February...... What a busy month

We all knew that February was not going to be easy as mum and dad were leaving us, but with a promise that they would be back. Just before mum they left I was offered permanent shifts at work, they had been harassing me for some time and I had always said that I would go permanent when they left as I liked working when I wanted to and being casual I was able to do just that. I agreed to working Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur and Sat mornings 7.00 until 1.30, then the following Tue, Wed and Thur, I much prefer week 2 and by Thursday of week one I am exhausted. It is in the high care wings, which is very demanding and very physical, but I am still wearing size 8’s so it can’t be doing me any harm.

Tom started back at Tafe, Mollie went back into year 3 at Benton’s and Sam started Mt Eliza Secondary College, he was a little nervous on the first day but loves it, he really has settled in well which is a relief. He even prefers getting the bus to and from school than me dropping him off.

On Wednesday the 4^th mum and dad left, we’d had a lovely couple of days having lunch in Mornington before they left, the kids were home from school when we left to take them to the airport, it was a hard day and reminded me of when we left the UK, because you don’t know when you are going to see them again. Jason and I took them to the airport, they checked in with no issues, thanks to Wii Fit, which we were using as weighing scales for the cases. We then shared some food and drinks before they had to go through, it was really awful, we were all just crying, not sure what they must have thought of mum and dad at passport control. I cried most of the 1.5 hours journey back home. Thursday wasn’t great either, Angie came round and I will still in bed, I had got up to see Sam off to school and take Moo but gone back to bed as I was just too tired.

Friday I had made arrangements for some of the girls to come for lunch, so I knew I had to make an effort for that, I did Chicken Caesar salad a Jamie Oliver recipe and it was lovely, it was a hot and sunny day so we were able to sit in the garden, all very civilised.

Saturday night we were at Sally’s party, that was a lovely night, but the night of the bush fires, it had been incredibly hot during the day and Jason and I had just sat in the pool all day, it was too hot to try and sunbathe or even just sit in the sun. At Sally’s we were sat in the garden most of the night. We hen got up on the Sunday to the news about Black Saturday and the fires that were still burning out of control, it was dreadful watching the news and quite frightening as we are also in a high fire risk area, so all the local papers were telling us to be fire aware and have a plan. Sam has had 2 days off school due to the fire risk and even now (end of March) we are being advised that we are still at risk due to the very dry summer we have had.


While mum and dad were here we had spoken to them about our plans, although we dreadfully miss family and friends from the UK, we also have a good life here, it isn’t easy at all due to the amount of money we send back to the UK to pay our mortgage and bills, but where we live is beautiful, the kids are very happy and settled, they have friends and can play out safely, we can go to the beach when we want as it is on our doorstep, parking is free, there are free barbeques, it doesn’t have to cost you a great deal to go out for the day, just take a picnic and that’s it. We are currently here on a temporary visa and Jason’s employers originally said they will sponsor us after 2 years to stay permanently. Well that is going to happen sooner and we are now in the process of getting the money and the information we need to become Permanent Residents here in Australia and although mum and dad know that once we have that there is less chance of our coming back, they fully support our decision.

Valentine’s day was a very romantic meal for 6. At Sally’s we had talked about what we were doing and I said I would cook something nice for Jason and I, I didn’t see the point in going out and paying a fortune for a meal that would normally be half the price just because it was valentine’s day. Sally said that her and Rob didn’t really do anything so I invited them and then Louise and Jon. It was a busy day as I was working in the morning, while I was at work Jason and the kids tidied and cleaned the house. We then started preparing the food. We had coconut prawns, a chilled tomato and basil soup, fillet steak with wild mushroom sauce, garlic and rosemary roast potatoes, steamed baby carrots and asparagus, then melt in the middle chocolate pudding. For the 6 kids I did nachos’, then pizza, then chocolate melt in the middle puddings. When we had finished eating the men got on the Wii to play golf and we just chattered over a few bottles of wine, they left about 3.30 ish, it was a late but lovely night.

Weekend of the 20^th was a busy one, Friday night we were at Hayley and Pauls with Tony and Jane we were all taking a curry dish. It was a lovely evening and a good laugh, we don’t see enough of them really. Saturday was Lesley’s party as he mum had just arrived from the UK for 6 months, again that was a good night, don’t think we were that late though, well we weren’t the last to leave for a change. We were up early on Sunday as Stef was coming to see us. We knew him in the UK and he has been sponsored by his employers to come to Oz but to Brisbane. He has family here in Melbourne so he was here visiting them before moving to Brisbane to start work. It was a gorgeous day, we had brunch on Main Street then went to the beach. We had packed some beers and snacks and had a great afternoon. Stef, his sister in law Ali and brother in law Marc left about 4 as they had about an hour’s drive to get back home, we stayed at the beach until after 6. Just as Stef was leaving we saw Angie and Dave so they came and sat with us and we just watched the world go by while drinking wine for another couple of hours, it’s a hard life you know.



Midweek was a girls might out with Peppa, Diane, Kerrie and Sally, we just had a couple of drinks in Main Street as we were working the following day, but it was good to catch up, Friday night was another girls night out, this time with Lesley, her mum, Lorraine, Angie, Karen, Louise, and Sally we went to La Porchetta which is pizza and pasta and even better its BYO, well it was for everyone else, I was working on Saturday morning, so I wasn’t drinking, I was the designated driver for the night and took everyone apart from Lesley and her mum home about 11. Saturday night was Maria’s house warming party again a really good night was had, and again we weren’t the last to leave. Sunday was a drive over to Hastings and a spot of lunch in the Pelican Pantry while watching the pelican’s on the beach.