Phillip Island

Well, we got out and saw little bit... Actually, quite a lot! Koalas, wallabees, and penguins. It was a nice family weekend, we hung at the beach where Doug tried out cricket and just relaxed...
 
We are finding things more expensive, but we are having a good time at the market and exploring Melbourne and surroundings! I'll post some more soon, but things are about to get a little busy as we switch apartments.

Down Under...

We flew all night to Melbourne, and landed in the warm arms of our friends, Ken and Claudia. The children even pulled together a mini-Halloween for our girls, who were delighted! (You can see the almost completed pool in the background, we're all looking forward to pool parties through the summer!)
We've found a place for the next month, and then we're moving into a nice three bedroom apt. on Queen St. (room for guests!). That's the building next to the children...

I managed to meet a kookabura (it was so cool after singing the song all those years ago!), we walked through Flagstaff gardens (Doug and Clarissa enjoying the sun but still relatively cold), and Miranda got heck for taking pictures of our new bank (it is a cool building, but many are here).
We thought we left the nice beaches behind, but really we just left the warm water. The beach right by Ken and Claudia's is amazing, but I must say the water is a little chill after the South China Sea. Doug's settling into a very different position and we're busy exploring and settling into life here... We're finding it a bit easier and certainly find people friendly and fun!

 

Interlude in Hanoi

Well, this is my second try at this page, so the delays are not all due to my laziness, but maybe due to my ineptitude...
We had a great time and ate spring rolls morning, noon and night. Fresh, fried, you name it! Wonderful. We did a cruise through Halong bay, which was really nice. Funny moment, when we first looked at the menu we thought we had to choose something ~ turns out that was just to let you know what was all coming! Cruising lived up to it's rumour of more food than you should eat at one time.

We bought some dishes (that's the cat trying them out for us), saw the water puppets and visited the Australian embassy so Clarissa could do a playdate. We really enjoyed our time with Uncle David and it made me relax a bit from the stress of packing...