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Well hello all, we are home safe and sound now, despite our travel adventures in Brisbane. I had no idea that I could go 55 hrs withour sleep. We both feel rather jaded and a bit jet lagged. Today it was back to reality and work. Work hasn't changed and is still busy with many emails to deal with and families in need of support. Richard had to also come back to busy urgent stuff to sort out. Life goes one eh. We have been home for one day and already experienced rude people. If only some of our locals could have the manners and customer service that our USA friends did!

The kids are being exemplary, and it's great to have their cuddles and hear about their adventures. They have all missed us. Thankyou to my Mum and Dad, Marian and the WBHS Hostel for helping out with the kids. They have really enjoyed good food, fun, and granny's activities.

We are already beginning to talk about when the next trip will be and how we can make it happen. It is time to broaden our horizons. Please give us a green card so that we can move to the States.

One thing though is that we did notice was how green our country is and just how small it really is. The cars are smaller, the roads smaller, our houses smaller, our goods and produce extremely expensive, and the people lacking in customer service skills.

On a more positive note, this trip has broadened our global views, and we are now not afraid to stretch our wings. It's great to see how a community works in another part of the world. We realise that you can achieve anything if you set your mind to it and don't have to accept mediocrity. We also have come to appreciate our family and the importance of the kids. When you have spent a whole month apart we all appreciate each other more.

Another thing when you have been away form TV it all seems unimportant and boring now. I have enjoyed not watching as much tv and spenidng more time as a family in the evening. Tonight we talked about career choices for the older two, and spent time with Abbey sharing her travels in the last three weeks. We intend to do more family things as the kids are growing up fast.

Well It's late again and bedtime as my body is still recovering from the lack of sleep.

For our US friends it's freezing here. We arrived back in Chch at 1.30 am ish Monday morning and it was like walking out to an iceberg.

I don't think we realised just how cold the wind here is, and also how moist the air is. It is very crisp. We have the heat pump going fullbore and put more blankets on the bed.

Just before we sign off I would like to say a very special thankyou to our friend Julie who was kind enough to get out of bed early Monday morning, rescue us from the airport, drive us to her house,make us a hot chocolate and tuck us into bed, which had been warmed up with an electric blanket. Thankyou soo soo much Julie. It's friends like you that make coming home special. You are awesome.

Good night all and GO TIGERS.