Long time no update

 Sorry we have not posted for such a long time but it has been really busy. Anyway a few of our Christmas and New Year snaps are below

 Traditional christmas

 Non traditional Christmas

 Archie obviously liked this present!

 We seemed to spend a lot of time on the computer skyping, in fact i thing we managed three computers at he same time at one point.

This is proof That they do get on sometimes, at least for the camera anyway. It was taken at Mount Gambier in S Australia where we went for new year

Evie posing for the camera, a new and worrying trend

 The usual archie pose

A regular book worm

After a day at the beach

Rachael so enjoys looking after the kids at the beach

Archie new sport, sand surfing on a body board

Some poor unfortunate people who had an interesting sift to arrive back to after a day out.

Rachael helping to drive home in her usual way.

Our first christmas in Oz

Rachael and the kids getting into the christmas spirit. It was very odd being so warm but we made the most of it and went down to the beach. David and Laura came over as well making it a bit of a family occasion. We did do the old roast turkey and even managed yorkshire puddings at the kids request but it is a lot of work in this heat.

The end of the season for the new netball team, they had a thrilling 6-6 drawn to end with.

Prize giving for netball

Have you ever seen such a shepherd filled with mischief.

The motley crew tasked with looking after the sheep.

A few pictures of the kids having surfing lessons, the new sport!!

Archie putting it all into practice!

Getting ready for christmas

Rachael and I enjoying a glass of vino without the kids

Archies great catch, he caused quite a stir with this. All the other anglers had never seen a flathead caught at Barwon Heads before and especially not such a big one

Evie and Archie enjoying some makeshift musical instruments and the local festival 

Rachael getting the kids excited, not that they need any help with that

Evie's netball team, last game of the season was a 6-6 thriller!!

The netball team down the beach with their trophies

A rather naughty shepard

The christmas dance!!!

Goldmines and Bendigo

The accommodation arrives

Evie and Archie don hats and light in search of the gold but even going 50 metres underground we fail to come up with any. We did have more luck with panning for gold though.

Some of the highlights of Bendigo

Pottery is the other big industry, the kids try their hands at making a few vase's for Rachael. They both had accidents but we have a collection of pottery pieces that prove they have the knack.

Filling our time

Archie after a tough time in the waves

A little walk in the woods

Evie enjoying the local produce

Archie and I doing the hunter gatherer thing.

Me trying something else to fill my time with, much to Rachaels pleasure.

Life so far

It was a first for Archie and I, we had a hair wash at the hairdresser in Torquay. In fact Archie insisted that he had the same treatment if not better!!

Rachael doing her usual thing down at Growler's our local haunt.

Rachael and the kids went to Melbourne to see an art exhibition. It was called the Art of the Brick, the kids were in their element it was all done in Lego!

Archie is making a swift exit as he has just been seen almost knocking this one over, the sculptor only took 3 months to make and Archie could destroy it in 3 seconds!!

Rach just back from the pub on the girls night out.

Evie in her new netball gear, they have played two games so far and you are looking at the only girl to score a goal or a basket whatever you call it!!!

Sadly they lost both games, but you have to start somewhere.

This is where we live now, quite pretty really.

Archie being invested into the 1st Torquay Joey's (scouts), he hardly spoke through the whole ceremony.

Our first AFL match, we watched Geelong v Melbourne. Geelong the local side absolutely thrashed Melbourne by 180 points. This ended up with the coach getting sacked and a big debate about whether AFL football has too great a gap between the top and lower teams, oddly reminiscent of the premier league.