Attack of the killer bees!

JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS JINGLE ALL THE WAY
CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRALIA ON A SCORCHING SUMMER'S DAY !!

g'day family and friends
afraid i failed in my attempts to get Emma to do the blog, she would rather do the ironing apparently although she says hi. So this will be the last blog until the new year i think as we head of on our campervan adventure on boxing day - emma is very excited about this, i am a little more hesistant i think. Anyway I would imagine we should have some tales to tell. The rough plan (for those who use googlemaps) is to leave Boxing day morning (apparently the busiest day of the year on the roads) and drive south out of Adelaide for about 4 hrs to a small fishing village called Robe where we have a spot booked on a campsite by the beach. Then we are heading on to Mount Gambier - a kind of Lake District style town to meet Tina and Ben for a few days before heading back to Adelaide around new year via the coast probably staying near Goolwa and Victor Harbour. Anyway more on that next time.

So we have only 4 weeks left of the adventure now so we are making sure we enjoy everyday. The plummeting pound is not helping our cause (down to 2.18AUD from 2.65 when we arrived) and everything is becoming more expensive which is a pain but hey ho we'll worry about the recession when we get home. So last week was a pretty good week. The first part of the week was the quietest as we were all still recovering from being 'crook' the previous week. Work was busy as i tried to finish things off. I had my departmental seminar on friday and that went really well, got lots of nice feedback. I scanned the last of my samples today and officially broke up until Jan 5th. The weather was great for most of the week, mainly between 25-30 degrees, so Emma and Dylan were out and about most days including a few days on the beach at Henley with Natalie and Claire. The main excitement of the week was our flat getting attacked by a swarm of bees. It started with a few at the window trying to get in and before we knew it we had several hundred trying to get in. Some managed it as well but thankfully not too many. Anyway we had to get the pest control to come and save us. Apparently when a bee colony gets too big it sends out a scout party of a few hundred bees to find a new home and it seems like our flat was the prime real estate. Thankfully the pest control sprayed some powder and the day later they were gone but it was quite scary at the time!

The weekend again was jam packed. I took friday afternoon off (a theme developing here) and we went to the modern art gallery. Dylan had a good go at knocking over the priceless exhibits. I also realised for the first time that I need to becareful what I say around him as he is starting to pick up on words he hears as he shouted rather loudly, in the silent gallery, "boobs" at one of the sculptures. Saturday we headed to the zoo again which was nice but we didnt realise that the hotter the weather, the less you see as all the animals hide under the shade. Emma had her night out on saturday night going for a curry and a few drinks with her friends. And yesterday was another day at the beach in Glenelg. Last night was the main event though, 'Carols by Candlelight', 35 000 people down by the river for a free public concert. It wasnt quite as expected, the music was not so much orchestral and more pop style by a variety of australian idol finalists and minor tv celebs. Still it was good fun. The park was packed with many people getting there manyhours before it started to get a good spot. Loads of people were dressed up and the picnics were certainly impressive! Anyway we managed to see about half of it with Dylan lasting til 9.30pm before flaking out. It really is great that there seem to be so many community events here with everyone so friendly.

However it still doesnt feel like christmas to us... I think at this stage it probably isnt going to. The aussie approach to xmas is slightly different to ours. It seems more about fun and partying and less about tradition. The media certainly doesnt get into it as much as at home. If you look at the TV listings for xmas day it looks like any other day (although the queens speech is on at 11pm!). One reason for the difference is that the christmas period is the main holiday period so most people as more concerned with where they are going on holiday after xmas. So for us we are going to spend Christmas eve at Annie's house and then Christmas day at the beach in Glenelg, not sure if it will be packed or if we will be the only ones, we'll have to wait and see. The weather is due to be 34 degrees though so its certainly going to be a little different. I think we might even miss the cold and dark (and the Snowman, Quality Street, Turkey etc) for a few mins.

Ok so that's it. Happy Christmas to everyone reading this. We hope you all have a great day. We will certainly be thinking of you. If you are around it would be great to chat via skype even if only for a few mins (7-9am and 4-6pm your time are best for us). Failing that leave us a message below - I have removed the restriction on anonymous people leaving messages so anyone can leave a note. Have a very happy new year. And hopefully we'll be in touch in early 2009 with an update on the holiday and the countdown to us coming back !

Love to all
Sacha, Emma & Dylan xxx