The big trip to Oz

As you might have worked out from the last entry, Steve got pissed off with feeling like nobody was reading our blog because nobody ever left any comments and that is partly why the last entry was in January! We also spent a January where a week didn't go by without at least one person being ill, then had a busy February which included a week in blighty, and then manic preparation for our trip. I thought it seemed a shame not to put something up here about the Oz adventure, but given my extreme lack of skills in things technical, if this ever makes it up there on the web it will be a genuine miracle, or Steve will have given in and helped me! You'll have to guess which! (i.e. Am I more useless than Steve is stubborn?)

First stop -Hong Kong (well actually second stop, as first was London, but I guess you've all seen photos of Buckingham Palace and the London Eye so we'll get on with the more exotic stuff!)





Cassi introducing Edie to the joys of ice-cream in Kowloon park, under the shade of a huge leaf which she was devastated not to be able to take on the plane when we left!











After Hong Kong we spent a week in Sydney before Rich and Emma's wedding, seeing the sights and enjoying being shown around by locals. The wedding itself was in an idyllic spot about 2 hours drive from Sydney in a vineyard in the Hunter Valley. Beautiful! (As of course were the flower girls!)












The next trip out of Sydney took us to Perth, where after 6 years we caught up with Christy, which was amazing. Cassi had been so excited that she fell asleep within about an hour of meeting her brother, and Edie followed suit. But at least it gave us chance to have a grown ups chat, as that is undeniably what Christy is now! It was great to see how well father and son still got on.



Tokyo on the way back was in some ways a disappointment, but really only because we ran out of time there. We could have done with 3 weeks not 3 nights. But what we did see we liked very much, and Cassi still asks to go back to 'one of those bars where the food goes round and round in circles!' Have to say -not many of those in rural France sweetheart!





Just a few more random shots- you can add your own captions if you want!

Ski Sunday - Watch this space.

Ok, here it is. Apologies for banging on about it, but this is one of THE moments I've been waiting for since we've been here - and I'm more giddy about it than she is!

Cassi's first skiing lesson (she's actually had two now). For those who can ski, she can snowplough (or make a Pizza - thanks Lise!), drag herself back up the lift, and come down again on her own with (not fully committed) turns. Yes, she falls over, but is happy enough to pick herself back up and carry on with it.

Since this shot, Luce and I have also had a lesson, so now all we need to do is find a convenient corner in which to leave Edie, and the three of us can head off and try a green run.

That's it for this update - just a quick one.

Btw, anybody reading this who wants to leave a comment - feel free. Or are we really just talking to ourselves?

Hello?, H-e-l-l-o-?

Btw 2, On the way back from our last trip, I checked inside the engine bay of the Landrover to source an odd smell emanating from that direction. Lucy, and I agree, thought it smelt a bit like burning rubber, Cass, bless her, reckoned it was more like dog's poo.

If anybody can guess what I actually found in there, I might have to devise a prize to handout...

Cassi and her tutor, zehr-i-mee, snowploughing

A New Year Update

Let us start by wishing everyone a happy 2009 and we hope that you have all had a fantastic Christmas break.

One of the joys of being out here is that we don't have to get a ferry to go anywhere, we can just get in the car and drive. So we did and headed off to Annecy (eastern France in the Alps) for a few days between Christmas and New Year. It was a long old way and Father Christmas did well to bring Cassi a very handy portable DVD player which served its purpose well for the journey! First stop was Nîmes, where we visited the best preserved Roman amphitheatre in the world, and Cassi speculated about whether the rain water in the middle of the arena might have been where the lions did a wee(!)

Given that we gave our youngest daughter Annecy as a middle name and had not actually been there, we were keen to make sure that it had not been a mistake! And it really was as pretty as they say, so those of you who told us so are off the hook! Both the old town and the lake were completely stunning; the sort of place picture postcards were invented for and the more romantically inclined offer proposals of marriage.


The most photographed site in the town. Just after taking this I was asked by a family to take their snapshot in front of same view; no idea what the photo turned out like as I was distracted by Cassi standing on Edie's pushchair and tipping it up on it's end - Edie still strapped in looking vertically down on Cassi who was on her bum underneath it!


We also managed to fit in a trip to Geneva to buy some chocolate, as well as a tram ride up the Mont Blanc massif, which was really good fun, and also memorable for the fact that during this journey we noticed that Edie had cut her first tooth!


Anti-Israeli demonstration that appeared from around the corner in the centre of Geneva. Cassi was fascinated by the noise, number of people and all the flag waving - and no, she couldn't have a flag as well.


On the slopes above Chamonix, with Mont Blanc behind us (actually to Lucy's left in this pic)


The Mont Blanc Tramway - takes an hour to get up there, but well worth it

Our return to Montréal was on New Year's Eve and took eight hours (only five to get there) due to bad weather and a traffic accident meaning we didn't arrive home 'till half ten - so any celebrations sort of passed us by that night (and we even had a party to go to!). Instead, we spent New Year's day up at Monts D'Olmes (the nearest ski resort) where we did some more sledging and sat outside in the sunshine to have some lunch.



The mule knows his place!


Never thought I'd see the day Lucy had lunch outside in the snow, and as it happens none of you can!