and the wardrobe ... 

our bedroom demolished 

the old bed comes out too 

out comes the bedroom wall 

em 

cleaning out the bay for the new wiring 

out comes the bathroom wall and door

the bathroom 

looking back towards the front door 

our bedroom 

the lounge zone and our temporary couch 

looking down from the front door 

our front door

we're back on line!

Oh the luxury of having the world wide web at your fingertips! Can't wait to chat to people again on messenger and use our webcam. So, some photos .....

congratulations!

Congratulations to Jason and Cat who had a baby boy, Hunter on 27th April.

may the fourth be with you

Still no photos I'm afraid as we're STILL off line! But, we are making progress on the boat. Last night we cut out the shape in the ceiling where the skylight will go in the lounge zone (I can hardly call it the lounge "room" can I?!). Can't cut it out fully yet but are pricing up glass, steel etc. Very exciting! It will totally change the feel of the boat once it is in.

We had a strange turn of events a few weeks ago. You will know that the very reason we moved to the UK was so that Woz could work with an influencial Industrial designer he had met in Melbourne. Well, two and half months into it the studio terminated his contract and as of Wednesday two weeks ago Woz was officially without work! It was very unexpected and although we knew that the studio and others like it had a reputation for picking up people and dropping them rapidly after projects were finished, we were very shocked. But, the positive side is that only two days before Woz and I had talked a lot about whether he should stay there for much longer as he felt he had learned everything he needed to from the studio and felt that the exceptionally long working hours and little pay were not worth him staying. We had decided that once he finished the project he was on he would look around for another position and have a break for a week or two to work on the boat. But, they got in first! Funny that only a few months into it, the very reason we came to live in London is no longer a factor. But, we're glad we came and are enjoying it and feel that there is so much more for us to learn and experience here.

So, for the last two weeks Woz has been working on the boat solidly, and I have been helping when I get home. As a result we're flying through it and with any luck it'll be ready when we have friends and family come to stay in Summer. Having spent two weeks on the boat now we've decided that we will stretch the time out a bit longer and Woz will work for an extra two or so weeks before looking for another position. There are pages and pages of architectural work here and he feels confident that he'll find another position very quickly.

So, that's us for now.

still off line

Well we're still off line at home and so once again I'm writing from work.

We had our Extravagant Worship conference on the weekend which I interpreted at. Darlene Zschech, Matt Redman and Delirious were there. Loved every minute of it.

As for the boat, we're getting some work done on it slowly but surely . I'm off home now to paint two more bays in the hull before Woz comes home. With any luck he'll have the next three days off work due to working an 80 hour week in 5 days last week and extra hassle on the weekend so he wants to spend it working on the boat.

No photos yet until we're back on line at home but they tell us it will be soon!

a long awaited update

After waiting and waiting for our internet connection to be restored (finally experiencing the English red tape we heard so much about) I have decided to make a quick entry from work to let you all know we are alive and well.

We've been working pretty solidly on the boat for the last few weeks. We've learnt so much about boats! We're working at the moment on draining the water from the hull, scraping out the rust, cleaning it and repainting it with a primer. So far we've completed 4 of 20 bays, so we have a bit to go. Once we've done that we'll put fresh pavers in the hull and then cover them up with our new floor. It's been a very tiring job and as we're doing all the boring bits at the moment we have been feeling as if we'll never get there, but this weekend we seemed to get alot done so we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. looking back at the photos on our website makes me realise we've done more than we thought.

A beautiful friend from Hillsong, we have got to know here has organised a working bee for us on the next long weekend (early in May). Quite blown away by it as she has 6 people from the music team at church who we haven't even met, who have volunteered to help us. It will definitely be the encouragement we need! We're hoping we'll be ready to put the new floor down that weekend.

The weather has been very strange here, we had a very cold snap again last week and had a small amount of snow. It's a beautiful spring day here today though.

Apart from our work we have managed to get out a bit and enjoy London. We met Vicki and Andrew and some of their friends who we got to know while we were staying with them, for coffee in Covent Garden yesterday afternoon before hearing Christine Caine at the 6pm. We also joined a neighbour who took their boat out over Easter to Lime House. Lots of fun and a glimpse of what is to come for us when we've finished our boat.

our new couch, for the moment

hmm ... not sure that we should have water under the floor?!

pulling up the floor 

the couch in pieces 

undoubtedly the most uncomfortable couch in the world

pulling out the tv unit 

tv unit 

out comes the bookcase 

the bookshelves

off come the shelves 

woz takes to the shelves with a jigsaw 

we're back!

After a week or so of being off line we're back on again. our move to the boat was very successful, a few hurdles in the beginning but we're cruising now! Only a day or so in and we were already ripping out shelves and wall units etc. We are working on a grand plan to renovate the interior completely which will have to be ready for Summer. We have Jerry (alias Jarred Holt) coming late may, then Claire, then Ron and Fiona so we have lots to look forward to.
starting to meet all the other residents in the mooring which has been great. they're all incredibly friendly and helpful.

Here's some shots of the work so far.....

thank you

Thanks Andrew and Vicki for having us stay with you for the last two months. We've had lots of laughs and you've been a constant source of helpful information which has made our move so much smoother than it could have been.