Diving, visitors and a new home

Mmm, I've just noticed that my posts are becoming less and less frequent - sorry for that. It's not as if I'm running out of stuff to talk about, in fact it's quite the opposite - we're going through a very active period.

I mentioned in an earlier post that we were planning on doing some scuba diving and we have since started on that. However it hasn't been plain sailing - we had a false start a couple of weeks ago. A combination of poor instructor, poor conditions and Ros's instinctive fear of drowning (!) led to a panic attack and a bail out. So we re-arranged the training with a more experienced instructor in a swimming pool (rather than a busy beach/bay) for this last weekend. Unfortunately Ros just couldn't overcome her natural fears and despite several attempts has called it a day. I've carried on and so far have completed two of the three days of the PADI Open Water Certificate. Just two dives to complete next Saturday and I'll be certified and ready for our visit to the Great Barrier Reef over Easter.

We had visitors from home a couple of weeks ago, my Auntie Bernadine and Uncle David. They were on their last leg of a tour around Australia and were staying in a hotel in the city centre having booked it before we even came out to Aus. It was good to see them and show them a few of the sydney highlights - felt like we were seasoned locals showing them the ropes. Not only did it make us realise how comfortable we've become in our surroundings in just six months but also provided us with a link to home, short lived though it was.

Despite all this activity we've just signed up for a new property. We move into a smart riverside apartment next week in a trendy district adjacent to the Olympic Park. It's 5 miles from work so in some ways is less convenient than where we are at the moment but there's a little more life down there and will give us more of a city vibe for the next 18 months. We're both looking forward to the change of scene.