Sunshine, Sea & Salutations from Australia

G’day folks, I hope you and your loved ones are happy, well and enjoying your fabulous summer weather.  The weather in Brisbane has been great this year, just a tad chilly in the mornings and evenings, but very sunny and dry as usual for mid winter. The Sunrise and sunsets have been quite breath taking too.

 

I have been very neglectful of the Blog this year and so here I am trying make amends. It is the start of term three for us and that means the Chisslets are back to the usual routine of before and after school activities, sports carnivals (athletics) and the regular extra curricular activities such as REDIT. The Chisslets have been Scouting a pace and attending camps and earning badges.

 

Phil ran in the Gold Coast Marathon to raise much needed funds for the Scouts and amazingly ran 9 minutes faster than the time he achieved twenty years earlier at the London Marathon! I am so proud of him and I am really thrilled that all his commitment to his rigorous  training schedule (forgoing any of the ) really did pay off. A huge thank you to everyone who sponsored Phil. The funds raised will be hugely beneficial to the Scouts at Cleveland. 

 

 

 

He has had a great year playing Golf too and in fact won the Suncorp Match Play Golf competition.  

 

 

 

Olivia is steeped in rehearsals for the forthcoming school musical ‘Aladdin’ and she also gave a great performance playing a number of pieces with the senior school band at the recent Twilight Concert. If you remember, she plays the French Horn. She has been playing footy regularly too with training two evenings and one morning each week and league matches on a Saturday. She won ‘Player of the Match’ after a particularly great game and received a highly prized certificate and accolades (including from the coaches of the rival team). Clearly she had World Cup fever!  

 

 She will be competing at an eisteddfod with the senior band next month too.

 

Ryan has moved up from Joeys to Cubs and is already earning badges. He recently celebrated his 8th birthday and wanted to visit Dreamworld instead of a party this year. A lot of his friends celebrate their birthdays around the same time and so he was attending back to back parties anyway lucky thing. Thank you for all the lovely cards and gifts folks. He is indeed fortunate to have such thoughtful and loving family and friends.

 

 

 

  Phil, Conor and Olivia in the rear seats of the Buzz Saw ride.

 

 

    Even Ryan went on the ride above, yikes!

 

Letting the nosh settle in our tummies before the fun continues.

Conor has been excelling with his Patrol leadership with the Scouts and attending various night hikes and camps such as Triple S (where he must complete a range of team challenges and look after members in his ‘Koala’ Patrol). He is also progressing well with his guitar and photography lessons too. I love hearing him practicing and composing tunes in the evenings.

 

All three Chisslets brought home excellent mid-year school reports too which was cause for a celebration at Chez Chissell.

We were very excited to catch up with some old friends from Blighty to celebrate Phil’s birthday as part of their holiday touring Down Under. It was a lovely evening and felt like we have never been apart for literally years!

 

Catching up with the gorgeous Howard family from Blighty!

 

Over the Easter holidays, we had a fantastic break at Coffs Harbour in New South Wales. 

 

Strolling along Muttonbird Island, Coffs Harbour.







As well as the glorious NSW coastline, we got up close and personal with some of the local residents.








Above, Phil and the Chisslets feeding fish who drenched them in an effort to get the food offered and below Olivia feeding the world’s smallest breed of penguins.

We all smelled a little bit fishy by the end of the trip!  In the reptile enclosure we attended a very interesting talk about Australian deadliest snakes and how difficult they are to identify i.e. colour and markings are often misleading. Apparently they can only truly be identified by testing their venom, usually from the poor sod who has been bitten. Great tips on how to avoid them (actually demonstrated with a rather grumpy, venomous snake) and the effective treatment of bites.

We visited a boutique carob factory and learned how to make honeycomb (used in Crunchie bars and Ice Cream). The amount of sugar and glucose used is alarming. Still we nibbled lots of samples and left with a bag each of our favourite treats.

 

 

As well as two lovely pool areas, we had access to a private beach attached to our resort and it was lovely to hear the sea roaring by our apartment. We even had a BBQ by the beach, underneath a blood red moon!

 

 

We toured the hinterland areas and saw some breathtaking views and a banana plantation or three which kept up our potassium levels.   We popped into a boutique winery in Raleigh too, which kept up our intoxication levels in the evenings.

Solitary Islands as seen at sunset from Sapphire Beach. Also, the Aqualuna Resort, Coffs Harbour and our apartment for the holiday. Below is the iconic Big Banana and must see for all tourists in the area.

Penny came out to see us too in March and lots of catching up, fun and laughter ensued.

 

 

Sailing over to Coochiemudlo Island for some fun in the sun.

Lunch time at Sizzler, Ryan’s favourite restaurant.

Even after all this time, the ‘goodbyes’ never get any easier!Come back again soon Penny.  

My mum flew out  for the Aussie school summer holidays too, we are so lucky.  

 

Miss Olivia having fun with Nanna in the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking in some culture at GOMA (Gallery of Modern Art) in the city.  Below, our beloved Bribie Island and Coochiemudlo too.

 

 

We celebrated Australia Day on our beloved Stradbroke Island.

 

The historical Museum in Dunwich which was very informative about the Island and the mainland. We are so privileged to live here.

 

 

A small pod of dolphins came to say hello to us at Amity Point. They so gorgeous to watch but very tricky to capture on camera as they jumped out of the water so quickly.

 

 

Only a a week or so before our trip, a lightening strike did this to our beloved Straddie. One in five trees in the interior burnt down and all the tourists and campers had to be evacuated. A lot of people on the island lost their homes too. Thankfully there was no loss of human life, but the poor wildlife………..!

 

  

 

 

 

 

Mum looked after the Chisslets while Phil took me to the Gabba to see England play in a ODI match. It was great to see the boys in action (I have chosen to forget about the Ashes result).

 

It all ended too soon & it was time to say goodbye to Nanna and begin the new academic year at school.  

Christmas was great fun and the weather was simply perfect. We had a few friends over for a festive warble or three in between Christmas and New Year. We all had fun catching up with friends and arranging lots of play dates. Dear friends Sonia and Paul looked after the Chisslets which enabled Phil to whisk me away to the city.  

 

 

Phil and I checked into our hotel room in the city, while the Chisslets went on a tour of the Christmas lights and stayed over night at Chez Bobnar’s.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine dining and cocktails at the ‘Pony Dining’ restaurant; it was the business!

 

A quick espresso in bed ‘pick me up’ the morning after the night before!

 

 

Pulling this update together has reminded me of how much we have achieved this year already. We are truly privileged to call Australia our home. I know Phil and I have been incredibly happy living here for the past seven years. The Chisslets have settled in beautifully too and probably cannot remember much about their life in Blighty beyond the photographs and home videos of their early years. It has been wonderful to  have family and friends come over to stay and share in our life down under. Happy birthday btw Tim, we cannot wait for you to fly out and join us in September.  

As always, we have lots more fun and shenanigans planned for the future but I shall save them for another Blog update. Hopefully I will not leave it so long this time.

 

Enjoy the rest of your summer with your gorgeous families folks and keep in touch with all your newsy messages and gorgeous pictures as we value them greatly.

Lots of love and respect from across the miles.