Australia!! - 18th January 2006

Hi all,

Just to let you know we have arrived safe and well in Australia. We had a fantastic week in Cape Town before we arrived and did the usual, ate, went up table mountain, ate, did a wine tour, ate, did another wine tour, ate and went to Cape of Good Hope and funnily enough we ate again. We also drank continously and as a consequence had to bribe customs officials at Joburg aiport to let us board the flight and told them that no, we weren't carrying illeagal substances in body cavities, we had merely put on a few pounds....... in Africa of all places!!

We are now in Perth for a few days catching up with the Sandovers before heading to Melbourne next week. We can honestly say that we both heaved a huge sigh of relief when we landed yesterday and it felt great to be in Oz, even if we are not at our final destination quite yet.

We have started getting the ball rolling with settling in and have got ourselves a SIM card, so now have a mobile phone. The number if anyone is would like to send a text (appreciate calls are expensive) is +61 (0)415 489 003

We have also learned that we have been allocated some accommodation in Adelaide on a 3 month lease. We had to apply to immigration for it, so were lucky to get it sorted before we got here. We have not been advised the actual address, but will get that around the 3rd Feb and we move in on the 10th Feb. We can then spend the next 3 months getting work and finding somewhere more permanent to live. Once we know the address we will let you all know!!

Well the last 2 months have certainly been amazing. There were times we weren't sure we wanted to carry on, but are glad we did, with Namibia, Uganda and Cape Town being some great highlights. We have made some good friends on the trip and will catch up with a few over the coming weeks.

Hope that you are all well at home and all the babies are doing well.... (Rippon and Cordell). We are very excited about the 2006 arrivals and I (yvonne) am getting very broody. Sandy on the otherhand might go to live on his own if I talk about babies any more!

We look forward to hearing from you all soon and will keep you posted from this end!

Lots of love
Yvonne and Sandy
xxxxxx