years ago though, they were evacuated out of the area that night. My first morning there we had 'Wires' the animal rescue people in to collect a tiger snake that had got it's head caught in the chicken wire that was up against the back fence. The worlds 4th most dangerous snake I believe!!!! What with that and lions and hippos etc... the UK does feel rather tame!!! Madz has one little brother Chris who is just about to take his grade 12 exams and a little sister Veronica who is 15. Vron and Malcolm and I went to 'Scenic World' in Katoomba where the old coal mines were and an amazingly steep little train was built to bring the coal up the mountain. Quite a ride!!! Vron and I have done loads of cooking this week which has been great fun, chocolate puddings, banana cake, Anzac buiscuits and Pavlova etc.... yum yum.... Anzac Recipe available on request!! It's been quite an entertaining week being part of a big a family again and also having to get used to the younger sibling thing, such as getting a continual ribbing from younger brother!! I also met a lovely Scottish couple who have live out here for the past 47 years when they came round to dinner, they are like surrogate grandparents to the family and are really fun. The kind of people who are genuinely interested to find out all about you and your plans etc and have very wise advice. We went to afternoon tea at theirs yesterday, the works - scones and jam and cream and cina cups! Didn't feel so far away from home at all! Tee hee Madz and I went up to Sublime Point the other day to see an amazing view down the two valleys that join here in Wentworth Falls, blimey it was windy! We had to really hang on to the railings have a quick look at the view and then attempt to battle against the wind to get back to the sheltered part of the cliff edge in the trees! We had a few very grey, rainy and windy days that made me feel like I was back in England. I'm glad to say that the weather has finally broken out again to the clear blue skies without a cloud in sight, much more like it!!!  Yesterday Vron and I had a lovely walk around the actual Wentworth Falls - stunning. The waterfall has cut a deep gorge out of the rocks and tumbles down hundreds of meters to the green gum covered valley below. (photos to follow I promise... being my usual non techno able person I'm struggling to turn my photos' the right way up and get them on the web, either I don't have to program to turn them around, or I'm in a place where the internet connection is too slow to cope with that amount of info at one time!) Also had a scary near miss with a lorry yesterday who decided not to bother looking for traffic when he turned onto the road that we were driving along when he was supposed to give way. Luckily managed to slam on the breaks in time, rather ironic since Vron and I had just been having a conversation about crashes when it all happened! Glad my reaction time is good, though I'd rather not have it tested! Madz and I are heading back to the city on Monday and then on Tuesday I fly out to Launceston in Tasmania for two weeks. I will be staying with the Blaxland family while I am out there and catching up with teachers at the school I worked at and friends who are at Uni over there. Then I return to Sydney and get the coach to Canberra to have a few days with my friend Emma who is at Uni there. Katie and Ian you might remember Emma Vinney who came to dinner in Leytonstone about three ago?! Then on the 22nd of October I fly out to Christchurch to start the next stage of the adventure. Carole Romaine will be joining me on the 24th Oct and from then we shall be taking on the South Island on NZ for two weeks which is going to be brilliant fun!  Whales, Mountains, amazing beaches, lots of green and lots of sheep!!!!