Our house, in the middle of our street

So here it is - our little Geelong house. Actually not so little. In spite of having only three bedrooms, the rooms are all a great size and shape and it doesn't feel at all cramped.

Couldn't ask for a better location either - just a 5 minute walk from Pakington Street which is full of cafes, delis, fantastic butchers, fruit and veg market... and plenty of hairdressers... (FYI I have been brave and picked one for a cut and colour next week, so please send your good hair vibes. Most of the women out there might understand how stressful changing hairdressers is. Men please just skip this bit and move on) and about a 20 minute walk from James' school. Can drive to down town Geelong and the beachfront in 5-10 minutes, and be on the main Melbourne road in about 2. Also liking having a choice of takeaways beyond Chinese and Indian. There's even a Nando's round the corner, so Nick is overjoyed!

Big thanks have to go to Graham and Leanne for (a) being such a valuable source of information before we got to Geelong and (b) collecting an amazing array of items for people they had never even met - courtesy of them we have a fridge, a washing machine, two single beds and mattresses, table and chairs, a couple of drawer units, two tv's and kitchen bits and bobs..... Can't imagine how we could ever repay them unless they move to Scotland, so will have to content ourselves with plying them with alcohol at every available opportunity. Graham has also been trying to explain the finer points of AFL (Aussie Rules) to us and Nick is kind of getting the hang of it. It's a really big deal here in Victoria and The Geelong Cats were AFL champions last season for the first time in 40-0dd years, and are on course to do it again this year. I can't quite get past the vest-wearing issue - icky!!! And it's just not rugby union... but come to think of it, it's kind of nice to live somewhere with a winning team for a change, so I may get my head round it sometime!

Anyway, here are some pictures of our little house-by-IKEA . Still no pics on the walls - think I sent some stuff back in April but can't actually remember so we will wait and see...

As you can see, the house has some really nice features like original fireplaces, high ceilings, cornices etc...like being back in Dalkeith Road without the 66 steps! Haven't included a picture of the boys room here . You can work out why for yourselves...

We have vented heating which blows hot air through floor vents - don't think it is quite as effective as radiators, but on the other hand it doesn't swallow up a whole wall either, and we also have air conditioning(hot and cold) and a wood burning stove so (grandparents) our children are nice and toasty.

Huge kitchen/family room has big double doors out to the garden so we are looking forward to eating outside once the good weather starts (September apparently) and I am looking forward to the children spending more time outside..for so many reasons!

Of course, the garden has no grass as such - more of a dirt patch really - the Geelong region is in a long-term drought at the moment so we have major water restrictions and can't water gardens, wash cars or windows etc and all water use is metered. Boy am I dreading our first water bill... have even started turning the water off while we brush our teeth. Global environmental concerns never managed to get me to do this, but financial penalties sure do!