Home and about in April

Ash and cousin Brody reacquainted after 15 months.

Yes home at last and catching up with some of our relatives and friends. We were met at the airport by friends Carolyn and Peter and their son Jack. We convinced them to stay for dinner and as we sat down, Helen and partner also dropped in to say hello and offer more dinner! That is a true friendship. They stayed for dinner too and we had a wonderful welcome home. Poor mum and dad were a little left out as we caught up on a year of missed gossip with friends, but I'm sure they understood.

There are practically no pictures of our first week at home simply because we were so busy getting our lives back into some order. Getting cars and a motorbike re-registered was a priority along with re-instating our driver's licences. More than $2000 and a bit of 'to-ing and fro-ing' later and we had that sorted. Then it was just a matter of getting the vehicles to actually run. More money for replacing batteries and tyres and we had one car and a dodgy motorbike going. The bike was dodgy because the battery SHOULD have been okay but I wasn't sure and in the end it didn't hold up on its end of the bargain.

A quick day trip of 6 hours continuous driving saw me take mum and dad back to Berri and then return with our Prado 4WD to Adelaide. The drive was very informative as the last time I had driven it the area was in drought. This time there was more water than I have seen in the past 15 years - a truly wonderful sight.

By Easter we felt settled enough to take a short trip to visit Uncle Neil in his country hideaway retreat (actually it belongs to another Uncle Neil - but that's just hair splitting). The kids enjoyed the treats that Easter Bunny left for them during the night (YES they were left during the middle of the night at around 3am!) The night was so clear with such a good moon, E.B. didn't even need a torch :-)

Cousin Stella and Paige with happy faces after finding Easter treats.

Cousin Charlie and Megan found plenty too.

The weather since our return in mid April has been superb. The days have been clear and sunny almost every day with temperatures in the mid 20's and ranging up to 28 degrees celsius over the Easter weekend. This meant gorgeous sunsets and cool nights a perfect return to Australia.

Sunset at Easter

Peter and his wife Sandy came to visit and we went for a photographic shoot in the streets and along the beach near our house. The shoot turned into more of a gab-fest than a serious photo session, but we still clicked few nice shots.

Good weather over the Easter break.

Our jetty in the morning.

The memorial after ANZAC day.

One of the changes in our area has been the upgrading of the train system that runs near our house. The government is changing from diesel to electric trains for all of the suburban trains in Adelaide and ours is one of the last lines to be completed. It is strange not hearing the trains running.