Tom and Katie Down Under

365: Thursday 26th January 2012 - Australia Day

2012-01-26T20:55:00.002+11:00

Australia Day cupcakes for our picnic at the country races...

365: Wednesday 25th January 2012

2012-01-26T12:30:00.000+11:00

Baking quiche for Australia Day picnic...

365: Tuesday 24th January 2012

2012-01-26T12:27:00.000+11:00

Australia Day baking project commences...

365: Monday 23rd January 2012

2012-01-26T12:25:00.001+11:00

Sunset after yet another BBQ dinner...

365: Sunday 22nd January 2012

2012-01-26T12:23:00.001+11:00

Tom read my mind that I fancied BBQ burgers for dinner... One reason why we are married :-)

365: Saturday 21st January 2012

2012-01-26T12:19:00.000+11:00

Out for dinner... Thanks for our Christmas present Peter & Sue!

(this is breaded bream with kewpie coleslaw at The Montague, South Melbourne)

365: Friday 20th January 2012

2012-01-26T12:02:00.001+11:00

Location scouting at the Botanical Gardens.

365: Thursday 19th January 2012

2012-01-26T11:56:00.000+11:00

At the Australian Open...

365: Wednesday 18th January 2012

2012-01-26T11:55:00.000+11:00

Wedding fever continues in Melbourne...

365: Tuesday 17th January 2012

2012-01-17T21:21:00.004+11:00

If you missed the photo slideshow at our wedding...

2012-01-15T11:34:00.002+11:00

If you missed the photo slideshow at our wedding, here's a chance to watch again. Make sure you get a cuppa first!

365: Sunday 15th January 2012

2012-01-15T10:00:00.000+11:00

365: Saturday 14th January 2012

2012-01-14T21:00:00.000+11:00

Today we had the Bassills over for lunch...

Mr & Mrs

2012-01-12T18:57:00.000+11:00

Our trips home to the UK are always memorable.

Our first return visit in May 2010 featured an en-route wedding proposal and the joy of sharing the news with family and friends. Our second holiday at home in September 2011 was filled with the excitement (or misery, if you're Tom) of planning the wedding, after an initially outrageous but ultimately rather inspired suggestion sparked us to move our wedding forwards from August 2012 to December 2011.

Our most recent trip, the wedding itself, was the best of all however, and thanks to the family and friends who turned out, dressed up, drank down and partied on, the celebration which I expected to just 'enjoy' turned out to be the best day of my life.

To top it all off, Tom might have enjoyed it a little too...

I had set him somewhat of an endurance test - the pressure of the ceremony, the nerves of the Groom's speech, and finally some first dance choreography that wouldn't look out of place on Strictly. For a guy who has never danced in his life and doesn't enjoy public speaking, I can understand why he wasn't thrilled at the thought. He acquitted himself perfectly though and jumped every hurdle with room to spare. His Facebook status on 31st December summed up his relief however - it read, "Married. Phew."

I've debated whether or not this blog entry should be a chronological play-by-play of our wedding day, but as the volume of happy memories that I'd love to recount is somewhat significant, I thought I might risk losing even my most dedicated readers. Instead I've documented a quick fire top five highlights.

If you feel somewhat hard done by that I've opted not to tell the fairytale from the start, then you can pop on over to Mister Phill's website, who has documented just that in Dorset Wedding : Katie & Tom : Part One and Dorset Wedding : Katie & Tom : Part Two. (But please read the rest of this first!)

So, in no particular order:

1. The Dresses

That's a deliberate capital D for Dresses, because they were the stars of the show! Expertly stitched clothing by my unbelievably talented mother was modelled by three bridesmaids, three flowergirls and three page boys, and as if that wasn't enough, she also created the bridal gown of my dreams whilst I was 10,000 miles away. This is no small achievement and was easily the most discussed aspect of the day, both on the day, and after. It was quite literally a jaw-dropping feat, and having my mother make my wedding dress was one of the most special aspects of the day for me.

I'm very happy to be wearing it a second time, for our Australian wedding party in February. How many brides get to wear a dress created by their own mother, and then get to wear it twice? I think I'm lucky.

A tribute to my bridal gown...

2. The Children

Many thought we were crazy, but very early on in our engagement we made the decision to ask all of the little people that we are closest with to be a central part of our wedding day. Tom is cool 'Uncle T' to no fewer than four nieces and two nephews, and once you add in my godson and his sister, and my best friend's little one, before you know it, you've reached a grand total of nine. Yes, nine children who together have a combined age of 46 and a half.

Whilst this was a recipe for considerable unpredictability on the day, we couldn't have asked for better behaviour, more smiles or greater enjoyment. Of all of the wonderful comments we've had from guests post-wedding, the ones which have warmed our hearts the most have come from the children, not least three year old Ellie's request to please go to the wedding again!

So to Millie, Charlie, Rosie, Emily, Jake, Jamie, Daisy, Ellie and Dora -

you walked perfectly
you smiled beautifully
you dressed impeccably
you danced crazily
and without you all the day would not have been so special.

A tribute to our favourite kiddies:

3. The speeches

I knew I'd cry, and I did. How could I not, with three amazing men all giving absolutely outstanding speeches?

Dad's speech was so heartfelt, I'm certain I will cry every single time I watch it back on the video. He has opened a can of worms with his Newsround stories though. No, the videos aren't on YouTube, and no, I can't even remember the name of the presenters at the time. I'm sure Dad can though ;-)

I'd heard half of Tom's speech before the big day. I loved his heartful words to his family and I laughed for a long time at his 'screwing' joke, which was suitably close to the mark! I continue to re-read his speech from his cue cards. He accuses me of only reading the section about me, which is not true ;-)

After much consideration before the big day as to whether or not I would join him at the microphone, I was very happy to sit silent because, quite simply, I couldn't have said it better myself.

Alex. The Best Man. Well done for a great speech despite very little dirt to dig up ;-) I'll remember this speech not for the Norwich jokes, but for Alex's continued fear that he'd gone too far and upset the Lister family! Don't worry Alex, you can stop apologising now...

4. The dance

I don't know if you guessed, but this was pretty important to me. After twenty years of dance classes and with Gully in the audience, I needed to demonstrate a little bit of dancing skill at least.

Tom understood this, and so with gritted teeth he very dutifully endured 8 weeks (yes, that's 8 weeks) of dance classes. For me. Altogether now - 1, 2, 3... aaaaaaaaaaaaah! This probably sounds like an eternity for most men, but let's respect his achievement of learning not only 'a dance' (noun) but learning 'to dance' (verb) in such a short space of time.

I loved every minute of learning our first dance and every second of performing it. Tom endured the former and has admited to actually enjoying the latter! Thanks to the crowd for your whoops and cheers of 'Come on Tom!'... this is the picture of the day for me:

5. Mister Phill

A creative master, wedding documenter and one of my photography idols. It was a privilege to have his artistic talents to photograph our wedding, and his images will be treasured for ever.

Phill has written an outstanding blog of our wedding day, which features a conversation between him and two of my good friends. I think this sums up nicely my feelings towards his photography:

“Are you Mister Phill?”

I confirmed that I was in the manner I know best. I took a photograph.

“Katie’s been really excited about this for weeks.”

“Getting married? I dare say she’s been excited a great deal longer than that.”

“No, about being photographed by you.”

Phill, I am already searching for future life events that I might be able to tempt your camera to shoot and if any of my readers are enjoying the accompanying images then please head over to his website and show your appreciation to Phill.

6. The two people who started it all

No, not Adam and Eve - Alex and Fiona. Without them, there would be no 'us', and for that we are eternally grateful.

Fiona was adamant that I should meet Tom. I was adamant that she should be my bridesmind. Both turned out to be great decisions! I couldn't have asked for a more supportive friend to guide me through the hectic preparations and craziness of the day itself. She curled, pinned, zipped, tied, glossed, fetched, carried, smiled, laughed and loved. She is also the only person other than my dad who made me properly cry on the day and despite running around after me the whole day, she also managed to look absolutely stunning herself.

Mister Phill thought he noticed a bit of chemistry between Alex & Fiona.. then he realised they are already married ;-)

7. Our families

We haven't spent a lot of time with our families over the past couple of years, but we've still made some wonderful memories. It meant a lot to us to bring both of our families together for our wedding day, and we hope that it created lasting memories for a long time to come....

8. Our guests

You came from far and wide and you wore big smiles on your faces. We were so happy that so many of you could come from so far, at such short notice, to be with Tom and me on our wedding day. Judging from the photos, it looks like a few of you had a good time in the process?!

9. The rest of our lives

I made no secret in the run-up to the wedding that I just couldn't wait to be married. Saying our vows was the start of a fun and exciting new chapter, and I'm very proud and excited to be Mrs Katie Lister! There is no spreadsheet for the next phase of our lives but here's to 2012....

It seems like I've run over five favourite highlights from the day... I'm afraid this isn't as short an entry as I'd planned. I couldn't leave it at nine highlights so here's number ten to close:

10. My new husband

A few pictures to say a thousand words...

We will never forget 30th December 2011...

365: Saturday 7th January 2012

2012-01-08T11:31:00.000+11:00

Trying all forms of caffeine to combat the jet lag.

365: Friday 6th January 2012

2012-01-08T11:29:00.001+11:00

We lost this day in flight whilst en route from LHR to MEL.

365: Thursday 5th January 2012

2012-01-05T11:11:00.000+11:00

I'm so glad that baby Michael was born whilst we were in the UK so that we got to meet him :-)

365: Wednesday 4th January 2012

2012-01-04T11:25:00.000+11:00

When it rains - go bowling.

365: Tuesday 3rd January 2012

2012-01-03T11:00:00.000+11:00

Post-wedding togetherness.

365: Monday 2nd January 2012

2012-01-02T10:55:00.000+11:00

Reuntied with best friends, Richard and Tamara.

365: Sunday 1st January 2011

2012-01-01T10:41:00.000+11:00

Opening wedding gifts.

365: Saturday 31st December 2011

2011-12-31T10:38:00.000+11:00

The celebrations continue.

365: Friday 30th December 2011

2011-12-30T10:36:00.000+11:00

Our wedding day. So hard to post just one picture. I didn't use my camera today, so here is one from our photographer, guesting on my 365, the incredible, Phillip Allen.

365: Thurs 29th December 2011

2011-12-30T09:53:00.001+11:00

The day before the big day

Normal service will resume shortly...

2011-12-29T09:14:00.001+11:00

I have the small matter of a wedding to attend to. I promise I'm taking the photos daily, but will catching up on posting shortly!

365: Wednesday 28th December 2011

2011-12-28T10:33:00.000+11:00

Hague family Christmas.

365: Tuesday 27th December 2011

2011-12-27T10:28:00.000+11:00

All I want for Christmas is.... the new Blackberry Curve.

365: Monday 26th December 2011

2011-12-26T10:22:00.000+11:00

Getting ready for the wedding...

365: Christmas Day 2011

2011-12-25T10:15:00.002+11:00

Delicious food.

365: Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-24T10:18:00.000+11:00

It's all about the children at Christmas...

365: Friday 23rd December 2011

2011-12-23T10:18:00.000+11:00

Open fire...

365: Thursday 22nd December 2011

2011-12-22T10:16:00.000+11:00

Breakfast of Champions

365: Wednesday 21st December 2011

2011-12-21T10:15:00.000+11:00

Beauty isn't always pretty

365: Tuesday 20th December 2011

2011-12-20T08:40:00.001+11:00

Something blue...

365: Monday 19th December 2011

2011-12-19T21:49:00.000+11:00

Bridal preparations....

365: Sunday 18th December

2011-12-18T09:23:00.000+11:00

Catching up with great friends....

(ok so my dates are a little messed up on the last two images - I'm clearly still jet lagged).

365: Saturday 17th December

2011-12-17T22:20:00.000+11:00

Celebrating with my hens...

365: Friday 16th December 2011

2011-12-17T21:01:00.002+11:00

Watching Stephanie Powell rock it out at We Will Rock You in the West End...

A new project...

2011-12-17T20:58:00.004+11:00

I've started a new '365' project, where I take a photograph every day for a year. It's designed to encourage creativity of photography, and also document my life! I thought I would share my daily images on this blog as a way of kick starting my updates into a more regular pattern.

To avoid bombaring your inboxes I won't be sending update emails to those of you who are registered for updates on a daily basis - I'll only send an update email if I've written a 'proper' blog entry! In the meantime, feel free to stop by whenever you fancy to check out my latest 365 udpates...

In the meantime.. Happy Christmas to you all!

365: Thursday 15th December 2011

2011-12-15T21:12:00.001+11:00

Back in the London commuter rush...

365: Wednesday 14th December 2011

2011-12-14T21:13:00.001+11:00

Our 'home' for the next 24 hours.

365: Tuesday 13th December 2011

2011-12-13T21:17:00.000+11:00

Ready to fly!

Around the world in thirty days... Part I

2011-10-30T17:09:00.023+11:00

Before I begin, credit goes to Sarah Bassill for the title of today's blog!

At the end of August we embarked on our second trip back to the UK since our move to Melbourne. We planned 3 weeks travelling around England, followed by a week in Toronto, Canada for the wedding of our Melbourne-besties, Richard and Tamara. All in all, this trip would take us from Melbourne to Singapore, Sinagpore to London, all around England, then London to Toronto, Toronto to LA, and finally LA to Melbourne. We ate, drank, kissed, cried, laughed, shopped, packed, unpacked, repacked, photographed, attended three weddings and planned our own. It felt like we only slept when we got on a plane!

Here are some photos from our trip...

We arrived just in time for Fiona and Alex's wedding. Without these two, this blog wouldn't exist (nor would a lot of things in my life) - because they are the matchmakers behind me and Tom!

We stayed with Tush and Andy for several nights during our stay, and met their pup Veto for the first time!

Next it was home to Poole, to see Mum and Dad! Whilst we were there, we also caught up with Toby & Melissa, and Lucy and the extended Tammam family. I got some shots in with my new camera for Di's three beautiful grand-daughters:

We also visited Valerie and Aubrey but I don't have a photo collage for that I'm afriad!

We checked out Compton Acres as a potential wedding venue... and two weeks later ended up booking it and back there with our wedding photographer! Here are the amateur snaps:

And here is a snippet of the professional shots:

You can see more of our 'pre wedding' shoot at Mister Phill's Website.

We made a trip up to Sandleheath to see Grandma, and had a long awaited Pizza Express lunch with Emma, Marc, Jake and Daisy - we miss Pizza Express a lot whilst we are in Oz, but obviously not as much as I miss this adorable pair:

Next we were off to London, but en route we stopped in to visit Ella, Andy and little Amelie, who has grown up a bit since we last saw her! It happened to be her second birthday, so I thought I'd shown a bit of a 'then' and 'now', to illustrate, mostly to myself (because it makes me feel bad), how much the little ones change whilst we are away:
After a stop through my office in London we caught up with some friends in the pub (again, no photos from this part of the trip, but that is nothing to do with the amount of alcohol consumed!), did lots of shopping, had sushi with Elian on Southbank and I had the pleasure of tea with Dora and Lucy! We stayed with Tush and Andy again, and besides the pleasure of their company, were very excited to have an English Chinese takeaway!!

We waved goodbye to Tush and Andy, accidentally leaving behind my newly purchased facewash (can't buy this brand in Oz!), and accidentally bringing with us a bag of newly purchased maternity wear... oops!

Next was the short drive up to Cheshire (all UK drives are short compared to Aussie distances) to stay with the Wood's for a few days. We had seen them last August when they visited Melbourne, but we were amazed how much Millie, Rosie and Jamie had grown in the past 12 months. We also got to see their new extension and kitchen, which was super impressive, and the second new pup of the trip, Ruby the Schnoodle!

Other highlights of our trip 'up north' were waving Millie off on her first day at high school, going through old photo albums with Anna to catch up on the years before I was part of the family, having two fab personal assistants in the form of Rosie and Millie whilst shopping at the Trafford Centre, and seeing Louise with Benjamin and baby Sophia at Chester Zoo (even it if was raining):

We also saw Patrick and Adelene, and met newest addition, Isobel! Not to try to influence her too much, Tom came bearing clothing for both Norwich City and the Western Bulldogs!

Next stop was Norwich, for a few days with the Lister / Howlett / Shackleton clan, and then with the Woods again too. We had walks in the country and by the river, a big family dinner, lots of photography opportunities and lunch with Marian and Florence. So much happened, that multiple photos are required..

Tom's nieces and nephews amused themselves for hours in the sandpit, but were a bit put off when they thought the wet patches of sad where not from rain, but from cat wee!

Tom's mum, dad, sisters and their offspring:

It was obvious that the youngest, Ellie, is used to be photographed!

Many a meal eaten at this table...

The kids also really embraced Tom's new job, and we had great fun with a studio style shoot and some Western Bulldogs scarves:

Before we left Norwich, the idea was posed by either Claire or Sue (we can't quite remember who), that Tom and I could bring forward our wedding... and there began the craziness of wedding planning...

(to be continued)....

Two years to the day..

2011-10-28T21:50:00.007+11:00

It's sad to think it takes as special an occasion as our two year anniversary of arriving in Melbourne for me to write a blog entry, but life has been such a whirlwind of late that I'm afraid the blog has taken rather a back seat. Since the last entry where we brought you up to speed with the Uluru saga, we have made lots more happy memories in Melborne, taken new steps in both of our careers, and also made a second whirlwind trip home to plan the next BIG event in our lives....

Here's just a snippet of the past four months...

In the UK, July brings the school holidays, Wimbledon, Pimms, the odd BBQ and maybe even some sunshine. In Australia however, it brings Christmas in July! This year we gathered with a group of fellow-Northern hemispher-ites and travelled 90 minutes down the coast the Blairgowrie, where a holiday house and food-a-plenty awaited. The Brits cooked a roast on Friday night, and the American's went wild with chilli-dogs on the Saturday night. We played 'Aussie rules' Secret Santa which permits the stealing of other people's gifts (contraversial, but undoubtedly more exciting for spectators), which saw me lose my amazing gift of a stylish water jug, in exchange for a $30 Myer voucher. Four months on, I actually spent the voucher last weekend - on a jumper for Tom! Typical.

Featured in this photo are brussel sprouts (to prove it was a genuine 'Christmas'), and my strawberry pavlova (to prove I can still only make one dessert). Jordan, bottom right, proves greater versitility on the pudding front with her US-flad sheet cake however!

Looking back at my photos from July and August, I don't have much to offer, largely because I spent most of it, day and night, in a windowless room with my calculator and fellow auditors, doing what we do best. I think they put us in a windowless room deliberately, because we can't tell when it gets dark and therefore 'home time' beckons. The hard work and long hours were worth it however, as I got a promotion for my efforts and feel very at home in the Melbourne office. The end of 'busy season' celebration was just as big here as it used to be in my London days, and we had a big dinner followed by a solid karaoke session! I rewarded myself for my hard work not with chocolate (usual reward) but with a new camera (less fattening, particularly when photographing children which requires lots of energy), and found a little bit of time to get in some shoots:

Ben is son to Lou and Sam, our friends and a very willing subject for me!

Whilst I was hard at work, Tom was busy plotting the next big stage in his career - in Aussie Rules Football! He has a new job with the Western Bulldogs as their General Manager for Fan Development, with the objective of building the fan base of the club. As a sports-nut, it's Tom's ideal role, and now one month into the job he is really enjoying it. I'm afraid the Saints will now have to take a backseat and make way for the mighty Doggies!! Here are some photos from an event Tom ran (and I photographed) a couple of weeks ago:

After the madness of August I was really relieved to get on a plane to the UK - not just to see family friends, but simply for 24 hours of travel time where I could do nothing but rest! We had three wonderful weeks at home, and caught up with family and friends. I'm going to have to end this blog here and write about that next time though... but I promise there won't be a four month gap! Until then....

The Uluru Saga

2011-07-03T13:36:00.025+10:00

sa·ga

noun /ˈsägə/
sagas, plural

A long, involved story, account, or series of incidents

- the saga of visiting Uluru

On the second weekend in June Australia celebrates the Queen's Birthday with a day off work. With no disrespect to her Majesty, we have done a lot of Royal following recently (Willankate wedding mania was big in Melbourne), so we rather ignored the meaning on the holiday and instead took the opportunity to visit a place that you just can't get to on a normal 2-day weekend - Uluru. At 2,316 kilometers from Melbourne, it would take 26 hours to drive to this iconic Australian tourist destination. Of course nobody really does this, and instead we hopped on a 2 hour flight to Alice Springs, followed by a short 45 minute second flight to Ayres Rock. This still took the best part of a day, which is why Uluru is a place that you really need a 3 day weekend to cover.

After the excitement of Hamilton Island just two weeks previously, I'll be honest and admit that Tom and I would really rather have been going back to the Queensland sun than heading into the centre of the continent to watch the sun rise on a rock at 6am with zero degree temperatures. Not to be ungrateful for this opportunity however, I packed a suitcase full of warm clothes, walking boots and my camera tripod, and slapped a smile on my face. It was a bit of a fake smile though, because two days earlier I'd had an unfortunately-timed wisdom tooth extraction that had left me in quite a bit of pain.

Uluru from the air

Ayres Rock airport has to have one of the smallest terminals in existance. There is a baggage carousel, but when you land here and you and your 40 or so fellow passengers go to collect their bags, it's a pretty speedy affair. This also means it's pretty obvious when everyone else has collected their bag and boarded the transfer bus and you're still waiting. And the baggage carousel has stopped. And the security staff appear to be packing up. Yes, it was a true 'oh shit' moment when we realised that my suitcase had not arrived...

In at first what seemed like quite an amusing incident, it soon dawned on me that this might actually be rather inconvient. "Don't worry Madam", said the Qantas representative, "we'll have your bags with you in 24 hours." Great, I thought, wonderful customer service.... but hang on, we are only going to be here for 24 hours, so I'm going to receive my warm clothes after we've braved the zero degree temperatutes, my tripod after the photographic sunset opportunity, and my walking boots after I've tarnished my brand new white converse trainers with the distinctive rich red earth which characterises the Northern Territory like nothing else. Hmmm... The Qantas woman was still talking to me I then realised, she was handing me a 'survival kit'. Could it be, a handy all-in-one Qantas branded warm jacket with built in tripod and walking shoes?????! No, some grey PJs and a toothbrush.

White shoes + red earth = dirty trainers

Unamused, I boarded the transfer bus to join Tom, and here commenced probably the most ill-fated trip we've had to date. Unfortunately for Tom I struggled to get over the disappointment of the lost baggage, in particular because I'd packed significant rations of pureed and soft foods - which was all I could eat with my dental situation. He did his best to console me - lending me his t-shirts and socks as extra layers, and turning a blind eye to the extortionate amount of money I spent in the Ayres Rock IGA on replacing essential items.

I justified this expense on the grounds that the rest of the trip was quite a good deal - our hotel was on a 2 for 1 offer which included bus transfers - a steal in my eyes! Until we got to check in - they asked if we'd like to purchase the 2 day Uluru Express bus ticket, priced at a conservatively extortionate $180 per person. No thanks, I thought, we've got bus transfers included in our accomodation price.... or so I thought. Unfortunately this only involved the resort shuttle bus which goes from one hotel to another, and not to the rock itself. Now why anyone would want to use a shuttle bus to get to a hotel that they aren't staying in, I don't know. Anyway, out came $180 x 2 and the Ayres Rock Resort thanked Qantas for at least not losing my credit card en route.

What proceeded in the next 24 hours was really a rather wonderful introduction to the Northern Territory, and Uluru delivered everything that I had hoped for from a large sandstone rock formation, plus a little bit of extra sparkle. Arriving by air allows you to appreciate the dominance of Uluru in an otherwise flat lanscape, and walking up close confirms it's monstrous proportions. It emits a radiance that no other inanimate object can, and the way that the rock face glows in the reflection of the sunset is enough to warm even the coldest of people. Who don't have enough layers on. Because Qantas lost their bl**dy bags!

Straight out of the camera.. no Photoshop. It really is this bright at sunset!

During our trip we watched two sunsets, one sunrise, did a walk around one side of the rock, and also visited a second nearly rock formation called Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). One of our expected highlights was the Uluru Aboriginal Cultural Centre, however it was somewhat misrepresented by it's name as we didn't meet a single Aboringee there. Disappointing.

As a souvenir of our trip which was now drawing to a close, we purchased a wooden carved lizard (now named Lenny) from the Cultural Centre. It was a rather awkward shape for bringing home, but the staff in the shop wrapped it up well in bubble wrap and bright orange 'FRAGILE' tape. One for the hand luggage, along with the oversized tube we were already lugging around containing our obligatory purchase of Aborginal art. Tom and I were delighted to find a piece of art that we liked during a 2-hour visit (and thats enough time folks!) to Alice Springs, not just because it would be a new addition to our apartment, but because it meant we would never have to set foot in another Aboriginal art gallery ever again! We have been in Australia for nearly two years now and I estimate we've spent at least 3 days of our lives that we will never get back looking for the 'perfect' piece of art. Now we have it, and we carried everywhere so that Qantas would never be able to lose it. Tom also did some serious bargaining (inspried by Jedi Jim from the Apprentice) - to the point where I was quite proud of the discount but also quite glad we don't have to see that shopkeeper again!

The night before we left, my suitcase arrived at our hotel and I was delighted to be reunited with everything that I had packed as 'essential' but clearly managed without. Our adventure was over and the next day it was time to fly back to Melbourne. Little did we know however, that 10 days previously a Chilean volcano had started to erupt, sending plumes of ash high into the sky ready to drift into Australian skies... we woke up to find that our flight to Melbourne was cancelled, and immediately panicked that we may be forced to spend longer than the desired maximum of 2 hours in Alice Springs. We convinced the hotel to give us a private transfer to the airport, certain that this would mean first place in the check in queue and first dibs on alternative travel arrangements. We had forgotten that this the airport with only one desk and only one baggage carousel however, and despite arriving first, the terminal building wasn't even open! After 30 minutes of standing in the freezing cold, the transfer bus arrived carrying everyone else... BUT we were still first in the queue! Then my phone rang and it was Qantas. "Your flight has been cancelled Madam." Yes I know that. "However we'd like to fly you to Perth instead." Really? Perth?! That's 1,656km in the wrong direction. Aren't airlines supposed to be good at navigation?! After much deliberation we ended up on a flight to Adelaide. A reasonable compromise we thought, and with Adelaide only a 9 hour drive from Melbourne we could at least foresee a way to get home. Whlist we waited to board the plane, we called every car hire company in South Australia and finally secured what felt like the only car available for the one-way trip home, at a pricey $365.

The flight to Adelaide was uneventful, apart from bizarrely seeing the shopkeeper from the Aboriginal Art shop (you know, the guy I never wanted to see again because we bargained so hard his children will probably have to go without Christmas this year). He recognised us, probably because I was still clutching the cardboard tube containing the artwork. Awkward. He probably looked at Lenny the Lizard all wrapped up and wondered if we'd ripped someone else off too.

After some thinking time on the plane we realised $365 on hire car (plus hotel + petrol) was going to make for a costly, long and tiring drive home, and that maybe we would rather stump up and pay for a flight the next day, as Melbourne was now clear of ash. Qantas had seats for $200 each, so we jumped at it, but not before I'd told the Customer Service guy our back story. I included the part about the lost luggage, and 5 minutes later we had two boarding passes for FREE, courtesy of Qantas! Amazing.

We booked a hotel for the night, assured by the girl on the accomodation desk that this hotel must be nice because it is where her boss stays when he's in town. Of course it is love, because its in the RED LIGHT DISTRICT (which we discovered on arrival). Anyway, one night in a crap hotel didn't bother us. We had never intended to come back to Adelaide, and our lasting memory of our one and only previous visit was being 'dumped' by besties Richard and Tamara. We made a pilgrimage to the bar where they told us they were leaving Melbourne, wiped away a tear or two (joke), and then headed to the Adelaide Musuem for 20 minutes before it closed. In this 20 minutes I learnt more about Aboriginal history than in 20 waking hours at Uluru. Thanks RADelaide.

The next day we were up and ready to go, only to turn on the news to find that we had a friend in town - the ash cloud! Now clear of Melbourne, the ash had drifted over South Australia overnight and Qantas had cancelled all flights up to 10am. Our flight was at 10.30am, so hopefully we'd be ok. We went to the airport and camped out at the gate with all our gear, including bubble-wrapped Lenny and the art. Along came the crew, bags got loaded, meals were on board, even a TV crew showed up to film the monimentous occasion that would be our flight departing. And then it was cancelled! Tom took custody of the bags whilst I RAN to the customer service desk to repeat again the re-booking process. After what felt like ages, during which I was interviewed for Channel Ten news, I finally got to the front and the representative advised me to leave the airport and call Qantas customer services later in day. There was no way I was leaving that desk without being re-booked though, and 5 mins later we were booked on a flight the next day and checked into a beachside hotel with meals, accomodation and transport all paid for by Qantas. We then proceeded to have a rather lovely day by the beach in the sunshine, and with our trip extended by 2 nights, all of a sudden I was glad for a suitcase full of unworn clothing.

We finally made it home 45 hours later than planned. Thank you Qantas, for an eventful weekend that turned into nearly a week. I still had toothache at the end, but we'd seen Uluru, bought two fantastic souvenirs, taken 5 separate flights and had the unexpected bonus of making our first Australian TV appearance. Now that's something you just can't do in a 2-day weekend.

Tourists climbing the rock, which we didn't do because it's considered disrespectful

Tom at Kata Tjuta

Me doing what I'm often doing

Happy in RADelaide after an unplanned diversion

Hamilton Island

2011-05-29T20:58:00.006+10:00

The Whitsunday Islands was the destination for our latest Australian escapade, which was timed to coincide with Tom turning 28 (on the 27^th) and the one year anniversary of our engagement. After last year’s rather impressive and romantic gesture from Tom of proposing on the sandy beaches of Bunker Bay , I thought it was my turn to come up with something special to celebrate his birthday. Whilst checking my emails during a footie match (I do all my best thinking in the third quarter – obviously I’m still paying attention to the game, yes really.. erm, ok not always) I chanced upon some reasonably cheap flights to Hamilton Island. I decided to book the trip as a surprise for Tom and excitedly told him that we’d be going away to a ‘mystery location’ for his birthday! 20 minutes later at half time I carelessly flashed my phone in his direction and he couldn’t help but read the giant orange letters on my email header ‘HAMILTON ISLAND HOTEL BOOKING’. Dammit. So the surprise ended there, but the anticipation began!

The Whitsunday Islands are a collection of continental islands off the coast of Queensland, approximately 900km north of Brisbane, which are actually mountains drowned by rising sea levels. Hamilton Island is the commercial centre of the group, but other islands also welcome tourists, including the idyllic honeymoon destination Daydream Island. We’ve got 18 months to go before we can claim to be honeymooners, so after ruling out the amusingly named ‘Plum Pudding Island’ (yes, that’s real!), we settled for Hamilton.

The views from the plane as we arrived were spectacular - this is one flight to try and get a window seat.

We stepped off the plane to blue skies, 22 degrees, a slight breeze and breathtaking views. With an airport terminal the size of your average kitchen, there was no hanging around or delays, and we were efficiently shipped off to a lovely hotel room overlooking the water and surrounding islands. Whilst we were expecting it to be nice, my first impressions well exceeded my expectations, and the combination of tropical paradise plus comfort and quality was clearly designed for the ‘suitcase and hire car’(as opposed to backpack and bus) kind of traveller that I am! To top it off, there was not an insect in sight – we were not bitten, chased or scared by a single critter.

The views from our balcony made Port Phillip Bay look dull by comparison!

Celebrating Tom's birthday

Whilst I had my suitcase in tow, there was no need for a hire car here – and indeed no possibility of getting one! The island is a car free zone, with golf buggies being the preferred mode of transport instead. I had never driven a golf buggy before, but you would think that it’s pretty easy, right? Yes, right, unless you’re me. I was not comfortable in the driving seat of this particular mode of transport, and arguably I should not be allowed in the passenger seat either, after accidentally knocking the parking brake off with my camera bag and sending the cart rolling backwards down the hill – with Tom in it! We survived, and so did beloved buggy number 216. The registration was 50886, which was also roughly how many photos I took of the damn thing. Here are a select few:

I was posing here, not actually driving... can you tell?!

Buggy mania

I love this photo! By this point Tom was really fed up with me taking pictures of the buggy, so the fact that he is parked at a stop sign is very appropriate!

Our second day was spent doing what everyone comes to the Whitsundays for – sailing. Aboard a 20 metre catamaran we spent a glorious day basking in the sun, swimming, sitting on the beach, snorkelling and watching the crew do all the hard work! Snorkelling on the reef is something that I was really looking forward to, but the fish were a little disappointing in numbers and the water was freezing. The promise of 24 degree waters was definitely a false one, although the crystal clear visibility did make jumping in a slightly more tempting option. As with our previous snorkel trip, it’s stinger season in Australia, meaning that lyrca suits are mandatory for all swimmers. The protection offered is not just a physical barrier between your skin and the water, but also the unflattering cut, colour and ‘cling’ which is enough to put any jellyfish off coming near you. NOBODY looks good in these things, but some people look particularly hideous and it doesn’t help your confidence that the size is written across the shoulder in black marker – pity the woman with the XXXL suit. Our day trip also included a visit to Whitehaven beach, which has apparently made every list on the topics of Top 10 places to go / beaches to sit on blah blah. It was incredible and the pictures probably don’t do it justice, but the fact that there was a fat man selling Four X beer out of an esky on a totally uninhabited island just topped off the ‘Aussie’ experience for us!

Aboard 'On The Edge'

The 'oh so sexy' stinger suits are on! The skipper said he'd given me a special 'Teletubby suit' - when asked if he was suggesting that I was brightly coloured, rather large and made wierd noises, he looked blank!

Spot the fish!

When on the beach, a cold beer is mandatory. We had diet Coke!

Whitehaven Beach

The sunshine continued and we absorbed enough Vitamin D to allow us to return to the Batcave that Melbourne winter was become until our next trip, which is Uluru, in just two weeks time. We will remember Hamilton Island for the sunshine and palm trees, breathtaking sunsets and abundance of stars in the sky. I wanted to tell you that there were more stars in the sky than spots on a teenagers face, but Tom says that’s disgusting and I should find a more pleasant analogy. There weren’t many fish in the sea, but I’ve already got my man (sorry, couldn’t resist), and we’d go back to the Whistundays in a heartbeat. If you’re planning a trip to Australia, this paradise should be on your list.

We stayed at: The Reef View Hotel

We ate at: Mariners

We snorkelled with: Cruise Indigo

An explanation

2011-04-03T18:23:00.011+10:00

To our loyal readers, I feel that I owe you an apology, or an explanation at least, for the lack of regular blogging activity for the best part of 2011-to-date. You see, I have been rather distracted with couple of new activities, and that old chestnut that always gets in the way of doing the things you want to do - work. That aside, some more exciting things in life have been occupying my weekends and taking up my valuable could-be-blogging time, and I'm happy to share these with you today...

Firstly, I have a new passion in my life - photography! After owning an SLR for a good 4 years, but never doing more than pointing and shooting, Tom and I finally unlocked the power of the Canon EOS on a photography course last year. Since then, I've developed a love of taking photos of people, and before Christmas I booked myself onto a specialist portrait photography course. Since then, I've been studying the subject and practising my shoots whenever I can, and to display my work I've set up a portfolio website of my own - www.katielister.net (Lister will be my married name, in case you were wondering). So far I've been photographing my friends and their children, but soon I hope to get some independent business which will contribute towards the cost of my equipment, and photograph not just children, but adults too. Here is a sneak peak at my portfolio to date:

When I'm not taking photos, I might be found working on a website project or two, with the latest online venture being in aid of one of my favourite pasttimes - dancing! Some of you may have spotted that a new series of So You Think You Can Dance has just started on BBC One on Saturday nights, and one of my old dancing chums from Diane Gulliford's has auditioned for the show. I've made her a website to support her campaign to become the nation's favourite dancer, and I hope that all of my blog readers will support her if you watch the show. Next week is is the Choreography Camp episode where we find out who makes the top 20. I can't reveal whether or not she makes it, but will let you figure that out for yourselves....

www.stephaniepowell.co.uk

So that's why I haven't been blogging much, but please read on below for two more blogs that I've posted today to make it up for it!

Travels to Tasmania

2011-04-03T17:57:00.006+10:00

Wineglass Bay

After two months of no travel (which is a positive draught by secondee standards), we packed our bags and headed south to Tasmania. Instead of taking the ferry, which leaves from the pier at the end of our street with a 9 hour journey time, we chose to fly with Virgin Blue, who promise a 1 hour flight but with traffic en route to the airport, check-in queues and the obligatory budget airline delays, came in at around 4 hours in the end. We left on a Friday afternoon, and with a few emails left to send for work, I ended up sitting in the back of a taxi en-route to the airport with my laptop on my knees trying to connect to the internet via 3G. One day I hope Australia will catch up with the rest of the world and offer me the chance to send emails via a portable device that fits in my pocket, or at least my handbag!

With us for the ride were Sue and Peter, who unfortunately had been to Tasmania already, however unlike their first visit, this time we were lucky enough to be showered with SUNSHINE! At 29 degrees, our first day in Hobart was quite possibly the hottest day for the year for Australia’s most southern state, and we basked in the sun as we browsed Salamanca market , drank diet Coke and ate fish and chips by the water. I had no real expectations of Hobart, but soon fell in love with the small-town coastal environment, which felt really rather Mediterranean on this hot, late summer day.

My opinion of Hobart was in no doubt swayed by the luxurious and unique hotel that was our home for two nights - The Henry Jones Art Hotel. Forget TripAdvisor, because there won’t be a bad review in sight – this is one hotel that delivers on every front, and it’s unique to boot. The building was an old jam factory in the 1800s and is now home to over 50 rooms, all uniquely furnished and with a variety of art on display. Before I start to sound too much like the brochure, I’d also like to add that breakfast was CHEAP and the beds were really comfy!

After a day in Hobart, we jumped into the car for a drive up the East Coast, to the Freychinet National Park, home to Wineglass Bay. This part of our trip was all about fantastic scenery, breathtaking vistas and.... eating fried food. After three lots of fish and chips in three nights, it’s a good job that the Wineglass Bay lookout was a 45 minute uphill hike. Only today have I gathered the courage to get back in the scales – after two weeks of compensation dieting!

The pictures that I’ve come back with in no way represent the true beauty of Tasmania, and we were totally enthralled by the beauty of a state which is much-mocked by locals, but adored by tourists. Tom and I would love to find time to go back and explore the rest of the state, and maybe next time we’ll brave the ferry journey too. If you’re ever heading down under, Tassy is definitely one place that you should have on your list...

The Henry Jones Hotel

Hobart Quay, with Mures Fish & Chips in the background

Salamanca Market, chatting with a stall owner from the New Forest!

Salamanca Market

Tom at the peak of Mount Wellington

Mount Wellington, overlooking the cirt of Hobart

Hobart from Mount Wellington

Wineglass Bay

The amazing view from our balcony in Bicheno

Walking on the beach in Bicheno was heaven...

.. so much so I started jumping around!

Picnic lunch!

The power of friendship

2011-04-03T17:32:00.006+10:00

Moving to Australia has taught us a lot about the importance of friendships. We’ve learnt how much we value our friends back home. We’ve discovered how hard it is to make new friends in a strange country. And now we finally appreciate how hard it is to say goodbye to friends that you love.

This blog entry comes in three parts...

Hello....

Nice to see you again.... and

Goodbye.

Hello

Since moving to Melbourne we’ve said ‘hello, nice to meet you’ a gazillion times. Every day brings a new person, sometimes a visitor, sometimes a local. When we’re lucky, ‘nice to meet you’, turns into ‘let’s do this again’, and again, and sometimes again. Finding new friends seems so much harder as an adult, compared to the days of classrooms and playgrounds, but this also means we really value the friends that we’ve made here.

A sunny afternoon in a beer garden was the setting for a recent rendezvous with our Melbourne crowd. The occasion was Pat and Amanda both turning 30, and the day will remain ingrained in my mind as the time when our circle of friends shifted to the next stage in life. Parenthood. Newborns aplenty, a couple of toddlers for good measure, and two heavily pregnant ladies made for quite the child-fest. Surely this is sufficient to explain any clucking or brooding that comes from my direction!

I can’t list all the people we’ve said ‘hello’ to as our new friends in Melbourne. But we appreciate every one of you.

Nice to see you again

Friendships are hard to maintain over Skype. We can chat, and we can wave at each other, but we can’t share good food, and wine, and laugh together in the same way we can do in person. Tush and Andy taught us this during their recent honeymoon visit to Australia.

After a false start and disrupted stay in Melbourne as a result of the bitter English winter, Tom and I decided to fly to Sydney and spend 36 hours with Tush and Andy before the end of their trip. Gatecrashing their honeymoon for a second time might seem a little bit ‘off’, but after a 5am wake up, 700km flight, full day of sightseeing and long night of merriment, the four of us couldn’t have been happier. The ease with which old friends can reconnect amazed me, and the experience triggered some deep thought for both Tom and I about the decisions we’ve made, are making, and will make in the coming months and years.

Goodbye

Saying goodbye is hard, but I think it’s even hard when you are the one who is left behind. Tom and I will soon find out, as dear friends Richard and Tamara, and Pat and Amanda both leave Melbourne to return home. To rub salt into the wound, their departure dates are just three days apart. On the other hand, perhaps this will be like ripping the plaster off quickly?

We’ve known for months that Pat and Amanda would be leaving. They have a 4 month old son, Charlie, and the time has come for them to return to their families in Ohio and settle down into family life. We’ll miss them dearly, but understand that life moves on, as will ours one day.

Richard and Tamara’s departure was much more of a shock however. As our closest confidants here in Melbourne, the news that they plan to return to Toronto early felt like being dumped by a boyfriend out of the blue. ‘It’s not you, it’s us’, they pleaded. Either way I fought back the tears that night. Now that I’ve had a while to digest the news, I’ve reconciled myself to the fact that there will be life without ‘Ramara’, and in the meantime we’ll enjoy the times we have left!

Celebrating Richard's birthday on the beach

An unwelcome visitor

2011-02-19T15:35:00.004+11:00

Last week I drove home from visiting a client's office in the suburbs and found this evil creature on the wing mirror of our car!

I refused to drive the car into the car park of our building and instead waiting on the street whilst Tom came down with a broom to sweep the unwelcome guest. "Bring the long-handled broom", I warned him on the phone, but instead Tom arrived with the dustpan and brush! As soon as he saw the size of the spider he wished he had followed my advice!

The sauna

2011-01-22T21:39:00.012+11:00

Arriving in tropical north Queensland was like walking into a sauna; seeking respite in the sea was like taking a warm bath, and enjoying an ice cream on the beach at sunset was like feeding time at the mosquito farm - where you are the food. This January we tried an Aussie recipe for our holiday - we combined 80-100% humidty, a rainforest, a reef, a four-mile beach, some sunscreen and two whole cans of insect repellant, then stirred for 7 seven days at 30-plus degree heat. The result was a week of *heaven* in Port Douglas and we loved it!

Our accomodation for the week was an apartment at 'By The Sea' - which came highly recommended by Tom's sister & family and didn't disappoint. It was quite literally by the sea, and got a 10/10 on TripAdvisor from me because we didn't have a single spider in our room (that I saw)! We did have two rather significant outbreaks of ants, but I won't hold that against them because it was my fault for leaving a half eaten chocolate bar lying around.

After a colder than usual spring in Melbourne, Tom and I were so enthuastic about the warm weather that on our first morning we got up before 7am for a run on four-mile beach. I say 'we', but there was probably slightly less enthuasiam from Tom at that time in the morning, although he more than made up for it by running at least twice as far as me!

I was really excited to visit the Great Barrier Reef for the first time, but have never snorkelled before and I was more than a little bit aprehensive about this part. I *had* to do it though, because I'd spent $50 on my own snorkell (stranger's saliva avoidance tactic), and already opened the packet - so it couldn't be returned if I chickened out. We deliberately picked a snorkell trip where we could view the reef by snorkelling off an island (rather than just jumping off a boat in the middle of the ocean), and this was great for me. It was really exciting to see the colourful fish, vast coral and giant clams.

November to April each year is 'stinger' season in Queensland, meaning that the sea is laden with six-foot long poisonous jellyfish. As a result, we had to wear head-to-toe body-stocking type outfits in the water. They were highly unattractive but absolutely hilarious!

The night after we swam at the reef we watched an Animal Planet documentary about the stingers. It was terrifying, and it probably goes without saying that I'm glad we didn't watch it before our trip...

Writing this post retrospectively, it seems wrong not to mention the disasters that the people of Queensland have endured since our visit. Firstly unprecedented flooding, and secondly Cyclone Yasi, the damage and loss that many people have sufferred is horrible to think about, and Australia will be rebuilding the affected areas for some time to come. Luckily the regions that we visited were spared, and continued tourist trade to the state of Queensland will be crucial in keeping funds flowing and the rebuilding on schedule. In that case, I suppose I had better go and book our next trip right now.....

Obligtory croc show

Beware the Cassowary

Thornton Beach, more picturesque and it's more famous neighbour, Cape Tribulation

Obligatory jumping shot

Unfortunately they don't do weddings here!

Mossman Gorge

Can you guess what we're doing here?

Yes, we're in a cable car in the rain and mist!

Kuranda railway

Still looking out of the window

This is what the train looked like

New Years Eve!

Christmas Rhymes, Mistletoe and Wine...

2011-01-03T19:50:00.007+11:00

Our Christmas hosts for twenty-ten
Were Sam, Lou and Baby Ben.
Joining the crowd with Katie and Tom
Were Tush and Andy - two more poms.
Into the mix, some Yanks maybe?
Welcome Pat and Amanda, and Charlie their baby!

Our day started early, with dishes to bake -
Stuffing, and starters, and meringue and cake,
Then off the airport we drove in our car,
To collect the honeymooners from lands afar.
Three days late due to snow at Heathrow,
Imagine the fun they have had to forgo....

Regardless of jetlag we started our day
By driving to Sam's to start the soiree
With presents and food and drinks in full flow
We had just one thing missing from our ex-pat Crimbo
A real Aussie perhaps, to bring local fun
Our closest is Ben, but he's only one!

I challenge you all, if you can compete
With our main course comprising three types of meat!
Duck, and chicken and pork no less -
No sign of a turkey in his Christmas dress.
With roasties and mash and vegies a plenty
We'll still be full up at Christmas 2020!

Tom's starter - prawns and smoked salmon

Sam and Pat carve the meat

Tom and me in the kitchen (I was really just in there for show)

Tush bonded with Ben

Amanda selects her Secret Santa gift carefully

Where's the turkey?!

Only in Oz for 4 hours and already Andy smells like a 'roo..

Looks like Lou was pleased with her gift!

Ben in his new Nike t-shirt!

The chaos of Christmas was too much for little Charlie

Sun-deprived Tush and Andy were soaking it up after lunch

The MEN (minus Daddy Pat)

Father and Son

The gang (minus me, taking the photo)
L-R: Tush, Sam with Ben, Pat, Amanda, Tom, Lou and Andy. (Charlie hidden in pram)

Cheers! Obligatory paddle in the bay...

Bathtime for Ben

Forgetting that we'd stuffed ourselves silly,
Tush and I continue to gorge on cupcakes on Boxing Day!

Festive Cheer, Christmas is Here!

2010-12-24T19:17:00.009+11:00

Our tree decorations!

Merry Christmas from Melbourne! It’s now Christmas Eve and I am finally getting into the Christmas spirit.... we have a Christmas tree that is up and decorated (thanks Sarah and Neil), a fridge full of food (thanks Coles), and two very delayed English friends on a plane from Heathrow as we speak (thanks Virgin Atlantic, no thanks to the weatherman). It’s hard to feel festive in the summer, and this certainly helps on the home-sickness front. This morning we woke up to bright sunshine and two cruise ships docked at nearby Station Pier. When the cruise ships begin to double-park in Port Melbourne, it means summer has really begun!

Our visitors for Christmas are friends and newly-weds Tush and Andy. Tush and I lived next door to each other in University Halls, and Andy is the lucky guy who gets to spend the rest of his life with her! We usually like to make a bit of effort when visitors arrive, given the investment of time and expense that anyone coming to see us has to make. Often this means preparing lots of food or planning lots of things to do, but this time Tom has cleaned the windows! Lucky Tush and Andy. Did I mention that this trip is their honeymoon? No honeymoon is complete without sparkly windows!

Not to disappoint on the food front, we’ve also been preparing food for Christmas day. Having no family here this year, we are spending the day with our ex-pat gang, and we call it ‘Waifs and Strays Christmas’. Everyone is bringing a contribution to the meal – Tom is making a fish starter and stuffing to accompany the meats (which will be BBQ’d, of course), and I’m making pavlova and a flourless chocolate and pear cake. The latter is currently in the oven and looking like a borderline disaster. Stay tuned for future news updates on pudding-gate.

The Canadians open their first ever Christmas gift (we shared a night of Chanukah with them a couple of weeks ago, so thought it was only fair to return the favour)

Nab Nab is the Star on the top of our tree!

Decorating our free - another first for Richard and Tamara

As if this wasn’t enough, I managed to fit in completing both Tom’s and my UK tax return today! Now, before you think that this should be a doddle for me because I’m an accountant, let me explain that my job has nothing to do with tax returns, tax years or anything involving the ‘t’ word. If I knew more then perhaps I would have avoided the temporarily-paralysing situation of learning that I owe HMRC £155,000 in additional tax by 31 January 2011! Some quick investigating revealed that I’d included one too many zero on my income for the year....

In other news, last weekend we made a long weekend trip to Adelaide. I’d be interested to know what you first think of when you hear the word Adelaide – cricket perhaps? Maybe wine? If it’s anything else, please do email me, because I might learn something new and discover that there is more to Adelaide than it managed to display to us in three days of average-to-dull weather and activities. Thank goodness the company, food and drink was riveting (quick save). Oh, and for Peter I must also mention that their O-Bahn travel system is indeed extraordinary, and now that I’ve been to Adelaide I understand why you found this the most memorable part of the city!

Tom and Katie at Wolf Blass Winery

Wine tasting for Dummies

mmmmm wine

At the Wolf Blass cellar door (Tom with Richard & Tamara - the Canadians)

Not content with the free wine tasting, Rich was still looking for a good deal. Would you pay $1 for this shirt?!

Soon to be, 'The Belfers' (they are getting married in Sept 2011)

This was the periphery of the plague of locusts. It was disgusting when they hit the windscreen at speed!

One of the little blighters!

Where's the free food?

Oh, there isn't any. But there's more free wine!

.. and more!

The free Vegemite didn't go down so well...

I’ve been taking my photography very seriously recently, and have a number of shoots to share with you in a future blog, as I reveal my new photography website – stay tuned in 2011!

I’ll sign off for now, and leave you all with best wishes from Tom and I for a merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2011. Thank you for reading our blog and sticking with me as a type away. Here’s a Christmas card from us both:

The Social Network

2010-11-28T09:09:00.009+11:00

Weekends in Melbourne have been jam-packed of late. As Christmas draws closer and summer (supposedly) dawns, the party invitations seem to have multiplied and all of a sudden there is no time for blogging! Our busy social schedule has been a much-needed distraction after the downtime that inevitably hits in the wake of visitors from home. After Kate, Chris and Simon left us in early November, the flat felt empty and the wet and windy weather did little to inspire us back to life. Things have looked up since then however, and we are now in full swing for the festive season.

Last weekend kicked off with a 5.30am wake up call on the Friday, as I had been invited to the annual fundraising breakfast of an Australian charity, Reach. The charity runs support programs for troubled young Australians, the 'Breakfast with the Stars' was a moving and inspirational insight into the stories of some of their members. The breakfast was held at Crown Palladium, Melbourne's flashiest and largest hotel emporium, and the theme was 'It's your birthday party!'. We were transported back to our childhoods - the tables were decorated with balloons and sweets, we all wore party hats and I even won pass the parcel!

At breakfast I sat next to the President of one of the Australian breast cancer charities, Think Pink. Talking to her, as well as the impact of the breakfast as a whole, made me reconsider the option of running The Big Pink Ticket in Australia next October. The success of The Big Pink Ticket in the UK was almost entirely down to our network of family, friend and colleagues, and our ability to lean on them heavily to open their wallets for prizes and donations. We don't have the same network here in Australia, making the challenge a bigger hill to climb, but with a year to plan I am starting to ponder whether or not it could be a possibility.

Moving on at a slightly faster pace.. the Reach Breakfast was promptly followed with the annual 'Jazz at the Museum' event at my work (which partners could come to), and the following night Tom and I went to a 90s themed fancy dress party! Hosted by Tom's colleague Al, it was a hilarious walk back down memory lane with some classic costumes and great tunes! The most popular costume by far was Pamela Anderson in her Baywatch get-up, but also in the mix was Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky (complete with *that* blue dress!), Teletubbies, Optimus Prime, Eminem and even Sadaam Hussien! Tom went as Neo from the Matrix, and I was a blue M&M, because the blue colour M&M was introduced in 1995.

The next day (we have now reached Sunday) we went to a Mad Hatters Tea Party, in the garden of one of Tom's old work colleagues, Bridget. Bridget's husband is a landscape gardener, and there was some serious style going on at there house! We felt like we were in a spread for House Beautiful magazine. The conservatory doors folded back onto the deck, with a two tier swimming pool framed by a stage (which played host to a jazz band!) and complete with floating in flatable flamingos. This was all topped off by a built-in trampoline for Bridget's kids. Amazing. I didn't take my camera unfortunately, so you'll just have to believe me on this one!

This weekend we were back to the Crown Palladium on Friday night for the Myer Supplier of the Year ball. Myer is the John Lewis of Australia, and this annual event rewards their most deserved suppliers with a plaque and a night out. I was a guest of Tom's work, and once again the room was lavishly decorating - this time with fairy wings and lots of glitter, plus free Benefit gift bags for the ladies and the men! Tom isn't really into mascara and lip gloss (thank god), so I got double the gifts. After a three course meal and 30 awards (which was a bit tedious, but I won't complain because I got a free meal), the party really kicked off with a concert by Guy Sebastian. I'm not sure if you'll know who he is, because before we moved to Australia my Guy-awareness level was rather low - but Guy won Australian Idol in 2003 and has since become a very successful recording artist. He was also a judge on Australian X Factor which just ended last week, and as avid X Factor fans, Tom and I were delighted to have a virtually private concert with Guy:

Such an angel..

Onwards to Saturday (that's yesterday, so we are nearly up to date), which was the first birthday party for Ben, son to our friends Sam and Lou. We had never been to a first birthday party with so much wine and beer on tap, so Sam and Lou have set the bar high for future children's parties that we might attend! I had photographed Ben a few weeks ago in a local park, and so our gift for his birthday was an album of photos (which I'll blog separately). Needless to say, I couldn't resist getting my camera out again on the day and taking a few more shots of the action:

Today is supposed to involve an American Thanksgiving picnic in the park, but right now I can hear the rain hammering against the window and the wind howling through the railings on the balcony, so I think the plan might change. Mabye I should come back down to reality and get with the jobs that face me in the real world.... time for some ironing? nah... maybe next weekend.

October Part III - Visitors from Home!

2010-11-27T10:31:00.001+11:00

In the final installment from the month of October, here are some photos from the fun times that we had with my uni-housemates Kate and Simon, plus Kate's husband Chris. As pilots, it's cheaper and easier for them to visit Australia than it is for the rest of us, so it was wonderful to have the three of them around for Spring Racing Carnival week. We had an action packed 6 days, of which here is the story told in pictures:

Only day of sunshine - walking on our favourite pier in Sorrento (this is the pier in the title image of the blog)

Simon is not camp. He just acts up for the camera ;-)

Kate & Si

Kate came unprepared. She thought she was visiting Ustrali.

Aruthur's Seat, Sorrento

BBQ on our balcony

Chris was obsessed with the comings and goings of the Spirit of Tasmania

Uni pals together again

Squeaky Beach, Wilsons Promontory

Picnicing at Squeaky Beach

Central Deborah Gold Mine, Bendigo

Of course we had to take them to see the parrots!

Chris loves to jump!

Wisky Bay

The Famous Five do Hanging Rock

Derby Day at the races! Less than an hour after we took this picture it starting raining and didn't stop all day. It was a disaster....

So we went home to play Tim Tam Slam - can you suck tea through a Tim Tam biscuit? Points available for artistic impression!

Chris got extra artistry points for having 'wings' during his Slam!

OBLIGATORY visit to Ramsay St!

Cakes on St Kilda beach, Luna Park in the background

Watching the Melbourne Cup in Fed Square - more rain!

Thanks for coming guys - more visitors are welcome and we will endevour to provide better weather!

October Part II.. spider alert

2010-11-26T10:07:00.002+11:00

Oh my gosh, it happened again. The huntsman strikes back!

It was the start of a girls weekend in rural-Daylesford, and after a two hour drive from the city on a Friday night after a hectic-work week, the last thing that seven girls wanted to face was an eight legged hairy intruder. I called Tom who suggested the hoover, but it was too large for the nozzle, so plan B involved some bug spray, a broom, a cardboard box and two very brave volunteers from our group. I was nearly sick just trying to photograph the event! Luckily the rest of the weekend went rather more smoothly:

We stayed in a really pretty house, shame it was invested with evil spiders!

It might look small from here, but I promise it was enormous!

I rushed back from Daylesford early to celebrate with American-friend Amanda at the baby shower that Tamara and I had arranged. We had a lovely lunch in the spring sunshine as everyone tried to guess the sex of the baby using every old wives tale in the book.

Shower invitation.. I'm practising designs for our wedding invite!

Amanda gets in some practise with baby Amelie

Tamara and I

The girls!

As I write this blog Amanda is now 4 days overdue and we are all crossing fingers that the baby makes a move soon! [Subsequent edit.. it later turned out that Amanda was in labour as I wrote this blog entry, and Charlie Patrick arrived not long after - Congratulations Amanda and Pat!]

Busy times.. October Part I

2010-11-18T17:54:00.006+11:00

October was a busy month in our down under househaold - a month full of travel, friends and photos. Blogging fell by the wayside as Tom and I hopped from work to slep to train to plane, all in aid of living our Australian life to the full.

The fun times kicked off with a long weekend in Queensland, devoted to Australia's premier wildlife and marine life. Our first stop was Australia Zoo, the legacy of world famous crocodile hunter Steve Iriwin. He was tragically and perhaps ironically killed in a freak stingray attack in 2006, aged 44. Steve's passion lives on through his widow and children, and the Irwin empire includes an ever-expanding wildlife park and a contraversial media career for his 12 year old daughter (think Hannah Montana meets The Really Wild Show).

The highlights of Australia Zoo were the crocodile show, tiger play time and elephant bath time. The focus is on visitor interaction and convenying the conservation message, which was heavily played at all opportunities. Many Australian's object to the commercialism of Australia Zoo, but there is no denying the fact that the animals on show looked healthy and happy. Obviuosly I'm no Dr Dolittle, but we had a fun day none the less.

Tom and Katie join the Irwin family

Tiger playtime

More tiger playtime

We can never get enough of feeding kangaroos

Can tyou spot the sausage?!

A three hour roadtrip in the driving rain too us to Surfers Paridise. A place that we have now visited twice and will most likely never return to! Surfers is the Benidorm of Australia, which might prompt you to tell me that two vists is two too many. The attraction for us was Sea World, where we loved the dolphin show so much that we watched it twice!

Look who joined us on our trip!

Dolphin mania!

Watching the polar bears fighting was incredible

I'm sure they love each other really

Always time for ice cream!

Shark feeding

I took hundreds of these photos, you are lucky I've only posted two!

Discovery Cove

We rounded out the weekend with a whale watching trip in which we spotted.... virtually nothing! Below is the best photo that I have, and even that is zoomed in far more than I care to declare. I consoled myself by buying a pair of shoes in a nearby branch of Nine West, and I think the fact that there was even a shopping centre so close to the 'nature' of the Gold Coast probably sums up Surfers Paridise for you!

More stories to follow in Part II....

One year to the day...

2010-10-26T21:42:00.003+11:00

Today we mark our one year anniversary of our Australian adventure, meaning that Tom and I have now spent 4% of our total lifetime living down under. When I put it like that, it doesn't sound very long, but I'm really proud to reach the one year milestone and only hope that time starts to pass a bit more slowly so that I can savour the time we have left here.

To mark this special occassion, we thought we'd go all out and do something really memorable. A weekend away perhaps? Maybe a nice dinner in the city? Actually, we've eaten an omelette and chips at home whilst I complete Tom's tax return! The moral to all of this, is that no matter how many photos I post of cute Aussie animals, beautiful sights and adventurous travels, the reality of life down under is sometimes very similar to back home, just sunnier.

We've come a long way in a year towards settling into our new lifestyle. My marks of our success include driving without the sat nav (and only sometimes getting lost), expanding our friendship group beyond our beloved Canadian besties (although still not really venturing too far beyond the North-American theme), and chosing Australian X-Factor over the UK version.

Over the past 365 days we have travelled to almost every state (Northern Territory still to go), eaten in more restaurants than my waistline cares to imagine, driven exactly 10,999kms in our car and had gained two mascots in the form of a piggy bank called Beechy and cuddly penguin called Nab Nab. We've laughed the days away with new friends and thankfully not cried too many nights away at home. The highlight of it all however is the times we've shared with those of you back home. Nothing beats sharing the life we love with the people we love, whether it's in person, on the blog or via one of our numerous apartment-tours over Skype.

Here's to another year of Melbourne-fun. Thanks for reading, and more importantly for not forgetting about us - we haven't forgotten you x

Sugar and spice and all that’s nice...

2010-10-11T19:24:00.009+11:00

.. that’s what little girls are made of! Aren’t they? Well that’s what our weekend was made of anyway..

Sugar

Friday was all about sugar, when I organised a cake sale at work in aid of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Having October as breast cancer awareness month is a global theme, and so Australia is in full swing for fund raising and awareness. I wanted to do something here to continue our fundraising efforts from back in the UK, but don’t have the contacts or the team to put together anything the size of The Big Pink Ticket. What I do have however, is an army of willing cake-bakers amongst my colleagues!

Despite only 48 hours notice, I managed to rally eight willing bakers, register myself with the charity and get permission to sell cakes to a captive audience of 80 or so colleagues. I pitched the sale immediately after a two hour meeting, and at the 11am ‘munchies’ weak spot! Needless to say, the caramel slice, chocolate truffle muffins, lemon slice, chocolage hedgehog, rice krispies cakes, Anzac biscuits and everything else went down a STORM! We raised over $500 for breast cancer research, which testified that Australian’s are just as good at putting their hands in their pockets for a good cause at the Brits.. especially if there is food involved!

I was a bit cheeky when pitching the sale, and told my audience that our first cake had sold for $50 (this was not a lie) to encourage high donations. The facilities team were even cheekier back to me though, and complained that I had broken the rules by bringing 'external' food into a meeting room where only internal catering was permitted. “Erm.. excuse me? Can you see the big sign saying ‘cake sale for cancer research’?” Some people never cease to amaze...

Spice

On Saturday night, Tom, Tamara and I had girls night at our favourite brunch spot, St Ali! I know, I know, Tom isn’t a girl.... but just take a look at the cocktail he ordered, then you might think otherwise!

St Ali epitomises Melbourne – it’s located on a back street in an unmarked building and yet inside it’s lively, exciting and yummy! The best of Melbourne’s culture, vibe and atmosphere is hidden in places like this, and after many a successful Sunday morning brunch we thought we’d try their evening fayre – pan asian curries. It didn’t quite live up to expectations, but I needed to write about the fact that we went for a curry in order to include the ‘spice’ part of the rhyme in the blog!

And all that's nice....

Actually, this part isn’t just nice – it’s amazing! On Saturday afternoon Tamara took me wedding dress shopping and I found... THE ONE. I am very excited and relieved that I managed to find my perfect dress so quickly, as I will now not have to traipse around dress shops with bossy shop assistants telling me what they like and don’t like. THE ONE was located on only the third bridal shop visit, and after a total trying on time of about 2.79 hours. This might sound like a long time to some of you, but I think in the history of bridezilla’s, this is probably up at the quicker end of the scale. You will be relieved to hear and probably familiar with the fact that I spent considerably longer chosing my husband-to-be...

Obviously I can’t tell you too much about THE ONE – however Nab Nab approves, and if any of you would like advance warning so that you can plan your outfits to coordinate with me, purple pom-poms are the way to go!!

That’s what little girls are made of....

There had to be a lovely little girl at the end of all of this, didn’t there? This week our Melbourne-friends Neil and Sarah welcomed baby Amelie Grace into the world! Neil and Sarah are also English, and given the lack of family in town as a result, our visiting rights were elevated up the pecking order and we got to go and have a cuddle at the hospital yesterday.

Amelie Grace is the second Amelie to feature on our blog – Amelie number 1 was born to also-English friends Ella and Andy last September. I’m already considering a bulk Moonpig order for personalised birthday cards...

It was lovely holding a newborn again - not since Dora was born have I had a cuddle with a bub so small. The hospital visit definitely put the fear of God into Tom that I would be wanting one of our own very soon. Fortunately for me, Tom is an atheist, so God’s presence will not linger too long!

Congratulations to Neil and Sarah, and we hope you have a very happy time as a family.

Spring sunshine

2010-10-03T18:28:00.006+11:00

I composed the original opening paragraph to this blog entry in my head during my morning shower. It was the morning of the AFL Grand Final replay between St Kilda and Collingwood. I wanted to tell you about how Tom and I had witnessed a little piece of Australian history. A historic premiership title for St Kilda. A classic game in the record books of Australian Rules football.

Unfortunately, and as you might have gathered, I’ve had to rewrite.

Tom and I were lucky enough to be one of the 93,000 fans with tickets to the game. We arrived early at the historic MCG (as historic as you get in Australia), with painted faces, banners ready and nerves a plenty. The anticipation was huge, and Lionel Richie entertained the crowd before the match on a bright sunny day.

As it turns out however, we paid per over $300 for the privilege of watching our team get totally smashed. The St Kilda team managed a paltry one goal in the first half, and it was clear at half time that the Magpies would defeat the Saints in both spirit and score. There was none of the drama of the first final game last weekend, and as the chants of the St Kilda fans died, the gap in the scoreboard increased. In the end, we were defeated by 56 points.

A solitary Saints fan comtemplates the Collingwood masses

Our view of 'the G' from the nosebleed seats!

Our favourite, Nick Riedwolt in practice. He didn't kick a ball like that all game.

Nice hunks of muscle warming up! (You see why I like this game now?!)

Go Saints! Go back home and get some practise in before next year!

On a more positive note, spring has arrived here in Melbourne! This weekend we have basked in glorious sunshine and mid-20s temperatures. The first signs of a suntan have started to appear, and our garden chairs have made their first appearance on the balcony. Today we drove along the coast to luxurious Brighton (the Sandbanks-suburb of Melbourne) and met Tamara for a walk on the beach and a diet Coke in a cafe (gosh, aren’t we daredevils?!).

Tamara biking, us driving, back from Brighton. (We are a lot lazier than the Canadians!)

Pretty beach huts.

I don't think we'd be allowed to paint a beach hut like this on Branksome Beach.

A solitary umbrella.

Summer clothes are out!

The English Rose and the Canadian Sweetheart!

Along with the spring weather has come an annual attempt at self-improvement on my part. In an attempt to boost the health of both body and mind I have started a new healthy eating regime, have been making sure I get to the gym, and have even visited the dentist for a spring clean – only here in Australia they don’t call it the dentist – it’s a ‘dental spa’. Hmmm, the only ‘spa’ like quality of the dentist in my opinion is the price! To counteract all the good that this is doing, Tom and I have started a new wine tasting course (intermediate level, don’t you know! – I still don’t have a clue what I’m tasting, fear not) and have been doing lots of eating out.

Earlier in the week we took advantage of a special offer at Melbourne’s branch of Nobu, and dined there with the Canadians. During the course of our meal we were surprised to see a group of three ladies walk in wearing tracksuits and sit down in the booth next to ours. Nobu is not the kind of restaurant where you wear a tracksuit, and if you or I rocked up in such attire, I’m pretty sure we would be politely declined a table. So naturally this raised eyebrows, and after much hushed discussion and a little bit of Googling, we figured out that we were dining next to a dressed-down, baseball cap-wearing Missy Elliott! We all found it very amusing that whilst in one of the finest Japanese restaurants in town she ordered fries with ketchup and diet Coke...

We were also treated to a meal out with Tom’s second cousin Merryl and her new beau Bill. You should all know about Merryl by now, as she is a regular blog character. However you might not know that she was sadly widowed a couple of years ago. Merryl is full of enthusiasm and life, so we are very happy that she has found someone to share this with! No pressure Bill, but now that you are on the blog, there is no turning back!

We have rounded off the evening with a series of Skype calls to Tom's family back home - first Peter and Sue, then Anna, and finally Anne. We were especially touched by a plea from seven year old Rosie for us to come home soon!

Oh when the Saints...

2010-09-26T22:08:00.006+10:00

The last Saturday in September is an important date in the Australian calendar. It is the date on which the Australian Football League Grand Final match is held. The whole of Victoria, the home state of AFL, stops for this event and visitors to the city would be forgiven for thinking that a 2.30pm curfew had banned local residents from leaving their homes (or a pub). When Tom and I arrived in Melbourne in October last year, many people expressed their sympathy that we were three weeks too late to catch the infamous ‘Grand Final weekend’. To me, at that point, having to endure a weekend of anything connect to the word ‘football’ sounded like torture, and I was really rather pleased with myself that our timing had worked out to fortuitously.

That was then. One year on however, I have been officially enchanted by the WONDER that is Aussie Rules football and Grand Final weekend is all of a sudden a rather more attractive event than I ever thought it could be. I’ll forgive you if you have fallen off your chair at reading this news, and if you had placed a bet 12 months ago on me ever enjoying a sport with the word ‘foot’ in the title, you would now be very rich. There are just some things about the AFL that I find so much more captivating than the British ‘soccer’ equivalent – and no, it’s not (just) the very short shorts worn by the muscular males.

Here are eight reasons why I think that AFL (Australian Football League) is better than EPL (English Premier League):

1. The scoreboard – in AFL a team scores 6 points for kicking the ball between two central posts (a ‘goal’), and 1 point for kicking the ball between two outer posts (a ‘behind’). In any game you can expect between 10 and 20 goals, and the scores frequently enter triple figures. I’ll take that over a nil-nil draw any day!

2. No acting – an AFL sportsman is tough. The tackles are fast and hard and yet the players always get up and keep playing – none of the diving and acting that you see in football. We have watched an AFL player get stretchered off in a neck brace with concussion, only to rejoin the game 25 minutes later – how about that Ronaldo?

3. The seven umpires – the most respected people on the pitch, especially by the players. How novel is that? I personally find the umpires very amusing to watch as well – from the hand gestures and semaphore flag waving used to indicate a goal, to the backwards sprinting to keep up with the game.

4. The draft system of giving the lowest finishing team in the league the first pick of the best new players means that a Manchester United equivalent will never occur in the AFL – fairness rules, and I like it!

5. Watching an AFL game at the stadium is a family friendly event. Supporters for opposing teams can sit together without threat of violence and there are signs kindly asking patrons to mind their language. Now that’s what I call civilised – not a football hooligan in sight!

6. On the topic of civilised match watching – it is easy to park at an AFL stadium, there is healthy food available (as well as the traditional Aussie meat pie, if desired), the tickets are reasonably priced and readily available, and one of the stadiums even has a roof in case of rain!

7. The players are true all-rounders – athletic, talented and articulate! They can all give brilliant post-match interviews and you never get that sinking feeling that happens when a fit soccer player actually opens his mouth to speak...

8. And finally, I have no choice – EVERYONE in Australia has an opinion on AFL and a team that they support. In the UK I can ignore football and still be respected as an individual, but here in Melbourne that is just not possible – either in social situations or the workplace.
(Please note I have tried to avoid offending all of my family and in-laws favourite teams by drawing my comparison against the EPL and not any leagues inhabited by Southampton, Bournemouth, Norwich City, Ipswich or Coventry.)

Anyway, that’s enough rambling – what I really wanted to blog about was Grand Final weekend 2010!

So to recent events – yesterday was our first GRAND FINAL WEEKEND (GFW hereafter), and it was extra special as our team, St Kilda (affectionately known as The Saints) were competing in the final against the Marmite team of the AFL, Collingwood (ie you love them (as 90,000 people do), or you hate them). Tom and I have become very passionate about St Kilda, which most locals find quite hard to believe. We are constantly ribbed for jumping on the bandwagon of a team that is doing well, as well as being accused of being fair weather supporters. When asked in the run up to the GFW if we’d ever been to a Saints match, I was proud to be able to confirm quite the opposite!

Tickets for such a hallowed sporting event are few and far between, despite the stadium holding 100,000. Unless you are a fifth generation Aussie descended from convicts, or have a spare $10,000 to spend on eBay, you don’t really stand a chance. So instead we took up an early position in our local Pub (appropriately named ‘The Local’), along with a couple of hundred other Saints fans and 3 or 4 lonely Collingwood outcasts.

With Collingwood (the Magpies) as the firm favourites, the Saints had a tough game on their hands, and after a strong start from the Pies, Saints trailed throughout the game. We always remained in contention, but were consistently 2 or 3 goals behind. Tom was a ball of nerves the whole time, and he was shouting so loud at the screen I think the players could potentially have heard his words of encouragement 5km’s away in the stadium! With 6 minutes to go (context: in a 100 minute long game), Saints FINALLY took the lead, but it was short lived and with 90 seconds on the clock the Pies scored again to regain the lead by just one point. In a last ditch shot on goal the Saints could only secure a behind, which made it a tie at 68-68! We all watched the final seconds tick away in what was to ultimately become what was the first Grand Final draw in 33 years.

I was exhausted, Tom was gutted, and everyone else was drunk!

Instead of playing extra time like ANY other sport, both St Kilda and Collingwood now face a rematch next weekend – GFW2! What a money making machine for the TV networks, league and stadium – they must be laughing. The players certainly weren’t, with both teams visibly angered by their failure to secure a win in a match full of opportunities. Tom and I will be back next week for more of course – how lucky to get two grand finals in our first year in Melbourne.

Next week we might even get a shot at parting with hundreds of dollars to watch the game first hand, as fewer tickets are allocated to corporates and more to the REAL FANS... I will report back in due course!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Tamara was the only person game enough to join me with the facepaint!

Jordan and Amanda

Tamara and Richard

Pat and Tamara

Even Baby Ben joined in (the son of my colleague Sam and his wife Lou)

Wedding preparations from afar...

2010-09-16T17:51:00.004+10:00

It is now less than two years until TomKat will be united in holy matrimony! Actually, it won't be very holy because we are going to have a civil ceremony, but I imagine it will be marginally more holy than our current 'living in sin' arrangement.

With only 709 days left to prepare (panic!), I have been keen to lock down the essential plans to make sure we get our preferred suppliers on the big day. After finding a venue, my next stop was looking for a photographer. Although Grandma Papparazi is appropriately nicknamed for the role (my dad's mother *loves* to take photos), I didn't think she'd relish the role of official photographer, so I was lucky when someone that I follow on Twitter mentioned Mister Phill. Phill is a Dorset based photographer who specialises in 'reportage' photography, or as his tagline reads 'I compose stories of wedding days'.

I've been reading his blog for a couple of months now, and if you ever get tired of our blog (surely that will never happen, but just in case), then I'd recommend that you pay a visit to http://www.misterphill.com/photography/ for some light reading and stunning wedding photography. Hopefully in two years time you can return to that same link and and read Phill's story of our wedding day.....

Muffin Time

2010-09-11T17:44:00.003+10:00

This afternoon I made chocolate truffle muffins, inspired by a recipe in one of the Aussie food magazines that we read. Tom photographed me with one of them as we both resisted the temptation to tuck in!

Photo Blog: Millie, Rosie and Jamie at Phillip Island

2010-09-04T17:26:00.018+10:00

August 8th 2010, Phillip Island, VIC, Australia

Winter with the Woods

2010-09-04T11:50:00.013+10:00

"My name is Nab Nab. I'm a little penguin from the Melbourne and I've got a twin brother who goes by the same name and lives in Northwich, Cheshire. We were purchased by the Wood family during their month-long trip to Melbourne, and now whilst I'm living here with Tom and Katie, my much-loved twin has flown home with 5 year old Jamie and his sisters Rosie, 7 and Millie, 10. They had an incredible Australian adventure during their school summer holidays, seeing sunny Cairns, the glorious Great Barrier Reef and the spectacular Sydney. After a touring route that encompassed Koala cuddles, a sighting of Migaloo (the world's only white whale) and multiple kangaroo sightings, they then ended up in rainy, cold and wintery Melbourne for 2 weeks! That's how Jamie found me and my brother, during a trip to the Melbourne Aquarium to shelter from the rain. Keep your eyes peeled for me and my brother in the photos below, and in future blogs!"

Millie, Rosie and Jamie in front of Port Melbourne beach, with our apartment marked

Melbourne might have been wet and cold this August, but luckily for our visitors, they had two very important people to visit! Tom and I were delighted that his sister Anna and brother-in-law Kev made the brave decision to spend 24 hours on a plane with three young children in order to come and visit us in Australia. Of course it was a no-brainer for Kev, because he left after 3 weeks and had a peaceful flight back on his own. Anna had to make the return journey as a single-parent, but thanks to the in-flight entertainment the children had plenty to occupy them, even if it was 'Alvin and the Chipmunks : The Squeakwal' on repeat!

Our visitors arrived tired and hungry late one Saturday night in July. They had been on the go for over a day by the time they arrived, but it was only then that Anna discovered that Jamie had been wearing his trousers back to front with no pants for the entire journey! All of our friends (yes, all two of them) here in Melbourne were amazed that we managed to sleep everyone in our 2 bedroom apartment, but this was only thanks to Radio Rentals, who loaned us a set of bunk beds for a month. All five family members slept in one bedroom, which I didn't think was too different to their caravan really?!

After a long sleep they woke up to Christmas in July. It is traditional for the Poms in Oz to celebrate Christmas during the winter time, so 6 months on from December 25th, we decorated the tree, had a traditional roast dinner, and even a visit from a Secret Santa. Also in true British form, it rained all day and we were pretty much stuck in the apartment. Anticipating this situation, Tom and I had purchased a new Wii game to provide some entertainment - Wii Sing! The children loved doing karaoke, but I don't think our neighbours appreciated the talent that they heard, and the next day we had a note under the door asking us to kindly call the building manager. I conveniently 'forgot' to call and we haven't heard anything more - nor have we turned the karaoke back on....

Jamie decorates the tree

Immediately after 'Christmas' the Wood family left for travels around Australia, and Tom and I reverted back to normal life in Melbourne. Two weeks later they arrived back, and Kev had one more week with us before he flew home and left Anna and the children for 2 additional weeks. If we were in the UK, Tom and I would only ever spend a weekend at the most with the Woods, so it was really nice to have their company for a longer period of time. I got to know the children a lot better, and Tom's Uncle credentials increased to new heights, and he was renamed 'Uncle T' - infinately cooler than 'Uncle Tom'!!

The Woods can now claim to have done every tourist attraction in Melbourne, apart from the “Twelve Apossums”, to quote Millie(!). On weekends Tom and I joined them in their sightseeing adventures, and for my birthday weekend we went to Phillip Island to see the little penguins. We were blessed with sunshine (unusual for August in Melbourne) and as well as seeing the penguins we spotted koalas, visited the chocolate factory and played on the beach. Jamie took Nab Nab everywhere and was very keen to show him all of his Little Penguin cousins. All day he asked, 'where are the penguins?', even at Phillip Island race track!

Letting off steam at the beach on Phillip Island

At the koala park

Where's Nab Nab?

Birthday cards and rice krispie cake

The lesser-spotted koala

Oh and a real one!

Another weekend we hired a huge 8-seater mini bus and all piled in to drive to the Dandenongs. Initially rather intimidated by the size of the vehicle, I soon got used to driving it and now quite fancy trading in the Focus! The main focus of the day was intended to be a ride on the Puffing Billy steam train, but the stop en route at Grants Picnic Ground to feed the parrots inadvertently became the main attraction. This is the third time I’ve blogged about these parrots, so regulars to the blog will be familiar with the format. For newcomers and the less attentive of you out there, Grants is a clearing in the forest with lots of well trained parrots and cockatoos who love to eat bird feed from tourists’. We anticipated that Rosie might not be too keen on the birds, as she is famously rather timid when it comes to animals, but none of us predicted the amusement it would bring to watch her run scared from the cockatoos, which she referred to as ‘the eagles’! After nearly an hour, when it was time to leave, Rosie plucked up the courage to hold a parrot – well done Rosie. We videod the whole thing, and the 3 minute edit is on YouTube if you wish to have a chuckle - click here!

Move over Nab Nab, Jamie has a new friend

Rosie was reluctant to say the least..

And my other car is... a bus!

Flamin' gallah!

Millie didn't mind the 'eagles'...

.. until this!

For the reference of future visitors, Hotel TomKat operates rather like a self catering apartment at times, and with Tom and I maxed out at work, Anna was left to keep house for most of the time. She was a fantastic support to us during our busy times at work, and we would come home every night to find dinner on the table and the children ready for bed after playtime with Uncle T. Having the children around was a great way to switch off after a long day, and we are now lost without Anna to cook for us! Our take-away consumption has spiked to an all time high... (thanks for those meals in the freezer though Anna, perhaps you could send over a few more?).

The children were also really keen to understand what Tom and I did for a living, and how things were going at work. Explaining audit to a 7 year old isn't easy (having said that, explaining my job to an adult isn't that easy either), but Tom's definition that he goes to work 'to solve problems' was understood by all! I had a few important meetings during their stay, and Millie always asked whether or not I'd lose my job if I didn't do well at each one! Thanks Millie - luckily I'm still employed!

The final big event of the trip was Millie’s tenth birthday, which we celebrated with an Aussie cake, some helium balloons and a few presents. We also made a trip to Scienceworks, a local science museum which Millie had picked as her chosen entertainment for the day. I got a present too – a flat tyre! Anna spotted it as we were about to leave the museum and together we managed to change for the spare wheel in no time at all – girl power!

Australian themed cake, created by Anna, myself and Tom

Happy 10th birthday Millie!

Tom turned Jamie into Spiderman with the face paints

While Anna and I made a more artistic attempt for Rosie!

When the time came to drive the Woods to the airport, Anna, Tom and I were all really sad. With tears welling, little Jamie cut the tension by asking as we pulled up to Melbourne Airport whether or not we were still in Australia! With the family safely dispatched, Tom and I returned to an empty apartment and collapsed exhausted.. having family in town reminds us of how much we value spending time with them, and when family leave time the distance to the UK always seems the greatest. We now are now settled back into normal Melbourne life again, and look forward to our next set of visitors.... for reservations and rates see www.tomandkatiedownunder.blogspot.com ;-)

Perth and Margaret River

2010-07-25T10:42:00.008+10:00

Catching up on recent travels, I must write about the adventures we had in Western Australia during the last week on May. Looking for somewhere to visit on our way to the UK, we decided that Perth was our best bet as it is en-route and comes highly recommended.

There were a few things that were pretty much guaranteed about our trip – some sun, some rain, meeting members of Tom’s extended family, and a nasty insect encounter. These four elements are part of nearly all of our Aussie adventures! We had a few extra surprises this time though, and neither Tom or I will be forgetting this trip in a hurry...

Perth is one of the most isolated cities on earth, and is a four hour flight from Melbourne. We were lucky to be greeted at the airport by our own personal guide, Tom’s second cousin Karen! Karen is sister to Merryl, who regular blog-readers will remember from our Brisbane trip over Easter. After a tea-stop at Karen’s home, we ventured into the city, which I must admit was nice but relatively underwhelming compared to other Australian cities. The beauty of W.A. lies outside of Perth however, and this would become apparent as we ventured further over the course of our stay.

Perth CBD

For Tom, the beauty of W.A. was right under our noses in the Crown Plaza hotel. He is an avid fan of Australian Rules football, and threatened to take me to an away game for our team, St Kilda, that ‘coincidentally’ happened to be scheduled for the weekend that we were in Perth (hmmmmm). Fortunately I was spared watching live football whilst on holiday, as lunch with Tom’s relatives was scheduled for the same time as the game. I could tell he was disappointed by having to split his allegiance, but this soon dissipated when we discovered that the St Kilda team were staying in our hotel! As Australia’s equivalent of David Beckham lingered in the hotel lobby, Tom was like a kid in sweet shop. He had his shirt signed by lots of his favourite players, and posed for a photo with his footie hero. I don’t think he could concentrate on anything else for the rest of the day!

Next on the list of activities was lunch with three of his second cousins and their families! Karen had organised lunch at a waterside restaurant in the beautiful Fremantle, and it was wonderful to finally meet the people that Merryl, Karen and Tom’s Great Aunt Marian had told us so much about.

The sun came out in time for a day trip to Rottnest Island, 19km off the coast of Perth and home to the quokka, a rat-like cat-sized marsupial, which is much cuter than it sounds! With no cars on the island, Tom and I rented bikes and had a fabulous day riding around the 18 square kilometre island, discovering white sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters. Well catered for tourists, the island has its own branch of Subway, and Tom was in heaven eating his foot-long cheese-steak on honey oat whilst on a paradise beach. I must admit thinking to myself, this would be a damn good place for Tom to propose... I’d have to wait a few more days for that however.

My first time on a bike in at least 12 years

Beautiful cove at Rottnest Island

Clear blue waters

Subway in the sunshine!

My new friends, the quokkas!

After saying goodbye to Perth we ventured South to the famous Margaret River wine region. A carefully planned driving route through several local coastal towns was a total wash-out due to driving rain. Disappointing, but at the end of our drive was the amazing Quay West Bunker Bay resort! We stayed in a really smart garden bungalow, and the lounge and bar area of the hotel had an open log fire and a cosy-warming atmosphere. Shame it wasn’t the weather for the infinity pool! As with any Australian hotel room that is anywhere near vegetation, we had to battle the insects. Within 15 minutes of arrival, Tom had ejected two spiders and a small frog from our room!

We spent our days touring wineries and driving the local region. The food and wine was delicious but the weather was on the whole grey and miserable. Who needs sunshine and warmth when your boyfriend is about to ask you to marry him though? Our trip was rounded off wonderfully by Tom’s proposal on his birthday, and for more on that, read my previous posts!

Australia's most popular rose

View from our Bunker Bay hotel

Celebrating Tom's birthday and our engagement at Vasse Felix

Delicious lunch at Vasse Felix

Tom on his way to write something very important in the sand..

Sporting the ring!

Seeing double (or triple)

2010-06-29T22:08:00.005+10:00

Tom and I are always on the look out for a good business opportunity, and since our engagement, an opening has come to our attention - the UK market for engagement cards. In what you might expect to be a saturated sector, there is clearly a lack of choice, and this was illustrated by the number of duplicate engagement cards that we received. In a population of 21 cards, we received duplicates of one design, and triplicates of two designs! I'm not even sure if triplicates is a word!! Our sample may be biased of course - obviously we have friends and family with consistently good taste.

And here's a photo of the rest of the cards:

If you look carefully you'll see that I'm also displaying the envelope that godson-Jake's card came in, because he coloured it so beautifully!

I also wanted to say a blog thank you to everyone who bought us lovely gifts! I'm not going to list names individually, but we were very grateful for everything that we received. Perhaps Tom would have proposed sooner if he knew we would be showered with such niceties? There is one gift that I wanted to share with you all - today we received in the post a fantastic box of goodies from a one of my university friends. Each gift was individually wrapped and labelled as either being 'For Him because...' or 'For Her because....'. Here's want was inside...

A Yorkie for Him.. because they are not for girls!
A wedding magazine for Her.. so that she can start to plan
A bottle of bath soak and a face mask for Her.. because it's relaxing
A box of champagne truffles for Him and Her.. because a bottle of real Champagne is too hard to post!

and finally.. (and this is the *most* appropriate)..

A packet of ear plugs for him.. because she talks about the wedding 24/7!!!

Not only do I not stop talking about the wedding, but ear plugs will actually be really useful for us during next years Formula 1 Melbourne Grand Prix. We were also really pleased to get UK chocolate past customs! You know who you are and you made our day today with such a thoughtful gift - thank you very much!

Hurricane TomKat

2010-06-18T17:10:00.019+10:00

A bizzare weather pattern hit England in late May and early June. The unforeseen whirlwind began in London before sweeping down to the south-west and then storming East Anglia. It travelled in a 2001 VW Polo and brought gifts from a land down under. It was called Hurricane TomKat...

Our two week visit to the UK felt more like two minutes. We flew in, rushed around to see as many people as possible, and then exited as fast we had arrived. However my cheeks still ache from the smiling, and my heart felt a little heavier when we had to say goodbye. There is nothing like moving to the other side of the world to make you realise how important your friends and family are, and nothing like coming home to see them to make you feel special :-) Thank you to everyone who rushed around as much as us to fit in some time together - whether we saw you for five minutes, two hours or a whole weekend, it was wonderful.

Our two weeks went something like this .. in rough order of appearance... Lucy and baby Dora for bathtime, Elian for lunch, Sally and Pippa for Sex and the City 2, Ed and Cat for tea at Royal Festival Hall, dinner with Mum and Dad Hague, playtime with Jake, Daisy and Emma, lunch with Grandma, yummy cake with Gordon and Margaret (godmother), engagement celebration dinner with Mum, Dad, and Toby plus one, loooooong drive to Norwich. Pause for breath because this is a long one... surprise engagement dinner with the in-laws: Peter, Sue, Claire, Steve, Anna, Kev, Emma, Ann and children Millie, Rosie, Jamie, Charlie, Emily and Ellie. Then the same cast to Bahman Zoo, then the North Norfolk coast, interpersed with phone calls with the lovely Louise and the very bendy Sally (who I miss dearly), as well as a lovely lunch with Marian and Florence. Next up was the most wonderful weekend - the wedding of Thushani and Andy at Sandhurst/Deepcut, and a fantastic fun-filled 36 hours with the uni friends I miss so much - Sarah & Matt, Pippa & Rowan, Sally, Fiona (no Alex unfortunately), Telfy & Ant, Katie & Chris, Ella and Andy and of course the happy couple themselves. The next day we were treated to cuddles with baby Amelie (see previous blog post for photos) before Sarah and Matt played hostess with the mostess for us in Raynes Park. To continue.. Wagamamas with Sarah and Matt, office day for Katie featuring more people than I can include here, then engagement drinks in London with reappearances from Sally, Fiona and Elian, bubbles from Phil and Kate, and fun times with Lynne and identical sister Claire, husband Mike plus a whole heap of Tom's friends. Next was ring shopping (yay!), Pizza Express with Lucy and Dora, then down to Poole, for more visits with Mum and Dad, as well as Marion, Di (loved the cakes thanks!), Grandma again, flat coke and a few tears with Jo and ten (yes, ten) wedding venues. A bit of shopping, much packing, calls to Gully and V&A, lots of goodbyes, then the coach to Heathrow. Phew.

If anyone is planning a similarly busy holiday in the near future, please can in touch and I can send you my spreadsheet to assist with planning!

If you're still reading after all of that, well done. I'll leave the rest of the story-telling to a selection of photos from our visit. We look forward to seeing you all again next year!

(L-R) Sarah, Pippa, Fiona, Katie, Tush, Sally, Sarah, Ella

The cutest couple! Thushani and Andy

Katie and Kate

Daisy

Me and my godson, Jake

Cake and ice cream on the North Norfolk coast

Ellie

Tom with his nieces and nephews - anticlockwise: Tom, Emily, Millie, Ellie, Charlie, Jamie, Rosie

The usual rough and tumble between the boys

The boxing kanagroos went down brilliantly!

.. as did Amelie's Kylie Koala!

The motley crew that I'm marrying into..!

Celebratory engagement cake made by Sue

Ellie has turned into a proper girly girl since we left!

Auntie Katie teaching Dora about the important things in life - Pizza Express

London engagement drinks - Sally, Claire, Katie, Fiona, Lynne, Elian

Bubbles with Phil and Kate

Ellie

Charlie

Emily, who has really grown up since we last saw her

Bonding time with Uncle Tom

PS Marian and Florence - I need to retrieve the photos of our lunch together from Peter and Sue's computer - I'll send them on to you shortly!

Amelie!

2010-06-16T13:45:00.001+10:00

A special blog entry devoted to some photos of the lovely Amelie - thanks for the cuddles whilst we were in the UK! It was great to catch up with proud parents Ella and Andy too...

The writing's in the sand...

2010-06-13T20:23:00.002+10:00

For possibly the first time since starting this blog, I’ve got writers block. I can’t think of a more interesting or creative way to share with you all some news that we’re very excited about... Tom has asked me to marry him!

After an introduction by mutual friends Alex and Fiona, the audition process for the roles of future-husband to Katie and future-wife to Tom was thorough. It began in May 2006 with a few drinks in our local pub in Swiss Cottage, followed by several call backs at various locations across north-west and central London. After this followed a screen test with the respective families (where resumes were scrutinised) and the meeting of friends (where references were sought)! The roles of boyfriend and girlfriend were quickly established and after one year were upgraded to a live-in arrangement to determine the potential for full-time roles in the future. After the surprising success of sharing a flat the size of a shoebox with each other and two flatmates, the audition process went on location, to a one-bed flat around the corner. Shared finances were the next test, and within 3 years of meeting a joint mortgage had been signed for our first house purchase. Surely this is a greater commitment than marriage? Perhaps not to Tom, to whom the story was not yet complete, and so the audition process moved overseas – halfway around the world in fact, and after four years of wonderful courtship, Tom proposed on a beach in Western Australia, exactly nine thousand and forty three miles from the place where it all began.

After much family expectation and a scripting reminder from sister-Anna that the five little words he needed to say started with ‘Katie’ and ended in ‘me?’, Tom found the words with impeccable timing – just one day before our first return visit to the UK. The place was the deserted beach of Bunker Bay in Western Australia, and it was during a sunny early morning walk that Tom popped the question by writing, “Katie, will you marry me?” in the sand. After my immediate acceptance and few tears of joy, he got down on one knee and produced a ring. I had no idea that he’d smuggled a ring into our luggage, or called my Dad the night before to ask his permission.

We celebrated with a wonderful lunch at the Vasse Felix winery, not forgetting that other than getting engaged, this special day was also Tom’s 27th birthday. Once the UK had awoken we shared the news with our parents, and having had a tip off the previous day my mum was waiting by the phone – I’m not sure if even rang before she picked up!

It was wonderful sharing our news with family and friends, and Tom had deliberately proposed just before our visit to the UK so that we could celebrate with as many people as possible in person. How he knew that I’d been dreaming that he might do that, I will never know. We were totally overwhelmed with the wonderful comments that we received from everyone- and particularly from our friends, for whom an engagement occurs roughly once a month at the moment, so there is no novelty factor left! Thank you to everyone for your wonderful cards, gifts, cakes and champagne.

There are many more stories to tell from our week in Western Australia, and our two week holiday in the UK, but I’ll save those for later editions and leave you now with some photos of our happy moment...

Autumn in Spring

2010-05-03T21:56:00.005+10:00

Tom and I are very confused. Last week we had a wonderful autumnal long weekend in one of Victoria's best loved country hideways, where the air was crisp and the leaves on the trees were stunning shades of yellow, orange and red. But isn't September, or October, or even November.. it's April! Having Autumn during 'Spring' just feels wrong, but luckily that’s where the complications ended for our beautiful weekend in Daylesford.

Located ninety minutes north of the city of Melbourne, Daylesford is a popular romantic getaway for city-types, and is one of Australia's best natural spa towns - think a tiny version of Bath, but without the Romans. We had booked two nights at a local B&B and set off armed with a picnic and the Lonely Planet, but otherwise were relatively unprepared (I usually have an itinerary of events for weekends such as this!).

Our first stop was Hanging Rock, which is a volcanic rock formation, and therefore a very topical place to visit! We climbed the rock and ‘enjoyed’ the scenic views which were unfortunately obscured by lots of low cloud. (Chris – I don’t think it was a noctilucent cloud, or I would have taken a photo.) I’d been totally unprepared for how much cooler it is inland compared to the coast, and as a result was very underdressed - luckily though it was a steep climb which helped to keep me warm. The rock was (apparently) famously used as the location for the 19070s film ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ – so naturally we had a picnic ;-)

Me at Hanging Rock

Next it was on to Daylesford where we checked into our B&B, Cherry Tree Cottage. After an initially unwelcoming 10 minutes whilst we waited for the owner to appear, we were shown into a beautifully designed 2 bedroom annex, complete with log fire, champagne in the fridge and chocolates on the bed. Tom and I each spotted something that was missing though – no TV in the bedroom (that was Tom) and no proper door to the toilet (me!). Ho hum, who needs TV and privacy anyway?! I might sound critical, don’t worry I was much more favourable in my Tripadvisor review! The shower was one of these trendy roses hanging above a traditional claw-foot bath tub in the middle of the bedroom. It looked beautiful, but not cosy. So, when Tom showed signs of softening to the idea of going to a spa, I leaped at the chance for a decent shower and off we went!

We visited the Hepburn Bathhouse and Spa, which is a mineral water spa dating back to 1895. Thankfully there has been some considerable modernisation since it first opened, and we loved relaxing in the different pools. I say ‘we loved it’ – I certainly loved it and I think Tom tolerated it very well!

All afternoon we’d been counting down to our dinner reservation at super-fancy restaurant The Lake House. With two Chef’s Hats, The Lake House is one of Victoria’s most respected restaurants. Chef’s Hats are like Michelin Stars, but probably not quite as hard to get! Unfortunately we couldn’t get a reservation before 9.30pm, which is late for us – we’re really not that rock and roll. I was worried about staying awake, Tom was worried about fitting all the food in, and more importantly 9.30pm took AGES to come around! Eventually we were seated and the fun began! Tom had the most extravagantly named starter – ‘Five tastes of the sea’ – and it was spectacularly presented. For main course I had snapper with came with the best cous cous I’ve ever tasted – shame there was only half a teaspoon of it! Dessert stole the show however... five sharing dishes including quite possibly the best chocolate fondant I will ever eat in my life! We had a great night and went home sleepy, a bit heavier in the belly and a lot lighter in the purse!

Our pudding plate at The Lake House - sorry about the poor photo quality from my iPhone - I was too embarassed to get a proper camera out!

After all the raving about fancy food, the following night we had the *best* pizza to date in Australia at the Koukla wood fired pizza cafe. At around one quarter the price of The Lake House, the $ per ‘yummy noise’ ratio was much favourable, and Tom still hasn’t stopped talking about how good it was!

Before our pizza, we had spent the day that Ballarat Wildlife Park, which was another opportunity to get up close and personal with some of Australia’s wildlife. We loved feeding the kangaroos, and they were well trained at spotting the tourist with a bag of seed – we couldn’t keep them away!

Crocodile feeding time!

Yogi the koala!

On the same weekend that Tom and I were in Daylesford, my good friend Sally ran the London Marathon in aid of the Spinal Injuries Association. Tom thought I was crazy as I jumped around our B&B room cheering Sally out loud , “Run Sally, run!”. She finished in a great time, so it must have worked ;-) Well done Sally!

Since we’ve been back in Melbourne we’ve continued the usual routine. Ballet, wine tasting, gym etc are all ticking along nicely, and this weekend Canadian-friend-Tamara and I added Deep Water Running to the training schedule. It was hilarious, if you’re curious I suggest you look it up on You Tube as there isn’t space here to describe it! UK-colleague Gail and her boyfriend Jon arrived in Melbourne last week – see their blog at Jon and Gail’s Aussie Adventure - and so our expat community has grown again. We celebrated their arrival in style with Tom’s signature Beef Wellington a la Gordon Ramsey– it was so yummy I’ve almost forgotten about the pizza last week!

Until next time....

The Australian term for 'X-Large' eggs!

Extra-Curricular Activities

2010-04-17T14:36:00.004+10:00

Tom and I have discovered that moving overseas creates a great enthusiasm to take up new hobbies, try that sport that you’ve been meaning to do for years, and just generally do more ‘things’ that we would ever be motivated to do at home. We started with a gym membership and our photography course earlier this year, but this week our extra-curricular activities have risen to a new level.

Tom was cooking up a storm in the kitchen last Sunday when he heard an advert for the Elance Adult Ballet School in Melbourne. I was promptly called away from the ironing (haha, aren’t I a good girlfriend?!) to listen to the advert, and within two days I had enrolled at the school and taken my first class! The Elance school runs out of a beautiful purpose built studio complex in the suburb of Hawthorn East, and has daily ballet classes for dancers of all abilities. Unlike many of the adult dance schools in big cities around the globe, at Elance you sign up for a full term, must show up on time and wear uniform to class – the closest thing I’ve ever found to the familiar surroundings of my childhood dancing experiences with Diane Gulliford. The parallels don’t stop there however – the school principle at Elance is also called Diane! So, I think this was meant to be and I’ve signed up for 12 classes.

As is normal for me, I’ve managed to turn finding a new activity into an excuse to go shopping! Although I brought ballet shoes with me on the plane from the UK (too precious for the ship!), I didn’t bring any clothing, so yesterday I had a field day in the Bloch shop buying a leotard, tights and ballet skirt. I got incredibly distracted by some tiny but beautiful Baby Bloch ballet shoes – Ella and Lucy if they hadn’t been sooo expensive I was going to buy a pair each for Dora and Amelie! I thought $55 a pair was a bit pricey when your babies aren’t even walking yet, let alone doing first position.. Miss Gulliford if you are reading this though I challenge you to resist buying a pair for baby Catrin!

Severely crippled from Tuesday night’s class, Wednesday evening was the first of five sessions of a wine tasting course. After an embarrassing start by being the last to arrive (we weren’t late, but the tutor was clearly waiting for us!), there weren’t two available seats next to each other. After we took our seats separately, the woman next to me asked if Tom wanted to swap with her so that we could sit together. Tom said ‘yes’ just as I said ‘no’ – cue much laughter from the rest of the class. Sorry Tom, it’s not that I didn’t want to sit next to you, because really I did – I was just being ‘British’ and trying not to cause a fuss!

What followed was some interesting tuition from our (English!) tutor on how to taste wines, plus the opportunity to smell, taste and score three whites and three reds. The room was full of suggestions as to the wine scents and flavours – citrus, spices and chocolate were all suggestions, and we received a flavour ‘wheel’ to help us out with ideas... including the well known and sought after scents of ‘wet dog’, ‘skunk’ and ‘hydrogen sulphide’! I sat quietly and wondered to myself if there was something wrong with my sense of smell and my tastebuds - all I could smell and taste was wine! I confided in my colleagues Neil and Richard the next day, explaining my total lack of ability in the wine department. They then enlightened me that wine tasting is all about lying – “just make it up!”, they said! This has left me somewhat bemused that we’ve paid $580 to a wine company to learn how to bluff about wines. Perhaps the answer is to drink more and think less! I’ll keep you posted...

On Thursday night, Tom’s British colleague Carolyn had invited us to the local pub quiz. We thought it would be a great opportunity to meet some new people, so off we went to join a team of eight Brits and one, poor, lonely Aussie. We’ve since faced allegations that really we are still living in Britain – our social circle is all ex-pats, we read British news and watch British TV (we hope you all enjoyed Masterchef as much as we did!). In our defence however, we are trying very hard to be Aussie, but there are SO many Brits here that it would be rude to not socialise with them! The quiz was challenging, and we placed a respectable fourth amongst a group of eleven teams with considerably more experience. This placing was achieved despite the ‘hot seat’ round being on my specialist subject of musicals, where I embarrassingly failed to remember that West Side Story is based on Romeo and Juliet. Never mind that I was able to complete the answer of the next team’s question.... in the musical My Fair Lady, ‘hurricanes hardly happen’ in which three counties..? Answers on a postcard please.

Friday night was work drinks, with the usual and now very friendly gang of the Canadians Richard and Tamara, the Brits Rob and Jacqui, and the now the newcomers Neil and Claire! We went for dinner on Melbourne’s Southbank and afterwards saw Reginald D Hunter’s stand up show, which was part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival. It wasn’t particularly remarkable, so I won’t remark further!

So now it’s Saturday, and Tom is off playing basketball (a similar resurgence of enthusiasm to my ballet classes) and I’m sitting on the balcony writing this blog. Summer has returned for one day only, so I’m maximising the tanning opportunity. I know that when we come home in June you will all remark that we are very pale, and question whether or not we’ve actually been in Australia for the past eight months!

There have been lots of missed celebrations this week for those we miss and love from back home, so here are a few messages... happy birthday this week to Dad, Anna and Kev, congratulations to Mr and Mrs Smith on your baby news, and much love to ‘you know who you both are’ on your engagement! Girls I’m very exciting to have a SATC2 date with you all, and Emma, March, Jake and Daisy it was lovely to see you all on Skype for the first time last weekend!

I don’t have any exciting photos from this week, so this is my on the balcony writing the blog:

Easter in Queensland

2010-04-10T11:11:00.008+10:00

Forget chocolate bunnies, Easter 2010 was all about sun, sea and scenery, as Tom and I took our first inter-state holiday in southern Queensland. Home to Australia's third largest city, Brisbane, and the famous Gold Coast beaches, Queensland is a holiday destination for the masses, and it was very obvious why. Our host for the weekend was super-guide Merryl, who I've introduced on the blog several times before, but for those who you haven't read all of the previous editions (and shame on you!), Merryl is Tom's second cousin, and emigrated to Australia from the UK as a teenager. Super-guide is perhaps an understatement, as Merryl planned an unbelievable itinerary of sights that took us not just around the city of Brisbane but also all over southern Queensland. Merryl was not only a great tour guide but an uncomplaining chauffeur, and we zipped around to all of our destinations in her blue Honda Jazz (Dad I know you'll be jealous!).

We flew from Melbourne to Brisbane on Good Friday morning, and our plan for the day was to explore Brisbane. We took a long walk on the stunning southbank of the Brisbane River - it really reminded us of London's Southbank, with similar architecture (think Royal Festival Hall), a wheel almost as good as the London Eye, and several bridges crossing the river into the CBD. What Brisbane had to trump London however, was beautiful park areas and foliage, plus two outdoor swimming areas! It was the southbanks of all southbanks, in my opinion.

Brisbane Southbank

'Brisbane Eye' (I don't think it's actually called that!)

At the end of our walk awaited a blast from the past - and old friend from Bath university, Lisa Price - who since I last saw her 6 years ago has become Lisa Brownhill, mummy to Rhys and resident of Australia! Needless to say, we had a lot to catch up on, and it was great to meet her husband Richard and gorgeous little boy. Avid readers of my blog will know how baby-deprived I've felt since leaving Dora, Amelie, Ben, Ellie etc behind in the UK so any local babies are much doted upon.

Baby Rhys

L-R: Tom, Katie, Lisa, Rhys, Richard

Back at Merryl's house in the suburb of Daisy Hill, we were at one with nature. The house is on the edge of the forest, and built on a hill, so her first floor dining veranda is at mid-level tree height and provides a fantastic viewing opportunity for the local flora and fauna. Tom loved it, but you all know how I feel about bugs, and as darkness closed in whilst we ate our dinner, I couldn't hide my wandering eyes as I kept an eye on the moths, spiders and little geckos that were running around on the ceiling above us! Merryl tried to tell us about the spiders in the house before Tom immediately interrupted her with, "I don't think Katie needs to know about that at all thank you...!". Flashbacks of our Christmas trip and the huntsman spider encounter were fresh in both our minds, and Tom didn't fancy having that trauma on his hands again!

On the veranda

Dinner on the Veranda

Enjoying Merryl's swimming pool!

On Saturday we started the day with a long drive to the Glasshouse Mountains, and then headed further north to Noosa - a wonderful unspoilt beach resort. The beach was sandy and clean, the sea was warm and inviting - if only I'd had my swimming costume! We enjoyed a good paddle and then strolled along the main shopping street - Tom and I loved it and will definitely be heading back here for a relaxing holiday. Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo is also nearby so we'd like to return to visit his contraversial legacy.

Beautiful unspoilt Noosa beach

Tom and I

There were more beaches ahead of us on Sunday, but this time it was Surfers Paradise – just as beautiful a beach as Noosa, but totally contrasting surroundings. Instead of parklands and little hotels, it was skyscraper city, with dozens upon dozens of high rise apartment blocks to cater to the mass of tourists that flock to Surfers. The Costa del Sol of Australia is perhaps a fitting description, and it is this part of town that earns Brisbane it’s nickname of ‘BrisVegas’. Lots of the theme parks are in the vicinity, but we didn’t have time to visit so have put these in the list for next time. We had find time to swim however – my first proper swim in the Ocean here in Australia! The water was clear and warm and the waves were HUGE! I’d love to have a photographic record of my first Aussie swim, but unfortunately although Tom was left on the beach in charge of the camera, he didn’t take a photo!

Surfer's Paradise aka BrisVegas

Me being silly in Surfers

I thought this was an atmospheric shot

Lifeguard!

The rest of the weekend went by in a flash, so quickly in fact that we’ll definitely try to go back to Queensland and spend more time seeing the beautifully scenery and ticking off some of the zoos, aquariums and theme parks. Brisbane is only a two and a quarter hour flight from Melbourne, so it’s close enough to go for a weekend I think. We weren’t totally devoid of Easter tradition, with yummy Easter bunnies from Merryl, and a very lively debate about religion during Easter drinks with some of her friends!

Coming up over the next few weeks are lots of dinners with friends, Melbourne Comedy Festival, and plenty of sport – Aussie Rules football and Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships. We’ve also booked some theatre and a weekend away in local-spa town Dayelsford and will be arriving back in the UK 7 weeks today! We are looking forward to catching up with you all....

Here’s some more Queensland photos to close:

View of Brisbane from Mt Cout-tha

T&K, with Brisbane city in background

Surf anyone?! This was on a bus in Noosa.

Noosa beach

Stereotypical Aussie image

This was taken on Brisbane's Southbank, not Merryl's garden!

Kate, this one is for you - the first in hopefully a long list of Australia's 'BIG' landmarks that we will spot!