Hi Everyone!

As we havent written in our blog for so long I thought it was about time we updated you with our lives! I am currently at work and everyone is in a meeting so I am in the office on my own for 3 hours hence the fact I can write this! I am a Junior Legal Secretary for Macquarie Bank - no idea how I ended up as a secretary but hey it brings some pennies in!! (or cents here!) Tonight we have a massive do where all the staff get their bonuses, $100,000's of dollars so I am led to believe! unfortunately, being a temp, I do not qualify! Not to worry though it is free champagne ALL night! (Leigh has expressed his concerns about me getting too drunk and embarrassing myself!!)

I am sure that most of you are now aware that we are contemplating the idea of living out here for a few years and Leigh is currently looking for sponsorship. There are a number of reasons, we can do some more travelling at a later date and see more than we originally planned, everyone has a chance to save out and come and visit us (come on......free accommodation!!), money, beaches, weather........need I go on! This is not set in stone as it is a long process to get sponsorship and we are unsure at the moment if we can ride out the lean period until Leigh is in employment! but it is something we are looking at. This means that you all have to start saving and get your arses out here!!!!!

So, what have we been up too? well, despite working and renting again life has actually been quite mental! The weather is still hot out here despite it being the middle of their autumn so we have been to some beaches. Bondi didnt live up to our expectations though as it was packed! we have also been to Manley and Bronte beaches which were lovely!

We went to the Harbour Bridges 75th Birthday party! this was an all day event and there were boats and planes and markets, good fun, although we did spend 3 hours sat on the harbour front waiting for fireworks that never came! but they did light up the bridge in pretty colours! (photos to follow!)

They had the Mardi Gras last month that I finally persuaded Leigh to go too! This was brilliant as we had a place right at the front. the bloke next to us was annoying as he kept calling over everyone so that he could get a photo of their boobies (man or woman!) but in the end this proved useful as we got some great photos of their costumes!

I also have a friend out here! Jo from Daventry is living in Sydney too so we go out drinking with her and her friend Danny which is great as we can actually say 'we are going down the pub with our mates' - a phrase we havent used for a while! Also, on Wednesday Leigh was walking down the street and bumped into Jo and Ralph that we met in Fiji - random!

The wildlife here has provided us with some entertainment too! as you can see from this photo there are loads of bats here and they aint that small! they fly over the city at dusk which is a really strange site! There are also mental parrots and some big bird thing with a curled beak that lives in the park. However, the spiders are by far the worst wildlife here! They have huntsman spiders out here and they are roughly the size of a tarantula! Leigh and I were sat watching Big Fat Looser on TV when in through the window jumped a big fat huntsman spider! Leigh is oblivious to this until he notices that I am standing on the bed squeaking and pointing at the hairy lump on the wall! The next 30mins consisted of Leigh prodding it with a broom (because they actually bite!) and me looking underneath the cooker with a broom protesting that I can not possibly sleep in a room with THAT and Leigh will have to get me into a hotel (difficult at 10pm!!!) in the end, my hero managed to trap Sid (so named in an attempt to make him less petrifying!) and deposit him outside (he was that big we heard the thud as he hit the ground) (Im not even joking!!!), so calm ensued.

The calm didnt last that long tho as the following week, Monday, i was getting ready for work and Leigh an interview. I needed to clean my teeth so went running into the bathroom and went SPLASH! the floor was covered in an inch of smelly brown and suspect looking water! I was stood in it! The drains were overflowing in the floor and the shower and it was filling our bathroom! and it stank!!! Poor Leigh had to wash in the sink, not ideal when going to an interview after a bender the night before! and I had to get a plumber out. Apparently we were lucky (?) as 3 years earlier the same thing had happened but the poor tenants woke up to a foot of water covering the entire studio!!!

So as you can see we are still keeping ourselves entertained! I think I have covered everything now so I guess I had better do some work before they all come back, then I get to dress up as a cow girl and drink free champange all night! What more can a girl ask for?!?!?!

Just want to say that we are sorry we missed Andy and Roz's wedding. We have seen the beautiful photos and it looks as though everyone had a lovely time! We also want to thank you for taking us to the wedding!!! I sure we enjoyed it very much!! Did we get to dance?!?!?

Hope everyone is good back home, my mum and Joe and Leighs parents have booked their flights so we are very excited! Any more?

Miss everyone loads,

Loads of Love,

Gemma & Leigh x x x x x x