So Much to tell You

Well, I am really sorry that this has taken so long to update - but we have been travelling and enjoying things away from the computer!!
Anyway, I am going to step through chronologically all that we did from the last post to now - some pictures from London to come, once I can load them on.

So just before Christmas we had the chance to enjoy the hospitality of our friend from Melbourne - Brian's family in Coromandel. Thank you!


On the 23rd December, we had a picnic at Flic en Flac - and we had another large group go along. There was a cyclone out at sea that day so the water was pretty churned up and lots of waves - for those that know Flic en Flac - its not normal!
Also, we got to see Corinne - aka Brian La Levre's sister!






That evening, we had the pleasure of attending Mary Jane and Yannick's engagement. Congratulations guys!


Christmas Eve was a crazy evening - that went until 6am. It was heaps of fun. We celebrated early at Castel with Mary, Rene, Vince and the family. And then head up to Eau Coulee for the evening - where we had a sega theme and about 6-8 courses of seafood dishes - was great. Virginie's neighbours will never forget me blowing the party hooter at 5 in the morning......



On Christmas day we celebrated with the whole family at Castel.




We then started what about 2 weeks of eating and drinking non stop!
We enjoyed the hospitality of Berty and Shantal, John and Marlene, Fidou and Ti Jacques and Francoise.








We also had a great dinner out at Ed Grill with the Collard family and enjoyed seeing Tessa, Arielle, Vissen and Marie Claude singing karaoke.




On Saturday the 30th, we headed down to Ebene to see our friends Gilliane and Louis from Australia - and to watch Gilliane's uncle Serge Lebrasse perform at the shopping centre. Serge got Tessa and Gilliane up to dance.




In the evening we had Francesca's birthday and then a group of us went out to Queen's club in Quatre Bornes. Let's just say I'm never taking a bottle of water on to the dance floor again!!

New Years Eve was like being in Baghdad! The sound of the firecrackers, fireworks and all other petards was incredible! We had a great night again shared between Castel and then Eau Coulee - another 5.30am finish!


We spent new years day at Castel with all the family and also enjoyed the company of Jean-Francois and Francois from France.




On Tuesday the 2nd, we had a great lunch at Fatma, Syd and Tante Anne's house - with Ali, Priscilla, Ridwan and Ginette. And then we head up to Pereybere beach and dropped in to Balaclava - to Tessa's cousin Pam's incredible house!




Ali and Priscilla took us to see Port Louis by night from Citadel.


On the 3rd, we spent a rainy but great day at Casela and Le Morne. The weather cleared up in the afternoon and so we all swam.






On friday the 5th, we had lunch at Pollo and Sheila's house in Rose Hill and then dinner had dinner at Johan and Fiona's house. Have you ever tasted Rum from La Reunion with fruit inside and an alcohol content of 49%? It was awesome..

On Saturday the 6th we had a huge picnic with all the family at Jardins Balfour. Tessa organised a cake to celebrate my birthday (14th Jan) and Mary and Rene's wedding aniversary. It was great.

Check out the whole (or about 3/4) of the family!!


Sunday was packing day - and it did actually take all day. which is why we had about 60kgs over weight leaving Mauritius on the Monday!

We left Mauritius on the 8th. It was as exciting as it was sad and vice versa.
We managed to get on of the brand new airbuses - that run between London and Mauritius. It was so good - the individual screens are touchscreens and you can pick from 20 movies to watch - which you can rewind, ffwd, pause etc.

When we arrived in Heathrow - to a surprisingly mild evening - we were shocked at the speed of my visa processing and also the fact that no one cared for what we had to declare - which means we could have brought loads more alcohol and achards etc.

Since we arrived we've spent some great time with Dylan's Aunt Gladys and his cousins Gwen and Karl, Louise and Celeste. They have been so welcoming and generous. They even organised a birthday lunch on the 14th for Dylan complete with cake, and in the evening Tessa took Dylan out for dinner in London.

We spent about 5 days in London over the last fortnight having interviews and flat hunting. We've managed to find a flat and we're moving in on Wednesday evening.
Its in East Central london - in a place called Bow/Mile End.
Its a brand new apartment and it's very big (which is unusal in London) and very modern - also unusual.

Its sharing with 1 girl - the owner - who's really really nice. (she's already invited us to her mums for curry)

Tessa started work today - I am still unemployed!!
But I have an interview tomorrow for an - at 1st Contact - same company Tessa's working for - but she's running seminars and training, my role is in their Business Development team.

We're staying at the moment with Ben and Mel (from Melbourne) and their flat mate Evelyn and they've been really nice to let us sleep on their couch for a few nights.

We also caught up with Sabrina and Princeley (Tessa's cousins from Mauritius) who live here last week. And also Justine, a friend of Tessa's from Melbourne.

Will now try and stay up to date with info!!
(London and UK photos to come)

Ps: Hi to Kath and Guy and thanks for the comments!