Hi, sorry I’ve not posted a blog in a while, but the OSO and Fossil have been away on a long holiday to Australia and New Zealand, which, for those of you who know them well was a remarkable achievement for Fossil going away at all, let alone for three weeks and such a long way away from home and an achievement for the OSO kidding him along for so long that they were just going away ‘for a long weekend!’

A big lever for Mum was that Al, my little brother, was over there, and in fact still is, on walkabout with three of his old Uni. mates. For those of you that have been following him on Facebook, you will see what an awesome time he has been having.

So the OSO and dad flew out to meet them in Australia and of course do other things whilst they were out there. The trip was a great success. Initially they flew out to Sydney and once Mum had recovered from her throwing up migraine they had a few days there doing all the usual sights and from there they flew up to Cairns which was where they were scheduled to meet Al. Bit of a hiccup there in that Al and his mates were flying up from NZ and missed their connecting flight from Sydney ( Al still maintains it was not their fault) so they were a day late arriving in Cairns. In the end all went well and they all had a great time, the best bit being on the Great Barrier Reef with Al and the OSO scuba diving looking at the fishes, turtles and sharks. As Al said ‘how amazing is this’

You may be wondering what Fossil was doing, he stayed in a glass bottomed boat and looked at the reef that way! As he said

‘If God had meant me to swim under water he would have given me gills!’

If you look on either Mum’s or Al’s face book site you will see some pictures of them snorkeling and scuba diving.

They all had a fantastic time. Mum and Dad and Al had a day on their own, Mum worrying about Al’s sore foot caused by his flip flops rubbing which he said was fine, but ended up later having to have hospital treatment because of a really bad infection (in some cases Mum’s do know best!).

They parted company after a few days. Al and his group carrying their trip in Aus. and the OSO and Dad flying off to Aukland in NZ (in case you didn’t know). They really, really enjoyed their time there. The scenery was spectacular with so many great things to do. From there they should have gone on the scenic railway all the way down the North Island. This was a bit of the holiday that had been specially planned for Dad but it didn’t happen cause the train had broken and they weren’t told until they arrived to get on the train at 6.45 in the morning. The train people tried to put all of them onto a coach, but the parents were having non of it and with the help of a lovely couple who lived in Aukland, managed to hire the last available car in Aukland and drove themselves down in one day, which was a long way, but the roads were very quiet, the scenery was amazing at at least they wern’t stuck on a coach with the OSO throwing up!

From there they had a couple of days in Wellington, caught the ferry to South Island and then drove down to Kaikoura which was where, I think, that the OSO really had the best time cause she kayaked with seals swam in the sea with wild dolphins, went whale watching, basically she never stopped. Fossil had a great time too waving her off and having a more leisurely time on shore! They have been married for SO long now, they just know how to keep each other happy! Ah!.

After that they drove down to Christchurch for a couple of days and then flew home where Roger met them at the airport and looked after Mum with another of her sick migraines. (long haul flight DO NOT suit her) and then home to rainy old England. The OSO was so depressed for at least a week after getting back home that Dad vowed never to let her go away again! She’s fine again now, back into her old daft ways!

So there you go; a quick guide to what they got up to.

Now that I’ve got more time not having to keep an eye on them whilst they were travelling, I will have more time to write my blog so watch this space!