Sorry for the total lack of blogging in the last few (many!) months. Life has been crazy.

September saw the last of my clinical placements (including lots of night shifts which really tipped my sanity over a bit!).

October brought my final assignments and exams for my nursing degree (enough said!). It also involved a lot of soul searching and many days / weeks of discussion and heartache and tears, which cumulated in us making the decision not to move back to France at this stage. The political and financial situation in Europe at the moment is just too scary (even with the strong Aussie dollar making it in some ways more appealing!). My qualifications wouldn’t be recognised so I would be back in the situation of not being able to have a decent career and we decided that the risks of everything going pear shaped just outweighed our love of France and the life that it offers us at the moment. On the positive side this spurred me to follow my almost life long dream of becoming a midwife and I applied (and was accepted) to start my Masters of Science (Midwifery) at Wollongong University (I had my first class today!).

November had the last of my exams (woo hoo!) and I was thrilled to come out with a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 6.0 – this is an international score out of 7.0 and to put it in perspective I needed 5.5 to get into medicine in Queensland! So I was thrilled with the results and pleased that the hard work paid off! We decided that we needed to make a trip back to the UK and France so planned that around our departure from Hervey Bay. Within about 10 days of my exams finishing we moved out of the house there. We had a garage sale to get rid of the furniture and gave our boxes to a removalist to deliver to my sisters garage in Sydney. We cleaned until 7.30pm on the last night then with the car ladened with boxes and towing a trailer we set off for Brisbane airport, stopping late at night in a hotel in Caboolture to get some sleep. Joel dropped the kids and I early next morning at the airport to fly to Manchester (via China and Holland!) and carried on with the car and trailer to Sydney which he then flew out of a few days later! We had a fantastic trip which I’ll blog about very soon.

December was spent visiting friends and family in the UK and France (and shopping of course!) I’ll fill you in on that soon.

January we returned to Oz and spent the month searching for a/ and area that we liked around Wollongong and b/ a house for rent that we could afford among the handful that where available. We fell head over heels in love with Kiama and Kiama Downs but I held little hope of securing one of the 2 houses that we liked, could afford and were available as each had about 8 other couples at the viewings! We were thrilled to get a call about the house that we are now in that was J and the kids first choice! It has issues (like being on the steepest hill you have ever seen, no garage, a bit flight of stairs down to house then back up to get in, no storage and cathedral ceilings (am thinking freezing in winter!) as well as a garden that needs a lot of TLC) but it is all made up for by stunning sea views from the wrap around deck and the whole of the open plan living and dining room! Will do a post with pics and more details!

Early February we moved in and the rest of the month was spent getting the kids settled into the local school (WOW I love it and have even joined the P and C (or PTA as you may know it)!), finding furniture, fridge etc. When my lovely mother in law asked what I wanted for my birthday when we were in England I said that I wanted to be in my own house and spend the evening on my sofa. Well we moved in 2 days before my birthday and we didn’t have a sofa but spent the evening on the deck looking at the sea, with mum visiting, a takeaway Chinese and and bubbly – bliss! We still don’t have everything but we have the basics so that is the main thing and we are comfortable and happy :).

Uni has just started and I’m in the process of finding some nursing shifts and still getting organised but life is good!

I’ll be back soon – promise!