Well, 2010 was a big year for me and 2011 is going to be even bigger I believe.

Sadly, my wife (Lin) and I separated in April 2010.

I then quit my job shortly after and went to Thailand for 2 months holiday in June & July 2010.

Returning to Australia on 4th August, I started working again at Coober Pedy in the northern desert of South Australia on August 16th.

The plan was for me to be based at an Aboriginl Community named Mimili for the 12 months but my bosses hadn't organised anywhere for me to work at Mimili so I returned to Coober Pedy in early December to work in Coober Pedy.

At that time, I took a month holiday to travel to Cebu in Philippines to meet a girlfriend who I had met online 4 months earlier. We had been webcamming on Skype for many hours over those 4 months.

The face to face meeting was wonderful and we spent my whole 4 weeks in Cebu together. We intend to stay living together now as a comitted couple and hope we have a long happy future together.

Her nickname is "Yani" and you will see her in many of the photos from here on in.

Yani now has a 3 month tourist visa for Australia and arrives here on Sunday 6th February 2011. I am meeting her at the Adelaide airport and driving her to our dugout (underground home) in Coober Pedy.

I will resign 2 months later and we will travel to Sydney and Canberra to see my children and my friends there before returning with her to Cebu for a few weeks.

After that?.................not sure yet - but we are considering a holiday together in Thailand to do a 1 month course (both of us) to teach English as a foreign language. Yani is a teacher in the Philippines and has been teaching English to foreigners for the last 5 years, so this should suit us both.

After our course, we hope to both work teaching English somewhere in asia - I am still checking out where is best but my initial enquiries indicate I am too old for a working permit for China, Korea or thaind when I turn 60 in August of this year.

More research is still required!

Anyway, whatever happens, 2011 is shaping up to be a wonderful year!