Well, my Australian holiday is over and on reflection it has truly been a holiday of a lifetime thanks to Caroline and Simon Rawson, who have opened up their home to me and made me feel like a member of the family.

The night I arrived, I was tired, fed up (21 hours on a plane is not good), and as I plodded through arrivals, dragging my luggage behind me I was eagerly scanning the crowd for a familiar face, Caroline came hurtling towards to me, and at once all my grumpiness disappeared I cannot begin to say how good it was to see her after so many years. We were driven home by chauffeur Simon in their limousine (a.k.a Phoebe the dog car), Caroline explained they had used it because we could have more room in the back to drink our champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries!! Nice surprise! Both on the same wavelength already, I thought. We stayed up until 2.00am that night talking and drinking lots of bubbles, reminiscing about our childhood, family and friends. Funny thing is we had to do it all again the next night because there was so much to talk about. Any excuse for more bubbles!!!

The first few days were fairly quiet so that I could get over my jet lag, we swam in the pool, spent time browsing the shops in Terrigal, the local town, had breakfast at the Surf Club and generally settled in, oh! and I did Zumba as well (badly I must add).

On the Wednesday, Caroline and I went to Sydney for 3 days. She showed me all the sights; we did the Harbour Cruise, shopped, ate good food, shopped, climbed the Harbour Bridge and shopped more. How I am going to get the stuff I bought home I have no idea.

For the next few days I lived the Australian life, going out with Caroline on her daily business and generally relaxing. The following Wednesday, we set off for the Blue Mountains about an hours drive away. By the way, they are called the Blue Mountains because of the blue haze all around them. This is caused by vapour given off by the Eucalyptus Trees. (A little bit of trivia, you never know when it may come up in a quiz). We stayed in a little village called Leura, which is breathtakingly beautiful and although the houses and buildings are dissimilar to England it felt so much like home, very green, lots of trees and flowers, the only thing alien was the sun.

We stayed in a Boutique B and B, I’ve heard of boutique hotels but not bed and breakfasts, anyway it was just wonderful and again it all felt very familiar. It was themed as an English Country House, with book lined walls and full sized Snooker table, as well as complimentary sherry and port (I was immediately comfortable, in fact I felt like I was in the Library at Raby Castle). The bedrooms were all named after English writers and we were in The Bronte Room, which again had been themed to the highest standard. My last week began with another day in Sydney; we had lunch on Bondi Beach and visited the Opera House which we had missed on the first visit, (Eddie Izzard was the star attraction), as well as last minute shopping.

Later in the week we visited the Reptile Park, where I was lucky enough to handle a python, cuddle a koala and get up close to lots of other indigenous species. It was a wonderful day all round.

My last day, took us to the Glenworth Valley, where Caroline’s husband Simon was taking part in a 5km run with obstacles. It was boiling hot, I had to wear a hat with a hoodie over the top and have my arms and neck completely covered up. The heat was intense, but a snakebite (drink not a reptile bite), cooled me down. We finished the day with a lovely meal at a Mexican restaurant washed down with a bottle of Moet. A perfect end to a perfect day!

Finally my wholehearted thanks go out to the following that have made my holiday something I will remember until the day I die.

Qantas – for getting me here on time (I arrived at 20.00 on the Friday night and they grounded their aircraft the next morning).

Caroline and Simon for looking after me and giving me the best holiday ever and, lastly but by my no means least, Facebook, without which I would not have been here. Thank you to everyone who has read and sent me comments on these blogs, I appreciate it and have enjoyed writing them. For anyone I have bored stupid, I apologise.

I arrive home on Monday, 21 November and as everyone knows there is no place like home.