It’s currently 9:00pm on New Year’s Eve – my 2015 wrap up is
well and truly overdue – normally I manage to get it out by Christmas but this
year it’s going to sneak its way into 2016. We are currently in Nottingham and
tomorrow morning we will head off to Penzance. I hopefully will get this sent
from Cornwall! Update – here it is January 5th and we spent a beautiful
2 days in Cornwall catching up with Harvey and Hannah-Jane – no time to sit
around at the computer! We arrived in Dartmouth on Sunday night and we have
another 2 nights here.
2015 was a significant year for our family. We finished last
year with Gary between jobs having completed his contract in October. The start
of the year was slow job wise and although there were a few nibbles nothing
panned out in terms of a new contract. In March, Gary interviewed for a job at
the Playford council. Playford is an area north of Adelaide – a massive drive
from the Adelaide Hills – but having a job far from home is better than no job
so when an offer came through, Gary accepted the position. It was a contract
that was initially only for 3 months. As it turned out, Gary loved the job –
the work environment and the people so that was excellent. The commute was hard
work at over an hour each way – not ideal – especially when we live in the 20
minute city! The contract was extended for an extra 3 months with the promise
of a potential 18 month contract down the line. On the strength of this
promise, we booked our UK holiday – obviously with the nod from Gary’s boss. It
had been 4 years since we’ve been to the UK as a family – Gary has come every
year but we both thought it was really important for the children to see their
grandparents again, especially with deteriorating health for both of them.
In August, a job came up at Walkerville Council and I knew
the agent who was recruiting (this is Adelaide after all), so I dropped them a
mail to say that Gary was my husband and that I thought he had the right skill
set etc. A number of weeks later, they called Gary in for an interview (in fact
we had both written it off in terms of a possibility). The interview was
intense (over 2 hours!) and a week later, Gary was offered the job. He is now
the Finance Manager at Walkerville Council – much closer to home – and so far
he is really enjoying the job. It was a tough couple of years getting steady
work in Adelaide.
My work situation has been quite steady – I have been at The
Beachouse for 18 months now and I still love it. My boss is fantastic – he is quite
entrepreneurial and always looking for new opportunities. My work is extremely
flexible and I now work a full day from home each week which provides more
flexibility in terms of the kids and schedules etc. In July, I completed study
to become a BAS agent – this was quite straightforward and nothing too onerous
at all but something that I thought could be great to start my own business
working from home, helping people out with BAS and bookkeeping services.
Shortly after I finished my qualification, I snagged a job – it was a bit of a
chance happening – someone put a post on Facebook asking for some training in
MYOB – I sent them a message and got the gig. As it turned out, their
bookkeeper then left so it has turned into an ongoing job – it’s a hair and
beauty salon in Mount Barker and I do around 4 hours a week for them – just
their payroll and BAS but I love it – it’s flexible – working from home and
helping people out in their own business to hopefully do things in a more
efficient smarter way. Ideally, I would love to get another 1 or 2 clients in
2016 where I can help out with bookkeeping, BAS and payroll for small business
but I expect this will happen as time goes on – I haven’t actively marketed my
business yet!
Alex was in Year 2 this year. He was in a year 2/3 combined
class at Rose Park Primary and he seemed to really like it. Alex is quite
involved with his friends and friendships and these are really important to
him. I really liked his teacher – she didn’t seem to tolerate bad behaviour and
I thought she was really good – she had a massively challenging class with
mixed ages and a number of non- English speaking kids. Alex had a good year and
has now finished at Rose Park – he is heading to Pembroke which is where Tara
has been going for the past 2 years.
Tara was in Year 1 this year and seemed to settle in well
with year 1. The resounding comment on Tara’s report card was that she has
grown in confidence. Tara is naturally shy but once she warms up, you would
never know it! Her teacher commented when she saw Tara interacting with Alex
that this was a side of Tara she had never seen before. We are trying to work
on her confidence and I think she is coming along really well. 2016 will be a
challenge for her as she is in a class without her best buddy from Reception
and Year 1. The great thing is she seems fine with this and we’re hoping that
it will build her confidence.
One significant thing this year was the kids both started
scouts. They both initially begun in Joeys which is for 5 – 7 year olds and
then in term 3, Alex moved up to Cubs which is the next level up. Scouts has
been fantastic for both of them. Tara has grown massively in confidence – so
much so that at the end of year ceremony she was the Joey who along with a
Venturer (18 year old scout), carried the flag around the circle. Alex has made
a number of new friends and as scouts is run through the school (Pembroke), it
has been great for Alex to feel more comfortable about changing schools. He has
a couple of kids from scouts in his new class for 2016 so this should
definitely help with the transition to the new school.
Holidays in 2015 – we began the year with a week by the
beach in Normanville – a coastal town in SA – which was lovely. We caught up
with our long standing friend Fitzy and his kids along with Anita (over from
Singapore) and her brother Hobby. We spent Easter in Normanville again. On
Easter Sunday we headed off to a different beach (Second Valley) and ran into
people we knew from school – typical Adelaide – so we went for a cup of tea and
hot cross buns at their beach house which was great fun.
In July, we took advantage of the frequent flyer points and
flew up to the Gold Coast in Queensland. We
hired a car and spent 5 nights at Burleigh Heads – a beautiful part of the
world. I even got my bathers on and went in the water and it was only 21
degrees but after the Adelaide winter, it felt massively warm! We also got to
take the kids camping at Mount Remarkable, we have camped as a family before
but this was the first exposure real exposure to the Outback. We are hoping for
more camping in 2016.
Our trip to the UK has been our big holiday this year. We
left home on Christmas Eve at 10:30pm – we then spent most of Christmas Day on
the plane. The kids were both great on the flights – although Alex probably had
a bit too much screen time! We spent our first night at the airport at Gatwick before
hiring a car and beginning our tour around the UK. This is very much a tour of
catching up with friends and family. After Gatwick, we headed over to the
Hilton at Cobham where we also stayed on our last trip. It was lovely to be
somewhere familiar and also not far from our old house in Walton on Thames. We
caught up with Clare and Nick – friends from Singapore on Boxing Day for a
fabulous meal. On the Sunday, we drove to Surbiton and caught the train to
London. We managed to catch up with Ann – an Adelaide friend who is also
visiting the UK. We then took in The British Museum – a fabulous exhibition on
Celts. We caught up with Liz and Mark on Sunday night at their house in Woking
for another great dinner. On the Monday, after visiting our old house in
Walton, we drove to Bushy Park for some exercise and a geocache along the way.
I then caught up with Mary – a friend from Singapore who is back in the UK now.
Another lovely catch up.
On Tuesday morning, we checked out of the Hilton and headed
off to Nottingham. The drive was good and we arrived at exactly our anticipated
time. We checked into our house in Sherwood which we got through Airbnb – it was
fantastic. It was a great location for visiting Ann and Jim (Gary’s parents)
and also really handy for the Sherwood high street. We stayed in Nottingham for
3 nights – we visited Gary’s parents each day and also managed to catch up with
Holly – Gary’s eldest sister and 3 of her children whilst we were there so this
was a fabulous thing. Tara turned 7 on New Year’s Eve and had her first ever
winter birthday. On New Year’s Day, we had a final quick visit to the nursing
home where Ann and Jim are. It was really sad to say goodbye to Ann – she and
Gary have always been close and she is someone I am really proud to call my
mother in law. After a teary farewell, we set off for our long drive to
Cornwall.
We had organised to call in to my friend Karen’s place in
Gloucestershire on the way – Karen and I shared a flat 15 years ago – actually at
the start of Gary and I being together so she was significant to both of us. We
met up with Karen and her husband Pete and their daughter Ellie. What a
fantastic visit – tea and croissants and non-stop talking! We then headed off
to Penzance. The traffic was very good and we made it in good time. We headed
over to Harvey and Hannah-Jane’s for dinner – Harvey and Gary were school
friends and have kept in touch over the years. On Saturday, we went back to
Harvey and Hannah Jane’s place in Penzance and they drove us around Cornwall.
What a fabulous day seeing the sights – St Michael’s Mount, Portlethen (massive
waves!) and then Falmouth for a walk and a bite to eat followed by shopping. We
then headed back to Penzance where the kids were able to have a spa! What a
fabulous catch up.
On Sunday morning, we checked out of our Penzance accommodation
and after a quick geocache we started driving to Street in Somerset to catch up
with Gary’s cousins. It was a bit of a crazy day – we got caught with roadworks
on the A30 heading out of Cornwall and we had tickets to Peter Pan at 2:30 in
Street. The GPS kept on changing times in terms of our ‘anticipated arrival
time’ – from 2:11 to 2:41 and we ended up getting there around 2:22 – not a lot
of time to spare but we made it! Jo and Sarah – Gary’s twin cousins had bought
us tickets to the Pantomime which Sarah was actually in as well as her 9 year
old daughter Megan. It was fabulous – such a fun show and the kids are still
quoting lines from it. After the show, we headed off for a meal with all of the
family – 13 of us in total which was fantastic. So good to reconnect with
family after quite some time. We then left Street and drove to our
accommodation in Dartmouth where we are now. It was a bit of a crazy day – we arrived
at Kingswear at 9:40 – those of you who have been to Devon will understand the
Devon roads – arriving at night was a bit of an adventure but we made it –
thank goodness for GPS. Yesterday (Monday) we had a family day and today we
drove into Torquay to catch up with Lucy – Gary’s sister. It was lovely to
catch up – I haven’t seen Lucy since Alex was 9 months old so nearly 8 years.
We now have 5 days left in the UK – we will head to
Hampshire on Thursday – we will hopefully catch up with Gary’s aunt and uncle
and also some friends from Adelaide and then off to Watford on Saturday to go
to the Harry Potter Studio tour. On Sunday morning we have Eurostar tickets to
Paris. We have 3 nights in Paris – our plans are for a day at Euro Disney, and
a day seeing the sights – Eiffel tour and maybe the Louvre – we will have to
see how the kids are travelling as we are staying out near Disney which is a
bit of a trek from the centre. We fly home on Jan 13th from Charles
de Gaul and arrive back in Adelaide on Jan 14th at 8:30. So far it’s
been a great trip and really important in terms of connecting with family and
friends.
My niece, Brigette has just moved in with us – she is from
Port Augusta and finished year 12 in 2015. She plans to go to Flinders Uni in
2016. I think it will be great having her there – the kids are both excited to
have a young adult staying with us. Brigette moved in just before we came away
and the poor thing has had to deal with one of our chooks dropping dead on her!
Fingers crossed she has a smooth 9 days till we get back.
We plan to get a new family member in 2016 – a yellow Labrador
– he was born on December 9th and we will get him when he is 8 weeks
old so around the first week of February. We are all very excited to have him
join us – I’m sure this will be a great adventure.
Wishing all of our family and friends a fabulous 2016.
Please do come to visit us – even though Brigette has taken up residence in the
old ‘spare’ room, we still have numerous options for people coming to stay and
we love having visitors. The Adelaide Hills are beautiful – any time of year!
Apologies for the lack of photos this year – travelling has
made this so although I will try to update the blog with some photos when we
are back at home.
Jo, Gary, Alex and Tara xxx
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