Jo

We got our passports back today with the actual real live visa inside with the words ‘the right to stay in Australia indefinetly’! Woohoo
After the initial excitment of last week, I have been feeling a bit flat since. I’ve also been feeling a bit of pressure with people asking ‘when are you going?’, ‘are you selling your house?’, ‘I’d rent it’, ‘have you thought about this?’, ‘have you thought about that?’ etc etc!!! I know that sounds a bit ungrateful as everyone is just showing an interest but all it does is put pressure on us. There is a lot to think about already and we are working our way through it all and working out the best plan for us. Believe me, we have thought about everything!! Moan over
We hit the car boot sales again on Sunday and made over £130. Amazing. I think we’ve actually run out of rubbish to sell for the moment but have made a good start on clearing things out.
I have now started my new running regime after my operation and looking forward to getting fit again. After all, I’ve got a race in Melbourne to get round in November!

That’s right – the Australians know a good thing when they see it and rewarded our talent, good looks, brains and athletism with two permanent residents visas for their wonderful country!!
Ed woke up this morning with a glum feeling, not looking forward to a day at work but left home with a big grin on his face!!

It’s not the visa yet BUT we have been allocated a case officer. To the uninitiated, this means that someone has now been assigned our file and will go through it to see if any other paperwork is required. Usually they ask for your medical reports and police checks at this stage but we have already sent those in. We should only be a couple of weeks away from being granted a visa!!!
It’s great to be able to post some good news at last

We went and did our first ever car boot sale on Saturday and made £43!! It was amazing what people bought. We were so taken with the experience that we went to another one on Sunday and made another £40! What a great way to get rid of your old tat. I really enjoyed it too. I’m not remotely interested in other peoples stalls but I loved chatting to everyone and giving them a sales pitch! We even sold a clock that didn’t work and nearly went to the tip instead. And anything that got zero interest has now gone to the tip. Considering we have (hopefully) the whole contents of a house to get rid of, this could be the perfect answer seeing as most of our stuff is junk anyway!
We went to Lackford Lakes after the car boot yesterday to do some birding. Quietly sitting in a hide, we could hear a rustling in the reeds. I assumed it was a rat or vole or something similar when I spotted an otter fishing! He went the whole way down the river in front of us before finally disappearing. That made my day You can just about see him in this photo.
Our poorly chicken seems to have made a recovery but is still very thin – poor thing. She seems to be happy enough, scratching about etc so I can’t justify putting her down. I think she’s OK.
The only news from Australia is that the visa processing people are now working backwards so we should get a visa sometime in 2008 at this rate! Am getting very frustrated with their total inefficiency so am going to call them tomorrow.

One of our chickens is sick so we took her to the vet last week. It’s quite embarrassing sitting in the waiting room with dogs and cats and people asking ‘What’s in the box?’. ‘Um, a chicken’………….. For a sick chicken she put up a hell of a fight in the garden – took 2 of us 2 attempts (she escaped from the box first time). Anyway, she’s been given antibiotics which we adminster in the dead of night when she’s asleep. Ed grabs her & I stuff medication down her beak! What a carry on. Hope she recovers but I don’t hold our much hope.

Leg is getting better all the time now after the pain of last week. I am stocking-free too
Went to the seaside on Saturday and walked for about 10 miles to Minsmere where I saw my first Kingfisher (amongst other things). Lovely weather too.

On Sunday we went to a ‘people awaiting Australian visas’ meeting in Huntingdon. Yes, there is such a thing! It was great to meet other in the same situation although everyone seems to be getting fed up with the waiting – like us.
Still no news………………….

Over the weekend someone (a former best friend ) made a comment that my blog was really boring because it was all about me! Well, after careful consideration I have decided to……………………continue talking about me, me , me & ME!! So there!

First day back at work today after ‘the leg job’. It was fine but I spent a lot of time wandering around talking to people – good excuse huh? My leg was quite uncomfortable by the time I left so I went for a 23 min run when I got home and now it feels fine

We had a good weekend with friends over for a meal on Saturday night. Thanks guys, it was great but not sure that foot buckaroo will catch on!

No news from Australia (Steve Irwin died – bit tragic) but other people are now getting visas who applied at the same time as us. This could be our week

I managed to do an easy 50 minutes on the turbo today and everything was fine. I need to start driving again – I’m getting cabin fever being stuck here all day!!! Hopefully this is the last day of not being able to go anywhere other than a walk.

No news from Oz but I did find this race that I might do while we’re there in November.