Turn your World upsidedown

Life This Year

A little over 3 weeks ago it snowed in Canberra, prompting Aussies to call it Snovember. For the first time since we arrived out here, it actually did feel like Christmas was approaching. Today I sit in 38 degrees, with a Christmas card list to work through, and it just feels plain weird! So here is the annual load down on life down under (with apologies for lack of news letter last year – we had to move house 2 weeks before Christmas last year, so all cards and newsletter came below the line of doable, and were postponed til this year. Thankfully we are not moving this Christmas, and have been here for one year now …..What an amazingly fast year it has been too! January saw the kids holidaying on the coast with their dad, while David and I visited Fiji for a break, snorkelling , diving and windsurfing being the order of the day, pretty awesome time was had, we managed to leave the Islands just before a coup began, one of many this year! February, saw Andrew starting High School, which caused a flurry of activity from the new girls in his year. At the start of the year Andrew was still a lot shorter than me, but now he towers over me, his voice is in his boots, and his hair is longer than mine. He has had an interesting year in school, coasting along not applying himself too much to anything that seems linked with work or learning. He seems a popular lad, and keeps us all laughing, ar screaming! He continued to play rugby for Wests, and his increase in size helped improve his game. He is now well into sailing, and spends Sundays at the local lake sailing a catamaran with the scouts. Roselyn moved into her final year at primary and graduates next week, having developed the required attitude to move onto High in Feb 2007! She is doing well at school, enjoying dance classes this term, coming home every week making Andrew dance the latest number! She is still a reluctant sea scout not keen to move from canoes to sailing. She recently achieved her Big Red (scouting) following the completion of a 15km hike on the coast in pretty hot weather! Jane has grown up so much this year, and is becoming very independent. She finished school last year being awarded student of excellence , and appears to be following in much the same vain this year, we have still to hear if she will be at the awards ceremony this year. Jane took herself off to get a job in August. She works after school and Saturdays at a local coffee shop in the Mall. She is certainly enjoying having her own money. Jane’s sailing has improved tremendously, she is now sailing the NS14 fairly confidently, pretty slick fast craft. The troop has high hope for her in January’s regatta, and planning to sail in the Sydney Harbour Regatta later next year. Her love of sailing as earned her selection for crewing a 60 foot yacht in Sydney next week for 4 days, which she paid for from her own earnings. You can imagine her excitement at this prospect! July and August saw our first trip back home in 2 and ½ years. Great excitement it was fantastic to see everyone again, and to experience the wonderful weather the UK enjoyed this year. We had several small holidays in UK running from Portsoy all the way to Cornwall for yet more surfing! David s children Euan and Lucy joined us for the Cornwall and center parcs leg of the trip. Euan looks more and more like David, and Lucy has grown up beautifully, lovey kids, great fun to have around. Following Centre Parcs we went our separate ways, David, Euan and Lucy to Canada t visit family, and the children ad I back to Australia (narrowly missing the terrorist palavers at Heathrow!) It was hard to leave the family again, so August was a bit quiet for us in Canberra as we tried to put t all behind us and get on with business as usual. September saw us taking the plunge and becoming Australian Citizens, so we are now officially True Blues (except when Aussies whop Scotland at rugby) but we are most definitely Aussies during the current Ashes tour! October and November were spent quietly, sailing most weekends, with a few weekend trips to the coast. We are currently preparing to send the kids off to Jamboree in Victoria in January, where they will join 10 000 other scouts for 10 days of mayhem, sadly (NOT) David and I will not be going to this camp. Even more sadly we will not be holidaying as sending the kids has cleaned out my coffers, so we may hop off somewhere with the swag for a couple of nights if it is not too hot. As for David and me, well David has enjoyed an 18 month contract with AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority) travelling to Melbourne and Brisbane project managing new lighthouse stations. This contract came to an end last week, so he will be at home for most of December and January I suspect. He has managed to get through this year with no major accidents, but the usual few scrapes which are par for the course in one so gung ho! I continue to work for TSC, travelling the southern Tablelands and more recently Wagga Wagga Riverina area. I spend quite a bit of time in Sydney, so if any of you are travelling through, please let me now as I am more often than not up there. I still love the job, and find the training and research arm of it challenging but rewarding. So there it is, another year down, another year hurtling towards us, and another Christmas in the sun. We miss you all very much at this time of year, and would love to be able to toast the New Year wit you all. We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a beautiful journey through next year. Lyndsay David, Jane Andrew and Roselyn Spanner, Mollie and Hector (new antipodean feline recruit No1 IC dogs)

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Life This Year