Hello from 'sunny Brunny'!

We made it! After two extremely long-haul flights, one hiatus in UK (including having a few issues sorted out), we have arrived in sunny Brunei (or Brunny as a certain someone's Grandad has re-named it).

Our new house is lovely; spacious and cool with air conditioning in most rooms. It has tiled floors and a large patio at the front, which are typically adorned with lots of decorations in our street - so I am off to buy some plants later in the week to make our house feel less naked! We have got a modern big 3-piece suite from the stores so it is starting to appear more like a lived-in dwelling but it is going to be another 6 weeks or so before all the pictures, throws, rugs, lamps and nick-nacks arrive. We have truly been gypsies for a large portion of the year, just have to make sure the perks of overseas living make up for being without our comforts.

The climate at first inspection is gorgeous and warm. Not had much rain at all yet (and NO wind!). It did get a bit overpowering yesterday lunchtime when we were out and about but being very careful not to burn or overdo it. Mozzies of course are all over me any time I am out near sunset (the others blissfully unaffected of course). There are lots of white birds pecking about on the grass which may be ibises, and at tea time hornbills come to roost on the trees across from our patio. Have already seen a troop of monkeys when we went out the other day which was lovely. Not seen any snakes yet but I remain constantly on the alert (terrified).

People have been very kind, looking out for us, offering to lend things we need (including a car!). There are more people here than in the Falklands (obviously) but the community spirit seems equally strong.

Food-wise things are fine, we have had some very nice takeaways and started filling up the cupboards. The thing that seems to be most lacking is dairy produce so I am glad I spent 2 weeks in the UK eating deli items now!

Woozles is booked in to visit her new pre-school tomorrow and starts properly on Thursday so she is excited about that, even asking if she can have a sleep-over there!

Overall we are settling in well and I think we will be happy here. We went to the pool on base the other day and I saw a small boy playing with an ipad whilst in the water. I thought 'I've seen it all now'. More to follow soon...

Signing off from the Falklands ...

Well that's it, we are going offline on Thursday ready for our journey back to the UK and onwards after that. It has been a good posting here in the South Atlantic and we have enjoyed lots of aspects of it, like having family time, relaxed pace of life and small community. But I would not be easily persuaded to come and live here for good, the wind is simply exhausting and the lack of stimulation can be a bit strange at times. Plus the distance from friends and family can make a person feel a little excluded from their loved ones.

One of the last trips around the islands was to Saunders Island at the weekend with Grandma where we saw 3 species of penguin, black-browed albatrosses and lots of other bird life. Now I feel I can say I have been everywhere I want to see here. Been there, got the t-shirt, big tick! So in the words of Mr Tumble, it's time to say TTFN, ta-ra, bye bye, arrivederci!

Last chance saloon

Our penultimate month here in the South Atlantic and we have been hastily trying to see the remaining places on the visit wish list. So we have been to Stanley as a family for one last time and photographed all the iconic tourist attractions that line the road into town. Some of them are inserted below to give you an idea of a typical trip to the capital for us and thereby thoughtfully saving you the expense and hassle of a flight out here!

Sunrise before setting off, light glinting on the Land Rover roof.

Roadworks, Falkland style. Hard to imagine another country where the main highway between the international airport and capital is gravel with pot-holes.

Minefield sign showing one of the many minefields still lining the main route

Boot Hill, a ritual whereby I believe people leave a boot on a stick as a memento of their stay.

Totem pole showing lots of varied destinations and the distance.

A taste of Yorkshire as you reach the top of the hill.

Not sure I will miss the 35 mile drive as it is the noisiest, bumpiest most dangerous thing in our aged Defender but perhaps next time I am stuck in a traffic jam I might look back fondly on the days when the only impediments were sheep!

The craft fair last weekend was a success, we raised over £100 for the new polytunnel cover, which has now arrived and waiting installation, I have already handed over coordination of the venture, which is a nice relief. I was interviewed for FITV at the fair, which was a bizarre experience to say the least. Some young lad turned up with a small camera, panned about a bit, asked me if I would talk about the event, but with no pressure, adding 'nobody watched it anyway'!!!

Today we have been to Volunteer Point so I could finally see the fluffy brown baby king penguins.

It was a good day out apart from woozles needing use of a paper bag en route after some unnecessary aerial acrobatics in the helicopter. Still, 13 degrees and only a breeze meant the weather couldn't have been better for the time of year so at least there was no complaining about the cold wind.

The next blog entry may well be the last one from the Falkland Islands and then we will begin our new adventure in the tropics (need to check if Brunei is south of the equator but pretty sure it is!).

Things are still savagely busy in our household with packing ready for removals the week after next and preparations for the Craft Fair next week (I cooked up the notion of having cake and plant stalls to raise money for the polytunnel to get a new roof) but the weather has improved, we have had a week of clearer, milder days with no blizzards so the woozles and I have been on a couple of trips including a ride on a boat to Pandoras Point and Sniper Island today which was excellent. We saw seals (including one we christened the 'Big Bad Daddy' up above in the tussac), penguins and a cheeky cormorant hitched a ride on the roof of the boat, saving itself a bit of exertion!

Burn, baby, burn

Feeling a little lighter today after the last few days mammoth clearing out exercise. On Friday I took a Land Rover full of cleaned and mended stuff to the Thrift Shop to sell and on Saturday we had a barbecue (which may have escalated into a bonfire in an old oil drum...) where we 'disappeared' woozles cardboard craft creations of the last 18 months which were not inconsiderable in size! So now we have got some breathing space in the house.

This week I have also finished the habitat survey of the base (mantra: 'nothing focuses the mind like a deadline'), which has taken over a year! I am giving a presentation on it to interested individuals here in September, which really is a chance to show off some of my favourite photos.

My next projects are a couple more mosaics and putting some of our photos on canvas, but deciding which to print is so difficult. How to choose! Here are pictures of my union flag mosaic made in the spirit of the jubilee this year and a family portrait taken by a photographer at the event itself.

Last week of term here and a lot of families are disappearing back to the UK but what with our new early posting date I am hanging on and making the most of the time we have left. It's a funny old thing about the Falklands. For somewhere that perhaps is not immediately or initially appealing (at least in the visual sense), it certainly has the ability to get under one's skin. I think it is the old-fashioned sense of community and the potential for a relaxed pace of life that has done it for me, oh and the wildlife too.

Keep on movin'

Sorry there has been a long silence from us at the bottom of the world. Still snowing here every second or third day and an awful lot to do since we found out we are moving to Brunei, and sooner than expected! So packing boxes have sprung up, lists are being populated, forms rapidly sent off for housing, school, medical and so on as well as having to look into other things like vaccinations and selling or storing all the big things we won't need (snowsuit springs to mind!). We have already sold our hens as they had stopped laying with the big snowfall (see post below!) but they have gone to a good home next door.

I was lucky enough to have a night away with some Mummy friends this weekend to Bleaker Island. We stayed in a brand new luxury cottage and had a barbecue with meat from their own cattle for dinner. It was bliss to be able to relax and to walk at our own speed without any moaning or complaining. Although it is winter we saw gentoo penguins and a few other birds and I took more than a few photos altogether! We nearly got rescued on the return leg by the search & rescue helicopter as the fog had come in at the heli base but in the end the constant phone calls of the desperate husbands left to fend for themselves was enough to prompt the British International heli crew into coming for us mid-afternoon during a small window in the weather.

Dark evenings have been a great opportunity for me to do some more mosaics, so I have finished three more; another geometric style one, a penguin one and a union flag which I am hoping to sell here before we go, photos to follow. Got two more concepts which I will do if time permits. Pretty flat out with work this week as I have finished the field work for the habitat survey of the base (this has taken over 12 months to complete what with our piecemeal approach!) so hoping to get the report draft out by the weekend.

Woozles has been demanding more to eat lately so I am anticipating another growth spurt soon. Or perhaps it is because we are eating less. Managing to creep closer to target weight loss bit by bit, not helped by all the leaving dos and yummy eating fests this month but only one point to go til I hit the green BMI zone and I am quite determined.

We are planning our last few trips around the islands over the next 3 months so watch this space for our final posts on the Falklands before we swap penguins for parrots!

What goes up must come down

And with this ancient adage I am referring to three main subjects: ambient temperatures, my mood and the polytunnel.

First the weather. Almost at midwinter here and the gonads of the metal primates are well and truly rock solid. The view out of the window has been mostly white for the last 14 days and this scenario is set to continue if this forecast by the local meteorologist is anything to go by:

Thursday 14th June - A cold but crisp start to the day and with temperature below zero over Wed night, which generates a risk of icy surfaces during Thu morning. The wind in WNW 15 gusting 25 Knots, then gradually backs around to a SW direction by 1500 Z and increases to 25 gusting 35 Knots, particularly around snow showers. Showers of snow start out as isolated, but becoming more frequent from around 1300-1400 Z. (MPA to have a higher frequency of snow showers than Stanley due to the track over land at this time.) Max temps around PS 02 C, then below freezing from 2000 Z. The occluded front then tracks from the south to reach us by 2359 Z. From this time, the wind significantly increases from the south to a mean speed of 35-40 knots gusting 60-65 knots, with prolonged heavy snow.

Friday 15th June - Carrying on from above, the prolonged heavy snow is expected to deposit significant snow accumulations in the region of 12 cm, but I would plan for more. The weather front should pass us by 0600 Z, however, there remains a signal for frequent snow showers following this front with winds calming to fresh from 1200 Z..

(Not that I could fully understand the implications of such a summary. Two science degrees and a regular interest in climatic matters later and still no closer to appreciating the intent of their predictions. I surmised the outlook meant more snow and more wind and decided to continue my current strategy of conserving energy and only straying out of the family home when essential).

Secondly my mood. Big Man has absconded to the UK for a training course and a well-earned pat on the back for his charity effort in December, which is as it should be but did leave me with a poorly child during a school holiday and period of inclement weather, which does tend to have the effect of making me want to bang my head on a brick wall. Fortunately the houses here have an outer shell of timber.

Thirdly, and also impacting badly on #2 above, is the polytunnel. My community horticulture project of only a year old was brought to its knees by an incredibly loud and forceful southerly storm on Thursday night last week. As may be obvious, southerly winds come directly from the Antarctic region, which has been said to have formed ice early this year, heralding a severe winter for us. Great. Anyway I was told the structure was in bits and headed down there with the nipper and a few basic tools to take a look and see if anything could be done. Polytunnel = completely buggered. The metal hoops remained but both door frames and all polythene were utterly destroyed. So I climbed back into the Land Rover and burst into tears. Then spent a silly hour trying to find some bodies to come and help make the remains safe. Sigh. Back to the drawing board there then. Am thinking additional fencing is required before we repair the plastic but none of this comes cheap.

So it has been a woeful week. I even declined the chance to go into Stanley for the Liberation Day parade this morning. The thought of driving a reluctant child 35 miles to stand in the bitter cold and then home again really didn't appeal. Perhaps I might have warmed to the idea more easily if the tax and immigration departments weren't such vague and disorganised bodies forming a clumsy obstacle to me earning even the most meagre of wages. In the event it was a blessing that I didn't go as friends skidded on ice and put their Land Rover down a bank. All the family were unharmed but I feel that is the kind of excitement you can do without when not wearing special suits and crash helmets.

Looking on the bright side, there are no confirmed cases of Legionnaires disease here yet, and what with an entire lack of air conditioning or industry potentially harbouring such an infection I might sleep easy in my bed tonight. Wind permitting.