A couple of Sundays ago, the four of us and Aspen took a drive along the Great Ocean Road. We stopped off at Torquay to watch people surfing (there are so many places over here which are named after places in the UK), and then took Aspen on the beach (she really does like a swim) and also visited the Twelve Apostles - great lumps of rock just off the coast - and the Blow Hole and Thunder Gorge, and took some amazing pictures.

While we've been here we also took part in a quiz night in aid of the local school. It was held in a local restaurant and was very busy; we didn't think we'd done too well as they called out the answers but in the end it turned out that we were in joint first place with another team and had to take part in a tie-breaker question. I had to go head-to-head with a lady from another team in a 'higher/lower' question about the height of Mount Snowdon. Our answers came to within a centimetre of each other and we thought I'd lost when there was only one possible answer left (bye-bye to the crate of organic food and the Nike Australian football shirts), but the other lady had obviously not been concentrating and gave a guess that had already been given, leaving me to give the right answer! It was a great night, and as well as taking home lots of goodies we also got our picture in the school newsletter. Famous already!

On the 16th May the two of us, along with Katie and Aspen, went down to Albert Park again, this time for the Million Paws Walk which is in aid of the RSPCA. They host about 45 of them all across Australia every year. We had a brilliant morning; there were about two thousand or so dogs there and again it was a beautifully sunny day (not always the case in Melbourne at this time of year) and we all did a circuit of the lake in the middle of the park which was about five kilometres - great exercise and surrounded by all shapes, sizes and breeds of dogs. They were all on leads of course, but a few still managed to end up having a swim in the lake.

Simon has been offered work at Her Majesty's Theatre, taking out Mama Mia and then putting in Mary Poppins so that's really good news. I have also been popping in to Katie's vet clinic. It's been brilliant and I've seen lots of fluffy animals - the other day I spent most of the morning with a kitten asleep on my lap while I used the computer.

We're hoping to go to Sydney in about six to eight weeks' time although it all depends on the work that Simon is doing. Our visas run out in early December and we haven't decided yet whether we'll stay until then, or whether we'll head off somewhere else afterwards - we're just playing it by ear for now. Australian life is good (the tv isn't) and it seems strange that at the beginning of June we are now in winter, but it's nice to hear what you are all up to via FB, and we get quite a few re-runs of British television programmes such as Top Gear and The Vicar of Dibley which is nice little slice of home...

Hope you are all well xx