Mt Glorious

Nice and easy Sunday rainforest circuit at Mt Glorious, then a mint and ginger sparkling drink at the lovely Flying Nun cafe in Samford.

Dinner party

The Spargo family were our special dinner guests. Homemade wontons and curries and some very nice wines followed the dismal Bledisloe Cup game...

Castaways

Rob kindly chauffeured us up to the Costanzo homestead at Castaway Bay in his comfy wheels. Karls, three kids and baby chickens - it was all happening. Beautiful lunch and prosecco by the pool then we headed to the beach for some frisbee and sand boarding. Lovely to see Tara and Willow too after so long. Winter here still takes some getting used to...As in, are you sure this is winter?

Willeroo

Well my London readers (all two of you Megan and Cheryl he he) will like an update of Nana's 80th. On the Saturday night before we squeezed nine of us in the house at Willeroo to make sure there was a smooth set up for the next day. It was a bit of a debacle with a symphony of snoring and then Ryan got up for a ride at 4.30 but had to turn back because it was too cold.

Anyway the Sunday was a truly spectacular winter's day and as chief decorating officer I put Zoe, Chris and Dad to work.

The crowds rolled in right on 11 to celebrate the 80th birthday of one of the kindest and toughest ladies ever...

Teralba Breakfast

I was very lucky that Vanessa, Harvey and Ruby came up from Melbourne for a visit. To celebrate and get everyone together we organised a bbq breakfast down at Teralba Park. Felt like a bit of a trip back in time as the last time I had a bbq down there I am sure I was about 10. There were lots of wee ones running about, lots of bubble blowing, and a delicious breakfast...

Just landed

Bulli stayed on to explore Peru and Bolivia and I took the sweet business class flight to Brisbane (courtesy of my frequent flyer points). Mum, Dad, Kellie and Kay were waiting for me. For about the first week I was getting heart palpitations as it all started sinking in...

Went to Caxton Street and the rugby Saturday night with Rob M, Shane and Carly. The sight of the little XXXX man above the Caxton reminded me I was home again...

Santiago

To wrap up my leg of our South American travels we had a few nights in Santiago, having bussed across from Mendoza.

We stayed at the huge la Casa Roja and Barrio Brasil. I really liked Santiago, but I can see why people don't want to live there long term - a cloud of smog trapped by the Andes really does hang low over the city.

Transport was great, all the neighbourhoods were distinctive. I enjoyed our morning bike tour the most, great summary of the city and fun and easy way to get around. Horse riding in the hills looking back to Santiago was also a really good day out.

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