Welsh Greetings

Hi All,
Have just had a few days away. Stayed in a caravan in Borth (just north of Aberystwyth). We were fortunate with the weather -quite glorious on Thursday and Friday. Dry all week but quite dense sea mist for the beginning of the week.
Caught the train into Aberystwyth on Wednesday for a stroll about - mostly op shopping. On Thursday we took the train north to Porthmadog. A beautiful train ride, running mostly along the coast. we had an hour in Porthmadog and then came back to Barmouth where we had about two hours to wander and soak up the sun. It was a lovely trip. Google Cambrian line to get details.
Otherwise, been fairly quiet. Jules has been slowly doing things in the laundry. We have sourced some cupboards to go in there - free from gumtree. Jules also needs to fit the cupboard in the kitchen to fill the gap where the washing machine was.
Took Cynthia out last week for a spin on the Gower. She sends her greetings to you all.
Only five weeks until Clare arrives! The planning is on-going.
Hope everyone is well and happy. Thinking of you.
Bye for now. xx

Welsh Greetings

Hi All,
Hope everyone is well and happy, as we are here in sunny South Wales.
Not much has been happening in the two and a half weeks since my return.
Caught up with my friend Louise over bubble. Have got back into doing that quite well really.
Been to see Cynthia and told her of my Aussie sojourn.
Didn't get to darts the night of my return, but have played the last two weeks. We are winning and losing this season. Had a win this week.
Had one shift back in work. Hopefully get a few more in soon.
Bank holiday this weekend. The point-to-point races are on Monday not far from here. Usually a good day out - if it's not raining!
Jules has been tiling the floor of the laundry. He has been accepted to work on the polling stations in the up coming general election. Hopefully he will enjoy it (or at least tolerate it) and be able to work on other elections as they occur.
That's about all for now.
Take care and have fun.

Christmas Draw

Here it is, enjoyably worked by Moo and Zac with  Maria Burgess overseeing proceedings.

Kevin               buys for         Annie

Joan                                       Lucy

Jack                                        Kate

Fran                                        Moo

Tom                                       Kevin

Liam                                      Clare

Connor                                  Julian

Marty                                    Connor

Claire                                     Jack

Kate                                       Tom

Hasi                                        Marty

Annie                                      Liam

Lucy                                       Fran

Clare                                       Joan

Moo                                        Claire

Julian                                      Hasi      

Greetings from the south coast

Hi anyone out there,
Oops I missed writing for the whole of Feb. Probably just busy trying to adjust back to the real world.
Only had one major meltdown, on my first trip to the supermarket. So "normal" having to shop to cook, but so boring.
Anyway that's all history now, as I've been a few times since, but I really draw the line at buying fruit and vege in the supermarket. I'm completely pissed of that our local green grocers has closed down, which means I have to get in the car to go to the next closest one.
But I will not be defeated, I will support the green grocers. Bloody supermarkets want to monopolise everything.
Anyway otherwise it's pouring rain here, and looks set in for a few days, so no evening beach walk and swim this evening.
Thats all for now
Love Zak

Greetings from Los Angeles airport

Hi all,
Well it seems there is wifi at the airport here inLos Angeles.
We arrived here about midday from Mexico City.
As our connecting flight isn't till 10pm, we decided to get out of the airport for the day, so caught a cab to the famous Venice Beach.
What a great idea (mine of course) It was a beautiful sunny balmy winters day here.
A bit too cool to swim, but we strolled the promenade, and checked out all the local characters, who make this place the eccentric, eclectic crazy place it is.
It's about 7.30 now, and we don't board till 10pm, so I have bought myself a new book -The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende.
I have read another of her books while I've been travelling, called Eva Luna, and it was a great story.
Hasi is lying down behind me, making the most of being able to be in the horizontal position, before the 15 hour plane trip.
I really think I will get a cup of tea, and start my book.
So this really will be the last blog of this travel series.
Love to all
Zak

P.S. Have a great time in Melbourne Annie and Clare

Greetings from Mexico City

Hi all,
Today we flew from El Salvador back to Mexico City.
The flight was a bit more than 2 hours and it was great, because it flew low enough to see the lay of the land, the whole way.
Totally amazing landscape, coast rivers, lagoons behind the coast, mountains and volcanoes.
Spent hours waiting to get through immigration at Mexico City. I really hate airports and flying. It really is a means to an end. There's no fun in it
And still have to get out of Mexico,and go in and out of the USA before arriving in Sydney.
Hasi had a bit of a hassle getting out of El Salvador. We had not got stamps in our passports coming into El Salvador, I didn't have a problem, but the guy was interrogating Hasi. He finally let him through, but it's always a bit of a hold your breath moment.

So now we are in our beautiful hotel room, just 5 minutes from the airport, as we have to be there by 7am, so didn't think it was worth going into the city, just to sleep.
It is incredibly quiet. Has double glazing, so you can only just hear a rumble of the planes going over, and nothing else.
This is pretty amazing in a city of 20 million people!
Also we need quiet because we need sleep.
Last night we barely slept due to mosquitoes, bed bugs, party people outside our room, so we really have been like zombies today.
It's almost 8pm and we are ready to sleep, after long hot showers, scrubbing ourselves, to make sure we are rid of all the bugs before we dive into these lovely crisp clean sheets.
Need to be up again at 6am.
Breakfast at 6.30, then we get taken to the airport.
This may be the last blog of this series.
I'm not sure if there is wifi at Los Angeles airport.
We arrive home Thursday morning. We are going to get the train straight home, as we will be zombies by then.
So speak to everyone when I get home
Love to all
Zak

Greetings from El Tunco

Hi all,
Had our last lovely day at El Tunco today
We feel like we know most of the locals and tourists here at the moment.
We have our favourite place for coffee in the morning to start the day
Then Beach, jumping in and out of the water, catching the waves.
And this evening, Our last sunset, for this trip, over the Pacific.
And packing. This is the last big pack for this trip. Most of the stuff won't see day light again till we get home.
We have booked our cab for 10am tomorrow to take us to San Salvador airport, and our plane leaves at 1.50pm to Mexico city. It's only about a two and a half hour flight.
We have booked a hotel close to the airport, as need to be back at the airport pretty early on Tuesday morning.
Hope we have a more peaceful night tonight than last night. Music was pumping till after 1am.
Anyway, that's our day.
Hope the weather isn't too extreme anywhere
Love to all
Zak

!Hola!
That was (almost) that, as they say. Due to the wonders of modern technology, you already know most of wot happened, Kate being the diligent blogger she is. No use to catch up and tell all the amazing tales of wonderous Magic foreign lands to a mesmerised audience anymore.? ... Luckily, not quite...
Highlights / summery:
Long flights, hours of fun in airports, immigration, planes, queuing up for stamps and luggage.
Long bus rides, squashed in with dozens of fellow travellers, sweat, elbows, NEVER enough legroom,.
Dozens of hotel/hostel rooms, cold showers, fans that range from (too) gently to far too powerful and noisy, sleepless nites with mosquitos and noisy neighbours.
Lots of people who don't speak English, and two travellers too lazy (or too busy) to learn enough Spanish before leaving OZ.
Amazing cities with wonderful architecture and incredible history.
Volcanos, beaches, rainforests, cloud forests, mountain ranges, the Atlantic / carribean, the Pacific.
Lots of rum. Oodles of noodles / great food. More rum.
Thousands and thousands of dollars not invested in a retirement fund...
Mosquito bites, fever, infections, liquid shit, and RAIN. RAIN. Lots of rain. Hurricane.
WAS IT WORTH IT???
Fuck yeah! Definitely. Anytime. When can we do it again???
See you guys soon, hasta luego,
Greetings and kisses,
Hasi