So I arrived at Tulla airport ont he 22nd January and was picked up by my best friend Rachelle and her boyfriend Michal. I was very lucky becase my sister was in Melbourne for that day since she left for Hobart the next morning so I got to see her at the airport as well.
My poor dear mum still had no idea I was home for Christmas so I stayed at Rachelle's that night then we drove to Nelson the following night after Rache finished work and I had a day in Melbourne catching up with my Aunty Judy. We stopped in at Camperdown on the way to see my other best friend Ange and her family and for me to finally meet her baby Oliver who had been born 7 months before.
Then on to Rache's parents' place Nelson where I slept and woke up the next morning (Christmas Eve) before 7am so Dad could pick me up. Dad took me home and I hid in the boot of my car Whammy, backpack and all. Dad called Mum up and it was hilarious to see her face when she opened the boot of the car! She wen bright red and stamped her foot and called me a bugger for tricking her. Altogether very welcoming. It was quite funny. Then we opened a Bollinger and proceeded to get drunk which seemed to linger with me the three weeks I was in Nelson.
The next day, Lach and Nik arrived with Joely and Darcy and their dog Ripley. It was the first time I'd met my Niece who was 13 months old at the time. And Darcy was nearly 4 and had grown so much. I just loved playing aunty to them. They are absolutely beautiful kids. Certainly know how to play the heartstrings though. I honestly don't know how parents keep up with kids. I was so exhausted after a couple of days.
After Christmas, I spend a couple of days in Port Fairy with Lach and Nik and Darcy and Joely. We went to Tower Hill and Lake Pertobe in Warrnambool. Having been away and come back, it was wonderful going to places I loved as a kid and seeing how much Joely and Darcy loved it (probably nearly as much as I still did, let's face it, I haven't grown up).
LNDJR left Nelson around New Year's and headed back to Ballarat. I stayed in Nelson but did take a trip to Warrnambool to catchup with my friend Sarah and also to Portland to see Ange and William and Oliver again. But otherwise I stayed home with Mum and Dad and got to see a bit of Rachelle when she was down there.
Mid January I left Nelson and had a couple of days in Melbourne catchiong up with my mates from uni and then went to Hobart to have a week with my sister Kate. I was so impressed by Hobart. Except the it was a bit cold, it has so much to offer. I could consider settling there (yes, there is diving).
Kate and I hired at car and drove to Strachan and saw Hell's Mouth and we went to Lake St Claire and did a full day hike up Little Hugle which is actually quite steep and tricky and no little at all. We planned to climb Mout Rufus as well, in memory of my old pony but we managed to miss that due to the fact that I took us down the wrong path at the only point where there was a fork in the road. Unfortunately Kate had blind faith in my superior navigation skills and didn't even question the fact that we were suddenly going down into a valley for an hour. Either that or she was just being polite. Or maybe trying to see how long it took me in my wisdom to figure it out for myself.
As it happens, Little Hugle was more difficult than we thought, so it was good we didn't go up Mount Rufus.
The following day we drove to Cradle Mountain. Saw a Tassie devil on the way. And not as roadkill, actually alive. We went for a walk around Dove lake and enjoyed the lovely day.
The hioghtlight for me at Cradle mountain was going for a boardwalk that evening and seeing all the wombats come out onto the side of the hill for a feed. There were so many!! There wombat burrows everywhere on the side of that hill.
Then, as we started to get quite cold with darkness descending (well I got cold, I am yet to see Kate ever get cold, I think she was still in shorts and a Tshirt at that point), we headed back to the car. We decided to have a look in the streams in the hope to see a platypus since it did look like perfect habitat for them. But it is so rare to see one in the wild and you have to be so quiet and patient (two traits which I do not have in the slightest) that I was quick to give up since I was a bit cold. When we got to the bridge to head back to the car, we thought we'd have one last look and sure enough, we saw a sudden ripple in the water and there was a platypus on the bottom of the stream int he crystal clear water. Amazing to see. And so lucky for us.
We had decided to trip around to see the lakes in the centre of Tassie on our way back. We got to the shore of the enormous lake but the rain at the time was pelting down so hard we could only see about 100m in front of us, if that. Got home to Hobart that night quite exhausted.
I flew back to Melbourne in time to go to Foinee's (best mate from uni) hen do a couple of days before her wedding to Aidy (another mate from uni).
The wedding was beautiful and it was so lovely to see the vet friends that I hadn't caught up with the week before. Perfect weather in a beautiful setting.
I also got to see my dog while in Melbourne who I have missed so much since being overseas. A bit upsetting to see hee has a few grey hairs around the muzzle. Caught up with Mark who now has custody of Taska and he seems well with a good job and a lovely girlfriend so it is nice that we both have moved on now and are doing what we want.
I stayed with Rache while in Melbourne so got to spend a lot of time with her and Michal. Saw my aunty Judy and uncle Bruce again and got to catch up with my cousins Trini and Dave who live in a good part of Melbourne and have a fun group of friends.
For the last two days of January I went to Ballarat to spend it with Lach and Nik and the kds since it was Darcy's birthday on the 29th. It was fabulous to see them. The heat had started though which made it easier to leave Australia but it was still very hard to leave my family.
