We’ve spent the last two weeks enveloped in a super special bubble of catching up with some old and not so old friends who have been kind enough to to share their houses, recommendations and even some Australian wine….

The utterly generous Shaw Family welcomed us to their gorgeous Sydney home in classic South African style – lots of meat, wine and competitive sport! We stayed in beautiful Freshwater and got to explore the gorgeous beaches, ocean pools and coastline of the Northern beaches. Some proper tourist sightseeing gave us our first glimpse of the iconic Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge leaving us feeling that the whole experience was a little surreal as we sat on top of an extremely windy Manly Ferry. The kids had a brilliant time reuniting with Michael and Georgia – E and Michael were born about 7 days apart and at completely different ends of the size scale….thank goodness she is at last catching up to him! They had a great day at Luna Park all together and were delighted to have some little friends to hang out with it…..also gave Pads and I a bit of a break! Obviously staying with Lynsey was going to involve some kind of ridiculous sporting activity – this is the girl that entered me for my first triathlon 8 months after I had E and not realising I was 2 months pregnant with G….! Lynsey kindly offered me two options – a morning run, she’s completed two comrades marathons….so that was a clear no!, or a “little swim” – reckoned my chances were much better with this one. Off we treked to Manly Beach at the crack of dawn for the legendary Bold and Beautiful swim, outwardly I was styling it out but inside had more than a little trepidation. Bold and Beautiful is basically a daily morning swim of 1.5km across the Manly Bay undertaken by about 400 open water swimmers wearing bright pink caps (I’m guessing so they can be found if they get lost)…you swim to one side of the bay, wait for everyone to finish and then swim back….I was having visions of everyone else having lunch whilst I struggled across! A deep breath and in we dived…quickly I caught my breath (bloody freezing) and propelled by the absolute horror of being the last person stuck my head down and swam. Amazingly, baring a few collisions and kicks we were at the top of the pack and managed to catch some breath waiting for the rest to finish. Emboldened with some confidence and some rather snazzy flippers off we swam only to realise I’d lost my way a little bit and joined the 6km group……expertly saved by the brilliant Lynsey who was the best swimming buddy ever we popped out the other end for a well deserved coffee and muffin! The kids also got the chance to take part in the Freshwater Swim Club races and loved competing with the local kids in the ocean pool. If you’re looking for a bootcamp week…..get in touch with the Shaws – we left feeling super strong, healthy and more than a little loved! Pads couldn’t have received a better birthday gift as a reminder

After a quick flight down to Melbourne we hit the Great Ocean Road- stunning scenery although the weather was a bit of a shock…..

Next stop Melbourne…everyone we’ve met has raved about Melbourne and we got to see why – it was our favourite city in Australia….gritty, urban, arty, ridiculous food and with lashings of rain – we needed a reminder of home!

Nats embraced our arrival with a unbelievable dinner at Miznon – brisket wrapped in cabbage, slow roasted octopus and a new found family favourite of roasted cauliflower…she’d set the standard high! Caroline, the kids old Head of School at ISU bundled us into her car and took us on a beautiful wine tasting tour of the Yarra valley – lunch at Innocent Bystander with the most delicious Rose, tastings at Chandon for their bubbles…bubbly Pinot noir was a little odd! then on to Coombe Wine Estate where we were really spolit…shame they are too small a vineyard to export!. Dinner with the fabulous Fi who I hadn’t seen in 15 years gave us a chance to reminisce and ponder how we got quite so old! Then we got a double dose of Nats who gave us the Nats Roberts Tour of Melbourne – highly recommended and happy to put you in touch – South Melbourne Market where we ate far too much again, Euerka Tower gave us an amazing view of the skyline, and a strangely slow electric boat ride down the Yarra all topped off with some ice cream!

Our tummies are so bloody full of delicious food and our hearts warm from catching up with some wonderful friends…the perfect way to leave Australia – I’ve been converted and I’m sure we’ll be back….

I had three goals for this trip…the first one was spending some real time as a family which we have definitely achieved, so much so I’m now craving a little bit of space, I mean I love them dearly but this one room living is getting a bit much! Second was to really focus on my mindfulness practise……..ummm apart from hanging out with the Buddhist Monks in Cambodia this needs a lot more work and third was to learn to surf! A week in Coolum Bay on the Sunshine Coast was the perfect spot for beginners Surf School. Off we headed each morning at 6.30 for a two hour lesson whilst the sun was coming up and glistening off the waves – Pads unsurprisingly decided to keep his dignity in tact and watch from the shore! After some near mishaps with surfboards being flung everywhere, bikini bottoms flying periously low and an awful lot of sea water swallowed we all managed to catch our first wave! Apparently I have a very strong “pop” which I took great delight in relaying to Pads at every opportunity….. I knew those burpees would pay off! Watching the videos back it definitely didn’t look as impressive as it felt – I could have sworn the waves were three times the size and that we went much faster! Pads couldn’t contain his hysterics when he pointed out the instructor was holding the back of our boards for most of our successful attempts! We bloody loved it and left Surf School week with faces more tanned than the rest of our body and sore in places I didn’t know existed…..bring on Surf School New Zealand….h

Just to top off a bit more water fun we found out that Coolum is also home to the world’s biggest Aquapark – there was no getting out of taking the kids to this one. We’ve got a pre arranged Watkins/Lowen family Bewl Water Aquapark date booked for when we’re back in July so thought we should put in some proper training. Bloody hell…I have a new found respect for Wipeout contestants ….. I was bloody rubbish and I swear there was more dignity in childbirth than there was trying to complete this course…my stomach hurt from laughter and my bottom from falling on it far too much!

After a quick visit to Australia Zoo which after our ridiculously wonderful wildlife experiences across Africa was a bit of a disappointment we hit BrisVegas….a super fun city. The food was some of the best we have had, the art scene was incredible and G got the opportunity to practise some of his stand up comedy……was incredibly funny after second glass of wine!