Back in the Land of Oz

Hi all, sorry its been ages since I've updated my blog, ok no i haven't fallen down a big hole or off a cliff or anything equally as gruesome, ha ha. I've been on holiday, for 3 weeks in fact. The week before the holiday isn't worth mentioning cos it was so manic that I'm not even sure it happened, LOL. What with trying to get work sorted for while I'd be away & trying to get packed & make sure I didn't forget important things like ohhh say my passport & that!. So suffice to say it was MENTAL.

Anyway the holiday turned out to be hectic too but excellent. We arrived back Fri 9th May after a 22 hour flight. It took 14 hours to Abu Dhabi & the 2 hours stopover where we could at least get off the plane & have a walk around & then another 8 hours to Dublin. We went into the city centre to meet up with my sister & get keys from her as we were staying in her house the first night. It was great to see her. We headed to her house then & crashed for about an 2 hours cos we were wrecked tired by then. S went down to the parachute club & I stayed with my sister & my brother came over & we got caught up. It was really nice.

The Sat night was S's grans birthday party, she's 80. Well she' eighty in June but they brought the party forward so we could be there for it. It was great & we got all his relies out the way in one go, ha ha. Sunday we just hung out & then went down to the IPC in clonbullogue to see friends. It was so mad, a few things have changed but its like I was there yesterday.

On the Monday we had to go pick up all our stuff from storage, (we'd put our stuff in storage cos we'd only planned on staying in Australia for one year but then my company offered to sponsor me to stay & it seemed to expensive to continue the storage unit indefinitely so S's parents said we could put it up in their attic). So we filled the van, no mean feat & headed down to Cork, southwest of Ireland - gorgeous spot for anyone who's visiting. Then we had the 'wonderful' job of unloading it all & getting it all up into their attic. It was back breaking work it has to be said & the less said about it the better. But we got it done. So with that off my head I could relax a bit & feel like the holiday was starting.

So we chilled out in Cork for few days with his parents & family & visited his grandad who's 84. Dan is an amazing man, you wouldn't think it to look at him that's he's 84. He still drives himself around & everything. Hes so independent, its great. We were really lucky with the weather while we were home. We went to Fota Wildlife Park one of the days, its so pretty. I don't' know why S got it into his head that he wanted to go, so we did. He'd been before but I never had. It was great. That night we brought his family out to dinner, alotta laughs.

Thurs 15th we headed back up to Dublin & stayed with my other sister A. My best friend's wedding was on the 16th in Dunlavin, in Wicklow. What a great day.

I got up early & treated myself to a wash & blow dry at the local salon. I'd already gotten my nails done down in Cork so I was feeling very 'wedding'y. So apart from a short moment when i thought we were going to be late, we got there on time. The ceremony was lovely. I was doing a reading, I have to say I was so nervous but I think it went ok. Talk about altar fright. LOL.

The reception was held at Rathsallagh & all I can say is wow, what a place. Had really great day catching up with my four best friends. I've loads of pictures but haven't gotten around to uploading them yet so stay tuned for those.

So S went down to do some jumping on the Sat & Sun, I stayed in Dublin on Sat & hung out with family. Then on Sunday I went down to visit my family it Galway - west of Ireland. It was so great to see them. Since my parents died they have been my home base & have always been so so good to me. It really made me miss home to be down there. I was just sad I didn't have more time with them but what can you do when theres so much to squeeze in to such a short time.

So we drove back up Tue & headed straight to the airport, where we flew to Geneva & took the train to Chambery, France to visit my other sister & her family, whom I hadn't seen in nearly 2 years. The kids have gotten so big its amazing. It was great to see them all. I really felt like those few days were a real holiday cos with all the travelling it was hectic like I said but in France it was really laid back & chilled out. We went for a picnic by the lake, it was gorgeous with the Alps in the background, wow. Again pics will be on the way soon. Another night we took the family out to dinner & we went birthday present shopping for my niece. She was 11 while we were there. Have to say it makes me feel old. sigh.

So we flew back Fri 23rd & spend the last four days really just catching up with people that we hadn't seen yet or me with my best friends who I'd only seen at the wedding. The last night we went out to dinner with my brothers & sisters & had a really fab night, good food, drink & a lot of laughs you can't go far wrong with that.

And then amazingly enough it was time to fly back. We flew out Tue evening Irish time but actually only landed Thurs morning in Oz. I was sad leaving, I miss home but I'm enjoying Australia for the time being but I think I'll always return to Ireland to live. So I'm back a week already & I so can't believe it, I feel like I've never left. It took about 4 days for my internal clock to let me get a proper nights sleep at the proper time but I'm just about back to normal now.

Just back to the mania in work & trying to catch up from being away for 3 weeks. Although found out my sister is getting married next April so I may have to start saving for another trip home. yipee.

Anyway thanks to those who were wondering what'd happened to me. Its all good. I had a great time.

Hope you're all having a great day. Keep smiling. :o)