Houseboats and Holiday Homes

With me still feeling rough, we piled in the car once again and headed back up to Renmark for Katy's birthday celebrations. This trip was a little different though, we were staying on one of the houseboats. Somehow we managed to wangle staying on one of Sarah and Tom's poshest boats which was incredible. I think we were a little spoilt there. It even had a spa on the roof! That weekend was also a boating festival in Renmark with various events taking place over the weekend. Friday night was the "dash for cash" tinny boat racing and we joined the rest of the town on the banks of the river to watch the racing. The tinny boats are small tin boats that kind of look like old fashioned baths with motors attached. They can get up to some serious speeds and with the crews flinging them around sharp corners there were the inevitable flips and overturns making interesting viewing. A further bonus was the family of possums living in the palm trees along the river, which were incredibly cute!

On Saturday we spent the day chilling at the brewery and relaxing on the boat. I somehow managed to escape from child-minding duties and settled in a sun lounger on the roof of the boat to read my book for a while. Then in the late afternoon we were joined on the boat by a few friends and set off down the river to find the perfect party spot. We moored at a sandbar a few k's down the river and got the party started. The girls immediately took possession of the champagne and the spa and remained there until the hunger pangs became too big to ignore. A feast of lasagne later and we resumed our positions only to be attacked by the boys who all piled in together, over-flowing the spa and completely ruining our relaxing soak. Although, some entertainment was provided when Tom decided to put on Katy's dress and do stripper-esque dances for us. Hilarious and unforgettable end to the night.

Sunday was a relaxing family day with the five of us staying on the boat at the Sandbar while Sarah and Tom went back to open up the brewery. The kids loved having a little beach all to themselves and spent the whole day playing around the river. The kids also had the best time doing shows for us all to watch. They made a stage from sofa cushions and then danced and pranced about singing various songs that they either knew from childcare or completely made up. My favourite part was that for each show Scarlett made Boot introduce them to the stage by saying "Ladies and Gentleman, please welcome on stage Scarlett and Joshie in the something show". After the kids had gone to bed Sarah and Tom hosted curry night on the boat and we had a repeat, albeit a much quieter one, of the previous night. So after another amazing weekend in the riverlands, I was really sad to say goodbye to Sarah and Tom. And the goodbyes are only going to get harder...

After a quick pitstop back at home to wash heaps of loads of dirty washing, stock up on food and alcohol and sort out a bed-bug situation in my room, we packed up again for my final trip. But first it was Katy's birthday and after a bargainous find by Boot of a half-price voucher, Katy booked us on a wine-tasting bus tour. This was random. That has to be the most accurate description. It involved a full commentary tour of Adelaide city, including an explanation of how to use the tram system, a stop off at the world's largest rocking horse, lunch at a hotel that is obviously used to catering for the elderly and a detour to the whispering wall. Thank god the alcohol powered us through. Never forgotten bus trip, that one.

My final trip was four nights in a beach house in Port Hughes. It is a gorgeous little beach resort with two incredible beaches, one of which our house over-looked. The weather was stunning so by day we frolicked around on the deserted beaches and by night we sat out on our balcony chatting, drinking and relaxing. We all had an awesome time and it was a great way to end my three months. This kids behaved beautifully and adored being allowed to run around on the beach with pretty much complete freedom. I got to top up my tan ready to make everyone back at home incredibly jealous and me and Katy got some quality time together before I leave. I can't believe my three months is over now. Time has absolutely flown and I am going to miss the kids so much. Knowing that Josh is going to be older than Scarlett is now when I see him next is so scary. All I can hope is that someone will employ me and I can earn enough money to get myself out here again as soon as possible. No pressure there then.

Pizza, Public holidays and Penicillin

As I haven't managed to post for a while, I'm determined to update you all on everything I have got up to during my last three weeks in Australia before I leave tomorrow. Somehow I think posting in England just wont be the same. So just consulted to calender of Katy's iphone to remind me of our schedule, and of course it was a full one. I'm definitely going out with a bang!


So first things first, Katy planned a girls night out in Glenelg with all the girls from her mum's group. It was a hilarious night and just a teeny, tiny bit messy, hehe. We all met up at Goodlife Pizza and feasted on garlic bread and scrummy pizzas. My choice was a king prawn, red capsicum and chilli pizza. Soooo good! Anyway we were all chatting happily, with the five of us drinking wine somehow managing to drink our way through five bottles of white, when Michelle had the bright idea of changing to cocktails. So a few jetty jumpers and toffee apples later we stumbled outside to continue our night at The Dublin. It was in here that I was completely led astray by Katy's friends and forced to drink shots of cock-sucking cowboy and wet pussy. I despaired at their behaviour and never would have got up to such things when left to my own devices.....yeah right. A late night trip to McDonalds ended the night in style and we all headed home suitably merry.

That weekend was a public holiday for Australia Day so we spent our long weekend doing stereotypically aussie stuff. Namely, going to the beach, swimming in the pool, meeting friends and having barbies. On the monday we all headed to Katy's friend Ron's house who was hosting a barbeque and pool party at their ranch-like house. Ron has two girls, Caitlin who is four, Mackenzie who is two and a little boy Jack who was born just before Christmas. So there she was hosting a party with a five week old baby to look after and was completely chilled out about everything. I was in awe. And the best bit was, while she was sorting all the food out, someone had to cuddle baby Jack. Me and Katy were therefore constantly fighting about whose turn it was next to hold him. Scarlett fell in love with their pony, Jasper so spent all afternoon outside and Josh was perfectly happy pottering about in the playroom with Mackenzie. Then after some gorgeous food we all piled into the pool for an awesome swim party. Seems like a great way to spend a public holiday to me!

The next day marked to end of the school holidays, so Scarlett started back to Kindergarten. As my services as childcare were no longer required, I was looking forward to a quiet week by the pool topping up my tan. Things didn't exactly go to plan however, as on Wednesday I started to feel really rough. Turns out I had gone and caught tonsillitis. Fabulous. So the rest of my week was spent lying on the sofa watching movies and generally feeling sorry for myself. The worst part was that being on antibiotics meant to alcohol for me. My boyfriend tried to claim that this was my body's way of telling me that maybe I had been overdoing the whole alcohol thing and maybe a detox would do me good. Wasn't all that impressed with that comment, but I guess there might have been a tiny bit of truth behind it. Just don't tell him I said that...