A Big Decemberish Howdy hi ho to everyone!
Seems ages since the last blog, and what changes there have been! Sydney has had the wettest November for ages, but the weather has been a million times better than the UK. However it is really cool how the weather develops, it is hot during the day and then late afternoon a huge thunderstorm happens and i mean huge! It really is awesome to watch and the thunder is deafening! On Sunday we were hit by a hail storm, on the TV it said that our region and two others were classified as being areas of natural disaster (the closest i have been involved with a natural disaster was during my crazy batchelor days when my good friend Dave Rankin and i decided to have a wild night and make brownies. Eggs, flour and rock and roll lifestyle! What came out was not really natural but a total disaster!) Houses had their roofs totally smashed and windows broken as the hail was the size of golf and cricket balls. Thankfully the hail that fell over our house was just the size of golf balls. I dont know if this will work but i made a video of it and i have posted it at the bottom of this blog. For a wee bit of info whilst i was making it i was hit by a piece of hail and as a result let out a manly roar. As our camera isnt as good as others once again my character has been tarnished with slurs of girly screaming. However, here is a pic for starters:
Because it is so sunny and warm it is hard to believe it is coming up to Christmas, however we have done our best and tried to make it more christmasy by embracing the tack! Seriously although i dont ever want the true meaning of Christmas to be lost, the big kid inside me loves nothing more but a bit of tack! And the aussies appear to love it too! Infact a newspaper has named and shamed the tackiest streets, so being the true romantic i will take Jess on a drive around the suburbs of sydney and admire the glistening, flashing and glowing lights. We have got an advent calendar, as you can see Jess is so happy with it! Nothing says Christmas like Barbie and Chocolates!
Saying that Jess and Lin did a great job decorating the house with tasteful decorations and now we have a tree made out of lights in the window.
Our work is still going well and we are managing to save some pennies. Personally i think i will be quite sad to leave my job as i have got on really well with the guys and they seem to be so grateful for the little bit of Ireland i have brought into their lives. It has also been really satisfying going to jobs and seeing sites and gardens transformed and knowing that people will get many weeks of happiness from the walls and stuff i have helped build before they eventually fall down! Only joking only top quality work gets done here..........
Actually, this week in work this thing called a bush turkey walked through the garden that we were working with, guess you had to be there to fully understand how bizzare it was but apparently this thing has a nest in the neighbours garden and just strolls around the local gardens! Here is a picture of the beast/possible Christmas dinner!
On the first of Jan we plan to head down the south coast to as far as Adelaide and then hop over to an Island called Kangaroo Island which is meant to be beautiful and full of wildlife. Then on the 14th of Jan we head off to New Zealand for 9 weeks and then back to Australia for 7 weeks during which we will just head off in our faithful volvo and see as much as we can. Both of us can not wait and both of us are enjoying spending so much time together and Jess is loving the new jokes that i have been able to make up since being here, needless to say the old ones are used on a regular basis!
A wee bonus this week was that we met up with Jess' Brother's girlfriend for dinner. She is over in Australia for hols with her Dad, it was really good to hear voices from back home and do a bit of catching up. As you can see from the picture she looks really happy and seeing us obviously was the highlight so far during her trip down under.
Anyway this has turned out to be far longer than it should have been so i will stop it here, unfortunately there is no time to discuss how well Man Utd are doing both domestically and in Europe and not even time to reflect on how Chelsea and Liverpool have once again blown their chances of winning the league. Give me a break i had to make reference to football at least once!
Hope you are all well as you read this and it been great hearing from you and your updates of home.
Gav and Jess
Although we (really Gav) love all the lights and festive decorations lets not forget what Christmas is really about and how God's amazing love was shown to us all by sending His son in order that we may have a new relationship with Him. We both want to wish you a Merry Christmas. We hope you have a wonderful time and that during this coming week you will be blessed with a new realisation of the true meaning behind why we celebrate Christmas.
