Our Finished House

So it's finished, sorry am too exhausted to tell you all the details tonight, but suffice to say apart from finding some redback spiders enjoying our outdoor furniture and metricon burying the telephone connection, so we still have no phone or Internet it's all gone fairly well with some help of some fabulous friends. God has been so good to us this year and we have been truly blessed. 

ensuite bathroom

rumpus room

shower room

bathroom

our house

our bedroom

Ceri's bedroom

Rebeccas's bedroom

Josh's bedroom

our walk in wardrobe

So enjoy the pictures and have a fab Christmas xxx

HB week 17

Back again... for the 2nd time this week, ok so strictly speaking it wasn't a blog, it was a Christmas letter, but really its a summary of our almost first year here. I can't believe it's 11 months, we really have packed a lot in and I could have written so much more but was very aware of posting more than a page to the few that haven't email.  

The house is almost finished :))) but of course not without more saga's.... the lights... we thought that debacle had finished  but oh no... the hall lights now! we bought 4 of the same lights but 1 a bigger size than the others to make a feature... but oops, its too low, even pulled right up to the ceiling Mark is going to walk straight into it every time, and just to make it worse, we can't take it back as all the packaging got thrown out by the electricians. Hey ho... guess what will go on eBay soon? just need to get another of the same size as the others now.

We also hadn't got the gas connected, so yesterday, 3 poor guys were digging trenches in 32 degrees laying a gas pipe, fortunately that wasn't our problem, my problem was chasing up the solar guys to come and connect the panels, fortunately I got hold of them and they're coming this week.

Anyway, it's all been cleaned and tidied up now, skip taken away and the outside tidied and Wednesday it becomes ours :). Strange but they call skips, 'bob cats' here, still haven't found out where that name came from. The guy doing the concrete is now able to come on Wednesday too and will now be able to get it all done before Christmas so we will have a driveway as well. However well still have till Wednesday for something else to happen.... oh and we bought a letterbox too, the excitement is overwhelming! I did actually start some packing today too, equally exciting!

Clotted cream... don't those 2 words make you drool and go weak at the knees, well having not had any for 11 months, we found somewhere that does it, mind you they are Tasmanian cows.. so will it taste the same I don't know, it's definitely not as yellow! Anyway it's our Christmas treat (along with a house)  as it was $8.50 for 200mls... an absolute fortune, so small spoonfuls allowed only. 

Well the kids have done very little this week on their holiday, both been to some parties and out with friends but mostly just vegging.

Having thought we'd finished the C'mas shopping.. we hadn't, so yesterday we did some of that and bought a fancy steam cleaner as ours broke this week and as we have huge floors to clean it was a necessity. 

Mark had his induction for the fostering agency on Monday, seemed to enjoy it and hopefully will get plenty of work, but as they hadn't yet got his references back he can't start work until then, so I guess it will be after C'mas now before he gets any work with them.

Last night we wandered around Heathwood looking at C'mas lights and the ones that had entered the neighbourhood competition, there were some really great houses too, just weird walking around in shorts at C'mas time. 

There is also a distinct lack of hype, Christmas carols and sparkly party clothes in the shops, probably a good thing but definitely weird not having all that.  

ok so that's it for tonight, I will try and post next week, but with moving Saturday... who knows, however I will do the big reveal and post some house photos which you've all been waiting for.

Christmas Letter

http://aquickadventure.blogspot.com.au/                                               61 Laurel Street

lois.quick1@gmail.com                                                                          Heathwood

mark.quick5@gmail.com                                                                       QLD 4110

                                                                                                                Australia

                                                                                                                00617 33726830

Happy Christmas from down under, where it’s hot, sunny, the BBQs are in full swing, there’s fake snow on people’s gardens, and it doesn’t feel like Christmas!! However despite the fact my poor brain is confused we have had the most amazing year and are just so settled. For those of you who keep up with my weekly blog (web address at the top) this will not be news to you, for those that miss weeks it will be a fill in and those that haven’t read it at all this will all be new, so hope you enjoy.

So where to start.....

Well we left the UK the w/e after Ceri’s 18^th birthday in January, having spent a great w/e in London with her, seeing Mamma Mia, some sights and staying in a luxury hotel. It was hard leaving her behind, but the 5 months till she got here went so quickly, it was just sad her missing out on the initial adventure, although I think she had her own staying with her grandparents for that time. The flight was just so long.....and getting back on in Singapore after 2 hours was painful, but it was grit your teeth and just get on with it! However just to make us feel at home it rained for the first 2 days we got hereJ, but coats were so not feasible, it was brollys and shorts or else the inside of the coats were wetter than the outside as it was just so hot. The first few weeks were a bit of a whirlwind, we spent 2 days in Brisbane to start with registering at the bank, the tax office, nursing & midwifery board, medicare etc, and then moved down to the motel we had booked in Ipswich. Well that was a rude awakening to Aussie wildlife, within 4 hours we were back out of that motel room having become rather too closely acquainted with some rather large cockroaches, geckos and spiders!! Fortunately we found a much nicer motel very close by where we then stayed for the next 6 days, with a very accommodating owner who didn’t object to us not liking her wildlife, and realising we were actually new to the country.

So we got the kids enrolled in school after spending a fortune on uniforms, they found that the biggest shock after polo shirts and sweatshirts at Oke but got used to it fairly quickly, although I still hate ironing them.. sooo many pleats. The next few weeks were spent settling into our rental, buying cars, finding our way around and deciding what we wanted to do about buying a house, as to whether we built, or bought and renovated. The Australian dream was to buy acreage and have the pool, but after 3 weeks of cutting the grass in the heat, a small plot in suburbia became far more appealing and with no grass!!  So having looked at property and none of it being quite right, we spent many a weekend looking at show homes and deciding which builder and plan we wanted. We found a plot of land about ½ km from where we were renting and then adapted a plan. Building is Oz is very different...builders have lots of designs, you choose the nearest to what you want and then chop and change it, and then you have to choose everything from the colours of bricks, roofs and gutters through to paint colours and whether you want melamine or wood shelves. All becomes slightly overwhelming. Also remembering the lighting plan we decided back in June to now when it’s all being installed is quite a task. Anyway, over the last few months with some ups and downs the house is almost finished and we move in on the 22^nd so we are all excited, especially the prospect of finally unpacking all the rest of the boxes and getting the swim spa delivered.

We have spent a lot of time going out at weekends exploring the country, the beaches are amazing and the sea is like a warm bath, not a wet suit to be seen, or needed, needless to say ours are all still in boxes and will probably never be needed! So we have been into Brisbane many times, been to various parts of the coast, Brisbane’s hinterland, Australia zoo and seen many areas that were underwater in the 2010 floods. It’s such a varied country and we’ve still so much more to explore. We had a week up in Airlie Beach, when Jim & Jan came over in June and then a weekend in Noosa, when Mum and Dad were her last month, so we look forward to exploring more next year.

God certainly looked after us when we arrived and we very quickly found a fantastic Baptist Church that we have all settled into and made some really good friends, the first people we met were Liverpool supporters and lived right around the corner from us. We also found that the youth pastor’s sister has CRPS which was a valuable source of information when finding a GP that knew about it for Mark to register with, another worry resolved easily. So now Mark is already on the leadership team, Josh, Rebecca and I in the music team, Ceri’s on the youth leader team and we’ve all got stuck in. So much for having a rest... I guess it’s just not us!

So I guess the one of the main reasons we came over was to help Mark’s pain and wow was it worth it. His stick has stood by the front door since got here and his wheelchair space in the container could have been used for something we didn’t bring and needed as it has not been used at all. He still has good days and bad days but his pain relief has been reduced by 2/3 and we are so thankful to God for the improvement. He even went back to work in August, working in pre and post school care, we thought it would be good with the break in the day, but it made the day too long and was a ½ hour journey to and fro, with too much standing time on his foot, so hasn’t worked out. However he started an induction this week for work with a fostering agency, doing the advocacy work he did in the UK and is also part way through the interview process for working in the prison, hopefully in the education centre or juvenile unit. So we are hopeful and pray that the right job will be just around the corner

I started work at the end of Feb in Ipswich as planned and although I really enjoyed myself there, the opportunity came to apply for clinical nurse consultant post with Brisbane South Chronic Disease which was much nearer home, so at the end of April I was successful and changed jobs. It was a good move but been a challenge which is ongoing, partly because of the respiratory backgrounds we come from and partly personalities. However due to government cuts we are in the process of a restructure and the thoughts are when we come back after C’mas the whole service will look very different, slash and burn is the way its happening, so we wait and see. But don’t get me started on primary care here, it is soooo behind where the UK is in terms of patient care and nurse training, aarrgghh!!! I have to constantly stop myself saying, ‘in the UK...’  but it helps that many of the other specialist respiratory nurses are from the UK too.

I’ve also taken up cycling, didn’t want to pay to go in a gym when the weathers so good here... but the downside is I’m out the door at 5.30am!! It has to be done as it gets too hot otherwise to go out, but life generally starts much earlier here.

As for the kids, they have settled in so well. Ceri joined us at the end of June when she finished her course at Exeter college having achieved 2 distinctions and a merit for her BTEC. So after giving me a very worrying 24 hours while she flew across the world on her own, she has started work in a childcare centre, which she is enjoying. They are also going to put her through her childcare course next year. She is also madly in love with Matt, a lovely lad from church and always out with him, young adults life group, youth group or with friends, so very settled and very busy along with learning to drive.

Josh has done really well at school, although not so pleased with the obsession of the Aussies in him being a Harry Styles lookalike (a One Direction band member). He has taken part in swimming, rugby, concert and stage band and for 2013 has been voted house prefect and has a lead part in the school musical ‘Joseph’ (one of the brothers). Along with working in Woolworths supermarket, learning to drive, attending youth and discipleship group and a very active social life he has kept extremely busy.

Rebecca achieved her aim of obtaining a Gold academic award this yr which was exciting. She has also been doing touch, cross country, hockey, debating, concert band and drama troupe. She also has a lead part in the musical and still sings continuously. She also attends youth group and has also lead worship at night church which was a joy to see. However her main achievement to quote is ‘surviving being dragged to the other side of the world’ J

One of the hardest parts for both of them is that the extracurricular stuff at school all starts at 6 /7am and as Rebecca keeps saying ‘the world shouldn’t start before 8am’, however they have both really thrown themselves into school life and thoroughly enjoyed it.

So what’s the difference with Aussie life apart from the obvious... it’s so warm and sunny J. I have to say, being in the sun and being warm does make you feel so much better. Well, I had a fascination with traffic light boxes when we got here as they are all painted and decorated, as are many of the fences along the roads, painted with wildlife scenes and all sorts of other things. Your shopping gets packed for you in supermarkets and you can’t buy alcohol in there,  the world starts much earlier, cost of food and eating is way more as are the wages, but bills and petrol are way less. You can hang the washing out without knowing you may have to take it in and out ½ dozen times in a day, you can plan trips out on the w/e without the knowledge you may have to cancel it because of rain. We’ve seen kangaroos and koalas. Hail storms are wicked... hail the size of golf balls, only been in it once (when Mum and Dad were here) but it was scary L and we now have a huge Aussie BBQ J. The kids have had opportunities at school that they wouldn’t have had in the UK, you can buy Marmite, and Mark is much better....what can I say, we love it, and in all honesty, apart from the odd day, none of us have had much homesickness J

So we made the move, it was worth the effort, stress and dream and now we’re living it. So while we’re having a very hot sunny Christmas we wish you a very Happy cold one and all the best for 2013.

Please keep in touch, we still love to hear news from the UK, and if you get bored feel free to read my weekly blog with all our Aussie news

Lots of love,

            Mark, Lois, Ceri. Josh & Rebecca   xxxxx

HB wk 16

what a week!!

well, we found someone else to do the concreting saving us $5000 which is not to be sniffed at! He can also do some of it on the 20th and 21st, so hopefully he can do the back of the house, so we can have somewhere to sit outside and put the spa on, until he can do the driveway on the 12th Jan. The concrete plants all shut down on the 21st until the 9th Jan, so gravel it will have to be until then, but no worries, at least we'll be in the house :). Still, nothing goes completely smoothly and this weeks drama was the lighting. We were paying the electrician extra to put our lights up that we had bought, but we discovered that the plans we had drawn up with Metricon were different to the copy Metricon had given them, the dates were the same so somewhere along the line they had been copied incorrectly. Not to worry it was all sorted in the end and the lights put up... but then.... 1 of the 3 pendant lights above the kitchen island turned out to be cream, and the other two white! Fortunately the store we bought them in had one left which turned out to be the right colour white. So hopefully that's all the issues sorted. So just the cleaning and carpets to go down now.

Removal men are all booked too for the 22nd, so am all very excited. 

Mark also managed to get through the test last week, so part 2 was a multiple choice paper was about 800 questions, checking personality as well as observation, and he had to complete a medical questionnaire  He gets the results this week and if gets through interview the week after.. so keep watching this space. However he also has the induction for the fostering agency tomorrow, so at least that's now starting too. 

As for the R&R he was going to get this week... it went out the window. He spent the week ferrying kids around, fetching lights from shops, shovelling sand and spent Tuesday out for the day with Rebecca Christmas shopping.

I had a quieter week at work although the pressure is increasing, the got rid of 180 home and community workers this week. Our new exec gets appointed next week and then our review of our stream starts, hey ho, we'll just wait and see. I went out to a queensland nurses respiratory group meal and talk on thursday, very nice restaurant and all paid for which made it even nicer.

The kids have enjoyed the first week of their hols, not quite sure what they've done though. Josh went for a run at 6.30 one morning with a friend, that was entertaining seeing him getting up that time of morning. 

The weekend was quite hectic though, Mark and I were out Christmas shopping by 9.30 yesterday, then went to look at letterboxes - they are all at the ends of the drives here so we need one, then went to get the light changed.. so a lonnnng day. 

Today I did a mega cycle before church, 64km, so was very pleased with myself, but tired thisevening. Then thisafternoon, went with Rebecca to get the last bits of shopping and then some stuff she wanted, then we had night church and here I am again :)

So another week goes, Christmas is getting nearer, but so less Christmassy here, no advent wreaths, no where near enough carols and to cap it all, all I hear on the radio is a cover of Last Christmas, sang by some woman at twice the original speed, its just wrong!! But I'm not being scrooge really :)

HB wk 15

so.. we are nearly there with the house, it becomes ours on the 19th December, but are still not sure whether we will move in before Christmas. We realised a massive error on Monday ..we have no air conditioning in the house !!!!  how we missed that I know not :(( Actually we thought it was included in the house and at no point when we were discussing electrics or upgrades or fixtures etc was it mentioned, so we are not happy with Metricon, yet again. Why they never questioned it is beyond me, they're supposed to be the experts after all. Hey ho... anyway we have got a company to do it for us on the 20th Dec and then the blinds are all being fitted on the 21st. So the next question is can we find a removal company to move us in with no driveway, coz then we can have that put down afterwards, or else we go with the original plan and get the guy we'd already arranged to put it down on the 17th but then we can't drive on it for a week which would definately put it back until after C'mas. We have also found out the guy that gave us the quote is really expensive and we were only going with him coz metricon would let him on site earlier, but as its only 2 days earlier.. is it really worth it... possibly not. The landscaper is also booked now for the 14th, he's doing all the big stuff and we get to do all the planting...yay, finally get to look at plants :)

Anyway, we managed to get in the house this weekend, the decorating's finished, the floor tiles are almost all down and it's looking great, I can't wait to be in.

So what else of the week...

We booked a holiday for the 7th Jan... we will have moved in by then.... we are going down to Ballina, which is about 2 1/2 hours down the NSW coast, just south of Byron Bay (Phil Spencer's favourite place in Oz!). We have just rented an apartment for 5 nights, thought it would be nice to go see another bit of the country while I have an enforced holiday (how sad) and the kids have their 8 weeks off.  

Yes, they finished for the summer on Friday for 8 weeks. They are so ready for it, but they have had to wait almost 18 months for a long holiday as they missed their UK one in July. It seems a really long time, but I guess as with all holidays it will go quite quick. Just had to do the book lists for next year...ouch, don't like that bill!! and their reports all come in the post this week. They finished on a high, Josh got into Barbershop boys, Rebecca got into Bella Cantabile (male and female singing groups) and they both got a part in the school musical. Josh got one of the brothers (they are doing Joseph) and Rebecca got a brother's wife (poetic license to get some girls parts), so they are both very excited and nervous  and dreading all the rehearsals until July, but I'm sure they'll enjoy it and have fun... and I'll just reminisce from when I did it at school :).

Mark finally finished his current job on Friday which was good, he is now waiting to hear when the induction will be for the fostering agency. However he also had an initial numeracy / literacy/ observation test with a remand centre this week for casual work, with a view to permanent work, if he passes that he has to have an eyesight test and then an interview, so more irons in fires...

Ceri and Matt are still totally loved up , and we rarely see them as they are either sat in our spare room, or out... but very happy.

I had my tupperware party on thursday and had such fun, lots of freebies and lots of goodies and it's so much better and colourful than when I used to sell it.

Mark and I managed to start the Christmas shopping yesterday, getting Josh his pressie early... and I Phone 5.. he managed to drop his phone and break it at the beginning of the week, well you'd think he'd had both arms amputated!! we gave in and let him have it early. 

But I am so disorientated, I'm looking a spring summer catalogues, its 31 degrees and we have c'mas lights and carols ..... it just doesn't work in my head. 

Today we had a lovely afternoon at Southbank with Ivan and Mel, lunch, coffee, ice creams and shopping :) still I really must try and do more c'mas stuff, it'll be here very quickly.

HB wk 14

I haven't forgotten to write this week, honestly but Mum and Dad left on Sunday, then we had night church, then I had to iron uniforms and really didn't feel like writing after all that, then yesterday we had housegroup so sorry guys you've had to wait two days. What is it about routine... what creatures of habit we are :)

Anyway, I am upset now, I can't get into the house, I have tried to get in all week but the decorators have gone home by the time I finish work and there is black plastic at all the windows so I can't even see in :(( and I want to get in and see the bathrooms done. Not happy!!! I guess if I was organised I'd phone the site manager and ask to go have a nosy. However on Saturday we did finally go and get the rest of the lights that we needed and then met the concrete guy to discuss driveways and pathways etc, and we now have an initial landscaping plan to work with... more still happening and not long to go. We got a phone call this week to say it will be handed over on the 21st, which is the good news, the bad news is that the concreting won't be dry enough until Christmas eve for us to drive on, so looks like we won't be moving in until after Christmas. At least we can put the deccys up here and try and feel Christmassy. 

Well on that note we now have snow in our street!!! the house down the road has put white fleecy stuff over half their garden and bordered in with sugar candy canes, and as for the rest of the house, fence, roof, garden... well!!!!   

So Monday I took Mum and Dad to the station for 6am as they got a train down to Sydney, and then it was back to work as normal. Mark was still on same work pattern of afternoon admin too although has gone back to normal this week after seeing his GP on Friday.

Josh has had exams so been at home for a lot of the week doing 'revision' in between. Ceri had a review at work and they are now going to put her through a childcare course starting asap, so probably January, so she is pleased. She's also been getting her driving hours up too as we've been picking her up from work.

Tuesday Rebecca and I went to watch the Twilight film, Breaking Dawn pt 2 which we really enjoyed. 

So Saturday I was up a ready for riding with Mel at 5.30 when I read her text from the previous night cancelling, so I decided I'd go out anyway....53km I did, my longest yet and was very chuffed with myself.  I still had the energy to do light shopping too afterwards. We also took Rebecca and her friend to a shopping mall on our way but stopped there on the way back. Anyway the highlight of the afternoon was finding an English sweet stall.... Rowntree Fruit pastilles and McVities Jaffa cakes :))) but I daren't tell you the price of fruit pastilles was $2 = £1.20 a packet !! and jaffa cakes were £10... ouch, to be saved for a special occasion.

Anyway we then went out for pasta with Rebecca, her friend Kiarna, Ceri & Matt,  followed by watching Skyfall (the new James Bond) and so had a lovely evening. Josh had gone out with a friend so declined our company. 

Sunday we played hookey from morning church and went to meet Mum and Dad again. They had spent 2 days in Sydney and then joined a cruise ship and are cruising back to Singapore before flying home. However the docked in Brisbane on Sunday so Matt took Ceri and Rebecca, and Mark and I picked then up and we made it to Australia Zoo, 3rd time lucky :) We had a lovely day up there, Ceri got to feed the elephants and Mum got to see her koala's that she hadn't seen. Did you know that Koala's live in solitude of a 2 sq km area, sleep for 22 hours /day, eat only eucalyptus, have a caecum 2 meters long to digest all that fibre which is so exhausting which is why they sleep so much, plus gum leaves have no energy. Aussie fact of the day for you. 

Anyway Mark and I then took them back to the ship for 4.30pm which was hard and sad, but lots of lovely memories to enjoy. 

So then it was night church where Rebecca exercised her faith, using the gift God has given her and led the worship completely, she was brilliant and really blessed some by what she said, made me a very proud mum.

And so we're back to where I started ironing!!! I keep saying it breeds and the world revolves around it, sad but true, come back mum, I had none while she was here :) So it's a late blog but the last 2 days adventures will wait till next week.....

HB wk 13

ok well as I got lots of complaints re no photos of the house I'll give you a sneak preview of my half finished kitchen as I am so excited... and yes it is purple !!!

well the chippies are now finished and the tilers have started, so still all on track for finishing for Christmas.

We have booked the electrician to put all the lights up for us now, and am seeing the concrete guy next Saturday to book and decide what we are going to do. 

Well, Mark made it through the week just working afternoons and doing admin. However he is still getting very tired and getting headaches so the GP said he has to stay doing the same for another week. The good news / risk is that he handed his notice in this week so has only 2 more weeks to go. At present the new job have planned the induction for the week beginning the 3rd Dec as long as the police checks etc are all back so we are praying hard it works out for then. 

so we have a had a lovely week with Mum and Dad here and been out lots of  lovely places. On Monday we went up to Wivenhoe Dam and then drove a very long way back round over Mount Glorious to see a bit of Brisbane's hinterland. We all then went our with our housegroup to a very authentic Vietnamese restaurant and had a lovely evening.

 Tuesday Ceri also had the day off and we went over to Stradbroke Island and had a lovely day. We caught the ferry over, the drove over to Point Lookout and walked around the boardwalk watching for dolphins and sea turtles of which we saw both. Following lunch we then went paddling and walked along another beach avoiding lots of jellyfish, but the sea was 21 degrees... lovely :)

I still find it hard to believe that we can do things like that as a day out from home.. just lovely.

Wednesday we then went and did a trip down the Gold Coast following the coast road and stopping at Surfers Paradise, Miami beach and lunch and longer walk at Burleigh heads national park around the headland. We then came back with a detour at IKEA as I needed some bits and pieces. 

Thursday was a pottering morning and then we went to the Botanic Gardens in the afternoon, walking around the very authentic rain forest part which turned out to be very well hidden sprinklers but was very funny :)

So Friday bought an emotional day for the kids at school as the year 12s left :(  They had a leavers assembly with a graduation ceremony and guard of honour from the rest of the school, lots of tears shed by all. Is hard to believe it could have been Josh if we hadn't put him back a year... which was such the right thing to do.

However Ceri had the day off again so 4 of us set off for our w/e away and Mark, Josh and Rebecca came up after school. We were off to explore Noosa although as we had the whole day we went via the Glasshouse mountains. Interesting fact... they were named by James Cook as he thought they resembled the glass furnaces in his hometown in Yorkshire... I like them even more now, being a Yorkshire lass :) 

We then went to Montville, which was a lovely town and I could have quite happily spent the day there mooching around the shops and we had lunch in a 

restaurant with the most amazing views.

We then went on to see the Big Pineapple.... nothing else there but I can at least now say I've seen it.

We then went on to Noosa... by the time we'd done some shopping Mark and the kids had arrived.

the apartment was lovely , we had resident birds sat on out balcony too which was fun to watch along with the brightly coloured parakeets in the trees, and crows building a nest.

So Friday we went out to a lovely Italian and had a great evening.

Saturday morning we ambled around Noosa, in the afternoon we went further a field and explored some beaches and the lookout point over Noosa which was beautiful... see  photos below.

Mum was determined to see Koalas and Kangaroos before she left but with thunderstorms forecast the zoo was a no go for the second Sunday in a row :( we managed to come back via the coast road and avoided the rain until early afternoon, stopping at Mooloolaba and Caloundra. 

This evening Rebecca and I then took Mum and Dad out to see some wild kangaroos, and fortunately spotted some just before the heavens opened and we got caught in the biggest hail storm I have ever seen, it bought all the traffic to a complete stop and the noise on the car was phenomenal. 

So tomorrow Mum and Dad leave for Sydney, then are back here next week when their cruise ship docks for the day, so goodbyes postponed for a week which is just as well as they need to be at Central station at 6.15am :( and then I'm back to work :(:(

Anyway I have added some more piccys at the end tonight for your perusal. 

HB wk 12

Well this week has been great having Mum and Dad here, but it gets better now I'm on holiday this week :))

However the down side of this week is that I am now locked out of my house :((( It's now at lock up stage and by the time I get back from work the builders are gone, so even if I wanted to take some piccys I can't and am so dis-chuffed!!! I even sneakily left a window very slightly open last Saturday but they must have noticed coz when I went back on Monday it was locked again... I'd never make a burglar (which is probably a good thing!) Anyway I did speak to the site manager and the chippies were in this week, and the tiler is due to start tomorrow and decorators next week, so at least it's still moving on. At least being off this week I can get in during the day.

Well Mum and Dad have had a good week, they have done a few trips into Brisbane and explored the city, river and botanical gardens. I was then off on Friday and we went down to Mount Tambourine and did a sky-walk through the rainforest, glow worm caves and shopping and had a lovely day. As I am off this week we have lots of lovely trips planned and are then going away for the w/e on Friday, so blog may well be late again next week.

Mark went back to work on Tuesday doing the 2 hours in the morning, didn't go too bad considering, but although he was supposedly just on admin duties didn't exactly happen all the time. So this week he's doing the afternoons and not the mornings, again just admin, so will  wait and see how that goes. However he starts the induction for the new job on 3rd December so can hand his notice in on Friday woohoo:)) 

The kids have had busy weeks, Ceri was on late shifts not finishing until 6pm so Mark went and picked her up each evening as unfortunately the buses wouldn't get her home until about 8pm otherwise, fortunately she's back on earlies next week. 

Josh and Rebecca had the school's highlight on Friday.. A Night of Celebration... It was held in the main concert hall in Brisbane, lots of speeches by lots of people and lots of awards presented and goodbye said to the year 12s. The kids were performing in orchestra and stage band and Josh got acknowledge as house prefect for 2013 and Rebecca was presented with a Gold Academic award and a Service award, which she didn't know she was getting and was a nice surprise. It was a good night and the speeches weren't as long as we were led to believe thank goodness.

The school do a large musical production alternate years and it has just been announced that they are going to do 'Joseph' next year... we  are just trying to get Josh to audition :) and Rebecca is going to too although there are not too many female roles in it. I so love that musical since I did it in school too :)

Well... yesterday it rained all day, the first real wet day since we've been here so was not happy!! So plan B was carried out instead, we went shopping in the morning and then all went bowling in the afternoon followed by Chinese and had a lovely day. Today after church Matt and Ceri went off to Mt Tambourine, and we all went to Manly and walked along the estuary and had lunch and then went down to Wellington Point before coming back to night church. 

Hee hee... I've also gone and booked a tupperware party and am so looking forward to it, got my new big pantry to kit out. It's a big thing over here still, reminds me of my days as a tupperware rep. Anyway it's all changed and so colourful now.

Well I can't think of anything else from this week, so I'm done for tonight. 

HB wk 11

well I did wonder about writing this tonight as no-one commented that I hadn't posted yesterday... maybe I'll stop... but then again I remember why I started this, primarily a record of our first year in Oz. Will I continue it after then, I'm not sure, we'll have to wait and see. 

So right now, Rebecca is singing her head off as usual, Josh is ensconced in his room doing an assignment (at least I hope he is !!) Ceri's out with Matt at their housegroup, Mark's at our housegroup and I'm sat in with... Mum and Dad :))) which makes a slightly different Monday night. 

So sorry but I am going to disappoint you as from now on... no more house pictures until it's finished, it's getting too near the end and the pictures would spoil the look, so I'd rather show it off finished now. The bricky finished yesterday, the cladding is all done on the outside, the kitchen is all in, sinks and units in the bathrooms but all looking very dusty and not for show yet. The chippies start tomorrow with doors, skirtings, shelves etc, the tiler starts next week, so according to the site manager today we are still on for being in by Christmas. We got all the blinds ordered last week and so just need to sort the concrete for the drive this week. I forgot to say ... I am so excited :)))

Well my ever stubborn husband went back to work last Monday, felt lousy and vision went all blurry again by the time he got home. He then had a phonecall from the OT at the hospital who said he shouldn't be driving until he had clearance from his GP and that he shouldn't have gone back to work!! (I obviously know nothing!!!) Anyway I left work early and took him back to see the GP who signed him off for the week and wanted to r/v him on Friday, which he did and said he could go back this week on part time admin duties, so he's spent all day today negotiating how to do that. 

In the midst of all that, he also got a phonecall re the job interview he went for, to say he missed the post by 1 point on their scoring system but could offer him casual work which could be up to full time sometimes, and that they are expanding and may be able to take him on at some point. So although disappointed re the permanent post, once they give him an induction date he will hand his notice in at his current place :)

So he generally has taken it easy but is still getting headaches :(

Well Josh's surprise of the week was getting chosen to be house prefect next year, I think everyone was surprised, not just him... so his theory of not wanting it and keeping out of all the arguments around it paid off. Anyway, he's taking his responsibility seriously and wants to do a good job. He also amazingly passed his chemistry assignment woohoo !!! the first of this year, so was exceedingly chuffed, mind you, he did spend hours on it. So overall a good week for him.

Ceri finally got her permanent contract, it's part time, so a minimum of 20 hours but they will also put her through her level 3 childcare course, way easier than her btec, but at least its a recognised Aussie qualification. The question is... will she still be able to see Matt as much if she's studying ??? I'm sure they'll work it out somehow and it's a lesson to learn too :)

She's getting her driving practice hours up anyway as with Mark not working we are now having to pick her up, or are we just too soft, if she got the bus she wouldn't be home till 8pm ish, so being nice kind parents and all that ....

Rebecca's week was normal, at least I can't remember if anything notable happened, I'm sure I'll get it in the neck if I missed anything.

As for me .. just plodding on working, waiting to be told who we're going to work for. The execs of the new streams get appointed on the 17th Dec, we then go off for 3 weeks enforced closure so I expect we'll come back to be told whats happening... cheery thought, hey ho as long as I've still got a job I'll deal with it. 

Well I had my first trip to the GP too, guess what, I've to go for bloods, they so over investigate things.. he wants to exclude some weird condition that my 'aquagenic pruritis' that I've had since 9 years old, could be ! did you ever...also to check my vit D levels... I'm an expat, of course they're going to be low, I haven't met a Brit yet who has normal levels!  And then there's the bone density scan....just to check the meds are doing they're job... all over investigating and emptying my purse, hummph! But coz I'm a good girl I'll pay up and go.

Saturday morning before everyone was up I went our for my morning bike ride with Mel thinking I was just going to be doing our normal 26km,  however we ended up doing 49km including going up Mount Coot-tha,  which I managed allbeit with several stops, but was so pleased with myself :) however I did suffer later on in the day, think I got a tad dehydrated, silly me , hee hee

So Friday was exciting as Mum and Dad finally arrived at 9pm. It's lovely to have them here and we are all having a good time so far. So after I got back from my mad ride, we went to show them the house, and the village, and after lunch drove up Mount Coot'tha, was a much easier way of getting to the top, had a cuppa and came home. Sunday after church we went into Southbank, had lunch in a lovely Greek restaurant and ambled around. We came back for night church which started with 6 baptisms which was amazing, followed by pot luck tea (good name) and then a service, so a good day was had by all. 

So we have lots of exciting things planned for this week too :)

HB wk 10

 This week saw some big changes to the house, primarily internal walls and bricks. It's been great to walk around and get a real feel for room sizes and spaces. How, on paper, I thought it was ever going to be too small I know not. It's possibly our largest house yet... but a bungalow!!!  Sorry, 'low set' is it's correct description in Aussie land :)

To add to the photos, the plasterers have been in and filled all the joints between the plasterboard all ready for the coving and architraves to go up this week, which is currently lying on the garage floor.

 It does possibly feel it could be ready for Christmas now, which is really exciting :)

So this week has been rather eventful for Mark, as he has gone quite a while with no accident or injury.... the trend was broken :( He managed to get a basketball kicked at the side of his head by a kid at work on Tuesday, not quite knocked out, but he was knocked over, was subsequently sick and got blurred vision. Not sure our actions were entirely sensible but we went to pick him up with Josh driving, who then drove Mark's car home. 

Good job he's pretty competent now, he was pleased anyway as he got another 1 1/2 hours added to his total. 
Anyway we got Mark home safely. Wednesday he was no better, had been sick in the night and still had blurred vision and was very nauseous.. so I took him off to A&E, where we spent a very long day. 
Well it was our first experience of Aussie A&E, some of it was excellent, some very poor... he got seen relatively quickly and sent for a CT scan, which was the good bit. However at 2.30pm he was put on a short stay ward while we waited for the CT results which he got at 3.30pm, the registrar then got called to resus before she had written the discharge letter and work sick note, and so it was 6.10pm before she reappeared. However, in all that time he saw no nurse and got no food / cuppa, needless to say I was not impressed. I had nipped out at 4.45 to go and pick Ceri up from work and came back to find the nurses eating the food off the tea trolley of which he had been offered none, so I grabbed a tray, but it was cold by then. So some good and some bad! Anyway, he's been off work the rest of the week and still has a headache but is insisting on trying to go back tomorrow morning... wait and see who wins !!!
He also had a job interview on Friday to go to, which he did manage, it's with a fostering agency doing almost the same as the advocacy work he did in the UK, anyway it seemed to go pretty well , so just waiting to hear and praying hard.

The rest of us have had uneventful weeks in comparison and just had normal weeks.

It was our 22nd wedding anniversary yesterday, so Mark and I went of to North Tambourine, which is a small town in the scenic rim of SE QLD and had a lovely time, ambling around. It was lovely to see some of the countryside and rainforest type vegetation on our way there. we had coffee and lunch and then came back to have friends over for a meal which was lovely. 

Today we have had an amazing day at church, we had 2 babies dedicated, we had a lay pastor and an Intern appointed, 2 people added to church membership, one of which was Ceri, and Night church was launched which was amazing. So an exciting place to be at the moment and seeing what God is doing.