19th March to the 20th of May – Days 344 to 435
400 days down under, bloody hell I never thought that my witness protection scheme would have to run for so long!
My first anniversary, a year away from my superb family & friends, St Ives Rugby Club…..and..eh….the M6, A14, cold and wet weather, overcrowding, overcharging, piss poor service…..! Wish you were all here.
Anyway its been another sustained period of fun for the Bacons, rather evident in my shoddy capability to update the Blog as often as I should – I must and will try harder for you all, that’s if any of you are still reading this.
Everybody is fine down here, particularly the boys who have settled in very well and are really enjoying life in every area, sport, school, social life’s etc so yes Fran and I have resumed our respective roles, Mine being Money R Us and Fran’s taxi’s R Us.
Shouldn’t complain, as they will soon be taller than me and at lease at the moment they are asking me rather than telling me to do things.
Updates
Fran got her job and I think that she is enjoying herself, although it’s not challenging her as much as I think she would like. She is based at Manley, works Monday to Friday from 9am till 3pm and spends her lunch times on the beach, how wrong is that. Outside of that she single handed holds the house together feeding the animals, (us), driving the boys around to their 300 sporting/school activities and generally keeping us all on the straight and narrow.
Fran has also registered for Spanish lessons, not too sure which local country speaks Spanish down here but it is something that she has always wanted to do. Additionally she does a wickedly good impersonation of Manuel from Faulty Towers.
She has also become an expert Banana Bread maker, (staple Australian diet alongside roast possum), loves the sun and has even managed to get her Mum connected to the web-cam so that they can chat weekly, (see you can move 12,500 miles away and still not escape your Mother in Law).
Lewis
Lewis has settled in tremendously although he is on the verge of Perry & Kevin ‘Hello Mrs Patterson’ which should be a laugh……not! He is the star of his School Year Debating Club, (a skill that he regularly employs when negotiating pocket money increases etc with us), and is also the top scorer in his football team, the Collaroy Strikers.
He is doing very well at school, placed in the top class streams for math, (not called maths down here), and English. He is also developing a great sense of humour, which is great, unless you are at the end of one of his sarcastic rebuttals!
So everything is rosy in Lewis’s world, well apart from us allegedly not understanding him, his teenage angst and the fact that he has friends who are girls but are not his girl friends!
He set of for camp this week with $1000 of camping gear which included a mummy sleeping bag, spider traps and a back pack that was bigger than him – I am told that he will come back a man, we just want him to come back!
PS He’s up to my nose and has started to wear my shoes now and again – my years of dominance are coming to an end!
Ross
Ross is still Ross, all the usual sporting achievements; Rugby team captain, http://www.harbordharlequins.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=825&Itemid=162, School swimming team (a couple of second places), basketball team (unbeaten this season) and school/county cross country representative etc etc and is doing well in most activities and is even attempting Aussie Rules Football.
He has settled down well at school and has a good group of friends who encourage him into all areas of the Australian sporting ethic. He loves the wildlife and regularly traps lizards in the back garden and yes….he still fly’s around the house at 100 mph.
He has also realised that with his brother hitting the ‘Hello Mrs Patterson’ years it is really easy to wind him up which can be a pain in the arse, but at times hilarious.
As a family we have certainly settled very well and have enjoyed a number of experiences recently;
Anzac Day
Spent this day like I did last year with Dave & Sarah, (well we had to wait to see Dave later as he was at home with Man Flu) and Richard & Helen (my 1 year anniversary of meeting them both). This year was quieter as the boys were with us – for those who can remember I got incredibly drunk last year and ended up playing Two-Up, (a form of gambling like heads and tails which Aussie soldiers devised during the 1st World War which is only legal on Anzac Day), in The Rocks.
We all had a lovely dinner and a few schooners before heading back to Dave & Sarah’s to give poorly Dave a mental lift, Man Flu can be very debilitating, as all my male readers will know. He must have been bad – it was a warm day but he was laying on the couch with Premiership Footie on, (doctors orders), wearing his Charlton Beanie.
Bush Walks
We have enjoyed some great family walks, which have exposed us to some of the wildlife sights that Australia has to offer..some good…some bad!
These included;
· One of Australians deadliest Snakes, a big long dark black thing that we didn’t photograph as we were all too shocked as it slithered across the trail straight in front of us,
· Big Lizards
· Termite mounds
· And loads of other wildlife including big spiders, mosquitoes larger than small Cessna aeroplanes and ants that nearly carried us all off for their dinner.
Don’t go out in the bush after dark was the message we took away from the experience!
Car Show
Lewis’ still car mad and recently dragged us away to the Sydney Custom Car show, which was so bad it was funny. It was full of loads of people that had spent small fortunes on knackered cars. $5k on the stereo, $6k on hydraulics ‘so it can dance man’, $4k on paint jobs and sadly only about $2.50 on the car itself.
Lewis did though find himself a girlfriend – have a look at the pictures!
Lote Tuqiri
One other bonus that we recently enjoyed was meeting Lote Tuqiri at a local sports shop – he’s huge, and was an all round nice guy. Boys got his autographs, I imagined tackling him on the rugby field and Fran just smiled a lot!
And lawn Bowls…..
Other exiting episodes have included playing lawn bowls with a number of like minded friends to celebrate Sarah’s birthday at Clovelly Bowling Club, (www.clovellybowlingclub.com.au), which was great fun. This country has just so got it right, lawn bowls with a bar and a BBQ at the edge of the green – sorted.
I know that this has been a long time coming but we are so loving this country, and finding time to sit and tell you all about it just has to improve. We have made a pact to update the Blog, (by the way it stands for Web Log) at least monthly…..that’s if we are not down the beach, BBQing, etc etc etc.
Love to all from the Northern Beaches of Sydney!
My first anniversary, a year away from my superb family & friends, St Ives Rugby Club…..and..eh….the M6, A14, cold and wet weather, overcrowding, overcharging, piss poor service…..! Wish you were all here.
Anyway its been another sustained period of fun for the Bacons, rather evident in my shoddy capability to update the Blog as often as I should – I must and will try harder for you all, that’s if any of you are still reading this.
Everybody is fine down here, particularly the boys who have settled in very well and are really enjoying life in every area, sport, school, social life’s etc so yes Fran and I have resumed our respective roles, Mine being Money R Us and Fran’s taxi’s R Us.
Shouldn’t complain, as they will soon be taller than me and at lease at the moment they are asking me rather than telling me to do things.
Updates
Fran got her job and I think that she is enjoying herself, although it’s not challenging her as much as I think she would like. She is based at Manley, works Monday to Friday from 9am till 3pm and spends her lunch times on the beach, how wrong is that. Outside of that she single handed holds the house together feeding the animals, (us), driving the boys around to their 300 sporting/school activities and generally keeping us all on the straight and narrow.
Fran has also registered for Spanish lessons, not too sure which local country speaks Spanish down here but it is something that she has always wanted to do. Additionally she does a wickedly good impersonation of Manuel from Faulty Towers.
She has also become an expert Banana Bread maker, (staple Australian diet alongside roast possum), loves the sun and has even managed to get her Mum connected to the web-cam so that they can chat weekly, (see you can move 12,500 miles away and still not escape your Mother in Law).
Lewis
Lewis has settled in tremendously although he is on the verge of Perry & Kevin ‘Hello Mrs Patterson’ which should be a laugh……not! He is the star of his School Year Debating Club, (a skill that he regularly employs when negotiating pocket money increases etc with us), and is also the top scorer in his football team, the Collaroy Strikers.
He is doing very well at school, placed in the top class streams for math, (not called maths down here), and English. He is also developing a great sense of humour, which is great, unless you are at the end of one of his sarcastic rebuttals!
So everything is rosy in Lewis’s world, well apart from us allegedly not understanding him, his teenage angst and the fact that he has friends who are girls but are not his girl friends!
He set of for camp this week with $1000 of camping gear which included a mummy sleeping bag, spider traps and a back pack that was bigger than him – I am told that he will come back a man, we just want him to come back!
PS He’s up to my nose and has started to wear my shoes now and again – my years of dominance are coming to an end!
Ross
Ross is still Ross, all the usual sporting achievements; Rugby team captain, http://www.harbordharlequins.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=825&Itemid=162, School swimming team (a couple of second places), basketball team (unbeaten this season) and school/county cross country representative etc etc and is doing well in most activities and is even attempting Aussie Rules Football.
He has settled down well at school and has a good group of friends who encourage him into all areas of the Australian sporting ethic. He loves the wildlife and regularly traps lizards in the back garden and yes….he still fly’s around the house at 100 mph.
He has also realised that with his brother hitting the ‘Hello Mrs Patterson’ years it is really easy to wind him up which can be a pain in the arse, but at times hilarious.
As a family we have certainly settled very well and have enjoyed a number of experiences recently;
Anzac Day
Spent this day like I did last year with Dave & Sarah, (well we had to wait to see Dave later as he was at home with Man Flu) and Richard & Helen (my 1 year anniversary of meeting them both). This year was quieter as the boys were with us – for those who can remember I got incredibly drunk last year and ended up playing Two-Up, (a form of gambling like heads and tails which Aussie soldiers devised during the 1st World War which is only legal on Anzac Day), in The Rocks.
We all had a lovely dinner and a few schooners before heading back to Dave & Sarah’s to give poorly Dave a mental lift, Man Flu can be very debilitating, as all my male readers will know. He must have been bad – it was a warm day but he was laying on the couch with Premiership Footie on, (doctors orders), wearing his Charlton Beanie.
Bush Walks
We have enjoyed some great family walks, which have exposed us to some of the wildlife sights that Australia has to offer..some good…some bad!
These included;
· One of Australians deadliest Snakes, a big long dark black thing that we didn’t photograph as we were all too shocked as it slithered across the trail straight in front of us,
· Big Lizards
· Termite mounds
· And loads of other wildlife including big spiders, mosquitoes larger than small Cessna aeroplanes and ants that nearly carried us all off for their dinner.
Don’t go out in the bush after dark was the message we took away from the experience!
Car Show
Lewis’ still car mad and recently dragged us away to the Sydney Custom Car show, which was so bad it was funny. It was full of loads of people that had spent small fortunes on knackered cars. $5k on the stereo, $6k on hydraulics ‘so it can dance man’, $4k on paint jobs and sadly only about $2.50 on the car itself.
Lewis did though find himself a girlfriend – have a look at the pictures!
Lote Tuqiri
One other bonus that we recently enjoyed was meeting Lote Tuqiri at a local sports shop – he’s huge, and was an all round nice guy. Boys got his autographs, I imagined tackling him on the rugby field and Fran just smiled a lot!
And lawn Bowls…..
Other exiting episodes have included playing lawn bowls with a number of like minded friends to celebrate Sarah’s birthday at Clovelly Bowling Club, (www.clovellybowlingclub.com.au), which was great fun. This country has just so got it right, lawn bowls with a bar and a BBQ at the edge of the green – sorted.
I know that this has been a long time coming but we are so loving this country, and finding time to sit and tell you all about it just has to improve. We have made a pact to update the Blog, (by the way it stands for Web Log) at least monthly…..that’s if we are not down the beach, BBQing, etc etc etc.
Love to all from the Northern Beaches of Sydney!
posted by Oz Doy at 3:02 PM
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