From sandy beaches to snowy driveways

After six months in Australia and New Zealand we flew East on our way to Washington DC. We flew via Los Angeles where we changed planes for a domestic flight across the USA and eventually arrived into DC after 20 hours of travelling. In addition to jet-lag, we were shocked by the temperature difference between Sydney in mid-Summer and DC in mid-winter - from +35'C to -5'C in less than a day. We met Hilary and Pete at the airport who transported our tired and confused bodies back to their home.

Our first few days in DC were spent recovering from jet-lag and acclimatising to the cold. Walking in the forests and shovelling snow from the driveway seemed to do the trick, and we were soon back to our normal selves.

Feeling ready for a new adventure we headed up to New York City for a few days where we stayed with Meg's uncle Malc and aunt Sally who live 40 minutes out of the city in Greenwich, Connecticut. It rained heavily throughout our first day there, so we took the subway from Grand Central Station to the upper-west side and explored the Museum of Natural History before a quick dash across snowy Central Park to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

We spent a couple of very enjoyable evenings in Greenwich with Malc and Sally.

We were more fortunate with the weather on our second day and so explored lower Manhattan on foot. From the Flat Iron building we headed into Greenwich Village and stumbled across a great deli / bakery for bagels, bread and cake.

We then continued further South passing by a number of landmarks, including Ground Zero and Wall Street.

After a whirlwind couple of days we headed back to Washington on the train, laden-down with bagels and other treats acquired on our New York adventure.

The Ashes - 5th Test: The SCG

Following an uncomfortable 12 hour overnight coach journey from Melbourne we arrived into Sydney for the final Ashes test. Our first day at the Sydney Cricket Ground was Day 2, where England continued to bowl well and had Australia 8/189 before a minor tail-end revival gave them a more respectable total of 280 runs.

Our initial fears of a repeat of Perth were quickly forgotten as England's batsmen overtook the Australian total for a loss of just 5 wickets.

We were back again on Day 3 of the test for 'Pink Day', where money was raised for the breast cancer charity in honour of former Australian cricketer Glenn McGrath's late first wife. It was amazing to see the whole ground awash with pink including the stumps and most of the advertising hoardings. England batted all day with Bell and Prior both posting centuries.

England continued to bat until lunch on Day 4, reaching a score of 644 runs - the highest total any England side has ever scored in Australia. We had been fortunate to witness an incredible number of records being broken throughout this test. In the final two sessions of the day, England took an incredible 7 wickets giving Australia no hope of saving the match.

With England requiring only 3 wickets for victory, entry into the ground on the final day was free. Despite this, finding a needle in a haystack would have been easier than spotting an Aussie inside the ground!

Following a couple of rain delays England took care of the final 3 wickets and the party commenced.

We had a great morning singing along with the Barmy Army. Mark also realised that Day 5 in Sydney was the 13th day he had attended out of the 23 played in this amazing series. Meg set about calculating how many 'Brownie Points' this had earned her!

The only sad moment of the victory was bidding farewell to Paul Collingwood who announced his retirement from test cricket. Despite having a below-par series, Collingwood was still a fan-favourite for his reliable catching, solid batting, endless commitment and fighting spirit.

The next day we left Australia and made our way to Washington DC to visit Meg's parents. Going from temperatures of 30'C to -5'C in the space of one day was a shock to our systems. But the biggest change is that Mark can now walk the streets without being pointed at and called "Colly". He is no longer a celebrity!