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Last week, on St George’s Day, it was our 3rd wedding anniversary. We take turns each year is organising something to do for the event - for our 1st anniversary we went to a really nice Japanese restaurant in Melbourne during a brief trip to Australia, and last year we made a trip to Brussels in Belgium.  This year it was my turn again to organise something.

Finding a good curry in Australia is not an easy thing - good Indian restaurants are few and far between.  I think the only decent one I’ve had was 2 years ago in Glebe (Sydney). So the first thing we did over the weekend was try out the local Indian restaurant on Friday night.  It was ok - not bad, but not fantastic.  Good enough to consider going back, but probably not have their rather fatty chicken in a curry again.

Then on Saturday morning we headed out and drove for a couple of hours to Ballarat.  Known from the goldrush days, in Ballarat they have a mock goldrush township called Sovereign Hill.  I’d booked a package that included an overnight stay, day entry to Sovereign Hill (both days), and dinner followed by their ”Blood on the Southern Cross” sound & light show.  We had a good time there, and of course took a number of photos!

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It’s been a long time since we’ve added anything to our website, so many things have happened in the last year! So, before we start blogging again I’d better give a brief update of the last year

• We went to our friends wedding in Norfolk and had a good, albeit long, day - it takes a long time to drive around Norfolk as there aren’t many main roads!
• A dental technician job in Berkshire became available, and Dawn interviewed for this - and got the job. So at the end of August we moved back to the Reading area!
• A few weeks after we moved back, I began an office job in Reading with unusual hours (6.30am-1.30pm). Very recently I found out that a colleague of mine there was also a guest at the wedding in Norfolk we went to - bizarre!
• We had Christmas together, and were at my parents for Boxing Day. Fortunately the winter was not that bad this year as we discovered that the electricity needed to run this flat is hideously expensive - especially as it has a water pump due to low water pressure, and electric storage heating
• After 5½ months of the very early starts (I’m not a morning person!) I decided to move on, and got a temp job for a while
• For our 2nd anniversary, we went to Brussels for the weekend! We travelled with Eurostar via the channel tunnel, and had a great long weekend.
• Dawn had her gallbladder removed recently (you may remember her mentioning it before)
• We’ve given notice on our flat, and need to move out by 25 June!
• We’re also currently working on Dawn’s visa applications - for permanent residency, followed by naturalisation (citizenship). She needs to do a “Life in the UK” test before applying for the permanent residency, and this is being taken in 2 weeks time.

We’re currently not sure of what the near future holds for us, but we both feel that it’s time to move again We have a few ideas spinning around, and will have to very soon make up our minds - possible mission opportunities, maybe just a move closer to Dawn’s work, maybe something else - we’re just not 100% sure right now. Some people don’t like plans changing all the time, but really it just makes things funner

Oh, and of course the final thing to say is - welcome to our new website!! Yes, I’ve finally got round to making some slight changes to the over-all design, and altering how we publish photos. Currently the website contains pretty much the same as before, but we may add new sections as we go along. Also, our news blog has an Atom 1.0 feed so people who want to keep up with our whereabouts etc can subscribe via their browser or feed program.

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Very early on Tuesday morning we arrived back from Australia, with quite a bump when landing at Heathrow! I had to make this trip by the end of June in order to validate my Spouse Visa - so I am now officially a resident of Australia! Because of how Australian immigration currently works, I’m able to continue living in the UK for the next year or two, at which point a decision is made whether or not I get permanent residency - and during this time Dawn should also be able to get UK permanent residency in June 2007.

We had a good holiday, being tourists in both Sydney and Melbourne as well as making a trip to Brisbane. We rented a car in Melbourne, and I even managed a “hook turn” there - a bizarre manoeuvre required at road junctions in central Melbourne when going across tram tracks where you turn right from the left lane. It feels very odd doing it, but fortunately I had someone in front of me who I just followed.

In Sydney we got to Taronga Zoo, Watsons Bay (with the famous, and expensive, Doyles Fish & Chips!), and also spent some time in both the city/Darling Harbour and Glebe (an area I stayed in quite a lot during a working holiday in 1999/2000). During our time in Melbourne we celebrated our 1st anniversary by going to a Japanese restaurant in the Crown Casino complex - we had window seats overlooking the River Yarra and city! We also saw Captain Cook’s cottage, imported from Yorkshire, met up with a guy I first met in Glebe in 99 (he is also from the UK and was on a working holiday back then) who now lives in Melbourne, as well as visiting various suburbs in case we ever decide to live in Australia and in particular Melbourne.

Finally the jetlag is beginning to go away, and in just a couple of weeks Dawn’s sister Julie will be visiting us! She’s on holiday visiting a few other European countries. Then soon after that someone from our DTS is getting married in Norfolk which we’ll be going to - and another person from our DTS recently announced their engagement. They’re dropping like flies, with just the 3 Canadians from our DTS remaining single!

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Today is St Georges Day - the apparent national day for England that comes and goes pretty much like any other day! Being St Georges Day, it reminds me that it’s also our wedding anniversary - yep, 1 year ago we were in St John’s Church getting hitched, at Emmanuel Church Centre for a reception, and then 2 days later off to Australia for a 2nd reception.

This year, 2 days later we are off to Australia again! We fly out this week on Tuesday, arriving into Sydney on Thursday and spend about 1½ weeks over there. The main reason for going is to validate my visa - when I officially become a resident of Australia! Can’t say I’m looking forward to the flying bit though!

There’s not a huge amount more to report, except that Spring has finally arrived in Sheffield!

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