Well I just heard from Julie and here is part of her email:

No news yet re jobs - have sent out TONS of CV's and applied online for loads of jobs too - but no response yet.

We would prefer to find something in the Middle East, at least until our visa for New Zealand comes through, but most of the hiring there is done by word-of-mouth, so Warren has been emailing and phoning all his contacts there, to let them now he is looking.

My internet access is once again a problem (I have jumped on a neighbor's wireless at the moment), as the company hasn't paid our connection so it has been shut off. We need to be out of the company accomodation by the 30th, and our medical cover etc all expires then too...so things are quite stressful at the moment. We will probably return to Bahrain so Warren can job-hunt and Cam can finish his exams (he is in the last year of high school, so this is messing up his year BIG time!!). We can survive for max 2 months there, then we will need to return to SA and stay with family whilst we look for jobs - I just hope it does not come down to that!

Right now they are planning on going back to Bahrain, so I think that leaving Ally there (for the time being) might be a good thing. Julie may need the cuddles now more than ever.