Sutton SA Goes Bush (With a Load of Carrots...)

Last weekend the lovely ladies and gentlemen of Sutton Salvation Army, and their families, took to the bush and spent the weekend on retreat at the Carroty Wood Outdoor Education Centre.

What an excellent time we had too!  I drove down on Friday night after school, confronted by some absolutely diabolical traffic through New Cross and Peckham, so I arrived a little late - but still in time for dinner (most important! especially liked the dessert.... trifle...yum!).  We registered and then were assigned to the various dorms etc - and I was put in with Laura, Michelle and Rachel.  What a fab group of girls!  We had heaps of fun, chatting late into the night (well, late-ish... ok, I'll admit it - only until about midnight but hey, I'm a grand old dame of 35 so I need my beauty sleep...) about meaningless things - the fact that the blanket on your bed is called a DOONA as opposed to a DUVET (go figure?)...

Leisurely awoke on the Saturday and had breakfast, then it was time to meet your team (I was in Darryn's team) for a bit of orienteering. This was pretty good, it was lovely to walk through the woods there (although I'm really pleased I didn't bring my new Blundies because my old Blundies took a caning with the mud!).  Spot of lunch, more team building activities - including bizarre things like getting a foreign friend in a foreign country to call in at the designated time and say 'Carroty Wood sounds like a really great place' in a foreign language (we won that one, thank you Aga!), taking your photo with a complete stranger who wasn't a part of the Salvo group, memorising an article in the Evening Standard, climbing trees... oh and finding the longest 'twig'.  Now can I just say on this one, I was wrongly accused of nicking Steve's group's twig - get this - because they HID IT IN THE BUSH!  You're kidding, right?  Oh I hid that stick in the bush, you can't take it!  Don't be a sore loser, Steve Allcock! If a stick is unattended in the bush, then it's fair game.  (Actually they got their own back, and found a bigger stick, alas!)

Fortunately though, we won this bizarre competition, thank you very much.  Then it was time for a spot of swimming, then the evening meal (yummo again) and finally we sat around the campfire roasting marshmallows.  Dean brought out his guitar and entertained all with his interesting renditions of old Beatles songs...

Sunday was actually a bit more of the same, quick church service followed by a spot of swimming (or group table tennis, with books for bats) - then a gorgeous Sunday roast - triple yummo!  Alas then it was over all too soon, and time to head off back to London...  But everyone agreed that a really fab time had been had!

Anyway, here are some pics:

Team Leader Darryn

Hm - don't know why I look like such a spazz in this one...

It was a very muddy weekend...

Steve and Foxy go looking for another stick - or else they're just orienteering...

Campfire's burning...

The One Where Kylie Is An Absolute Idiot (or "How to enter a country twice in one day")

I know I'm a bit late in posting this, but hey, better late than never. I've been a bit busy lately with school and house-hunting, neither ventures being very successful if truth be told, but it's meant I haven't been keeping up with the blogging. I have actually now got a few posts on the go, and was going to abandon this one, but hey, I know how much you enjoy a laugh at my expense, so here we are... The flight back from Australia was relatively uneventful. First of all, the dreaded farewell at the airport was not as bad as it usually is. Usually, it goes like this: the quiet tapering off of conversation in the car on the way to the airport, as each passenger contemplates the inevitable, followed by the long queue to check in (usually with Dad for moral support, coupled with the obvious questions of 'Have you got your passport?"), then the (if it can be possible) even longer queue for a coffee at the one and only coffee place left open in the food court this late at night, followed by strained conversation over our 'last supper'. This is then usually broken by Mum with comments of 'ooh Kyles, they're boarding in 60 minutes... 50 minutes... 45 minutes... maybe you'd better get going', after which we make the slow and horribly painful walk to the 'flood' gate - so named because of the floods of tears experienced once we're there. But this time I was determined it would be easier. First of all, on the way to the airport I told Dad to just drop me off and go, no coffees this time - and he was ok with that - but then promptly changed my mind. Just as well, because while we were in the check-in queue, Louise phoned to say that she and Sheldon were in the neighbourhood and were popping in to say goodbye. This turned out to be the best thing, because their presence and good natured chat lightened the mood and thus the 'flood' gate did not live up to its name, and instead became the 'departure' gate this time. Thank you Lou and Shel. Anyway, on the first leg of the journey I had an aisle seat next to a fairly antisocial bloke who slept for most of the flight, which meant that he didn't disturb me with loo visits and so on. This allowed me to get a little sleep, which I really needed, as I would only have a few hours in transit in Singapore before the final 14 hour or so leg back to London, and I had made plans to meet Jun for a coffee at the airport so we could discuss the upcoming Sweden trip. This was no mean feat actually, our breakfast meeting, as for this to take place, it meant that I had to fill in an immigration card and formally enter Singapore, just so I could go landside and meet Jun in the arrivals hall. I duly fill in my card, go through the gates and so on, and we meet up. We went upstairs to Starbucks and were there for some time chatting about the plans for the Sweden trip. It sounds like its going to be a good one too, so stay posted here on kmuki.blogspot.com for the reports, which will be in February. We chatted for about an hour or so and then it was time for me to leave Singapore, go airside and board the plane. Jun walked with me to the departure gate, said farewell, and off I went. I handed in the little white portion of my landing card so I could leave Singapore, got stamped out, and headed off to do some last minute shopping. It would only have been about 10 minutes later, when I was rummaging around in my bag to get my purse, that I suddenly had that terrible, gut-wrenching, sinking feeling as I realised something was horribly wrong. Horribly wrong! I was missing... .... my camcorder and camera! Oh no! Where could they be? I frantically searched through my backpack, flinging undies and all sorts out of the bag, in the hopes that they were tucked in behind something, but no, they weren't there! And I knew I'd had them with me when I got off the plane, because I'd taken them out of my backpack as they were just a bit too bulky, and were poking into me, and I'd slung them around my neck! And Mel and Beck and everyone had 'borrowed' them at our farewell at Enchilada's and left little messages and pictures on them - which I now wouldn't get to see! Aaaaggghhh! Mass panic! More frantic flinging of stuff! So I quickly get back on the phone to Jun, who was by this point now driving out of the airport. "Jun, did I leave my camcorder bag at Starbucks? Can you please run back and check?!" Jun, being the gentleman that he is, turned the car back around and headed back to Starbucks, whilst I literally (and I mean, literally) flew through the airport, scribbled out another immigration card, ran back into Singapore (hurriedly answering the customs dude's questions - hurry up fella!) and raced back up to Starbucks, only to see a man walking off with my camcorder! Stop, stop, STOP! That's my camera! Luckily for me the man was Jun! Phew, what a relief - I could've kissed him, I was so pleased that he'd got my camera (and how lucky was I that it was still there eh?). Another quick set of goodbyes, quick stamp of the passport, and I was back airside (with just enough time to make it to the departure gate!) Seriously, if my head wasn't screwed on...

Marcella Does Enchilada's

I just love this pic of my gorgeous niece Marcella taken recently when Dad took us out to lunch at Enchilada's at Aspley. Isn't she a real honey?

Give Me A Home Among The Gumtrees

So I had an absolutely brilliant time at home, it was so great to see all the fam and spend as much time with them as I could. Alas the time went all too quick!

Some of the highlights...

* Christmas with the fam - this year it was really good, one of (if not the) best ever! Ta guys...

* Seeing my gorgeous nephews and nieces and getting to spend time with them (especially the many movies I saw with Lach and Haz)
* Catching up with old friends and fam

* The BBQ at Mum and Dad's

* Bethany's dedication

Here are some pics...

My beautiful Bethany's dedication - and my gorgeous boys!

Beck, Dem and Cheeky Chel!

All the girls!The grand and greatgrand kids (well as many as were there) - some of whom I hadn't seen in 10 years... with Grandma and Grandpa Moore at the BBQ at Mum and Dad's

Grandpa, Nanny, Me, Grandma, Grandpa