Our Aussie Trip

We are now back, and finally over our jet lag, from our trip to Oz. It was a wonderful, knackering, heartwarming and heartwrenching holiday.

The plane trip over was relatively easy with both boys sleeping on the plane, mostly on us in stupidly uncomfortable positions, for a majority of the ride. The jet lag the other end was an unmitigated disaster. I think between us, Jeff and I had one nights sleep in four nights. And I mean 8 hours between us, not each. Poor Jeff was so shattered after 4 hours straight of the Thomas the Tank Engine magnet game that he had to have a nap at Glenn and Ripper's wedding. Not conductive to excessive partying. Still, it was so fantastic to see everyone at the wedding and to see how happy Mr and Mrs Ripper were (the bride looked stunning and the groom looked hot - the bride's words, not mine). Three days of spending time with the people we spent a lot of time with in Sydney was just what the doctor ordered and even Oliver warmed up towards the end.

The end of the trip was somewhat marred by our missed flights. Driving into Avalon airport at exactly an hour before the flight supposedly left, we were saying 'gee there's hardly anyone here. Where is everyone? Oh, look a plane Oliver.' Naturally the plane was our plane and I'd read the arrival time in Sydney as the departure time in Melbourne. I'd like to blame jet lag, but that would be being generous to my state of mind. Luckily Jet Star were outstanding. They changed our flights free of charge, offered us any other flight the next day and then rang round all the local motels to find us somewhere to stay. Maybe it was my trembling bottom lip and teary proclamation that 'I can't believe I've done this, it's my son's first birthday tomorrow' that did it?

So poor Pippy woke up on his first birthday in a 70s motel in Geelong, on the busiest highway in Victoria. And we still only just managed to make it to the airport in time the next day. Will we ever learn? We drove straight to the park near Carole's where she'd organised a party for Pip and Mo with all the mother's group girls and bubs. Scary to see how much everyone had grown up, but great to see how Oliver and Po slipped right back into being 'bestest buddies'.

The rest of the weeks were spent shuffling between friends and family, trying to see everyone and spent quality time with them. I think the kids managed to sleep in 5 beds in 7 days, which is a big ask. Still Oliver couldn't be separated from Po, and Leo and Maya were incredibly good to 'play trains' however many hundreds of times Oliver asked them to.

Our last weekend was spent celebrating Nic's birthday on the Friday and her and Unky Tim's wedding on the Sunday. Mr and Mrs Binns treated us to a night of bowls and celebrations at the Hunters Hill Bowling Club. A wonderful night and a lot of warmth in the room made it very special.


A couple of tax returns and some teary goodbyes later, we boarded the A380 to head home. A long journey (one leg without a bassinet and the great bulkhead space that comes with that) but Oliver spared us some serious headaches by watching one 30 minute episode of Barney the annoying purple dinosaur for 5 hours straight and then becoming obsessed with Wall-e. Pip wore the carpet down on the back stairs and got very familiar with all the stewardesses but was generally really good all things considering. Singapore Airlines were outstanding and I highly recommend anyone travelling with kids to give them a go.

So bye to Australia for some time. As Vinnie Jones would say: it's been emotional.

Oliver at playgroup

Oliver and Po spent 30 mins (before being forcibly dragged away) going up and down this hill on bikes. It's a miracle there wasn't more scraped skin or any broken bones.

Classic Oliver Quotes

Mama: Do you know what letter this is Oliver?
Oliver: Yes. It's the number 5.

Oliver (whilst eating his dinner): Thank you for making my dinner Mama.
Mama: Thank you, that's a lovely thing to say.
Oliver: I know.