A growing girl! Her first visit to the doctor yesterday gained her a clean bill of health. She is piling on the weight. Currently 5.1 kgs. Judging by the size of her belly, most of it is there!

Each day she smiles a little more, gains more strength in her neck, holds her head upright for a little longer and grips a little tighter. Of course I am impatient for the day when we can discuss thye merits of one jazz pianist over another, and go diving together, but I fear these are still some way off. I will have to be content with her grinning when she does a poo for now. Oh well.

Rosie

Dazed and confused. In the makan shop in Ipoh, an hour after collecting Rosie, with our friends

Say Hello to Rosie Christa Olive Woodhead!

Welcome to the woodhead world Young Rosie!

Rosie was born on 4-06-2009 in Ipoh, Malaysia.

It's a long story, but an amazing one, which has unfolded in the last month.

At this point it is enought to say that our world has changed utterly, and we that were two are now three.

I would have liked to have updated this blog on the day she came into our lives, but it has just not been possible. So this is the start point to the family blog.

The picture above was taken the day after she arrived, aged one month and one day. Seriously tiny was she. It was also quite scary. Will she break?? Will she stop breathing?? How do I hold her??

Over the last month, things have started to get easier, and she has started to become a little person who smiles and poops her way through the day.

A week on Tioman

Our official favourite place is The Panuba Inn on Tioman. It is the best place to unwind and chill out that we have found, and we have made five trips there over the last few years.










Having last week off work was an opportunity to go away, and it had to be Panuba. Diving for me, on the doorstep, and beach and snorkelling for Kat.
Despite fairly horrible food, and the usual inability to understand the needs of tourists that seems to plague Malaysia, we had a fantastic time. Tioman is such a beautiful island, and the light in the evenings is spectacular.









The diving, as ever, was superb. Bali Hai (the dive shop) is my favourite, and it was good to see Sonia still there, running the show now. I managed to squeeze 12 dives (and a night dive) into the trip, and whilst the visability was not at its absolute best, it was still fantastic. I still think coral island, and especially Batu Layar are the best dive sites on the peninsular.
This photo was taken in the Coral garden off Coral Island, and I have uploaded it straight here, without any photoshop adjustments. Wonderful healthy coral. I could have stayed down there for hours...
Tioman should be a really convienient destination, being only a few hours away by car (at least, Mersing is only a few hours away) but we have just arrived home exhausted after a 12 hour journey. Bloody ridiculous. So much waiting around for ferries and buses. I HAVE to get a car!
We were woken on the bus in the way there at 4am, to be told that the bus no longer stops at mersing R&R, and we needed to transfer to a little mini van. In the confusion, I left my new specs on the bus...(RM1200 down the drain.) Extremely annoying. On the upside, I have been very impressed by my eyes without them! I can't read anything, but everything else has been fine. Perhaps I will use my old ones for reading, and try going without for a while.
So..another lovely trip to Tioman. Roll on the next visit!

Hells Angels

Some pre Christmas hells angels fun in Wakely road, courtesy of Clarkey.
Very cool bike, but not quite as cool as my chop was.....ahh those were the days, when winters were winters, the central heating was on full bore, and I wandered around in my underpants looking cool.

Off again!

The time has come for another holiday. Despite having just returned from Borneo, it is impossible to pass up the chance of being on an island again (and of course, dive)
So, we are off to Tioman on Friday night, for a week on our favourite island. This time we are staying in a 'luxury room' for the first time, after 4 years of opting for the 'budget' option. Being on Tioman is wonderful. It's just the getting there that hurts. I finish work at 9.30pm, we leave at 11.30pm from Pudaraya, and arrive in Mersing for the ferry at 4am....and the ferry leaves at 11am. Groan.
Will update with pics and news when we get back!
Hopefully we will have some adoption news by then!!!

Reefs and Monkeys

We recently returned from a two week trip to Borneo (Sabah) with Alison (my sister)
It was a tiring 13 hour trip for her to reach us, before we even set off for the holiday. We eventually made it, after a short flight from KL. I am sure I get more panicky with every flight I take. It's either age, or too much air crash investigation on Discovery.
The diving on Sipadan was stunning. The best diving I have ever done, and that says a lot after living in Asia for a number of years. Barracuda point offered some of the most exciting drift diving and glimpses of the true abyss that I have ever seen.
Alison was determined that I catch her on film with a turtle, and I was amazed how well the shot came out.
The wall diving was also incredible. In the end we just stopped signaling the arrival of yet another turtle.
The camera worked beautifully, which sort of made up for all the hassle involved in actually getting it to Malaysia via Amazon, Alison and Mum and Dad.
Diving over a 700 meter drop off was amazing, and it was a real privilege to be there. Sipadan is a place I would love to go back to one day.










The snorkelling was excellent too. Katrin had as many encounters with turtles as we did, and had her own run-ins with angry trigger fish.









Evenings spent comparing leech and sandfly bites in Sepilok. Of course, it was all worth it for the orang-utans.

Welcome to our blog!
It's taken years to get round to it, but we have finally found a way to keep those who care up to date more regularly. we may have been gone a long time, but we miss you all!
We hope to update at least once a week, work permitting.