WHAT'S IN A BLOODY NAME?: (Victoria, Australia)

The Aussies like to call a spade a spade, as it were. We love the way place names Down Under get right to the point. Landmarks are imaginatively named things like Sandy Beach, Snowy Mountains, Running River, or in this case, just simply Big Hill.

Our step-dad Steve cashed in cleverly on this concept with the ingenious "Medium Sized Building Company".

WAIFS & STRAYS: (Aireys Inlet, Victoria, Australia)

En route to the 12 Apostles, monolithic stacks on the south coast, and flagrantly ignoring Mum's advice on Australia's beguiling sense of distance, we found ourselves a little way off from our final destination and our reserved accommodation for the night. Humbled, we took the advice of some friendly locals in The General Store regarding alternative places to stay.

Clearly, my 'lost puppy' eyes and general hopeless demeanor invoked the kindness of the shopkeeper, who realising our complete ineptitude, offered to put us up at her home! We were really blown away with the gesture and proceeded to enjoy a great evening chatting over some local wine with our hosts (Greg, Jill, and Asher) about surfing, travels, home design (Greg is a building designer) and…well thrashing the Aussies at the cricket of course.

I grew up in a house where we had allsorts staying - Mum had the softest heart and didn't have the strongest professional boundaries going, so we'd end up with 'clients' coming home for dinner or to stay - she was working with alcoholics (might be where Georgie & I got some of our own work passions from). I really want to be that same kind of family and have the same sense of open home. We offered our hosts an open invitation to visit us, and I would return the favour of removing any large spiders that might crawl into their room.

POMS DOWN UNDER: (Sydney, Australia)

Our great friends Jeremy & Ana made the adventurous move to emigrate to Australia. For some bizarre reason, they chose to settle in Adelaide! We miss them. We got to see them a fair bit when they were in Bristol, although never for more than a few hours at a time, as is normal for everyday life. Sometimes you have to move away to really see somebody - we got four straight days with them as Mum & Steve kindly played host to all of us at their fab new pad.

We got to meet new arrival Edie, the cutest baby girl in the world, and mess around with Godson Jasper, cool Henry, and Ben who's well, hilarious. We hit the Sydney Aquarium, went crab hunting at Balmoral and got deliriously excited at Luna Park (the kids were angels as always but we were a bit out of control). On the last day we went to the Opera House and then met up with other Poms Jo and Danny, and Kate at Manly Beach. Of all the bugs, pests, critters and nasties in Oz, the Poms are probably the most
 pesky.

IT'S ONLY A GAME: (Sydney, Australia)

I'm no cricket fan, but if you have to watch paint dry, then Sydney is a pretty good place to do it, in the sunshine with a nice cool stubby.

It's been really just awful being here throughout The Ashes. I hate gloating, I really do….and it's been breaking my heart seeing the Aussies get so upset with their abysmal loss. I have in no way mocked my colonial chums or taken the opportunity to rub their sunburnt faces in it.

Neither did they try to drown me in the surf (Kit) or kill me in a freak fishing accident (Mark). Alrighty sport.