The weather has been better than forecast, and we have done a few beautiful day-rides in County Down. Cormac has met all of his aunts and uncles and cousins now, Irish and Australian! (except Stewart!). We will head south to Dublin again this week, taking a different route across the mountains, and then train out to the west to ride in Clare +/- Galway +/- Sligo (dependent on timing and weather and inclination!)

It took us a day or two longer to get sorted in Dublin than we had hoped - our friendly bike shop closed on Sunday, so we couldn't pick up the trusty steeds until Monday - thus we are leaving on Tuesday (today). The weather has been beautiful, but now, it appears to have taken a turn for the worse. The ride across the Mourne mountains should be...interesting! See you on the other side.

Dublin is cold, grim and grey today. Will spend the next day or two organising bikes, catching up with friends and Eimear, then we will head north as soon as we get sorted. Staying with Dave, which is great!

So we left Tassie a little sad...but excited about Ireland and Cairns! We think we have left our house in good hands (Jamie's) but it was hard to leave, once we had cleaned it up to look all schmick! (Especially the new deck). Spent Easter Sunday with the Cardwells in Eltham, and then the evening with Gill's brother Tony (and Judy and James) just around the corner from Terry and Una. Really nice day, all in all - Cormac was a wee gem. Now we are relaxing back at Gill's Mum's until our flight leaves for the auld sod.

Regular listeners may be aware that one of my projects this year was to build us a beautiful new celerytop pine deck. It has been finished for a while but this week was approved by the building surveyors: i.e. it is now legal! I had so much fun and learned a lot before during and after its construction - about woodwork, building, and planning/architecture. Here she is in all her glory. Click on the picture to see it in full: