At home for now!

The age old question about "time flying" comes to mind as I sit here thinking where to start this post. The weeks since leaving Virgin Gorda have literally flown. It is now nearly the end of April and my blog for this month sits empty without a story. This must be rectified immediately!! I have been so busy catching up with 'business', friends and much loved ones since my arrival from the islands and New York city I haven't even had a moment to download any photographs.

After a wonderful visit to the Caribbean my friend Michelle and I had a ball in the Big Apple......not so rotten and definitely not to the core. I love that town! The magic of its high rises full of amazing architecture and yellow cabs never cease to intrigue me. The buzz of the Big Apple is intoxicating. There is no disputing it - New York city is fabulous and I challenge anyone to say otherwise. We stayed in a gorgeous uptown hotel, viewed the sights and shopped. We bought more shoes than we could barely carry, made a dint at Century 21, and ate our way through NYC bagels and salads. It was a girly delight and we delighted in it all.

I am home again for now. Home being Australia! Whilst I love living in France and the Caribbean, I AM from the land downunder, my closest buddies are here and its great to be back for a much needed visit. I've visited the dentist for my annual checkup, lodged my tax return, checked the state of properties, bought a much needed new laptop and opened endless envelopes. Whilst one has to be responsible and tick off the long "to do" list, I have also been visiting and catching up with loved ones and dear friends. The beloved friends are smiling and many hugs have been shared. Some are surprised that I am going back for more, others just expected it.

I thank everyone for their invitations for wonderful dinners and lunches, I deeply thank both Michelle and Annie for their generosity of staying at their homes and lovingly preparing their spare room for me. I thank my darling Jenny, Barbie, Ofra, Amanda and Robert for their invitations to stay too! Its a wonderful feeling to know one is welcome in friends homes and very much appreciated. I am truly touched by everyone thoughts. XXX
I hope I can return the favour, either here or overseas. Michelle just handed her car keys to me and Annie gave me her car whenever she didn't need it. Coming home for a short time is full of the expected and the unexpected and having the use of a friend's car is just magic and really helps to get all those jobs done.

There are two weeks left and I need to see my aunt in Queensland before I head off to Europe again. My Dad is chomping at the bit for my return and my little french cottage waits for me too. I can't wait to see my Becky in France mid June and then Michelle again in late July. What a summer it will be!

But for now, there are a couple of weeks of more latte's, lunches and laughter! It's great to be here! XXX

Fire & Floods

Just when you think your beloved country has experienced enough disaster, the bad news continues! My home of Australia is being hit by a deluge of disastrous events that seem to continue.
The awful weather pattern of flooding and cyclone that destroyed much of Queensland had slowly crept down south since the report of my last blog. At first it effected outlying suburbs and country areas. It is now a widespread event that has effected the capital city of Melbourne, Victoria. I have emails from dear friends who say that their backyards are a "swimming pool" - cars are overflowing with inches of water. One of my buddies, Michelle came out to her car one morning swamped with water on the inside to the tune of a few inches. St Kilda Road, the main tree lined artery leading into the city from the south is a SWAMP. Glenferrie Road, a busy inner suburb shopping street was knee high in water as was Chapel St, Prahran. I see endless photographs of flooded homes, roads, stores, parks and gardens. We have just experienced some 'years' of hefty water restrictions and the inconceivable thought of no water; now our city is flooded causing much more grief. My best friend sent me photos of her parents home in Mildura with knee deep water. Luckily is didn't come into their home but it did reach the front steps. Apparently all the grape crops are destroyed in the area. In other areas such as KooWeeRup all the asparagus and broccoli crops are GONE! As one of my dear friends wrote, "Bianca, this is getting really scary!" There is more predicted.

Whilst Queensland is still reeling from the destruction and Melbourne is beginning her mop up, Perth on the western coast has two HUGE out of control bush fires in the north east of the city, only 20 kilometres from the city centre. Over 60 homes have been destroyed and 100's partially burnt. The blaze at Red Hill has burnt through 750 hectares since it started. Gusts of up to 75 kilometres an hour are fuelling the flames, as 150 firefighters work to protect homes in Baskerville, Brigadoon, Millendon and Herne Hill. They have called it Black Sunday!

.........to add insult to injury Sydney has just sweltered through a record 7 days of 35 plus degree heat. (thats virtually 100 degrees in Fahrenheit)

Frankly, in all my years of living in Australia, I have never seen so much destruction in such a confined period of time. I find myself waking up in the middle of the night and turning my computer on wondering how my home is surviving and praying this bad news subsides.

Photos in stark contrast below:- Perth; flames and the smoking City of Swan area.
Melbourne; flooded roads in the city centre area.

Thank you

Thank you dearest friends to all that have welcomed me home with phone calls, text messages and emails. I am really touched. Looking forward to seeing you all! X

Am slowly wading my way through the endless mail and saw my mummy yesterday who did recognise me and lifted her arm up towards me when I entered her room. We sat together for hours and I talked as she can't anymore. It's difficult to know what she comprehends but felt she was somehow listening. XX

Had a divine dinner with my friend Sue last night and a great long catch up into the night. Lunch with my dearest Robert today and more unpacking and cleaning up to tidy the war zone in my family room!

It's still sooooooooo cold here!!!

Back in Australia

It is the morning of my first day back home in Melbourne Australia. I arrived back late yesterday afternoon after a lengthy trek back from the airport. It seems Singapore to Melbourne was almost as long as LA to Singas.

The first flight arrived into Perth at midnight with a 6 hour layover. A little homework discovered a quiet dark 'closed' cafe upstairs with large soft lounges. I and four others all found our little corner and looked forward to some 4-5 hours of snoozing ONLY to find an ear piercing regular EVERY 10 minutes - GRRRRRR!! "security alert" intercom message from airport officials which was proceeded and ended with chimes. Say good-bye to any sleep! We were all ready to rip the intercom system out of the ceiling! The loud message was accompanied by freezing air conditioning which froze my toes! Having been in 35-40 degree temperatures for the last 6 months it has left me sneezing ever since! Bugger! Am downing Vitamin C and green powder like its going out of fashion! Think I may have heavy duty garlic prawns for dinner with garlic salad and garlic bread! Although the weather is pleasant here, I am finding it very cold and have the central heating on full blast!

The saga continues! My smooth and uneventful flight to Melbourne finally took off at 6.10am Perth time. Melbourne! After almost 7 months I was home! It is a strange feeling to be away so long and come home! I definitely had mixed feelings about it all, especially having just left my Becky!
I found that the airport bus had JUST left and so had to wait over an hour for the next. FINALLY in sunny Frankston, (don't you just love Frankston! Who doesn't! - I read that somewhere...) I had to leave the bus which ended there. Yep, with ALL those airport shuttles going down to Rosebud, mine ended in Frankston! Happy to be home my mood was good so I searched for taxis which had all disappeared. After half an hour of almost throwing myself into the traffic I finally harrassed some passerby to borrow his mobile (of course mine was dead as a church mouse after being out of use for so long) and made a call to book one! Its bright yellow shape took me into my drive way at last! Home!

I must say there is nothing as lovely as to come home to your own house! It looked so welcoming! My first surprise at my front door was a bouquet of the longest stemmed red roses in existence with a beautiful card from my darling friend Robert. I have no idea how they grow roses with stems a metre long but they are just superb! Thank you my darling Robert! Our Skype chats and emails have just been so touching for all these months! See you Sunday!
Katey also surprised me with a table and fridge of goodies and flowers so I could just rest and eat without going out! She has left the house so clean and tidy it was SUCH a pleasure to walk inside. Thank you dearest one for those thoughtful touches!
I also found a divine bottle of red with a gorgeous card from my friend Sue for my birthday - we are going to indulge tomorrow together for a dinner catch up! I can't wait to see her and meet Sunny, her new four legged companion!

Actually I can't wait to catch up with all my dear friends, its been a long time, but for now I must weave my way through a MAMMOTH box of mail, settle in, unpack, rest, activate suspended accounts......... the list goes on...At present I am waiting for my mechanic to come back. The car stalled AGAIN, and I want to shoot over to see my little mummy. I hope she still recognizes me! I have sent her some 20 postcards, emailed stories for the nurses to read to her and rang. I couldn't speak to her personally as she doesn't speak anymore.....its always a heart wrenching visit! Step by step I guess!

I have much to share with you all re Singapore and Malaysia! The orangutans were heart wrenchingly beautiful with personalities totally humanlike. There are stories to write and photos to post........so keep checking this blog in the next week. I will catch it all up as soon as I can.

Right now, I am heading back to the heater and a thicker woolly jumper........Brrrr!