Elly's visit

It's the 2nd day of 2007 and already we have a visitor! Elly Rivett.

Byron used to work with her brother Chris back in Dr Martins in the UK. We met Elly at Chris's wedding 3 years ago and when Chris said that she would be travelling around Australia and New Zealand for Christmas and New Year we said the usual "We live a bit away from Sydney and the bright lights, but if she wants to visit, always a spare bed etc etc" On New Years day while we were nursing the mother of all hangovers we got her email confirming she was arriving into our local train station at 10.30am the next day. The house was a tip, the fridge was empty and we felt like we wanted to crawl into our beds and never get up again...AAARRGGHHHH!

This morning I was feeling a lot better (although vowing never to drink again!) I set to work, tidying, making up Elly's bed. I even paid Sian $1 to hoover the house, good Girl! (It actually fell out of my pocket as we were moving clothes around so she kept it as a bonus!)

Do you want to hear the good news first or the bad news?....

Bad news: We got a phone call from a drenched Elly who had been caught in a rain storm in Sydney and had missed her train by minutes. Was now running an hour later than planned.

Good news: It gave me a bit more time to get ready. I might even make it out of my pj's before jumping in the car to collect her!

Eventually house was looking good. I was dressed and we were on our way to Fassifern train station. We made it just in time to see her train pull in! It was great to see her and we headed home to the house for lunch.

Sian gave Elly the grand tour while I made some sandwiches. When Byron brought Elly out onto the back deck to show her the gum trees and all the wonderful birds that fly there I made a carrot cake from a box of pre-mix that cooked in the microwave in 5 minutes. I was trying to act all casual as though I had baked it from scratch earlier that morning but then Mr B spotted the empty ready-mix box in the bin! Never mind, I can't always be perfect!

We had a great afternoon. Ice-creams on the lake front in Warners Bay, then a drive to Caves beach. The kids stripped down to underwear and splashed in the sea before realizing that the rock pools were tepid from the sun heating them all day. It was like lying in a bath! The kids had a ball and Elly seemed to enjoy herself too. Although I did have to hold her back from stripping down to undies and running down to splash in the sea!

When we got home we all had baths and showers before making "Rocky Road" An Australian invention of almonds, marshmallows, coconut + Turkish delight all mixed into melted chocolate. We put it back in the fridge to set while we had our BBQ. Basa fish marinaded in honey and soy sauce. Wrapped in soft tortillas with spicy cous-cous, parmesan and balsamic salad and shredded cabbage - Yum! Everyone cleared their plates. Maybe it was the added bribery of the rocky road for afters! What a good feast. We were stuffed afterwards.

When the kids went to bed Elly rang home and then we did a web cam chat with Chris to let him know we had treated his little sister well!

We are all off to bed now. Part two of Elly's visit will be updated tomorrow! Watch this space......