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What a week!

I had thought that most of our problems were over. We had some wonderful examples of Godincidences, and things seemed to be flowing a little more smoothly.

We have found a house! It's near Granny's Grave, which is in the sandhills in the South Western part of Warrnambool, and is the official site of the burial of the first white woman to die in Warrnambool.

It's a short walk to the beach, although a long way up. The ocean there is full of currents, so absolutely unsafe to swim (which fact Alice was told in no uncertain terms), but it's within easy cycling distance to Lady Bay, which is the patrolled beach in W'bool.

If one heads in the other direction, one comes to the mouth of the Hopkins. What a fun place that is, with safe swimming, great fishing and fascinating rocks.

Recently, we had a major tragedy in W'bool, with four people swept to their deaths in Stingray Bay. They were from Ballarat, and obviously unused to the treachery of the waves. They were making their way to Middle Island (sometimes called "Penguin Island" because fairy penguins breed there), which is, at low tide, easily walked to across the beach.

Unfortunately, they didn't realise they were in a dangerous time, and the water was getting deeper. The grandmother slipped and her daughter rushed to help her. So did other members of her family, and an unexpectedly large wave bowled them over and took them out to sea. The rocks that are around that area make for very dangerous waters, with fast currents and dangerous projections. Several people nearly lost their lives rescuing the other members of the family who survived and retrieving the bodies of those who did not.

As far as I know, a seven year old boy is the fifth victim, his body unaccounted. It comes on top of the grief that we are experiencing over the tsunami disaster overseas, where so many Australians and other foreigners, as well as thousands upon thousands of locals lost their lives.

So Alice is a priority in safety warnings. "Never by yourself, Alice." "No swimming, even with a friend." "Pay extra attention to the tidal movements." And so on.

As to the new house - another Godincidence! It was actually owned by John and Ronda for eight years about nearly two decades ago. John and Ronda are Alice's Godparents. We had no idea, of course, until I telephoned Ronda today and told her our new address.

The house was advertised in the local paper, and is a private rental, which always cheers me enormously. It's so much easier dealing directly with the landlords. They only live two doors down, and so we have invited them for a dinner of pancakes when we are settled. They have promised to provide the eggs, as they have their own chooks. How marvellous!

It is a plain, mud-brown brick veneer home, but with four lovely bedrooms, and the Master Bedroom has a nice ensuite. The backyard is large, the ktichen has a small servery to the dining room, and there is underfloor heating - such a blessing in our cold weather, although the landlord says that it shouldn't be needed too often given the large amount of sunlight that streams through the windows.

So now things are especially in a hurry, and we get to move in the weekend after next.

We've been given an extension of time, by two weeks, thanks to a talk and the paying of further rent to the new owners. Phew! And they may well take Aaron and Nathan (depending on how much they want to charge) as new tenants here. Yippee! A nice solution, or the boys would have been commuting from Mortlake, a three-quarter hour drive one way for Aaron.

Well, I've sent Nita the photos of my skydiving. I was cool, calm and collected until the warning of "Three minutes" was given just before we fell out of the aeroplane at 10,000 feet. Uh-huh. Really sensible, Leonie. Brian's loving Christmas present consisted of his wife being pushed out of an aeroplane by a perfect stranger. Thanks, Hon.

Free fall is noisy, bad on the ears, I felt like I had water up my nose, and I was very glad I went to the toilet before lift-off. And scary. Did I mention scary? Alice said she could hear me scream as soon as I jumped out of the 'plane. Right, dear.

I was too scared to scream.

If I had been able to climb up the sky and back into the 'plane, I surely would have. And stop laughing.

Then the parachute kicked in. Kicked is the appropriate term. But instantly the wind stopped, and Pete, who had control of both me and the camera (DVD will be coming in the mail) started encouraging me to talk. Right, Pete, different situation, same scared little Leonie.

The sensation is akin to the stomach lift one gets in an elevator. But constant.

Actually, yes it was scary, but I really enjoyed it.

Then Pete thought it a good idea to hand over the parachute controls to me for a bit. I would have headed for Tower Hill for a look-see, but no, the airfield was ever-beckoning, and I had family down there.

We had waited five hours for there to be a break in the clouds otherwise it's not safe.

Betty, Brian and Alice all accompanied me to the Aerodrome, mostly to see if I'd chicken out.

So I made it down to a landing that was so soft I didn't have a chance to fall over. I've felt harder landings jumping off a sand castle.

This has been one of the more momentous weeks of my life, really.

Sky Channel

It amazes me the trivia

that goes through my mind

when in panic/chaos/frenzy

I watch the World go by.

I saw the patchwork paddocks

and the blue of a swimming pool

cloistered there in secret

unknown but by a few

The tiny smudge of sheep

as they grazed on emerald green

and a Lego set of buildings

that I had never seen

Each geometric shape

dazzled me anew

and I thought again of God

signing patterned hues.