G, it would be so easy for them to drown in a trough. We have several around here and most of them are only 30cm tall and are long, rectangular ones but one is about 60cm deep and a big round one and I would imagine that if they had something like that or if they got caught on something and couldn't get themselves back out, then it would be easy to understand how they could have drowned. It must be devastating for them JM. I know we have a lot of water close to here - the troughs and also the big house dam, but we have never ever had a problem with the kids going near them. We have always taken a casual approach,and by that I mean that we don't go near them, but also don't make a huge fuss over them - otherwise they see it as something they NEED to check out kwim? Plus we don't swim in our dam either so our kids have never been familiar with it as a place they can go.

Arte, so glad you popped in. I knew that you weren't close, but it is still a shocking tragedy and would be hard for many to come to terms with

Cally, I knew what DFAT was, but not the other part. She must be super proud of herself for getting the job!

JM, I had to laugh at reading of Lu's antics. She is quite the little performer isn't she? You will have to video tape her doing it. So do you think you will stay longer than the 3yrs? Is there a school Lu can go to?

It is still a bit surreal having a 10yo. It's kinda weird because we're on the cusp of having that whole teen/puberty thing happen LOL. But I think Lindsay might be a late bloomer - so many of his friends are getting interested in girls and he is dead against any notion of being close to one LOL.