Sometimes I am actually lost for words. Not often, as those who know me in real life will readily attest to, but this time I don't know what to say.

When my friends Sandy and Ad came to stay, they filmed every place they had been to on their grand European farewell tour and promised us a copy of it when they got to Melbourne. So when Sandy asked me the other day if her package had arrived, I thought she meant the video of the holiday.

Today I went to our local newsagent to pick up my parcels from Australia. Both of them were from Sandy. I was intrigued by the one that was marked as containing Woollen jacket. It looked small - did she think I was having a baby?

I opened it and gazed in wonder at her glorious creation for none other than Lambi the wonder dog. It is a beautiful, hand-knitted original coat, incorporating the Aussie motif of the southern cross in good old green and gold as well as the Swedish flag.

Take it away, Lambi - Strike a pose!



That's Lambi posing proudly and showing off the beloved Aussie colours and the constellation that stirs the heart of every antipodean. It was all I could do to stop myself breaking into Peter Allen's I Still Call Australia Home or Men at Work's Down Under.

And to be totally fair, she turned around and showed us her shy, Swedish side.



She's gazing southwards wondering why we are freezing in this cold land when we could be sunning ourselves in Australia. Isn't it the most wonderful, colourful and perfect coat for Lambi? The card inside was of a pair of sulphur crested cockatoos and read



What can I say but a big thankyou to Sandy who created this masterpiece and to Kate who organised it all. Why thank me? It is you who deserves a big thankyou for providing a website that brings 6,336 expat Aussies in 108 countries together for friendship, support and a lot of fun. What I do is a very small part of this incredible website that has given me so much enjoyment over the last four years. Thankyou, Kate and Sandy!

Lambi shall wear this coat around with pride. And as if on cue, the temperatues have plunged overnight to below zero again, freezing the sea in the shallow bays again.



Perfect weather for a warm woolly coat. I'm sure she'll be a happy little Vegemite in her Sandy Van Veen original.