The Yak!

We thought it was about time that we posted some pictures of our car. We've had it since before Christmas but we've been so busy with one thing and another that we haven't had time to wash and polish it. We picked it up on Ebay Australia for about £6000. OK so it's not a VW and it's not aircooled... we miss you Stan!... but it gets us around and it won't break into a million circa 1960 pieces when rear ended on the freeway! Maybe its the first visible sign of how babies change people! It also has air con which is vital at the moment as we have 38 degree heat, in stark contrast to the weather at home which is making Australian news!

It has leather seats so that we can wipe away all those bits of partially digested banana and breadsticks that people with children seem to have living in the back of their cars. We can chuck everything we need like surfboards and the cool box (eskie!) (soon to be pram, changing bag etc!) in the back either through the glass which opens or the whole boot lid! The engine is 3.2ltr which is fairly small by Australian standards... 6ltr is not uncommon and we know someone with something more than 7ltr!

We both seem to have taken to driving a bigger car quite well and parking isn't an issue as the spaces seem to be that little bit bigger. Last night Beth and I drove through the middle of Sydney to pick up Matt and Sharron at the airport. It was quite a nice drive taking in glimpses of the bridge and the Opera House etc. We also used the cruise control (the car is an automatic!.. most cars are here) which was a strange experience... you set the speed and the car does the rest. All you do is steer and brake if someone, or something pulls out in front of you. The maximum speed here is 110km although more often you find yourself crawling along at 60km in built up areas which does feel slow at times... but then at least you can take in all the views as you pass.

We both have Australian driving lisenses having done nothing to get one other than smile for the photo in the traffic office and hand over the cash... we were fully expecting to take tests and everything.