Heaven for the weather

hello all again, its sunday so it must be blog day. I am sitting here a little tired and a little sun and wind beaten today so i think it maybe a shorter blog than usual. Although I am good at waffling so who knows? In general its been a pretty decent week in Adelaide although not the most exciting we have had so far. The classic car rally has been on all week which is pretty cool but we didnt get to see much of it apart from the odd classic porsche as it hurtled up the street.Workwise has been pretty mixed for me. My digital imaging has all gone well so far and I have managed to tame the computers but on the bad side one of my main experiments failed (the plants died) so I am back to the drawing board there. It is fortunate we have extended our trip by 10 days as this will give me time to hopefully recover from this (and it gives Emma and Dylan another 10 days of holiday so everyones a winner). For those that we havent already mentioned this to our new ETA back in the UK in Jan 22. Next week plans to be a busy one at work, new experiments to set up, a departmental seminar on thursday which i have to give plus my new PhD researcher, Saoirse, has arrived this weekend for a 2 week stay so i will be busy showing her the ropes. As she will be heading back to Nottingham in 2 weeks updating everyone of my progress I may even have to work a little harder for a bit !

Emma and Dylan have had another nice week. I think Emma's highlight was when a DVD of english tv arrived in the post - mainly documentaries i think, no soaps i am sure :) As mentioned previously Emma is still single-handedly managing to keep the southern hemisphere away from recession via our credit card. After another host of toys were acquired this week Emma mentioned the possibility of seeing if some of it could be shipped back to the UK (i kid you not).They have been fairly busy this week going to various groups (see a pic of Dylan on the right in a boat at kindergym). They got invited round to Nicole's house last week and got to see what a typical aussie house is like. Nicole tipped Emma off about some 'special' teething gel that is made and sold at the local hospital which seems to be 99% novacaine. It seems good stuff although applying it to Dylan's gums without numbing his mouth and lips is a tricky process. In general Dylan has been pretty good this week. His sleeping has been great, in fact, dare i say it, he is getting a little lazy, frequently not getting up until after 8am, yesterday he slept from 6.50pm til 9am! (a record).

On friday we hired a car for the weekend and headed to Monarto which is 50 miles south of Adelaide. Unfortunately this coincided with the two worst days of weather since we have been here (cool, below 20 degrees, cloudy and drizzly). Anyway the reason for going to Monarto was the safari park and the weather didnt spoil it too much. It was actually a little 'jurassic park' like as you got taken around various african style environments on a bus to see the animals. Dylan loved it especially the giraffes (he calls them raffs) and lions (called roars) although keeping him sat in the same place on a bus for an hour was a challenge. On saturday as I mentioned Saoirse arrived so I picked her up at the airport and felt a little guilty dropping her off at the rather basic student accommodation to sleep off the jetlag. We then spent sometime in a rather busy soft play area (wacky warehouse) as believe it or not it was a bit too cold to be outside! And onto today, the best of the weekend, the sun returned and everyone was it a great mood. We picked up Saoirse after the usual sunday morning ritual of capuccinos and banana bread at the bakery and headed to Cleland Wildlife Park for more fun with koalas and kangeroos (see pics). We must have done every animal activity going in south australia at this stage. Anyway Dylan seems to love visiting these places and Saoirse seemed to really enjoy it although she still had that spaced look after all the flying. We then headed to the beach for ice cream by the sea and the funfair for Dylan. And thats that really. The car goes back tomorrow. I am a bit anxious as I foolishly decided against paying the £15 a day extra insurance charge to reduce the excess from £1500 to £150 and I noticed a little dint on the side by the door which I dont think was there when we got the car so I hope that doesnt end up costing us a fortune!

So as I mentioned its a busy week lined up for me in work this week although I am hoping to take friday off to go and see the cricket (2nd Test between Australia V New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval). Emma and Dylan are going out with Nicole and Marcus tomorrow and then swimming. A visit to see Father Christmas in one of the department stores is also on the cards this week. There is actually quite a lot of christmas stuff around now but somehow it just doesnt feel christmassy (is that a word?). Emma is also busily planning the route for the campervan holiday after christmas which is starting to come together now. Looks like we'll be driving +1000km!

And finally moan of the week, not one from me this time but from Emma. Those who know Emma well will know that one thing she likes very much is sleep and those that come between her and her sleep had better watch out. Well this week we had not one but two visits from the roadsweepers. Why? who knows as Adelaide is by far the cleanest place I have ever lived. The roadsweeper visited this week on Tuesday and Thursday at 6am each time. They also decided that three passes of the road were required. And were also accompanied by two chaps with leaf blowing machines. This would all be ok if there was any rubbish or even a leaf to sweep but there isnt. Anyway lets just say they are fortunate that we live two floors up.

ok, told you i could waffle, time to go, hope you are all well and the artic wind doesnt last too long. We can symphaise honestly, we had to wear jumpers yesterday ! take care S,E&D x

Heaps Good!

Morning all, slightly later blog this week as we were back late last night. Another great week in Adelaide. In fact its been 'heaps good' (this is a south australian expression). The weather was splendid throughout and in general we were all in tip top form except for Dylan on friday who has especially hacked off with the teething - these back teeth really are causing him some grief. So what have we been up to? well not much really, we have pretty much found a routine now of work (for me) and fun (for emma and dylan). I had a good week in work, experiments starting to come together and I even got a trip to the pub after work on thursday for a few pints (of Coopers Pale Ale - check it out if you can, its v nice) which was great. We went to an apparently studenty pub although it was probably nicer than most pubs back home. Emma and Dylan had a good week doing all the usual activities (kindergym, shopping, swimming, shopping, singing classes and shopping). On Tuesday, they also went to an outback animal reserve called something like Woolawoolawonga (most places are called something like this) and they got to see deadly spiders and snakes. Dylan even touched a snake (see pic). They went with Emma's friends Natalie and Clare who both have cars so its quite good for them to get out and about. So far we havent missed having a car at all really although it is handy to have one at the weekends so we might get one again next week. Wednesday was a barmy hot day - 37 degrees - although the humidity is low so it didnt feel quite that hot. The temperature didnt really drop much at night where it was 32 so we had the air con on all night. That night I went to the park by the river where they have a big screen to show the Asian Champions League final - Adelaide V Gamba Osaka. The atmosphere beforehand was great even with Adelaide 3 nil down from the first leg, unfortunately Osaka scored again after 3 minutes so that was pretty much that but at least the bbq was good!

This weekend was nice, we spent saturday chilling out around the city centre. Dylan got to see Father Christmas who rather scared him until he gave him a chocolate bar. We then went to see the Australian 3-Day eventing competition - apparently the biggest horse show in the southern hemisphere. We got to see the cross country event which was actually really good. The horses were huge and fast and Dylan loved shouting 'nayyy' everytime they flew past. This is one of the things were are really liking about living here, there seems to be something on all the time, its usually kiddy friendly and also really cheap to do. Next week there is a classic car race round the city centre and in January the 'tour of australia' starts in Adelaide so Emma is looking forward to seeing Lance Armstrong race. On sunday we took the slow train to Gawler to Annies house (the lady I am working with). They put on a traditional aussie bbq for us which was great and we all ate lobster and kangeroo! which tasted a bit like beef, Dylan seemed to like it anyway. To drink we had chilled sparkling red wine which was unusual but also nice. Then Anne's husband, Murray, took us on a tour of the deadly wildlife including the redback spiders that live in his shed. They are quite small but if they bite you need to get the hospital pretty sharpish for antidote or they can kill. Not sure seeing these helped Emma much with her phobia (she got our landlords out this week to remove some cobwebs from the wall outside the flat this week in case it was redbacks).

So thats about it for this week. We have been here a month now and so far it has been a brilliant experience. For the first time this week we mentioned the 'H' word (home) and it wasnt something we are especially looking forward to as we are having such a good time. Although we have another 2 months left so no need to get depressed yet :) I am not going to have a moan of the week this week as I cant think of anything really to moan about, well perhaps the flies but that's about it. However just in case I am painting a super glossy picture of Adelaide there was a reminder this week it has its problems like all cities. On wednesday there was a fight in the city centre between 2 gangs of Sudanese immigrants which ended up in a 14 year boy being stabbed and killed by a 17 year old. This is the first time such a thing has happened but still shocking all the same. The worst thing was that Emma and Dylan were actually on the street no more than 50 metres away when it happened. So its not all roses here.

After that I best end on a positive. Dylan (bar the teething) is in fine form. He is growing fast at the minute, finally got used to wearing a hat (yay!) and extending his vocab every day. He is now starting to say the names of characters he sees on TV - Bob the Builder is called 'bob-bob', Thomas the Tank Engine is called 'choo-choo' and Roary the Racing Car is called 'row-row'. He has also finally learnt to wave goodbye, says thanks and give a kiss (although he hasnt managed it with a closed mouth yet, be warned). Ok, time to go, hope someone is still reading this! love sacha, emma and dylan x.

That was the week that was

Evening all, sunday again so time to jot down on what we have been upto in Adelaide this week. Its been another good week although I dont think we scaled the heights of the previous weeks this week, it was more a 7/10 than 9/10 i'd say although Emma thinks I am being a bit harsh. So I'll come on to all the good stuff in a minute, what didnt make it so good? Well after dipping Dylan in the Antarctic Ocean last weekend he promptly came down with a cold (yes, we know whose fault this was), plus the four back teeth which are all coming through combined to make him a bit miserable and sleep a bit erratically for the first part of the week which wasnt so good. The other thing not quite as good was the weather, seriously !, we had a few days of 15-20 degrees and overcast skies which was a bit of a bummer, it even rained yesterday morning, well drizzled. The locals here are desperate for rain, there has been hardly any in the last three years and apparently over 50 ancient trees in the city have died as a result with a further 100 expected to go this summer. So a lack of good sleep and some grey sky took the edge off the week. However, it was still pretty good...

For me it has been quite a busy one in work, my first using Adelaide University's new $500 000 X-ray scanner. I have only done a little work but already encountered my first problem....1 sample requires 50GB of disk space (Iam hoping to do +50 samples) so I have already had to go and buy new hardware. My first day using the scanner coincided with the Melbourne Cup which I mentioned last week. This was good fun. At 1pm everyone downed tools and headed to the coffee room for champagne and chicken sandwiches (an aussie combo i guess). I was invited along and made to feel welcome which was nice. I was given a horse in the sweepstake that promptly came last. Also a bit strange was a few people had dressed up for the occasion including some ladies in dresses and hats who wouldnt look out of place at Ascot, except we were in the basement of the medical school some 1000km from where the race was taking place. My other work news is that Nottingham University have found the cash to pay for my new PhD student, Saoirse, to come out and visit to see what I am up to (I best get busy). She is coming in 2 weeks and will stay for 10 days. Apparently they are already teasing in Nottingham that I have set this up to get a babysitter, now they come to mention it though its not a bad idea!

Emma and Dylan have continued to be super busy. Emma has made yet more friends (seriously) including a few aussies. We went out for the afternoon yesterday with another family who Emma had met who are here for 18 months (Raj, Suzy, Sofia & Matthew). They are from Newcastle but lived in Leeds for a few years so we had lots in common. Raj is an angioplasty surgeon on an 18 month fellowship out here working on MRI so we had a bit to talk about. As they have already been here 3 months they gave us lots of tips of places to go etc. Other than that Emma and Dylan have been to kindergym, music class and some other baby groups. Our gym has a creche that Emma tried out on friday, she was a bit hesitant as Dylan's track record with childcare isnt good and apparently he was good for 30 mins but then cried and could only be appeased by watching Thomas the Tank Engine. Emma is keen to keep trying though just to help with the transition to nursery when we return home.

So the big event of the week was on saturday, the all singing, all dancing Christmas pageant which is in early November for some reason. Unfortunately it coincided with the worst weather since we have been here which i think dampened spirits a little bit. Still 250 000 people lined the streets of Adelaide and waved at the clowns, elves, fairies etc. See pic, unfortunately the camera batteries went before Santa came! Its a little odd but the christmas countdown is in full effect now. All the shops have tinsel in the windows, the lights are up and the queues to see Santa in the toy stores have begun. Normal service resumed weatherwise today (30 degrees and sunny) so we headed to the zoo which is 10 mins walk away. Dylan loved it, he now shouts the animal noises at the animals - well providing its a lion, monkey or cow. He has taken a real shine to the giraffes but we dont know what noise they make. Any ideas? After the zoo we took a stroll up the river (see pic) and had ice creams in the sun - the perfect sunday i think.

Not too much making the news down here, although Russell Brand and Jonathon Ross did get a mention, is it really a global story? The credit crunch gets the odd mention but they arent really experiencing it here, although that maybe due to Emma keeping their economy afloat by a record number of consecutive days shopping!

Not sure what we have lined up for this week, no big events i think. We have today booked a summer/christmas holiday. We are going to meet Tina and Ben somewhere between Melbourne and Adelaide between Christmas and New Year and so we have hired a campervan, well actually a motorhome for a week. This was actually very difficult as everywhere was booked out as this is the busiest week for holidays in Oz. We had 2 options, a cheap VW campervan style or a v expensive giant winnebago style one. I favoured the former for price, emma favoured the latter for comfort. Emma won. So that promises to be an adventure with Dylan in tow.

Ok, time to sign out, hope you are all well, please continue to email, skype, comment on the blog etc. Just time for my moan of the week (I think this is like a little bit of therapy for me). This week it is the drivers in Adelaide. The boy racer quota here is very high. As I mentioned most cars have the giant, noisy exhausts. Anyway, they drive like nutters. This was highlighted yesterday at the top of our road when one went crashing into a coffee shop (see pic). Luckily it was early and nobody was hurt...

Right then so, love to all and we'll update you some more next week. Sacha, Emma & Dylan x

A Break from the Old Routine

G'd evening bloggers. Sunday night here so time for another update on our big adventure. Thanks to all those who emailed to let me know the reason they havent subscribed is because they dont have googlemail. I'll assume I am typing to more than Dan and Dad here so hello to all. Its been another great week here in Adelaide. We are fully settled in now and really enjoying life. We really like Adelaide as a city, its big enough so there is lots to see and do but also small enough in that you can pretty much walk most places or its 20mins max on a bus. We have been really enjoying having everything on our doorstep and living a more spontaneous life. I can see we will be looking to make some changes to things when we come home (leaving Loughborough being a priority). To make you all feel better the weather has been more mixed this week. Mainly sunny and in the mid 20s but we have had 2 days where it was about 17 degrees and overcast all day - v. depressing it was :) So for me (Sacha) this week was my first full week in work and it went pretty well. I was mainly in the lab setting up experiments. I have no technician here so its a bit like the old days for me but I actually enjoyed it. The people are all friendly although its a lot quiter than Nottingham which I think I would miss in the long run. Worst experience of the week was when I opened a store cupboard at work and a lizard jumped out at me and landed on my foot. Unfortunately I squealed like a girl much to the amusement of the aussies here (I am sure they planted it there for a joke). Emma and Dylan have been doing a very good job of being even busier than me. Their week included swimming, gymnastics, library storytelling, group singing and picnics by the river. Emma has made quite a few friends now (how does she do it?), mainly brits but some who are here short term and some who have emigrated so she is getting a good view on what life is like here. I think they are especially loving life here at the minute as it really is a like a long holiday, certainly if their weekly capuccino bill is anything to go by. Dylan is coming on well with his speech now and has added several new words to his vocabulary this week including 'roar', 'more', 'no' and 'goal!!'. The latter brings me on to one of the highlights of the week (sad you may think) but I got up at 6am to go to the gym to watch Arsenal v Spurs. Not because I am mad for the exercise of course but because we dont have Sky Sports at the apartment. Anyway the match was cracking and I certainly brought entertainment to the group of ladies behind me on exercise bikes when i slipped off the treadmill because i jumped up to celebrate spurs's last minute equaliser. On friday, because work had gone well, I took some time off and we had a nice cultural day and visited the botanic gardens and art gallery (a first for all of us) and then went for a family swim. And then this weekend we hired a car and did some exploring. Saturday we went south down the coast to Victor Harbour and Aldinga Beach (see pic of Dylan covered in suncream, emma is a bit obsessive about this but you can burn here in a few mins). The beaches are fantastic and Dylan especially loves them. They are in excellent condition and generally pretty quiet. The only problem is the water is from the Antarctic and bloody freezing so its paddling only. In fact Dylan has a bad cold today probably due to his irresponsible parents dipping him in the icy waters. After that we went to a wild animal reserve. A little bit like a safari park by foot. We saw kaolas, wombats, dingos and kangeroos....actually we had a bit of an encounter with the 'roos. The park owner told us the kangeroos roamed wild, were friendly and would love some of the food she would sell us. So off we toddled and about half way round saw a field full of kangeroos. From about 100m they look quite small and friendly. However they can travel that distance in a few hops and as they get closer, they look a lot bigger. We must have looked like silly poms as Emma shouted "run away" as they headed towards. As we ran, they came bouncing even closer to us. At which point I threw the food at them and ran faster. We must have looked quite a sight. Of course they were friendly as we discovered later (see pic) but they were a lot bigger and faster than we thought. The image of Emma diving over the front of the pushchair to sacrafice herself and save Dylan will last a while. And today we went north to a place called Roseworthy. It is about 45 mins north of Adelaide and the site of one the universities campuses. It was 125 years old today so they had an open day/agricultural show to celebrate. This was good fun as they had lots of farm animals to entertain Dylan and mini-steam trains ("choo choo" was phrase of the day)(Thomas the Tank Engine is the current favourite). They also had lots of huge tractors to play with (see pic). Whilst on this one the offical open day photographer came and asked to take a pic so we may even make a the new prospectus!

So that's about it for the week. We are still having a great time here (but we will come home we promise!). One thing we realised by having a car this weekend is that we have been really lucky and found a great area to live with loads to see and do. There are lots of other areas that had we ended up there it might not have been such a great experience. So we are lucky the university is paying the crazy rental price (i hope no-one from university is reading this). The week ahead promises to be good also. There are two big events happening this week. The Melbourne Cup is on Tuesday which seems similar to the Grand National but bigger. Apparently the country comes to a stand still for the afternoon. And next Saturday is the Christmas Pageant (only a month and a half early). Apparently a load of christmassy floats parade through the city. Doesnt sound too exciting until you discover 300 000 people attend ! So hopefully we will report back on that - see http://www.cupageant.com.au/ - if you can't wait.

Right, time to sign out, just time for the 'moan of the week' (I would love to do the programme 'Grumpy Old Men'). The annoying thing this week has been buses. Ok they are mainly late, as they are everywhere but, here, if they happen to be early they wait at the stop until they are back on time. So if you are heading home you have the frustration of sitting on a bus which everytime it reaches a stop, even if there is no one to get on or off, stops and waits. Well annoying! well I think so anyway. Rightyho, hope the weather is still as good at home as you all keep telling me it is, have a good week, enjoy bonfire night (fireworks are banned here due to fire risk) and we'll speak to you all soon, Love the Mooneys x

PS. Forgot to say, we have been loving skype, so if anyone would like to chat, give us a call on 'sedmooney'. 7-9am and 9-10pm your time are best.