Caroline's 18th and Laura leaves home

We've been an uncharacteristically 'sick' household for the past few weeks, with Sue still suffering from her shingles pain, and me having had bad toothache prior to dental treatment during the week. On top of that, Rebecca's had a bout of asthma, so we've been having a low key time of late and limited exercise. However, this past weekend has been an active one, with Laura going off to University and Caroline's 18th birthday on Saturday.

I took the day off work on Friday so that Sue and I could take Laura to Wollongong for her course enrolment and to move into her student accommodation. It was a hot day but the journey was reasonably fast at just over the 1.5 hour mark. Laura went off to enrol on her nursing course, where she's still classed as an international student due to our visa type, but it seems to cause all sorts of problems with the system!

Sue and I had a walk around the botanic gardens which is next to the University campus and then met up with Laura after she'd finished her tasks. The campus is very green and open, on the outskirts of the town and at the base of a large hill / escarpment that dominates the landscape and coastline.

We then found her student accommodation, eventually, and moved the first load of 'things' into the room - quite spacious and comfortable enough. She's living in 'flexi-catered' accommodation for this first year and the largest one for the university, so lots of students around and it all seems very welcoming.

We all then returned home for a takeaway family meal in the evening, prior to Caroline's birthday the next day. Saturday was spent busy preparing for the party Caroline was having at the house in the evening and Rebecca also started her new job at a pharmacy chain in the local shopping mall in the afternoon. The party went off well, with about 35 friends turning up - it was noisy and we were glad when it was finished but Caroline enjoyed it and there wasn't too much to clear up afterwards!

Then on Sunday we all drove back down to Wollongong to leave Laura there with the rest of her stuff. We had a quick look at the local beach, which is near to the accommodation, and then left her to sort her room out before various social events started in the afternoon. She's really looking forward to getting started and making new friends and it seems like she's picked a good environment to live and study, which gives her the independence away from home, but not too far away.