Saturday 26 October 2013

take you to Cranbourne Botanic Gardens

We recently took a fast trip to Melbourne to have 2 dinners and 2 breakfasts with Nick who was there for 10 days of training for his new contract appointment in Uganda.

We'd heard much about Cranbourne Botanic Gardens; that it was 'new landscaping'. So given this opportunity, off we went.

It did not disappoint. Take a stroll with me here.










This garden has just won an International award for landscaping. Well deserved.
It even has a great cafe and gift shop. Nothing else needs to be said!

Saturday 12 October 2013

have another amazing story for you

I guess the previous story wasn't really amazing, just fortuitous.

You may recall that on our last day in London, Paul and I had our passports stolen. We told you then of the miracle replacement with emergency passports that enabled us to leave the UK that night, barely 8 hours after the theft.

Our continued thanks to the staff at Australia House in London and our continued sadness about the fate of the young man involved.

Well; our emergency passports had to be renewed within 12 months or we'd be charged once more.
So one sunny week in September, both Paul and I went through the rigmarole to get these replaced.

In the same week, we received an email reporting that our passports had been 'handed in' to Australia House and that they needed to be collected within 3 weeks.
As much as I tried to convince Paul that we should fly back to England, he insisted on requesting their despatch via airmail back to us.

I am very happy and amazed to say that we now have our stolen passports back with us. They live very comfortably with our new and shiny ones.


Who knows who handed them in? The repentant thief, the constabulary, 007 or Columbian Airlines.