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2006 for us started off the round of relatives visiting.
First on the horizon was Carol and Barry. Joannes parents. They were on a trip through Australia and had just spent Christmas in Melbourne! They arrived at Brisbane domestic terminal on 2nd January 2006. What a way for Joanne to start the year!
It was amazing to see them but also felt like we had never been away too. Having the web cam and MSN really does help the homesickness thing!
We took them back to our rented house and showed them around. I remember Dad putting his foot in the pool water and saying "its just like bath water....if it doesnt take your breath away, it just isnt worth it!!!"
During their 8 days with us we celebrated Christmas (again) and opened presents! That was a good day! We took them to Mt Coot-tha, South Bank, Australia Zoo, Lone Pine, wherever they wanted to go! On the last night we had Mums cousin Lin over to see them and have dinner. We had a great night and it was great to catch up too. One menory I have of that night is Dad on the phone talking to my Nan. I remember him telling her that it was 23.30, he was outside , in January, in shorts and still drinking!
During the week that they were there, Joanne and Barry HAD to watch "their movie". For those very few in the world that dont know, our movie is...A FEW GOOD MEN! Mum (Carol) doesnt like it, Hubby Mark will `tolerate` it but Dad and I can watch, rewind, watch , rewind. Get the picture?????? We "did" our film and had a special night, just the 2 of us.
February saw the arrival of Marks Mum Sheila and her cousin Judith. They arrived literally a year to the day since we left (spooky!). They settled in well and we (Joanne and Mark) started Round 2 of Hattersley Tours of Queensland!
Sheila and Judith stayed for a grand 10 weeks and had a ball. They left us at the beginning of April which for us was strange! NO VISITORS - we were alone!
In May (the 6th to be precise!) we started going around on open viewings of houses! Our idea was to go to loads, get a feel of whats out there and make the final decision about where we were going to live and what sort of place we wanted.
We went to a few open viewings that morning and fell in love with our house in Sinnamon Park. Funnily enough before we left the UK and at times even before we had the visa we would hook onto the real estate web sites and peruse the property. We ALWAYS came back to Sinnamon Park.
We sorted out all the finer details for our house and the offer was approved that day! We were so excited! We were happy as the house "ticked all the right boxes". We knew it was our place as we felt so right , even before we had seen more of it!
We had a long settlement which allowed us to get out of our rental agreement and then July 20th 2007 we were in!!!
2 weeks after we moved into the house Gloria and Adrian arrived for their first ever trip down under! They were here for 6 weeks and they had a wonderful time! Mark and I both enjoyed their company and they were here for our housewarming party!
The rest of the year was really our own as we settled into our new house and carried on working!!!!
