Friday, February 29, 2008
Great Ocean Road
On Saturday morning, we flew down to Melbourne and headed out to the depot to pick up our Maui Motorhome, which was to be our home for the next 8 days.
Rather than drive all the way around to Adelaide, we decided to focus our time on the stretch of the Great Ocean Road from Geelong to Warrnambool; so that we didn't spend too much time driving, and Caitlin & James could enjoy the scenery. Our itinerary worked out to be:
- Saturday & Sunday nights in Anglesea
- Sunday was spent on the windy beach, and walking around before an evening trip to the Anglesea Golf Club to see some of the many kangaroos that make the fairways their home
- Monday & Tuesday nights in Apollo Bay, stopping along the way to see
- Split Point Lighthouse
- Lorne town centre
- Erskine Falls
- Wednesday night in Port Campbell, via
- Thursday night in Warrnambool, having seen
- What remains of the Twelve Apostles
- Loch Ard Gorge
- Friday & Saturday nights back in Torquay
All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip - especially once we had figured out the best arrangement of beds so that the kids slept reasonably well.
Chris
posted at 10:32 pm 0 comments
Friday, February 22, 2008
Fairy Birthday
We decided to hold Caitlin's birthday party on Sunday, in and around the rotunda at Elkington Park. As we've been to quite a few kids parties, we had the opportunity to pick up on those things that seem to have worked well - the main one being to have someone help keep the youngsters entertained (aside from eating lots of sweets). After a bit of searching around, we decided to go with a fairy party courtesy of Fairy Good Times.
Caitlin was very impressed with the idea of there being a “real grown-up fairy”, and she did a very good job of magic show, balloon toys, games and face painting. Then we all gathered in the rotunda for the blowing out of the candles.
The rest of the week was spent making and finalising plans for our road trip next week - as well as a little dancing...
Chris
posted at 10:14 pm 0 comments
Friday, February 15, 2008
Three o'clock
Although it doesn't seem that long since she was born, this week Caitlin celebrated her third birthday; many thanks to everyone who sent cards and gifts. For her, the main attraction of a birthday is, without doubt, the opportunity to eat cake - so we decided to make one for her to take and share with her friends at day-care and another one for her party at the weekend.
Anna finished up her short-term contract role this week, although the director specifically mentioned that they may well want her to come back in a couple of weeks - so she obviously made a good impression. Anna was a little disappointed that they hadn't kept her on, but understood that this is the typical cycle for freelance work - they only keep you as long as they have work/budget for you, and uncertainty with either of these is why they hire freelancers.
Chris
posted at 10:18 pm 0 comments
Friday, February 08, 2008
One nap or two?
On Monday, it was my turn to head into the DIAC offices to attend my citizenship interview - having spent the bus journey there feverishly revising my privileges and responsibilities. I was glad I had because, as expected, knowledge of these lists is pretty much the only question asked of you; aside from confirming that you have supplied all the necessary paperwork.
Anna's freelance job is progressing well, although we're not sure exactly how long it will continue; especially as a colleague of hers was “let go” at short notice at the end of the week.
Caitlin & James are both doing well at day-care, and James seems to be making the transition from two to one nap during the day. This means he is normally a bit grouchy at the end of the day but, if it means that he sleeps well during the night, that works.
Chris
posted at 9:51 pm 0 comments
Friday, February 01, 2008
Pre-School
The excitement this week centred around enrolment for our local pre-school, just up the road in Birchgrove, accepting applications from 9:00am on Wednesday morning. We had heard, through a variety of sources, that people often queue up for hours beforehand to try and secure their spot, so I was allocated the task of joining the line in the early hours on Caitlin's behalf.
Rumour had it that, last year, a 4:00am start was par for the course so, with my iPod loaded, I walked up to the school just before 2:00am. Unsure exactly where we were supposed to be lining up, I sat down close to the main office. I didn't have to wait long until another Dad came and joined me, but with the query “is this the right spot?” - good question, and one of which I was unsure as to the answer. So, promising to save each others place, he went and investigated while I sat tight.
Only a few minutes had passed when he returned muttering that he had found the queue, and there were already some “twenty to thirty” people in front of us. However, the ridiculousness of the situation meant that everyone was very friendly and talkative to keep each other going for the hours ahead. We won't find out until later this year whether we were successful but, odd though it sounds, it was actually quite good fun just hanging out and chatting with all the other parents in the same boat!
Chris
posted at 11:19 pm 0 comments
