Cars and jobs and cleaning house

The weather is as oppressive as we have been dreading. Today it reached an uncomfortable 39°C which is a hell of a shock to my body that up until a few days ago was enjoying the late autumn temperatures in Europe. The water situation here is critical. There are major bushfires burning across much of New South Wales and South Australia and some just north of home in Queensland.

Heat wave conditions saw high temperatures in much of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia with the maximum today in a number of towns of 45°C (that is 113°C !). Give me back autumn! Here in western Sydney it got to 42! Late in the afternoon there was an impressive electrical storm with more than 800 lightening strikes recorded in Sydney alone. Two houses hit by lightening were burned down - one of the hazards of living in Australia.

Well after a few days of searching Michael finally found us a car today. He had trawled the Auto Alley area of Parramatta / Granville yesterday after we found nothing in the newspapers, but with no success. So this morning Mum phoned her neighbours who know a local dealer and Jim very kindly offered to take Michael down to see the cars in their yard.

Still no luck and then Jim got very kind. He offered to take Michael out to Minchinbury (about half an hour from here) to where there is a conglomerate of dealers. And finally, he found this Subaru Impreza - you know the kind that was in the Fast and Furious movies!! Nah, not really, a hatchback! Older than what we really wanted and more expensive, but the best of what was on offer.

A summer cold is the worst to try and get rid of and I am feeling more and more congested each day. Still, I am on drugs and syrups so hopefully I can knock it before too long. There were a couple of highlights between the sneezes today. Peter ten, Michael's school boy friend called in and we shared a lot of laughs while waiting for Michael to get back, and then Lesley, whose gorgeous mum passed away recently, visited and we spent a couple of hours reminiscing with her. All sitting in the relative comfort of the air conditioned family room.

And then - we managed to get tickets to Mamma Mia the musical, playing at the Lyric Theatre at Star City! AND THEY ARE IN THE SECOND ROW FROM THE STAGE!!! So Lesley, the two mums and I are in for a real treat on Tuesday 1 December. Watch out world - might have to stop talking for a few days so that my voice recovers enough for a great singalong!

The other thing I have been up to is re-packing all our 'stuff' so that like things are all together. We have not bought a great deal of souvenirs, or at least I did not think we had, but all together, they fill to bursting the on-board suitcase that we bought. And once I had taken the grog we bought during the last couple of months out of one of the suitcases then I could get all our winter clothing in to one suitcase! So we are now sorted - winter in one, summer (as much as we have) in another for us to use now, souvenirs in one bag and bits and bobs in about another 4! Easier to find things thankfully. And Gen has told us that the three parcels we posted home from Europe in the last couple of weeks have all arrived safe and sound. God bless the postal workers!!

Wouldn't a storm be wonderful

BIG ANNIVERSARY - DAY 200 on the road.

We have not had access to the internet for the last couple of days and for much of that time I felt like my right hand had been severed. Laugh if you must, but we have become so used to being connected back home, that without it, life takes on a new look! Sure, it means that there is the chance to chill out and read or watch a video (yep, video, no DVD here) but to be honest, I don't think I could live without it any more.

And of course, there is the blog.
It has become bigger than anything I could have expected. What started out as a way to take our friends and family on this amazing journey has developed to become the official record of our trip. As I have said to many of you, that without this as a reference we are getting places and events confused all the time! But now it seems to have grown way way beyond that.

We have so many people following our trip that I feel that I can't let any of you down which, in a roundabout way means that I won't get lazy and not write and therefore that record for us will be complete! Unlike my last trip to Europe when I began to keep a diary but when I was handwriting tomes, I got that far behind that by the end of the second week I was only up to day six! But this time it is so much easier (partly because I can type so much faster than handwrite) and I can also download the photos and add them to the blog at the same time. And those photos just keep on coming - yeserday was an 800+ day! So yes, you are only getting a snippet!

So today was spent putting the blog in order. I had written much of it in Word, but not all. There was also the opportunity to catch up with Gen, DM and Donna on Skype. Oh yes and I played a few games of Scrabble with Gen. Anyone want to join us? Well, register at http://www.isc.ro/ and add me as a buddy (my handle is mtcar0). Let me know if you do and I will add you also so we can see when each other is on. Love it!

This morning was sunny and warm but by lunchtime the clouds were building, the air pressure dropping and it was cooling and by 4 pm it looked like we might be in for a thunderstorm - cool! But by 6:30 pm it had all blown over. Pity, I would love to see the mountains in a big storm. Chris and Mike tell us that at times they have watched up to three storms across the mountain tops and they concur that the mountain storms are brilliant. We had planned to do one of the local mountain walks this afternoon, but the impending weather put an end to it for today. Hopefully though before we leave on Sunday.

We are barbequing tonight - our first since we left Australia all that time ago. Its funny what you miss when you see it or have it again for the first time. Sure, the sausages are beter, much better, than most at home, but the smell of the barbeque being prepared did draw out the heart strings a little. Michael says he misses his kitchen and his barbeque (his kitchen??). But really, we wouldn't miss this experience for anything. Can't buy it says Michael!

Off to do some more sightseeing tomorrow - not sure if it will be Italy (Turino) or Switzerland (Geneve and Lausanne). Let you know tomorrow night!