The Monaghans

Doh! Sorry for getting the name wrong - didn't have my specs on! Good luck though!!

Sam, not sure it would be of interest to you but I was in Glenelg this morning and there's a shop called Chandra (I think!) and they had a sign to say they're hiring at the moment. It's on Jetty Rd btw.

We ping pong'd! I personally never felt homesick but my husband is from a close knit family and he felt our children would be better off growing up around their grandparents, cousins etc. We'd lived here for three years but moved back to the UK in August 2010. We moved back to Australia in October 2010 - yes that's just eight weeks later... I won't go into the whole long, miserable story here, you can probably find my original posts from then, I think I called them (imaginatively) Going Back... I will say this though. If you do decide to come back to Aus you will probably meet with an awful lot of resistance from your family who will naturally be devastated that you're putting them through all this again. My mum (who has just arrived to stay with us for xmas) was completely beside herself that I'd brought her grandchildren home to her and then snatched them away again. It will be a real test of strength for you so be warned! Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck! Liz

I think the giant waterslide is in Glenelg as well

Ripper! That's one of my presents sorted!!

My own favourite...

I'm not sure if he still posts on here but you could send a pm to Chris O'Brien. He used to be a driving instructor but he's got his own real estate business now. He used to post as csobrien1966. Good luck!

The "Brit" shop in Hallet Cove has closed Tamara, or maybe it's moved and nobody told me! There's a couple of wonderful cheese stalls in Central Market and I reckon at least one them sells proper Lancashire cheese. I don't really miss anything anymore except KP dry roasted peanuts but I have a lovely mummy who sends me regular supplies!

Listed on other pages...

Forgot to say, LOOP.

Bought new in 2007 but hasn't been used much since 2010 when we bought a house with a dishwasher already fitted. It still works perfectly however and is in great condition. I THINK it has 14 place settings but please don't quote me on that. The dimensions are: Depth 600ml Height 850ml Width 595ml $250, buyer to collect.

We did it last year! I think there were six or seven families in total, we drove to Sydney and camped there for a week rather than book a hotel. We stayed at Lane Cove River Tourist Park, if you didn't want to camp you could consider booking a cabin there maybe? Not sure how much they were but our powered site cost us $260 for the week! For NYE we booked Bradley's Head which is the next headland to Taronga Zoo. It was split into two areas, one was for families and we all took chairs, rugs and picnics. This area didn't allow alcohol though. The other area which was inside a kind of clubhouse had a full bar and a band playing. Again, not sure how much that option would be but our area was about $35 each and tickets were limited so that it wasn't too crowded. Thoroughly recommend you do it, it was definitely one off my bucket list!

I still listen to Radio 2 when I'm at home - I'm listening to Chris Evans right now actually! However, the kids are now getting to the age where they've realised my music is "dinosaur" music (their words, not mine) so I'm forced to let them listen to Nova in the mornings. Not after 6.00pm though, it gets too near the knuckle...

Noooooo! Not a big airport goodbye - I can think of nothing worse! We got married a month before we left so a lot of our goodbyes were said then. We expressly forbade any family members to come to the airport - my poor mum was in no fit state to say goodbye in public. We visited family during our last two days in the UK, leaving immediate family until the day we left. Whichever way you do it it's horrible, but you just have to grit your teeth and remember why you're doing what you're doing...

Well you both sound pretty sporty and active so why not join a surf life saving club? They're very popular and you'd be giving something back to the community!