It finally stopped raining long enough this weekend for us to get some sun and take a dip in the pool. In fact Rach even got sunburnt. Again. Will she ever learn?

The whole xmas and new year period has been a complete wash-out. Brisbane has succumbed to the effects of the El Niño phenomenon, which is causing monsoon conditions all along the coast of Queensland. What I don't understand however, is how come after all the rain we've had the dam levels are still only at a combined level of 21.13%. Everytime we get a good soaking of rain it seems to completely miss the dams. So it looks like there'll be no end to the level 6 water restrictions any time soon.

It was really hard getting into the xmas spirit this last year. Listening to Bing Crosby sing White Christmas didn't quite seem right when we were sweating due to the high humidity! As per usual xmas crept up on me from nowhere and I had to rush about at the last minute buying presents.

I was in Sydney all week again the week before xmas and it was hell! I did have plans to get some xmas shopping done in Sydney but the mass of people was horrendous. I can't understand people who go for a weekend away xmas shopping in the major cities. I had to literally push my way through people just to get from one street to the next.

Back to work tomorrow. It's been a nice break having two weeks off but the weather has made it a bit of a let-down as I've hardly left the house. I bought some new golf clubs last week so we went to the driving range yesterday to try them out. On the way I stopped off and bought Lauren a junior set so she could have a go. She loved it. There's a par-3 9-hole course near us so hopefully it will be nice next weekend and we can go for a game.