Dear Wally,

Thanks for the letters. Our first letter must have crossed in the mail.

Thanks for the newspaper clipping. I know all the people in the photos. Mum and dad never saw it in the paper but a guy around the corner told me it was in the Mercury.

Our posting came through last week. We've been posted to Melbourne with effect date Dec 19th. We leave here 18th Dec on a RAAF 707 and land in Darwin then Sydney. Our car will be in Sydney at Ellen's so we'll pick it up from there maybe stay a night or 2 in Sydney, one with Ellen and one with Andrew's friend a fellow shipmate, John. From there we'll travel down to Melbourne. It'll be very close to Christmas by this stage so hopefuly the RAAF will get a move on and book us into a motel in Werribee or Footscray.

I am really looking forward to having a lovely greasy piece of flake and a couple of potato cakes. I am also looking forward to a nice barbecue chicken. The chickens up here have big blobs of fat all over them. I buy the chicken breasts which enables me to cut most of the fat off. Our amah cooks us chicken curry every Thursday which is very enjoyable. Jenny has even had some the last few weeks. Sam is in no way an experimenter but he does eat a lot better lately.

Here is a nice recipe for sweetcorn and crab chicken soup plus enclosed a couple of tasty Chinese dishes.

1/2 lb spareribs boiled to make stock
2 chicken breasts with 2 slices ginger add into stock and cook 8 mins.
2 slices shredded bacon, 1 cup crab meat, 2tbs. dry sherry, 1 tin creamed corn
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg well beaten

1) Boil spareribs 20 mins with 1 tsp salt to the stock
2) Add chicken breasts with 2 slices ginger and bring to boil for 8 mins
3) Remove chicken meat and shred it. Remove all bones and strain stock
4) Reheat stock, add sweetcorn, crab meat and shredded chicken and cook 3-5 mins.
5) While soup is boiling, pour in beaten egg and stir quickly. Add 2 tbs sherry.

One of the favourite songs on RAAF radio is "We've gotta get out of this place". Everyone is always ringing up requesting it to be played.

Today is Merdeka day (30 yrs of independence for Malaysia) so it's a national holiday. Andrew is working today but will get a day off later in Sept. so we might go to Batu Ferringhi on Penang Island for the weekend.

RTMI, one of the 3 Malaysian TV Stations, goes all Bahasa (language) Malaysian as from today. Even the English programs are going to be dubbed into Malaysian.

The schools up here are no longer going to teach Tamil (Indian) and English, which is a great pity especially English being a compulsory qualification of overseas uni-entrances.

You asked what we think of going back to Melbourne. Well we amplified to go there so Andrew can go to RMIT to do electronic engineering. He'll go part time next year and hopefully the RAAF will approve full time the year after. I am also pleased to go there because the education system is really good in Victoria.

Madglurne, our amah, is sorry that we are going home as she really gets involved in the families she works with. She loves the kids and has a good deal to do with Jenny.

I play Tues night and Wed morning darts. I think I told you that before. Never mind I can't keep up with what I've told you and what I haven't.

I'm getting you a book Wally called "Culture Shock" and it's all about the various customs here, Singapore and Thailand. I think you will really enjoy it. It has everything possible in it. I have my own copy. I may keep yours until I get back to Aust. as it is easier than it getting lost in the mail from up here. They open most literature to make sure it's not adverse publicity you're sending off.

We watched 2001 A Space Odyssey when we were at school. It's quite different but rather entertaining. I haven't seen 2010 as yet but I may catch up with it soon.

Top Gun is a brilliant movie with some outstanding flying skills and manouvers displayed. We bought ourselves a copy as it's well worth watching more than once.

Well that's all I can think of to date.

Love to all