Ambitiously, Amanda and I agreed to spend Christmas with Amanda's family at Amanda's Dad's place in Merriwagga, New South Wales. Never heard of it? I'm not surprised. It's a town so small there isn't even a general store, post office or even a petrol station. Pretty much the only thing there is a pub (more on that later)!

To get to Merriwagga, we'd have to first fly Perth to Sydney, then swap planes onto a Regional Express (REX) flight on a small 20 row prop plane and fly to Griffith (with a brief hop via Narranderra), where we'd then have to get a car and drive an hour (~70kms) out to Merriwagga. This would also be Imogen's first plane ride at the tender age of 8 months. 

As luck would have it, I was able to use some frequent flyer points to upgrade our Perth to Sydney leg to business class. Given Josh was over 2 years old, he required his own seat. So there he was, 2.5 years old sitting in his own skybed business class seat while full grown adults walked past him on their way to the back of the plane. Having the extra space was a God send as it meant the kids, and Imogen in particular, could move around without bothering others. 

Of course, what goes up, must come down, and after leaving the luxury of business, we were quickly brought back down to Earth for our REX flight, where the aircon couldn't run unless the plane was plugged into ground power or the propellers spinning. Needless to say, it was hot on board and during the brief stop over, we spent most of the time using the onboard safety cards to keep ourselves cool.

Finally we arrived. The kids were, on the whole, great. Straight to the pub then! Given you've probably never heard of Merriwagga, you'll also not be aware that Merriwagga claims to have the tallest bar in the Southern Hemisphere. You've gotta see this thing to believe it. You need to climb your bar stool to sit at the bar and the you can barely see the publican behind the bar. You can see in the pic to the left it comes up to my armpit and I'm 6' tall. It certainly is unique. Naturally, being a small country town, everyone knew we were coming and we pretty much met everyone that afternoon.

We arrived a few days before Christmas and used that time to catch up with Amanda's Dad, go to a zoo out that direction (Altina Wildlife Park - it's really really good!), visit the closest main township for supplies (Hillston) and of course, at the pub. It was pretty bloody hot in Merriwagga so the rest of the time we simply tried to keep cool. 

The rest of Amanda's family eventually arrived. We all stayed at the "Old School Caravan Park", which is owned by Amanda's Dad in onsite vans. Mercifully, they were also air conditioned. At one stage, Amanda's Dad brought around the town's fire engine which the kids loved. They all went for a drive around town (doesn't take long) and played with the fire hose. Great way to stay cool.

Christmas Day itself was a great day with lots of great food and family. The kids, as usual, got spoilt with presents. We departed faily promptly on Boxing Day, returning to Perth to see my family for Christmas and get ready for 2019. No business class on the way back but the kids were largely well behaved for the flights home thankfully. 

I'd love to report that I've been silent on this blog because I've been too busy travelling the globe but the reality is I've struggled to leave the state, never mind leaving the country.

When my AFL team, the mighty West Coast Eagles, found their way into premiership contention toward the pointy end of the AFL season, Amanda generously gave me a leave pass to travel to Melbourne should they make the grand final. Well, after a successful finals campaign, that's exactly what happened! After booking flights and accommodation prior to the Eagles even making the Grand Final, Mikey and I were very excited that our gamble paid off. However, we missed getting tickets in the GF ballot and for a while there thought we might not get to go. Lots of calls, messages, texts and emails later, we managed to secure two standing room tickets so off we went!

Red eye horror flight to Melbourne on Friday morning had us land in Melbourne in time for the AFL grand final parade. We pretty much went to the pub on arrival and actually bumped into a few people we knew and get into our beers. The parade was great and it was nice to see the boys relaxed before the big day.

Saturday we arrived early to the MCG as we were told that standing room areas pack out quickly and we wanted a decent position, which we managed to get behind a couple of short ladies. Our area got very packed and by the time bounce down came, we were well and truly sandwiched in.

The game itself was epic. West Coast got off to a very shaky start, giving up the first 6 goals of the game within the first 20 minutes, but steadied and started eating away at the deficit over the next two quarters to square up the scores at 3/4 time. The last quarter the Eagles and Collingwood trades punches, with the Pie getting out to a 2 goal lead before West Coast stole the lead within the last two minutes of the match with a brilliant goal from Don Sheed in the pocket (after a great intercept mark by Jeremy McGovern, a good mark and play on by Nathan Vardy and a ripping grab and play on by Liam Ryan). That goal ultimately won the game and the 2018 premiership for the West Coast Eagles.

It was great to be there and be part of the 100,022 strong crowd. We stayed at the ground after the game for the after party where Jimmy Barnes played live for 30 minutes before the boys came out to meet the crowd with the premiership cup. Was a great day.

Sunday we rose a bit slowly and after some food and some shopping, eventually found ourselves back in a pub to watch the match replay over a quite beer and reflect on a great game of footy. We eventually headed back to Perth first thing Monday morning, where parent duties resumed immediately!

Seriously, where does the time go?

All of a sudden I haven't posted since the birth of my son Joshua in 2016. Good grief. Well, it's been a whirlwind being first time parents and a few minor niggles with Josh over the last few years. However, I'm very blessed to report the safe arrival of Joshua's little sister, Imogen Anne, who came to this world nearly 6 weeks early at 10:27pm on 17 April 2018 weighing just 2.47 kgs.

We thought one child was hard work but two is utter chaos but we couldn't be happier, especially for our second to be a girl, which is the first new girl in the family for nearly 30 years.