Happy New Year!!

We've been having a really good time. Its such a great city theres so much to! I ahven't written in ages and so we've done to much to go back into, so I'll start with today and work back as far as I can be bothered right now. Otherwise I might never keep writing this.

So... Today we went for a bit of a drive. I had to drop Paul at the airport at 8:30, so it meant we were all in the car and ready to go nice and early. So I decided it was the perfect opportunity to go just a little bit further. So I though I'd drive us to half moon bay, which I suppose is the equivalent Torquay in Melb. Anyway, we arrived there at before 10:00 so I though - nah, I can do better than this! And I'd remembered reading about a cove down the coast where you can collect Jade. So off we went. It was one of the most breathtaking drives I've ever been on. Like the great ocean road, just winding along the edge of the ocean for hours, and the weather was absolutley perfect - beautiful warm winter sunshine. Well, the drive ended up being a bit more than I'd catered for, it took 5 hours to get there! It was such a glorious drive that it didn't bother me, and I'd bribed the kids so that if they didn't whinge once all day, they would get an ice cream. It worked a dream. Heres some of the scenery:

Theres a bridge if you look hard -

Well, we're driving along having a merry old time, and nothing was sing posted, and then I saw the only sign I'd seen for mile and miles:

YAY! So I slammed on the brake and pulled over. It was quite a hike down to the water - there was even a section with rope to climb down, that was rather a bugger with Ainsley, but after five hours, there was no way we weren't going down! We finally made it on the a tiny little rocky cove, but sure enough there was heaps of really amazing rock. We did find a few tiny bits of jade, but there was lots of serpentium, which is just as cool to look at, but not as valuable. Heres some photos at the cove:

The kids had a great time, playing with all the rocks, and bits of sea weed. I forgot how good for them it is to be with real nature - they just totally chilled out and had a great time, they didn't want to leave.

Anyway leave we had to, as I had another 5 hour drive ahead of me. So on the road again, had a great time, the sun was setting across the water (what a novelty for those not living on a west coast), put some Benny Goodman on, wound down the windows and off we went. Well off course - the sunset! I decided I just had to stop to get out of the car with the kids and actually watch it go down. the kids weren't that keen, so I figured I'f just pull over with minutes to go, we'd all scramble out, watch for 10 mintues, and jump back in. Well, just my luck, I hot a bit of an inland bit just before that moment and din't know how long it would go - then we passed an offshoot road to the beach! Hooray! So off we drove, down a little wooded single lane road - and on and on it went. We finally got there, and there were all these people just returning from the beach. Clearly we'd missed it. Anyway we soldiered on and walked to the beach anyway - it would have been a lovely little beach had the sun not just gone down and the bitter cold returned. So we didn't stay long.

Heres a photo I took just before the sunset:

yeah I know - why did I stop driving at this point - I swear it looked like ages away before the actual setting.

So finally we were on the road again and the bloody oil light came on. It had popped on a few times before but it always went off just as quickly - but this time it stayed on. I've never put oil in a car before (yes its true), and didn't quite know what to do. Two service stations later, I found somewhere with the right oil, and who would do it for me. Ah. Anyway, I kind of realised that its really not the big deal I had thought it was.

So it ended up being nigh on 10 oclock when I finally got home. The kids dropped of straight away. And I can't stop hunchung from all that time in the car.

Anyway, You'll have to wait til another day before I recount anymore, because my tiredness has crept up me and I need to go to bed.

Hugs and Kisses to everyone

From Nic