To dispel all myths, the number of shoes in my wardrobe has increased only by 3 pairs since I left Malaysia... Not bad for six weeks of shopping time :-) Now if I am honest, that is four new pairs minus one thrown away pair, but who is counting!!

I have passed on all comments to the appropriate people – pleased that Sharon is managing to keep you all amused.

Andrew tells me has nearly found me a new house to live in – yeah. Looking forward to checking out his taste when I get to Hong Kong in just a couple of days.

See all you Aucklanders soon! Love, Sonia

A rather verbose Sharon here...

Hello all, especially to Daryl, Braden and Lauren.
We have returned from our jaunt to Kovalam Beach, which Kyla enjoyed more than I did. More about that later.
We arrived at Chris and Karyn's just before midnight on Friday night. Our first few days in Ooty were spent at Chris and Karyn's house and it was great to see where and how they live. We went into town and were shown the market and "Modern Stores" (actual name) where Karyn and Wendy shop. We also went to Cafe Coffee Day which is the Indian equivalent of Starbucks... this does not bode well for the quality of coffee, but it was in fact the best cup of coffee I have had since leaving New Zealand. On the way back to Hebron School, walking, it began to rain. Now I have been told that rain in Ooty is not just drizzle, and it is very true.

The photo shows clearly that any part not covered by a waterproof jacket does not stand a chance of staying dry.

Kyla enjoyed exploring the school with Samantha, and generally catching up. She experienced a bath Indian Ellwood style and here is the photo to prove it. While she bathed, Samantha sat in the bathroom so they could continue giggling and talking and then they swapped places. On Saturday afternoon Karyn, Wendy and I went for a bike ride which started off on the road, which was slightly rough, got rougher and didn't seem like a road but apparrently still was and then went truly off road. It was a lot of fun, and apart from the first couple of hills, wasn't too difficult. That night we had a Kiwi BBQ atEllwoods with another kiwi family from Hebron and the McCabes. There were a total of 9 children there that night, so it felt very normal.

Sunday night in Ooty, we all had dinner at McCabes, a beautiful dish called Kadai Chicken, served with rice, Dahl (Kyla really liked this), Nazima's famous chapattis (she is Wendy's cook) and a few green chillis on the side. Ian assured Chris they were not really too hot, so as you can see, Chris tried one. Ian conceded that the chilli he got was in fact somewhat milder than Chris's one after tasting Chris's one. All very amusing watching boys try to be staunch in the face of a hot green chilli. Daryl would have fitted in perfectly!

On monday morning we organised ourselves, ready for our trip to Kovalam Beach in Kerala state. Our train trip down was an eye-opener, much as Chris had hoped it would be I suspect. We were located at one end of the Sleeper carriage, too close to the toilet, which was odourous (that is definitely putting it mildly). I woke in the morning (after waking numerous times in the night) to discover that someone I didn't know had decided to sit on the end of my bed, and another sleeping on half of Mikaela's bed opposite me. Apparently it happens in India.

Kovalam beach is lovely. At one end of the beach is a working lighthouse, red and whie striped, and I thought of you, Braden, when I saw it. You would have liked it. Here is a photo of it for you, and I have a picture of it that Alex drew for you. The beach has good waves for Boogie boarding and Kyla spent a lot of time doing so. I joined her on the first day. There were people walking along constantly trying to sell sarongs and wrap around skirts, or fruit. They are very persistant and telling them no is not enough. You have to then ignore them or they will just keep trying. Day two, I woke with a headache which then became a temperature and dihaorrea. Samantha also came down with the same type of bug. Samantha was largely recovered by Day 3 but I stayed in bed feeling yuck and homesick. During these two days Kyla still went to the beach with the others, and it became apparent that her togs really are too small. They had crept up a bit far at the back and she ended up with a sunburnt bottom. Daryl, if Chris's phone had been working he wanted to text you...."Mr Palmer, wife sick, Daughter has sunburnt bottom, please advise." My being sick did affect Kyla, and she came back from the beach on her own on the 3rd day and was a bit upset and missing Daddy and just wanting to play with Braden and Lauren. That was kind of hard to see when I was feeling much the same. The trip back to Ooty was long and slow. The train was okay, we were in the middle of the carriage this time, and so a reasonable distance from the odourous toilets. We took a minibus up to Ooty from the train along with a whole lot of others from Hebron school, and it appeared that the driver's aim was not to get to Ooty as quickly as possible, but in fact to do other things along the way... which he proceeded to do, so we didn't arrive back until about 3pm after having left Kovalam at 9:30pm the previous night. It is a long time to be travelling. It was a relief to be back in Ooty. We are now at Ian and Wendy McCabes, enjoying being waited on and having to do very little. I am mostly recovered and had my first proper meal in three days last night for dinner (albeit a very small one). Over the next two days we plan to eat, drink and be merry, in other words, not a lot apart from relaxing and enjoying ourselves. Possibly a little (more) shopping.