Week 2 - Sun, Surf & Sand

This week, from Tuesday to Friday, was spent down at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. Mum & Dad got a good deal on some rooms at the Holiday Inn. It was such a relaxing week which consisted of buffet breakfasts each morning followed by a swim in the surf, back to the air conditioned rooms for a bit of R&R, then a snooze after lunch, an afternoon stroll & then dinner. Wednesday evening there are markets along the esplanade, so Tom & I took a stroll after dinner, while Mum & Dad watched Joshua.

The Monday before we headed down the coast was a scorcher of a day with the mercury hitting 38 degrees!! In the morning we headed to Southbank to go for a swim at the beach there. Joshua really enjoyed splashing in the water. However we didn’t want to be out in the sun during the middle of the day so headed home for lunch. That afternoon the temperature just continued to climb. Tom & I were struggling to survive & poor Joshua just wasn’t coping at all & had a meltdown. I stripped him down to just his nappy & sat in front of the fan sponging him with a wet cloth, but still he just cried. It was a struggle to get him to take enough fluids as he just didn’t want to suck at all. In hindsight we probably should have gone to a shopping centre or somewhere & just sat in air con. Thankfully as the sun went down & the temperature eased off a little (it was still 30 degrees at 7pm!) he settled down.

Week 1 - Shop til you drop

This week could be summed up by the term ”Shop til you drop”. Monday we went shopping to buy the necessities that we hadn’t brought with us. Also it was something to do to keep us awake. Tuesday we went to Garden City to again help us stay awake & also to get some relief from the heat. Wednesday I had a migraine, so we spent the day at home resting. Thursday we headed to Indropilly Shopping Centre, a big shopping centre with 3 levels of shops. It was lovely spending the day out of the heat & in air con. Friday we spent the morning visiting with my aunty, cousins & second cousins. Then we went to Koorong (Christian Book store). Saturday afternoon was my friend Julie’s wedding. It was a lovely wedding, the dresses were beautiful, the weather was great, & I (Alison) also got to catch up with a few people I hadn’t seen for a while.

As for jetlag Joshua adjusted without much problem at all. He basically just slept it off, sleeping most of the time for the first 2 days. There was only one day where he woke 4am bright & cheery & ready to start the day. Tom & I took 3 days to really feel like we were over it, however we've been going to bed at 8/8:30pm most nights unable to stay awake any longer. We think it may be because of the heat. Temperatures have been 30 or above everyday.

Off to Oz

Finally the day arrived for us to leave on our trip to Australia. I (Alison) didn't sleep too well the night before, but never do before big trips. Everyone else slept fairly well. We departed home at 8:30am for the 3hr drive down to Hamburg from where we would catch our flight. Joshua slept most of the way, so it was a smooth trip.

At Hamburg our flight was delayed by 1hr due to a backlog of traffic in the Polish Air space as a result of bad weather conditions. This meant that my plan of spacing Joshua's feed so that he would be feeding on take off was totally thrown out. I ended up giving him a bit extra from the bottle on takeoff. The first leg from Hamburg to Dubai, he was a little unsettled & only slept for 10-15min at a time. However from Dubai to Singapore, he slept the whole way & then again from Singapore to Brisbane he slept most of the way again, only being unsettled the last couple of hours.

The Great Malt

While I was pregnant my hair grew much thinker & longer, but this past week it has begun to fall out by the handful. It is now almost back to the state it was before pregnancy. This is most disappointing, but something I did expect might happen.

New Ozland

On 2 seperate occasions over the last week I have had people refer to New Zealand as part of Australia!!