The World Wide Webb

​It was another lovely slow morning today - I do like to take my time with my Nutrigrain and tea! I then accompanied Neil on a trip to the tip to recycle cardboard from Christmas. Let’s be honest, the main attraction for me was to see the ibises, or ‘bin chickens’ as I now know them to be called. We then returned home to pack up a picnic and then picked Curt up on our way up the hill to the Dandenong Botanic Gardens.  We arrived at the gardens and set about finding a table on which to have our picnic. There we all were, enjoying our sandwiches, when a kookaburra flew down and stole Neil’s sandwich right from his hand. It was really quite impressive, although a bit of a shock and a disappointment for Neil to lose his sandwich. We then had a lovely wander through the gardens - the highlight being the Chelsea Australian Garden, which won ‘Best in Show’ at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2013. I also enjoyed that there were lots of AdLabs around the gardens for me, as well as pretty plants ...

​I had a very leisurely start to the day. Chloe, Sarah and Curt were all working, and Neil was picking up Sarah’s Christmas present, so I got a slow start and some sofa time with Kuma. Neil and I then enjoyed the sunshine on the balcony, where I took rather a liking to the hammock. After a light lunch, Neil, Kuma and I headed out to Birdsland Reserve. It was a lovely walk around a lake. I was able to find geocaches and Kuma got to swim, so that was a win! It was rather warm though, and the flies were really annoying, so we didn’t exactly stay out there a long time. It was therefore a lovely return to the hammock with my book! I may have rested my eyelids for a while too. When Sarah and Chloe were home from work, we had some scrummy enchiladas for dinner and I then helped Sarah with some late-Christmas wrapping.  It was then time for a phone catch-up with Dad and time to finish my book which was getting rather exciting. Talking of which, I have two chapters left so……

​With an unexpectedly free day, I had a lovely lie-in this morning and then a leisurely couple of hours enjoying the sunshine on the balcony whilst setting some quiz questions. Neil has proven himself to be an excellent quiz-setting accomplice so may now also have a job for future years. At midday Chloe, Sarah, Neil and I set off for a cinema treat in ‘Gold Class’. Not only are there ultra comfortable reclining armchairs, but you also order food and drink to come at set times in the film. Absolute luxury! We saw ‘Wicked: For Good’, which was brilliant (I may still have the songs going round in my head as I write this) - Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are just perfect in the roles, and the whole film was SO well done. I may have discovered that I should not be trusted to eat in the dark, but it was otherwise a faultless experience. We then had a few hours back at the ranch, which not only gave me time with my book, but also allowed me to set up my koala tracking app that Santa gave me....

​It has been 5468 days since England last won a test match in Australia. I therefore feel quite honoured to have seen the end of that lean run. The omens were good this morning - I woke up to news of Peterborough having won with a 94th minute goal (And appreciated Dad pointing out that they are now top of the bottom half of the table), and then watched Man Utd hold on to beat Newcastle. Neil very kindly drove me into the city in time for the cricket. I didn’t really know what to expect from today after the carnage of yesterday, but I did know that I would have a good view of it as my seat for today was rather luxurious, as it was near the corporate boxes. The first hour or so of the morning was a bit nervy, especially when Atkinson was injured. Whilst England did not bowl badly and did keep taking wickets, as long as Travis Head was in, I was worried. It felt like the game really turned in England’s favour just before lunch, when they took three quick wickets to leave Australia six dow...

​Going to the Boxing Day Test at the MCG has been a dream of mine for quite a few years now, and was in many ways the centre of my trip planning. I’m still not 100% sure how my desire to see a festive cricket game led me to take half a year off work and travel thousands of miles via two dozen or so countries, but here we are. As soon as I woke up and looked out the window this morning, it was clear that it would be a good day to bowl (as Melbourne was doing an excellent impression of Manchester). I did not really appreciate how good though! Neil drove us down to the city this morning and we were able to park in his favourite carpark a short walk away from the stadium. There was a great atmosphere and a LOT of people, and we were delighted to find that England had won the toss and were going to bowl first.  It was all going very well. Whilst Carse was a bit off-target, Tongue and Atkinson bowled beautifully in the morning session to have Australia four down at lunch. An excellent st...

​I have never been away from home for Christmas before, let alone the other side of the world, so today was always going to be a big day in my travels. It is the coldest Christmas here since 2004, so at least I have not had to deal with the weirdness of a hot Christmas Day! I was also grateful for the cooler weather for Parkrun this morning. Neil, Sarah and I did the Lewis Park Reserve Parkrun - it was Sarah’s first parkrun and my first ever Christmas parkrun. I loved how many people had dressed up, although did not know how to feel about be overtaken by a dinosaur. I was not speedy at all today, but enjoyed my run/walk around listening to festive tunes. After parkrun we stopped off for tea and coffee at a nearby shop and picked Curtis up from his flat. Chloe and Kuma were waiting for us back home, eagerly awaiting present opening time. Santa had been very generous to Kuma, but I think her highlight was Russell the Brussel from Rachel. I was also very spoilt as Santa managed to find me...