Back tae auld claes and porridge

It's a fab Scottish phrase meaning back to wearing old clothes and eating porridge.  In other words the holiday's over and it's back to normal. That means watching the pennies even more closely!

Speaking of clothes, I did go on a wee spending spree before I went away so I've updated my clothing budget on the side.  I've spent just over half of my annual target.  I know I'll need to change my working wardrobe a bit as I'm in a hotter classroom this year *rolls eyes* so I'll be keeping an eye on the Summer sales for some lightweight tunics.

*Edited to add how I came to my £500 clothes budget if anyone is interested.

Holidays are expensive even when they're carefully planned in advance.  OH remarked that the cost of living in Australia had gone up significantly since his last visit 2 years ago.  Staying with my son for the first part helped keep costs down.  When we went out and about we took a packed lunch and snacks with us.  OH and I even took our travel mugs with us as buying teas and coffees can add up quickly!  I noticed that my son and his partner buy an awful lot of fancy takeaway coffees ☕

Yesterday I was checking through my credit card transactions online and discovered that every time I had used my credit card on holiday I've been charged a non sterling payment fee!! Luckily I didn't use it very often but it's enough to be annoyed about.  I've yet to discover if this is a new M&S policy or an Australian thing.  I've never been charged this before when I've used my card abroad so I'll contact them to find out.  It's on my list of Things to Do which seems to be getting longer and longer  📄

Back to normality

Michaelmas Cay from the boat
 

I got home yesterday morning.  We had an amazing time but I was ready to get back to normality after almost 3 weeks.  My digestive system was starting to protest even though I was able to stick to GF foods most of the time.  Eating out was relatively easy but we got a bit fed up with it and were longing for simple home cooking.

We spent the first half in Cairns with my son and enjoyed hot temperatures in the late 20s and early 30s despite it being Winter.  We did lots of touristy things like snorkeling and diving (OH and The Teenogre) on the Great Barrier Reef, visited Kuranda on the original train route up the mountain (came back down by cable car),  and went inland a bit to see some spectacular waterfalls and visit a platypus farm.

Millaa Millaa Falls  

But mostly it was lovely just to spend time with my middle son and meet his partner for the first time.

My gorgeous middle son

The second half was spent in Perth where OH lived for 7 years.  We stayed in a lovely hotel in Scarborough for this week.

View from hotel balcony

Perth by night 

Again we did touristy things like visiting Rottnest Island, AQWA, the Maritime Museum where I went inside a submarine and the markets and prison at Freemantle.  We spent time with OH's brother and his new family.  We also caught up with some old friends and shared a Christmas in July evening with them!

 OH's farm

OH still owns a farm so we went to visit it. His brother has a license to fly drones so he took one with us to have a play.  The Teenogre was a natural and took this photo of us standing in the garden.  OH was a bit annoyed that the farm's tenant has neglected the house and garden.  Lots of fruit trees had died as the sprinkler system was broken and he hadn't fixed it.  (OH charges him a very low rent in return for maintaining the property.)

At some point in the future (when we're retired) OH and I may spent some time there working on the property before selling it.

The highlight of our Perth trip was definitely meeting this wee cutie, OH's niece.  She's 6 months old and absolutely adorable.  OH's brother is the same age as me(!) so he's coming late to fatherhood. You may remember I went to their fabulous wedding in Singapore a few years ago.

So far the jet lag has been ok.  I managed to stay awake yesterday and went to bed early.  I got up this morning after 11 hours sleep!! I think a few early nights will soon get me back to normal.