We were looking forward with excitement to visitors last week. First, our old friend Tim was coming up with Virginia and their dog Monty (yes, our Monty was having a visitor too), then Zoe and Shaun were flying up from Melbourne for the weekend. 
Tim, Virginia and Monty arrived on Wednesday in the middle of a torrential downpour that pretty much didn't stop the whole time they were here. We had fun though, visiting local spots and winning the trivia night at the club by a huge margin! Pommie Monty and Aussie Monty got on famously, although it was hard to tell the difference if they were not next to each other. I do think we

were being a bit hopeful though when we drove up to Birubi Point to see if we could see any whales from the land. We did manage to show both sets of guests a koala (Ella in her usual tree) and a Tawny Frogmouth Owl who famously are so well disguised and difficult to find, if you are lucky enough to spot one, you can walk right up to it because they have such faith in their camouflage, so all was not lost.
The weather was not much better for Zoe and Shaun's visit, although the rain was not quite so torrential.

Rain has its advantages though, while we were showing them around Newcastle on Saturday, the weather became so unpleasant we had to duck into a pub for a beer. In the pub we discovered a complete sub section of Australian society that was previously unknown to us - there was a bagpipe competition going on!
There were posters for the White Heather Club Highland Outfitters dotted about and the room was full of people of all ages wearing tartan and cheering and clapping while pipers,

fully kilted and sporranned, took it in turns to play in front of the judges. There were loads of them all in their different tartan, some warming up outside and others admiring each others pipes. As for the competition it was hard to tell who was in the lead, although there was a frisson of excitement when one chap got up to play.

Some marched up and down a bit as they played but, apart from that, it was a bit tricky to pick out the good ones.
We dodged the showers on Sunday too and, as we drove Zoe and Shaun to the airport Sunday evening, it turned into a lovely, balmy evening and the weather has been glorious ever since.