Who lives in a house like this?(part 2)

Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours......


Anyway, we get this......one more room than ours, a 'rumpus room'and my art studio is going to be in the garage.........how exciting is that?



This beach is apparently close by but Tina might be far too into the interesting rocks and might be inspired to compose another work of art.....!



If in doubt...throw another shrimp on the barbie....mate!

Who lives in a house like this?

so...this is what the Australians are getting (complete with our lovely weather, although, actually they are really excited about the cold weather and are hoping for snow!!)




They are probably getting a good deal on the kitchen, which we will still be paying for well into next year.



Thank the Lord for Sharps bedrooms. We will particularly miss the water bed. Looks wonderfully calm..doesn't it? You should see it in a storm!!

Mercenary little monkeys- Nov 25th

The manic expressions displayed below are supposed to be feigned greed. People keep asking us if the kids are looking forward to it . We basically think they have no idea what they are in for. They'll probably think they'll be coming home after ten days. 24 hour plane flights and being away for a year is not something they can quite comprehend. "Is it christmas in two days" asked Alex tonight. So we dutifully made a countdown calendar to get it into his head. The 100 dollars displayed above is the first Christmas present the children received. Another 30 of those would be great thankyou. Then we can buy the children a car. Alex was more interested in money having a window in it.

Those hidden expenses

Have you ever wondered if you left your house for someone else to live in for the year what little
idiosyncracies you'd have to mention. David and Michelle already know how to re-pressurise the boiler, the fact that the security light comes on and gives you the willies evertime you turn off the hall light and which channel you need to play Nintendo games.
You also go round the house thinking we can't possibly leave them with this! Therefore our most recent purchases include......


Sheets, towels, cutlery, quilts and coasters.
Courtesy of Asda and TK Maxx


The bathroom "transformation" completed with a new shower



A bog seat from Homebase....... with adjustable brass hinges

Go socceroos

Apart from all the friends and family that we did not refer to
in our "things we will miss" post (sorry to any who were mortally offended)
we should also have mentioned the World Cup. It will be such a shame not to sing Rooney Rooney after five tins of Heineken and put a small St. George's flag on our aerial.
Hope is at hand though as by qualifying for the tournament last night (beat Uruguay 4-2 on pens in case you wanted to know) the Australian team ensured that coverage over there will be more than "By the way Brazil won" when June comes around. The only problem now is we'll have to set our clocks to 1am or 5am to get up for the matches.

Oh the paperwork

Less than 50 days before we are off!

Before doing an exchange read the smallprint. Here is this weekend's
paperwork. We forgot about this bit. It nakes you realise how tied
you are to various authorities and organisations.
Where are you going?
What are you doing?
When are you coming back?
It's like being a teenager again.
The neat little rectangle in the middle is called the Chappell Jobs list.
Anyone who knows us at work or play know our life is driven by lists.
This one is very regularly updated.

Things we will not miss

British Barbecues




Watching Rusedski/Henman/Murray fail valiantly
in the quarter finals of Wimbledon




I suppose this list could go on but we don't want to sound like Mr. and Mrs. Negative. Anyway trawling through old photos is a real pain in the backside especially with Tina's filing system. Meanwhile it is time to get back to more pressing matters.

A few things to miss about being away

Seeing old friends from college.



Mums and Dads





Wacky "moose" games at Wayfarers

How to prepare for Australia

Prior to taking on a voyage to Australia there are a variety of interesting tasks you must undertake.



11 year old Australian boys tend not to like pink fairy covered walls. China blue is far more suitable. Jessica was forced to smile for this shot though.



Any mould and shitake mushrooms growing in the corners of your bath need to be removed. This is the after photo believe it or not.



Get any old spider infested box out of your loft and fill it with things you can survive without for fifteen months. This collection includes such essentials as. 25 years worth of albums, a plaster cast of Chris' teeth and various artistic endeavours of Tina's.



Go to Matalan and buy the biggest suitcase you can find. We have found out that two small children can fit in here but exceed the maximum baggage allowance.