Apologies for temporary absence!

Hi all,

Internet is now back and we are up and running.... Or should I say 'choking', on the extortionate cost of prepaid data usage. Can't wait until we are in a house and can sort out a broadband contract which is much more affordable!
Anyway, you'll be relieved to know that I am slightly less grumpy. My feet are no longer sore, my neck and head have peeled so much that there can't possibly be any skin left to peel and we may have resolved the homeless crisis ( that's ours, not the third world one I'm afraid).
Yesterday we had a very exciting day; we traipsed around various real estate agents and picked up application forms. We have been told that the rental market is cut throat and properties go before you can say 'I want that one!' Therefore, it is worth filling them in and taking them to the 'open house' viewings. We booked up 7 viewings for today. However, after filling in just one of the hundreds we had collected, Nathan was losing the will to live. The questions required your life history, inside leg measurement etc etc etc.

We went and looked at one property. It was ok but I wasn't prepared to sing and dance about it!

This morning we got up and left the apartment early: we arrived at the first address in Castle Hill. We waited for the real estate agent. She arrived ... And told us that the viewing had been cancelled. The excitement was too much to bear and we drove to the shopping centre to visit the toilet - a famous Lewis family outing. We then went to the second viewing if the day. This one was actually really nice. Huge lounge and plenty of space but it was a fair way out and I was not convinced that the girls would be happy to rise at the crack of dawn and get 2 or 3 buses to school.

House number three today was amazing. Practically perfect in every way (though Nathan wasn't completely sold on the external aesthetics). Lots of space and lovely views from the lounge windows. Seriously nice area. Much closer to the girls' school. We picked up application forms and told the agent that we were very interested. However, we were not the only interested party! The property is available from Feb 5th, which is ideal. We went home, threw some lunch at the girls, (it's ok, it was toast not soup!) and filled in the application forms. We got together the mountains of paperwork and id that is required and phoned the agent to arrange a meeting with him. Then it was back off out to the real estate agent office, about half an hour drive. He seemed convinced that the landlord would be happy with us as tenants but we won't know until next week. Nail biting times ahead. The property is worth over a million dollars, which goes some way to explaining how great it is. We paid the holding bond of $800. And that was a Tom Cruise style mission impossible as well - though Nathan made a life long friend of the lovely lady at the bank on the end of the phone as we tried to transfer money and kept failing!!! Very little seems to be going smoothly at the moment. Still, we have had a lot of luck up until now.

So now, I need everyone who reads this, to cross all your fingers and toes that we are able to secure this place.

Off to Palm Beach tomorrow.

Lots of love.