An Encouragement

As we mentioned earlier we've had a few troubles since arriving here in Southampton. However we've also had some really amazing and encouraging things happen too. Just to lighten your day we thought we'd tell you a little about it to show you how we think God's been watching over us here on the other side of the world.

1. We were searching for somewhere to live with very little time to spare before we were due to start work. As a consequnce we accepted to rent a one bedroom flat after seeing it just once and not really working out the terms with the agent. They told us we were paying for a fully furnished house. What we got was a barely furnished, decaying flat in the red light district of Southampton. The area is infamous and everyone gasps when they hear we're living here. Well we do have a bed, a fridge and an old couch. And the hot water works and the heating is almost too good. Our first angel-like encounter was Anne from work who has lent us all we need for a home for as long as we need it.
2. Then the car. Obviously when we bought it we checked all that we could as non-mechanics, even taking it for a good long test drive. It really did look great. No rust and everything functioning well inside the car. We drove around London a bit and then down to Mum's cousin in the country with no problems. Then some lights came on on the dashboard. The ABS light and the Park Brake light (although the park brake was off). We thought we'd get it checked out at the next garage we passed. It was 2pm so we pulled over for a late lunch, parking behind a man who was fixing his car. He pointed to the road and then said we were leaking something . Could he have a look under the bonnet? Well apparently we had been driving with practically no brake fluid left in the car anywhere and you could see the last drops running into the gutter. This man happened to be a mobile mechanic and offered to fix the brakes for a fraction of the cost that a garage would charge. His name is Gary and he's originally from Jamaica. Enter: angel No.2. Last night Gary came by for a cup of tea and chatted with us for 3 hours!! He's fixed the brake lines and the abs sensor and the suspension that became ULTRA noisy just when the brakes went. He's a friendly face in a not so friendly neighbourhood.
3. We've also found a really great church here and have been invited out a few times with a phd student David who has been so kind in introducing us to people and the city. Angel No.3. He sat next to us on our first night visiting the church and then invited us to his house for dinner that week.

So even though things haven't been running altogether smoothly we've still had someone helping us out through all the issues.

Sights of London

Trafalgar Square. No pigeons surprisingly. They must have had a culling.


At 'The Walkabout' Auzzie pub in Sheppards Bush. It was here that we won the trivia and £100 drink voucher.




Beck had been waiting 6 months for someone to go on the London Eye with her. And it was onthe top of our list of things to do in London. We managed to get on just as the sun went down. The best time, we thought. Sorry about the moving background. It was hard finding the correct settings on the digital camera for the fading light.
Prove we're really here!
The capsules fit about 25 people each with a bench seat in the middle for those moments the height gets to you. You go around just once.
A 'Hot Toddy'. This drinks includes brandy, hot water, cloves, honey and cinnamon. It'd be jsut perfect if you had the sniffles. A bit hard to get down at other times.

Our First Month in England

This is the lovely village of Rye. It has a pub built around 1250!! The streets are all cobblestone like this one and very very narrow.
We met up with some St Hildas friends here at the Tate Modern. Behind Jane are some huge stainless steel slides taht you can queue for. A lot of time in the line for a very quick ride but they look impressive!!
Greg's first castle! With a mote and all! And it snowed everywhere in Engalnd except at Charmian and Lovatt's where we were staying. Greg hasn't seen snow falling yet. We'll get there. This is Bodiam castle.
Isn't he sexy in the gorgeous tunic. Standard dress here in English hospitals.

Thought we'd vanished?

Hi there everyone,
Its been a tricky couple of weeks and a long time since we last blogged. We've been conned by a few Brits in regard to our house and a car with faulty breaks and Greg's had gastro. On a brighter note we've done some sight seeing and had great catch ups with Hildas friends and Beck Everett and crew for Jane's birthday.
Our jobs are great and everyone at Southampton General Neurology Xray are lovely and friendly. One lady Anne has lent us a whole lot of furniture for our aweful decomposing house. Now it almost resembles a home.
The car's brakes are working again and the creeking suspension may be fixed next weekend WHILE WE'RE IN PARIS!!
Yes we are finally going to Paris for our first wedding anniversary.
Check out the next blog for photos of our last month in England.
Love to you all.
Jane and Greg

HELLO SUNNY ENGLAND!

Hiya everyone,
We're in sunny London, and I really mean sunny. Blue skies and we haven't seen rain yet. Greg thinks perhaps his presence brings on a drought? Mum and Dad just told us its been pouring in Geelong pretty much since we left!!
Its been all go since we arrived in London on Tuesday after our mega effort 3 days of travelling by boat, bus, taxi and planes from Koh Ngai. After a late change in plans once again, we'll be working in Southampton on the coast of Southern England from Feb 12th. We're both in the same hospital and for a change, Greg is earning more than Jane! Greg will do CT and Jane, plain xrays. Hoepfully we can steer clear of the shift work for a while.
We've been thoroughly spoilt in London staying with Jane's mum's cousin Hew and his wife Jane in central London. Its also been great to spend some time with our great pal Beck Everett, a radiography friend, who's working here in London. Yesterday we went on the London eye together and topped the day off celebrating Waitangi Day (New Zealand's equivalent of Australia Day) at The Walkabout Pub in Shepherd's Bush.
Greg also endured yet another market with Jane on Portobello Road, although he confessed that this one was interesting and quite enjoyed the experience. Where Australian markets often have a whole lot of crafts, jewellery and clothing, the Portobello market was full of interesting "boy's stuff" like old antique swords, wooden boche balls, leather gun holsters, giant turtle shells and 5 million year old fossils. We even had a hot toddy at "The Portobello Star" (brandy with hot water, spices and honey).
Our other exciting news is we bought a car!! Its a 1998 Renault Scenic with the road dimensions of a large-ish hatchback but taller to fit all our luggage. We're planning camping trips and all sorts. We'll include a picture later.
More news from Southampton to come...

On Leaving Thailand

As we prepare to leave Thailand we reflect on a few quirky things we've noticed during our 20 day stay. Here they are:

• Traffic lights with a digital display that counts down the seconds until your take-off from the intersection. These are a fantastic invention and should be compulsory in all major cities. No one runs a red light here.
• There are loads of cats with broken (or missing) tails in Thailand. Does this also suggetst something about the traffic?
• Thai people seem to have a dry sense of humour. You're not quite sure whether they're joking or not when they talk to you.
• Every phone call requires a different coloured phone box. For international calls you may need to use a yellow phone or an orange and green coloured one. Both require a different sort of phone card which can often be bought at 7/11 but not always. For local calls use the blue phones however we do not recommend trying to book accomodation this way. You will either need lots and lots of coins or a translater from the travel agency.
• AND A FINAL TIP... Do not bring 25kg of luggage each! WEll, we are going to a country with a temperature almost 20 degrees cooler. But the numerous boat crews and taxi drivers are not impressed with us and complain audibly "So Heavy!" Girls, all you need in a bikini and a sarong. Guys, boardies and a tank-top.

A Feast for the Eyes

We are attempting to share a bucket of Thai whiskey mixed with coke and redbull. A lethal mix unless shared between four.
Above is the view from our balcony on Koh Ngai Island (or maybe its Koh Hai? No one seems to commit). This was a terrific bargain for us because the hotel has only opened recently. We were the only guests for 2 of 3 days. The view from the pool is even more spectacular.
Sunset from Klong Nin beach, Koh Lanta. We stayed 5 nights. We found paradise!

After being Thai'd out we opted for Sunday Roast Lamb at the Brit Cafe. Note the mountain of mashed potato we never got near finishing.



Jane swims with the fishies!! Watch out, they do nip. Still on the hunt for Nemo.

Sunny Days in Ko Lanta

Haven't got the camera with us this time so we can't leave any photos. Thought we'd jazz it up a bit changing fonts etc.
We're loving the BEAUTIFUL beaches on Ko Lanta still. Such fine sand. The water is lovely and warm however the little biting bugs (?sea lice) do shorten our dips somewhat.
We've hired a motorbike for a few days and we've driven up and down both sides of the island. Jane was extremely stiff going around the corners but now seems to have gotten used to it. We are the only two people in Thailand both wearing helmets on a bike. Having seen the injuries form bike accidents does put you off being too reckless. Had a halarious time getting up a very steep dirt track on the bike yesterday. Took two attempts, a long run up and plenty of "I think I can, I think I can"s.
Yesterday we trekked to a trickle of a waterfall. There was the option to get there via elephant but we needed the excercise and we didn't want to interupt their lunch. Grumpy elephants wouldn't be pleasant.
8 more nights in Thailand and who knows what we'll do. If anyone knows of any must-sees on the Southern islands then let us know!
We'll post more photos soon.
Bye for now.

Phi Phi Island Thailand

Finding Nemo!!!
Relaxing on Phi Phi Island.
Fire Twirling on Phi Phi Island.

Fire Dancers and Old Friends

Guess who we bumped into on Phi Phi Island!!! It's Jess Tan from the String Quartet and her boyfriend, Mark (Westy)! We've had a lovely time catching up with them and exploring Ko Lanta, another small island off the West coast of Thailand.
Since we last blogged we've stayed in Ao Nang in a lovely little bungalow with no hot water and a great fan (all we needed) and went on a long boat tour of 4 islands in the Andaman Sea. Greg was able to snorkel for the first time in his life thanks to the wonderful invention of contact lenses. Jane is totally addicted to spotting Nemo. Many many beautiful looking fish but sadly a lot of the coral here is dead. Jane went to the Barrier Reef with the Mitchell family 10 years ago and from memory, the colours there were much more remarkable.
After Ao Nang we went to Phi Phi for several nights. Some of the artists looked about 12 years old!! Phi Phi was hit very very hard by the Tsunami in 2004 adn is still recovering. We think it needs a little more time before its worth the visit. Everything is about twice the price and accomodation is especially difficult. We are doing this Thailand tour by the seat of our pants (ie. nothing booked early) and therefore we did get one of the last available rooms on the island. We heard that some people who arrived later had to sleep on the beach so we shoudl count ourselves lucky. Cockroaches in the shower were not great company though.We watched some fire dancing in a bar on the beach at Phi Phi Island too (See photo).

The last two days have been very relaxing here on Ko Lanta. It is much less frequented by tourists and is perhaps more suited to families than young partying creatures. There are still plenty of night spots and lots of bars and restaurants set their tables up right on the beach at night!!

Photos from Singapore to Thailand

Greg and his most favourite pass time travelling....its "Pass the Pigs"! Thanks to Son and Sime we have this little entertaining game to keep us busy whilst waiting at airports for 5 hours for our flight.
Jane still manages to find a good coffee even if its not quite as good as "Acquum" on Victoria St. If you go Libs, say hi from us.
THis is our dinner tonight. Well not the whole fish. It swayed us to chose this restaurant anyway.

The Adventure Begins in Thailand

Hello everyone,
After a long pause we are finally beginning our blog once more. We've had crazy month and a bit in Geelong with Jane recovering from her hip op and preparing for the trip. So much paper work to do!!! And yet the Thursday before we're due to go we find out that we must both have a Uk police check done before starting work in the UK. That's even though Greg has never set foot in the country!
oh Well. SO after looking at several options (including spongeing off the relies in the UK for 6 weeks (not so apealing) and working in Geelong and delaying our departure (also not at all apealing), we decided to spend 3 very cheap weeks in Thailand!!
We travelled on the plane to Singapore with Jane's brother Jono then said our goodbyes to him and flew to Phuket, Thailand. We really recommend Tiger Airways for anyone looking for cheap Asia flights. Just like Jetstar really.
Phuket town was much cleaner than we remember Vietnam being. Our room was bargain price and yet it was filled with marble and all the mod cons you'd expect in a 5 star place (called Sino House for all those planning a trip to Thailand soon).
Wednesday was spent on the beach at Patong where we apreciated the tips from Amber and Al about wondering women selling everything from pineapples to spare towels.
We checked out a Lonely Planet suggestion for dinner. An Italian restaurant which was fantastic. Great pizza, I wonder if they have Thai food in Italy? I doubt it.
Today we travelled to Ao Nang beach East of Phuket (near Krabi) where we intend to laze around for atleast 4 days (maybe more if we like it). We're staying in a beach bungalow for $30 AUD a night. Its just what we need even if it doesn't have air con or hot water. 20 steps from the beach and seafood restaurants!
Enough rambling for one blog.
Catch you all later.
And please leave us comments. We'd love to improve on our blogging style and hear your news too.

Greg's First Blog

What does Blog mean exactly? That's what Greg wants to know.
Tomorrow we're having a lovely a lovely mid-week break and goign to the Yarra Valley. Some lovely Hilda's girls gave us a night in a B & B for our Wedding and we're taking advantage of it in the midst of crazy planning.

Here's a picture of Jane at the Boomerang Tree on our recent weekend in the Otways.

Our Favourite Place (SO FAR!!)

APOLLO BAY

Wish we were there....

Friends?

Here's a pretty picture of our VERY EARLY family Christmas lunch on Sat 21st Oct!!! Isn't Meri a model!
Can you believe Jono took this photo? I don't know where he was but be must have been very quiet!. Perhaps somewhere down at Apollo bay.
And I have to put in this picture (donated by the lovely Jane Green (since we're still waiting for the official photos!!)) so I can include it in the Blog description.

Hi all again.
I've decided its now time to advertise our blog. Thanks for checking it out. We'll try to put some more pictures on soon. It will get much more exciting!!! We leave for the UK Jan 9th.
Jane got her HPC registration (licence to practise radiography in the UK) this week and we're hoping Greg's isn't far behind. Now its justvVisas to apply for and moving house back to Mum and Dad's in Geelong on Nov 18th. The time is flying.
Blog you later!!

Blog Number One

HELLO!!
Greg doesn't know anything about this all yet but he's gonna love it!! Libby the master blog teacher is teaching me all the tricks and being a great help to set everything up. At work, I might add!!!!
This is me drinking a concoction made by LIbby for her birthday. She was too busy making poisons for us to drink any herself. Sneaky, Sneaky!! Actually I liked the Mojito (or whatever- full glass of straight barcardi and rainforest of mint leaves).