Have had some subtle suggestions that I haven't updated very recently, so here's a little offering from the other side of the world.

 

Since the carnage of the Halloween party not much happened until Fraser arrived. He tried to spring a surprise on us and turn up on our doorstep, but didn't want to turn up, having seen when we had 4days off on our rota, and find that we'd gone off to some odd part of the continent to suss out wine bars or surf spots. So he got here just as we went off to a night shift, which tied in quite nicely with the remnants of his jetlag, as he could work all night, sorting out trouble with his business he left behind, and sleeping all day when Lou and I also slept.

 

We soon shook that routine off and got him a surfboard from the hire shop. The next day we got him a board that was less like a barge and more like a surfboard. I promptly stole it off him and stood up properly for the first time. At bloody last I hear you scream, but sadly no photographic evidence. So I went back to the hire shop and bought the board off them. Still use it every day - its become 'ole faithful'. Unfortunately the surf has been quite poor in the last two weeks, so no progress was made until just this week. Both Lou and I took big steps up in fact. Lou has progressed from standing up and looking good in broken waves to catching unbroken waves and looking good while putting in a turn or two. Obviously its just as important to look good while standing up as it is to actually get up in the first place, as opposed to looking like a chicken laying eggs. I have progressed from catching broken waves and looking like a chicken laying eggs to actually catching unbroken eggs and looking like a chicken laying waves. Or something like that.

 

Fraser came over here at the same time that his family came over to host a series of conferences around Australia, and they conveniently found themselves spending 7days in Byron Bay. We went up for a few days to join them all. They were inevitably living a meagre lifestyle. All three nights we ate with them, vast amounts of Oysters were consumed. Fraser's dad is the sort of man who looks at wine lists and then asks what else they have. And then asks for 6 bottles of that to be opened please. He's the sort of man who makes a maitre'd knock together a table out of his son's cot and daughter's doll house if there's enough space in the room. Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of hanger-oners around him who enjoy his company for all the spiritual enlightenment he gives during his conferences. Oh, and the fact he pays for lunch and dinner and champagne and cocktails for as many people as turn up, every single day without a single worry in the world. We became two such people for two days. It was nice.

 

Stayed in a beautiful guest house in Byron - the sort that you promise will be the only place you'll ever stay at when you go back to visit. Except that we've already booked into another place when we o back to Byron next week with Lou's family. Also went to a great beach called Tallows at Byron that had some incredible birds on it. See photos. Also happened to allow topless sunbathing, which isn't really relevant I'm sure.

 

Fraser went off north en famille for a while and then found themselves in Sydney (with a brief stopover in Coffs, where we drank champagne and everyone else ate oysters. And we had truffles. And it was a cheap night i seem to remember. Lots of bloody hanger-oners though). Fraser played and won in the casino and bought himself a car. Then drove back here yesterday where he bought baked beans and cooked an essential fried breakfast. Then buggered off back to Byron to see a woman that he'd met the last time he was there. No surprise there then. Except she has two kids. Oh how we'll look back and laugh in weeks to come.

 

In the meantime, Xmas has crept up on us rapidly. I wondered how Christmas spirit would infuse itself into this culture and now i realise that it doesn't really. A few houses have fake snow in the window, which obviously looks ridiculous and there are a few twinkling lights around. Over 400 of them are in our living room. Crazy Clarke's Discount Store is truly crazy. Going to decorate the tree tomorrow. Needless to say, trees don't live very long here. We are both genuinely missing an English christmas and really reminisce about the cold winter and frosty walks etc. Briefly. Then we decide to go surfing to cheer ourselves up. Dont feel too sorry for us. Really, we're okay out here.

 

Pub quiz has been going really very badly since Scott left. Have not even got third in the last month. The quizmaster is worried about us and expresses concern that his favourite bunch of foreigners are suffering so. Doesn't stop him putting pictures of obscure Ozzy 60s country singers up and asking what colour his son's eyes are or what his dog's favourite food is. Honestly, you have to be 60, and a redneck to even understand 50percent of the recent questions. We've got BJ's mum here for the next two weeks, so maybe we'll do better. Ahem.

 

Next update probably wont be until after xmas, so i hope you all have a great time, raise a glass of mulled wine for me and I'll throw another shrimp on the barbie for you all. And then crack open another cold beer in my shorts, tuck the board under my arm and head off to the sand. They say that more people commit suicide over xmas time if they dont have family around them. Trust me, we'll be fine this year.