Saturday 3rd January

Happy New Year to everybody, and hope you all had a great Christmas. We have been hearing gloomy stories about the weather, winter bugs etc, but hope you managed to disperse the gloom with family celebrations.
The weather in Victoria hasn't been quite what we expected at times (down to 3 degrees here in Ballarat last night!!) but there have been plenty of sunny warm days in between the chilly blowy ones. We had 10 days with Mum and Dad near Sale, which we really enjoyed. The area is much like Norfolk, lots of wetlands and large lake areas which are popular resorts, and the coast is 20 k away - the nearest beach is 90 Mile Beach. Mum & dad's house is lovely (first time we've seen it of course) and they have a big patch of land. A couple of paddocks, one of them occupied by 2 alpacas, a dam where ibis and spoonbills stop by, and splendid gardens. Also a very devoted group of birds who spend a lot of the day waiting to be fed : galahs, cockatoos, magpies, rosellas and lorikeets all sit in the tree on the lawn, and the native miners come to the kitchen windowsill and tap when they want feeding which is fairly constantly; some of them take food from Mum's hand. Also a very annoying mudlark who doesn't come to be fed, but taps on the bedroom window from about 6.30 am for an hour or so, on and off - can any bird behaviourist explain this?
Anyway, we were all together as a family on Xmas day, Erica and Andy came with Heather, Sally and Owen,as did Louise, and after the traditional turkey dinner we went for an equally traditional stroll on the beach. It was warm but not warm enough to swim!! It was great to have a family Christmas again after all these years, though sad that Kate and Phil couldn't be there as well. But they had a nice day with Lindsay P. and Shan (and a lot of animals), and Geoff's mum thoroughly enjoyed her day as well, so we didn't worry about any of them.
After Christmas we visted a few local places. In only an hour and a half you can be right up in the mountains, magnificent high plains, so we went up there to Dargo one day. (Saw a red-bellied black snake, which in retrospect was beautiful.) Also visited some of the lakes and had a trip on the Snowy River on a paddleboat. Mum's 81st birthday we spent driving through nearby hills back to the places they'd lived when we'd been over before - that was great for all of us. And we had some meals in ethnic places!
Louise also gave us some meals and looked after us, her house is an old one - she has the deeds from 1877, which show she has the mining rights (but not for gold.) A pretty little house, again with a lovely garden and a paddock, in a great position near the wetlands, about 5 k from the parents.
It was hard to leave there, but we did so on New Year's Day, and drove through familiar countryside to the Mornington Peninsula to catch the ferry to Geelong. The towns were very crowded for the Bank holiday - which was much like August Bank Holiday in Wales, 15 degrees and everyone huddled together for warmth! (Last year it was 38 dgrees on the same day.) We then drove up here to Erica and Andy's new house in Ballarat, yet again a lovely place, 1920s art deco. Ballarat is a really beautiful old town, lots of gracious buildings from the gold rush days in the late 19th century. The countryside around is very dry, there has been a drought here for several years - unlike Eastern Victoria which is apparently unnervingly green for the time of year. We've looked round some of the town, loved the Botanic Gardens and the Art Gallery, and visited the university where they work. Today we went to the Grampians, a dramatic range of sandstone hills, and walked up to the Pinnacle for some stupendous views. And forgot to say that yesterday at Mount Buniyong (where it feels as though you can see most of Victoria) we AT LAST saw a koala, thought it was never going to happen.
We'll be leaving here on Monday to head towards Adelaide, but must say a huge thanks to all the family for looking after us, taking us around, and just generally spending time with us - it's been a very important part of the trip for us, seeing at last where you all live, and we're going to miss you a lot.
Good luck to Kate and Phil over the next few days. Phil has a couple of interviews. At the same time he's working hard to keep up with his uni workload. (Hope this is true Phil. I'm sure it is.) And Kate starts her course at Bangor on Monday -best of luck, Kate. Sorry we can't be there for you, but we must give huge thanks to Lindsay and Shan, because having them for Xmas Day has only been a tiny fraction of what they've done for Kate and Phil and us the last few weeks. Lindsay went with Kate to look at accommodation in Bangor, and helped her find what sounds like a really nice shared flat there, also helped her find a new car (this included a trip to Derby) and is going with her on Sunday to help her move in. And Shan has insisted on having our 16-year old Mitzi, who is very frail and needs daily medication, to nurse her until we get back, a huge load off all our minds. Thanks a million times, both of you, we couldn't be more grateful to you.