Howdy from the Gold Coast, OZ

Naughty little slackers!!! We haven't updated the website yet since we've arrived & it’s been 5 days already!

Well, the big news in my world is: I got a Mini Mal! So we been hitting the surf every morning, I suck but am trying really, really hard to master the art of standing up, at least! Rich is being a very patient Sensei.. Out again at 9 tomorrow morning. It's winter here (between 14- 25 degrees Celsius so not reeeeeeeeeally, compared to London) so there isn't tooooo much incentive for me to get out there as I don't have a wetsuit..It's cold - darn tootin!! Especially when the wind blows. Rich has a wetsuit - and he wonders why I seem reluctant to get out there!? Haha. Nah, I could get one here but we think I may get a special deal on a wettie when we get to NZ from a mate so I have to hold back on buying one.. Need to toughen up and stop being a wuss!! SHEESH, hard life.

Pak Uang (Craig) and his girl Anne were here this week so we stayed a night down with them in Coolangatta which was cool. So had not 1, but 2 guys laughing at me in the surf! Hah, not really, but yeah, pretty much. Otherwise, not much else happenin. Same old story on the Goldie - bleach blondes, plastic boobs, fast cars, personalised plates & way too much money but we’re lovin’ the sun & surf! Wicked to see the fam & anjings again too..Ma & Pa Fougere are good, they're active and super-motivated as usual..Benji, at the ripe old age of 18 (that’s actually 95 human years!!) is fading fast but still got a sparkle in his eyes; oh he’s not going anywhere yet. Sprocket is just as mad & full of oodles of energy. I'm finding it hard to get up in the morning and thoughts of work have faded so much that I'm scared I won't be able to do it again!!! oh but I will..the money does not grow on trees.. Rich's ma is here too - Betty Boop! Both her and John were out here for a few weeks before we arrived and she stayed on an extra week to hang out with us! Very cool to catch up with them all..

What else? Oh, we didn't find thee place for the big ‘union’ fiesta yet in Bali but have a lot of material to read while we're here about villas, venues etc and have a lot more ideas now of what we DON'T want..which is a start..Not sure what we'll do next/where we'll live, thinking we might try and stick out 6 months here but still not sure. I'm guess we'll decide how we feel about this place over the next few weeks..

We fly from here to Port Douglas on the 3rd August for the Glen & Stacey wedding and then we're almost away for a month. A week up there, then NZ for a week, then Fiji for almost 2 weeks for Marg & Andy’s wedding. These may give us ideas too I suppose.. Still wanting to keep it reeeeeaaaal simple; yet it seems simplicity is complicating the matter - who would've thought??

Peace!
Scoob&Schnick