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We are in Bardon, 4 kms from the city just near Rosalie, Milton & Paddington. The area is nice and leafy with nice friendly people and yummy restaurants, a spectacular Gourmet shop that is reasonable and a Butcher that is impressive but hugely expensive (Wagayu beef). We’ve found a spectacular Japanese local Restaurant and our local fish & chip shop is great. The one noticeable thing here is that people are happy and relaxed.

We have a nice timber deck at the rear, great for BBQs. We have a yard with some planting that Sue can give attention to. The best things are a pink frangipani tree outside our bed window and a purple bougainvillea out the back that we see from the living room, if only it wasn’t so HOT!

Griffen is going to Milton State School and it has good after school care/vacation care and a swimming pool. I’ve been helping out in the classroom while I can. There is a lovely play park adjacent to the school. Griffen’s new friend is Thomas whose Mum, Katie, is an Architect and she wants me to give her office my CV, we’ve had lots of chatting while the boys play together. I must get on to updating my CV soon. I’m up to hanging pictures at present and our guest room is ready if you wanted to take a trip. Mt Coot-tha is nearby, we went on the motor bikes on last Sunday for a good view, ice cream and a drive through the trees and picnic spots, no water in the waterfalls though. We like to go swimming at South Beach lagoon on the old Expo site, about 5 swimming pools of water with a sandy bottom and lush tropical gardens and food for afterwards.

We’ve been bike riding at Jubilee park overlooking Anzac Bridge with friends and Griffen has just started Gym lessons. Some nights we catch the bus up to the city for late night shopping or go out to the pub with friends for steaks. My niece or sister sometimes baby sits for us so we can go to the movies or the Range Rover club meetings. It’s nice to get away.

Rina says she’s having fun and says everybody likes the way she speaks Portuguese although she still feels a lack of confidence at times. She went to the Optometrist and talked her way through and was complimented on her accent. Her next step is to renew her visa before the madness of the August summer break.

John just did some final acceptance testing on one of the Navy Minehunter boats down at Jervis Bay. He had the luck of the draw with the 3 night shifts that stuffed up his sleeping for a while. Everything went well which caps off 10 years of the project that he went to England with at the start.

John has just installed some new speakers in the car and it sounds great. Next weekend we are going for our introductory 4WD course to learn how to 'climb rock faces like monkeys' as someone put it who’d done the course. We’ll also learn recovery techniques, getting out of difficult spots, I don’t think we’ll find much mud around as there hasn’t been any decent rain to speak of since I’ve been back. We’ve done 2 sand driving courses up at Stockton beach near Williamtown, north of Newcastle. We had to lead the group through the dunes, which was quite nerve-wracking as we had no idea or map to know where to go. Afterwards they told us how to navigate through the sand, go to the highest dunes and pick a course. Easy when you know the right way.

I’m working 2 days Mon & Fri with my friend Robbie who’s a landscape designer. I help maintain 2 gardens in Paddington and another in Cremorne which we’re entering in a gardening competition in Sept. It has previously won so we have a high standard to maintain. It’s nice doing some physical work and being outside, the hours suit Griff’s preschool times. I’m given lots of cuttings and plants needing a pick me up which is great for getting my garden at home filled in. Needless to say we haven’t had to stop work because of rain yet!

Griffen is going to preschool 3 days a week from 9-3pm and on 2 of these days I work with a friend doing landscaping maintenance at 3 very nice gardens. I’ve been busy bringing our garden up to an enjoyable appearance. It’s not finished yet but is progressing well. My friend keeps giving me various cuttings and plants from the gardens we do. I have one day to myself, usually busy but sometimes I get to fit in a massage.

John is working with BAE Systems (British Aerospace) as a Contractor and is generally enjoying it.

We have been camping and 4WDing; we have a Range Rover, which is slightly bigger than our previous Daihatsu Charade! Last weekend we went on a sand driving course with the Range Rover club up near Williamtown, north of Newcastle, we had a great day, progressing at times and failing to proceed at other times followed by more attempts to conquer the dunes successfully.

We learnt some useful skills about sand and recovering vehicles. It was a bright sunny day with a bright blue ocean, aahh. Griff let out numerous woohoos while going up and down steep sandhills. In another couple of weekends we’ll be returning for the advanced course.

We’ve also been diving and I got a lovely new semi dry suit (wetsuit thingy) for our wedding anniversary which was in March. Twelve years now. The water was quite acceptably warm, 24 deg C and with my suit being lined with wool I was toasty warm when I got out of the wetsuit. We got Griffen a half-length wetsuit as well, which means he can frolic longer in the water when we go to the beach without turning blue. He loves Aust and told me he wants to stay here for a long time.

On our days together I’ve been taking Griffen around to discover the city and numerous parks about the place, we go on the bus and monorail and walk all over, he loves exploring and making connections about various things in life, it’s great to share these with him. Karla, Steve, Max and Maija came to visit a few weeks ago whilst on their home leave. We caught the ferry to Manly, had fish and chips on the beach, ice creams and a play in the sand. Another night we walked to a lively restaurant area nearby and had a great meal, the walking provided much enjoyment. We stopped for a photo on the steps of the cafe owned by one of the Wiggles, it’s one block from us and by coincidence was the first place John took us to when we arrived in Sydney.

Griffen and I had a great time visiting Farrina in Portugal and other friends in London. I took so many photos, there is so much beauty in every day life in Europe, and we even went to some great Roman ruins from the 3rd - 1st century BC, many great mosaics still looking good. We also visited Moorish castles and forts, very decorative. Hope you like the photos.

Today Griffen’s preschool had an Easter bonnet parade; Griff’s hat was a rocket ship.

This weekend we’re going to Kincumber for my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary lunch then afterwards we’re going to some friends’ property at Wollombi to camp and relax.

We found a really nice 3 bedroom 'European Flat' that overlooks Lake Washington. We get lots of afternoon sun and we’ve seen many superb sunsets across the lake with the Olympic Mtns in the far off distance enticing the sun to go to sleep behind them. We are on the end of the complex so it is a bit more private. The gardens are great for Griffen to follow cats through the shrubs playing hide and seek. Griff likes to call out "Hi" from the verandah. At the edge of the property are some lovely old tall green trees that dapple the sunlight so well, I also collected enough blackberries to make a crumble from. Our place is new, large and well laid out with a central kitchen off the living and dining area, no more cooking and being left out of things. We have an ensuite and Rina has her own bathroom as well. We have a nice verandah to sit on, or paint on or eat ice cream on. The complex has a playground with equipment, pool, spa, bbq and gym. It also has Sunday brunch for people to get to know other residents. There are quite a few children around and although most are older than Griff it doesn’t deter him from joining in.

The people are friendly and our neighbours above us have become our friends. They came from Canada about 8 months ago and are interesting and fun and speak a similar language to us, thank god for the British in Canada. Aust & Canada seem to have many similarities. Our neighbours Pierre and Michelle have 2 girls, one 9 and the other nearly 4. Griffen plays well with them and always wants to go and play. Michelle’s mum, Susan, (great name) lives with them and she’s just taken up a job at a Montessori School. Rina is studying French at Uni and is looking forward to conversing in French with them, Pierre is the son of a French Ambassador so is a real frenchman. Last weekend John went hiking with Pierre and some other multicultural types and climbed a mtn, needing days of muscle recovery and finally his boots gave out. Michelle, the kids and I were cleverer and went across the road to the Beach park and had a picnic lunch and a sunbake. The lake has many ducks and turtles and now canadian geese flying south for the winter in their 'V' formations. We also saw some bunnies jump out from the bushes and squirrels bounce along the ground and up trees like they are made from feathers. There are sea planes that come and go off the lake, sailing boats and jet bikes like to zoom around in the water as well.

I’ve been doing quite a lot of driving as I take John to and from work each day which is about 15-20 mins on the motorway depending on the traffic. The views of Mt Rainier are what makes it all worthwhile along with the use of the 2 person transit lane, Griff maybe a bit short but he is a 2nd person. I’ve also done quite a few trips up to the Uni with Rina and we have the odd brunch and shopping trips up in Seattle. To go to the Uni or Seattle we have to cross the lake on a floating bridge, (the lake is too deep to sink pylons into in the middle) so the scenery is not too bad either. I do find merging into 60mph (100kmh) traffic on the motorway in the morning is sometimes a bit more of a jolt than I need, I even let John drive sometimes! The on and off ramps took a bit of getting used to as quite often you go completely the opposite direction and on the wrong side of the road to go where you want to. We are used to the driving on the RHS now and don’t even think about how we’ve driven for decades on the LHS. In the shift to the other side though our rights and lefts have been confused at times, you know, the other right and left.

We haven’t spent much time in Seattle yet, we went on a cruise around Puget Sound (the water off Seattle) with the Uni this Sunday. I did a self-driving discovery trip around Seattle last Saturday and came across the ship canal locks and the houseboat area as shown in the film 'Sleepless in Seattle', an area worth a wander amongst, it was funny seeing a full sized sailing boat parked next to its house in a 2m wide canal. Seattle inner suburbs have a real charm about them that is missing in our area. We have other things but not the age and history.

Rina has started Uni on crutches after a twisted knee at a Uni international soccer game. She’s made some nice friends amongst the international students, some french girlfriends, some german,norwegian, austrian, irish and english guys. After an MRI scan and consultation with the Doctor at the University of Washington medical center, world renowned, they are suggesting a consultation with a Specialist surgeon who looks after all the athletes injuries, with a view to operating. Thank god for medical insurance.

Griffen’s language skills are a constant source of praise from us as he repeats words and has a good memory and storytelling ability. He’s stopped having tantrums for the moment but does get embarrassed if we see him fall over or not do something the way he hopes it would turn out. Griffen loves trains at the moment and loves to hear the toot toot they make. We saw a train with a plane body on it going to a Boeing plant, which would be fairly unusual, he still talks about it. We were down at the wharves in Seattle waiting for a tram to take us for a ride along the waterfront when along came a double decker freight train with it’s big lights on, it travelled for a while parallel with us, so it was very exciting. I bought Griffen a Brio look alike train set when we first arrived, which he loves to play with.

It is the salmon spawning season at the moment. We hope to go to the locks and see a fish ladder from under the water. There are many lakes here and they’re very beautiful with very clear fresh water. I had to drive over a floating bridge across Lake Washington on Friday with the wind blowing at 45mph, the water was whipped up and splashing across the road, very much a part of the elements. Nature is all around us here and it’s very refreshing after living close to the city in Sydney. We see squirrels, ducks and lots of trees, the first dump of snow has hit the distant Olympic Mtns that backdrop Seattle, to the west of the Puget Sound. Autumn is in progress with the trees turning brilliant shades of red, orange, yellow and purple. We’re taking photos and constantly going ooh.

We finally took delivery of our new Lease car last week, it’s a silver (you can’t see me colour in cloudy weather) Buick Century. We had no say in colours so everyone has silver, at least it doesn’t show the dirt. It seems OK, - a column shift so we can sit 3 in the front if necessary. It’s quite comfortable with buttons to glide the seat forward/backwards, up and down. It’s a family sized car and quite stylish. The boot is large, a great improvement on the Daihatsu for long weekends away exploring.

Sven has taken John and Cathal (Lucys’ brother-in-law) in 2 rallies with only minor repairs after each rally and major fun had by both.

John is still on extending contracts at BAE Systems in Nth Ryde with the Minehunter Coastal project as before, good rates.

John is in a show - Chess, to perform end June, early July. We haven’t been out to many shows as winter has set in along with the stay comfy and warm desires. We have been swimming and spa-ing at a friends’ indoor pool and thoroughly enjoying it. We do miss the Waiwera Hot Pools. We now know that our next place needs to incorporate these facilities. We also hope to go and see Moulin Rouge - Baz Luhrman soon, it’s had good reviews.

We’ve just started reusing the Canon SLR again and really love the results. My Dad has just had his 80th birthday and I took some really nice shots with the long lens, people didn’t get so self conscious with the greater distance, see our web page for recent photos.

Griffen is nearly 22mths, we’ll have to start thinking about his 2nd party soon. He has lot’s of single words now and repeats lots of stuff he hears, nothing embarassing yet. His hair is a bit unruly at times but generally is curly at the ends and looks cute. Swimming is going well and he loves the challenge of the slightly cooler pool after cooking in the heated one, arms and legs going like egg beaters, might be good at water polo. We’ve taken some under water shots but haven’t finished the roll yet. He is a prodigous artist, loves painting and drawing, we have numerous exhibits on the walls (mostly on paper). We go to playgroup which he loves, this week we’re going to a Wiggles performance, his all time favourites, we have numerous videos watched from 6:30am sometimes, great babysitters when we want to sleep in a bit. He’s still a party boy and very well behaved when we go out for dinner. He’s generally well behaved but we have had a few episodes of creams and powder all over the place and toilet rolls that mysteriously empty themselves onto the floor or into the toilet. He made into into Rinas’ makeup purse once but we managed to intercept him before he got the lipstick lid off.

Latin dancing was OK but then John complained that the teacher wasn’t teaching it in a sexy manner and he lost interest, we even played hooky 1 night and went out for supper together in The Rocks.

We went on a rally with our friends Danielle and Cahall in February up north near Taree, Cahall drove, I navigated and Danielle, Griffen and Sue drove round the forest lost most of the time trying to follow the crap road directions, but did visit a great waterfall just for fun. We came back from the rally via the coast and stopped off for fish and chips at the beach, watched the pelicans on the river side and then drove south a bit further to call in on a diving buddy’s Mum that we camped with at Xmas.

We’ve been out to dinner and lunches etc and introduced D&C to numerous people. They are fun to be with. We went to North Bondi to dive, eat and swim. Had a great dive there with Cathal 'the air monster' and got better than 20 metres viz. Know that because we could see the bottom clearly from the top. Fish soup, sharks (not bitey ones), and over affectionate cuttlefish.

Rina is studying at Sydney University for her final year and has been accepted by Sydney Uni to go on exchange to Washington State Uni in Seattle to start in September, which will be great.

Of course we’re still waiting on Seattle. Unfortunately, we still haven’t been given any firm indications of when, what, or how long. Maybe June, maybe July, ... maybe.