Despite Becca being ill since we arrived, the girls have both been fantastic. They've had to spend a lot of time in the car or hanging around while we get things sorted. Ellie in particular has been a wee star. As a little light relief, we promised to take them to the Zoo today and so we headed up there after breakfast. As we went through the gates to pay the guy n the booth asked where we're from. It turned out he was from Hamilton and he didn't charge us for the kids entrance lol.
MElbourne Zoo is lovely, and it's got some fab animals. It has a family of orang utans, elephants, giraffes and lions to mention just a few. They also have a lovely butterfly house which as magical for the girls as all these amazingly coloured buterflies fluttred around there heads. Best bit for Ellie was seeing the kangaroos and the kookaburras and parrots though.
We had thai noodles for lunch. Even Ellie had them but all we could get Rebecca to eat was a packet of Cheese Twisties (a bit like wotsits)!!!!
We had planned to spend that afternoon checking out some areas on the west of the city so that was next on the agenda. First stop was Caroline Springs which is a new town being built where my friend Sandra lives. We really thought we'd like it but immediately we decided it felt way too much like the Trueman Show or Stepford Wives. I can't describe it better than to say the homes were beautiful and way cheap (think £150,000 for a 4 bed plus study & home cinema luxury house) but the area itself felt soulless. We nest tried Altona and Sanctuary Lakes which were both nice enough but nothing special. After that we went to Point Cooke where we'd been invited for a coffee by Fraser and Rachel from the expats site. They live in a new home (around 2 years old) but are selling as they aren't keen on the area (same feel as Caroline Springs here). The kids enjoyed that visit as Fraser and Rachel have two boys Henry and Bobby who are 3 and 5. Ellie and Becca really enjoyed getting to play with some kids and some toys while we had a good chat about the area.
We left knowing that the West of Melbourne's of not for us.
During our drive this afternoon we rememvered that Mike's got 2 job interviews tomorrow and no suit so we made a dash to the Knox City MAll on the way home where Mike quickly bought a suit. We then had dinner at the Hogs Breath Cafe (lovely steaks) before coming home.
Today is my Mum's birthday so we called home tonight for a blether. Happy birthday Mum, it feels very strange not to be there with you today.
We're starting to feel a little less overwhelmed by Australia now. Local roads and shops etc are starting to feel familiar and we're getting a better idea of the places we might like to live. The girls have been fantastic on the whole. Becca's not been well so we've had lots of "I want to cuddle my gran" and "I miss Lucy and Jack" and when she's really knackered "I want to go to my real home" which is heartbreaking. However, when she's well, she's chirpy and exited by all the new things. I think they're both desperately in need of familiarity and hopefully when our container arrives that'll help. They've had hardly any toys since April now so I can't believe how well they've dealt with it.
Talking of Lucy and JAck, we've called the quarantine station and they're doing fine. We go to collect them in just 2 weeks.
We've been talking a lot about Ellie going to school this year rather than next. The more people we talk to the more we're convinced that although she'd go in part way through the year, she'll be ok. The first year here is called prep (school preparation) and from what we can gather, it's similar really to the preschool Ellie was already doing (i.e. basics of maths and learning to write and read). So, I guess, as soon as we work out where we're going to live, we'll get her enrolled. She's more than ready for school and I think it'll be great for her to get meeting some kids her own age. We'll also need to enrol Becca for Kindy which she can start in February.