Bendigo

After Point Londsdale we headed inland to the dry city of Bendigo. On the way we stopped in to see friends Robert and Sarah in Daylesford (which has had a bit of rain and looked lovely and green). Robert and Sarah have three kids, and we haven't seen them for about two years so the kids were a lot bigger than we remembered. Alesia loved the visit (she is jumping on a mattress with the girls above) and when it was time to get back in the car the kids hid her in one of their beds so she didn't have to go.

But Alesia's sorrow at leaving Daylesford was eased when we arrived in Bendigo. There we were visiting a couple that I think are honestly my only successful attempt at match-making. Darren and Michelle got to know each other through me and an old boyfriend years ago. They are now married with two boys, Marcus and Aiden. Alesia and Marcus became best friends instantly and played together really well for the two days we were in Bendigo.

Keira is about five or six months younger than Aidan. She is pictured above having a good laugh while hanging out in Aidan's rocker. As you can see, it was pretty hot in Bendigo. We own a house here and we took the chance to visit it. With hardly any rain over the past three years the garden is completely dead, but house itself is still as good as we remembered it. Pity there are no international community development organisations based in Bendigo...

Here is a photo of the kids from both families. We have decided that marriages are already arranged between Marcus and Alesia, and Aiden and Keira. At the moment they don't seem to mind the idea, but we will see how they feel about it when they get older.

After Bendigo we headed back to Sydney, driving cross-country to the Hume Freeway without a map (your directions were pretty good Darren!). Overall we had a great holiday and came back rested. Even though we both had over 200 emails when we got back to work it was worth not having the computers for the two weeks, and we tried not to talk ADRA during the holiday. Thanks to all the friends we did see (even if you didn't make it into any of the pictures), it was great to see you all again.