Darwin here we come.

Half of our friends tell us "it's going to be bloody hot up there at this time of the year - you'll hate it". The other half say "You'll love it!" Well, I'm an optimist, so I'm crossing my fingers that the heat won't be totally unbearable. I HATE extreme heat and humidity, but we are only there for five days, and Melbourne is having a cold wet spell at the moment, so I'll probably be glad to get warm again for a few days.

A friend expressed concern that I had posted the dates of our absence on my blog. "You've just announced to the world that your house will be unoccupied for a week! That's asking for trouble!" Have another look at my previous post, my friends. Where did I say our house will be empty? It won't! We have a very reliable house sitter, who will be arriving before we depart, to live in and look after our pets, and stay until we return early on Thursday morning. She came over on the weekend to find out what was expected of her. I showed her the dog and cat food and explained who has what and when. Ken showed her the aviaries and explained which birds need what seed, and how often.

Then Ken showed her the home theatre system, 8 remote controls, and how to work everything. She looked doubtful, so when Ken turned his back I showed her how to turn the t.v. on and off using one remote control. She asked where the spare bed was, and I said "We don't have one. We sold that last year. You'll be sleeping in our bed". She put a shocked expression on her face and said "You mean I'll be sleeping in the nuptial bed???" We had to laugh - our friend is single and senior, and has a great sense of humour!