The next phase

Thank you to everyone who has joined me for the ride to our wedding last year! It was a fun journey, there were a few little hiccups along the way but everything pulled together in the end.

It is true that the day flies by so fast! I tried to speak to as many friends as I could but did not manage everyone.

If you would like to keep in touch with what we are up to, I have another blog Afternoon Tea with the Girls. The big news for us at the moment is that we are building a house, and I am slowly posting photos of the progress!

There are still more wedding items that I will post to this blog, such as the reading we selected and other bits and pieces that I wish to document.

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The morning after - part 2

New little sister
Partying hard. Already
borrowing my clothes

For better haiku, check out my (other) sister E's blog. She is much more lyrical than I.

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Bucks and crays

A trip to Rottnest for the start of the Crayfish season (15th November here in WA!) seemed like the perfect platform for a bucks show. C and several of his mates went over on Sunday - four boats in total - for the start of the season on Monday. The windy weather meant that they were not able to access their usual spots and the haul was a measly 6 amongst the three of them who dove. There had been some shark activity recently in the area and not all of the boys were game enough to get into the water!

Rottnest is one of the places that I want to visit more frequently - we have the means to get over there and we can chuck our bikes onto the boat to get around once we are there. Maybe this summer...

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Congratulations to my sister E for passing her exams for entry into specialist training!!!

Chad and I are very excited and pleased as punch for you. Yay!!

xx Love from us.

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A beach wedding

Chad and I headed down to Margaret River for the wedding of C&J on Friday. It was a very simple wedding, attended by the bride and groom, their two sons, the best man (Chad) and bridesmaid and their partners, the bride's parents and the groom's mother and aunt.

The bridesmaid's partner H and I were both asked to take photographs for them of the day, and I managed to snap 276 over the course of festivities. It was pretty bright out so lots of squinting went on and I need to do some more learning on how to take photos and also edit them!

C and H came to our room in the morning for C and Chad to get ready. From there we headed to the Karridale Tavern to meet with everyone except the bride and bridesmaid and to the wedding venue at Hamelin Bay. After the ceremony we headed back to the Karridale Tavern for lunch and to relax.

Hamelin Bay is a gorgeous location! So peaceful. The bride's aisle was the sand and the processional music the sounds of the ocean.

Not looking too nervous.
Chad and me.
Mother of the groom sorting out the flowers.
The blushing bride.
Bridesmaid A with BabyR, Bride J and her father with BabyS.
Pledging their love.
Joined together.
Kiss the bride!
Happy family.
Just married.
Gorgeous bridesmaid.
Beautiful colours.

Send in the cows!

C and I went down to Margaret River for a wedding yesterday. There is a Cow Parade happening down there, and I managed to get a couple of the cows to pose for photos.

These two were spotted cruising at the Karridale Tavern and surfing the roof at Settlers Tavern.

Fabulous Freo

The bridesmaids and I are heading to Fremantle this Saturday to do some dress shopping. This video will give us an idea of the culture in store for us.

C and I saw "Hello, It's Freo!" at the Bohemia Shorts in February.

Time out with friends

Yesterday we met with friends at Araluen for a barbecue lunch. I had not been out to Araluen before, and it is a very lovely venue! Nice and relaxing, large trees and a nice grassed area to picnic at. We did not explore the whole park, so will have to do that another day.

The park has timber picnic tables, and free barbecues, as well as a large grassed area! Everything you could want for a barbecue picnic lunch, as long as you do not mind waiting for an hour for the food to cook on a not very hot plate... the boys suggested that the sun was doing more to cook the sausages than the barbecue!

C practices his parenting skills on LittleA, while L looks on.

The boys surround the extra slow barbecue, trying to work their magic to stoke the fire!

Mums and bubs wait for their lunch. Hurry up boys!!

Gorgeous scenery...

Working out the timer on the camera!

PROSH 2010

This Wednesday was the day that hordes of UWA students descend on the unsuspecting in Perth and sell them the Prosh paper.

In the name of charity were Avatar wannabes and military try hards standing on street corners, rattling their tins and selling the paper! It is all in good fun, and in theory when I was a student we used to get the mornings off from classes in order to participate... for some reason the engineering lecturers I had never believed in that theory...



According the website, Prosh has been going now for 71 years! That is a very decent innings.

A little night music

I can hear the snores through a closed door.
I will have to go and roll him over shortly.
I get in trouble if I poke him.

There are a lifetime of snores to look forward to!

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Ten things before I go to bed..

Ten Things as inspired by Pip from Meet Me At Mikes.

1. I have only ever run 10km once. That was around the Causeway and Narrows Bridge here in Perth.
2. Two foods that I find hard to resist ordering at a restaurant are tira misu and duck.
3. I went to Sydney (and Hobart) for the first time three weeks ago. They were the last two in my collection of Australian capital cities.
4. I am scared of heights.
5. I have never dyed my hair.
6. I met my fiance on a construction site. I told him that I read the Australian Wiring Rules in my spare time. He still asked me out!!
7. I am a Doctor Who nerd fan. Old school though, I used to watch in the 80s.
8. My sister and I went to the baths in Baden-Baden in Germany. We were naked. There were strange men there.
9. I love reading. Lately I have been reading travel narratives. Inspiring!
10. I have only ever drunk (hot) coffee once in my life (I will drink iced coffee).

Image taken at the Swarbrick Wilderness Discovery

An Easter Wedding

M&T's wedding continued at the Bellrive Yacht Club. There were lovely speches from the families, energetic moves on the dance floor and great company. All of the ingredients for a wonderful wedding!


Sisters! Standing are the groom's sisters, our MCs for the evening and seated are the bride's sisters.

Mrs & Mr H!

The lovely mother of the bride and sisters M and S

The blushing bride with J and L

L, F, me, C and M

Awesome view from the balcony

Our table centrepiece

Floods!

My toilet is leaking. It has been so long since anyone turned the water to it on or off that the tap is stuck! I have managed to get the plastic tap cover off (thanks Dad!) and turning the spindle is my next challenge. C is not due back for another few days so if I do not stop the leak then the ensuite floor would be a swimming pool!

I went looking through C's tools. Funny, I know what a crimper looks like (for crimping lugs etc onto the ends of cable) and cocky beaks (for cutting electrical cable) but I am not sure what vice grips look like. So sad.

I think it is probably the seal, and we have already replaced the seal on the other toilet upstairs but it would be so nice to replace the toilet with someone more modern in style and more importantly with a dual flush to use less water!

Update: It is the cistern. Dad diagnosed it over the phone and the water is dropping from the cistern down. Phew. That water is cleaner than the stuff going through the bowl.

Another update: FIXED!! Thank you Chucky. xx.

A forlorn flower

I took a photo of this strange yellow object because I thought that it looked sad and lonely. It is located on a street corner near the IMAX at Sydney's Darling Harbour. Such an incongruous spot and it looks out of place with the freeway behind it.

I think it is meant to be a bunch of flowers, although if you take a look at it from another angle it looks like it has legs and could attack from five directions! Maybe it is an alien life form waiting to take us by surprise.

Sad news

I heard on the news today that a WA triathlete had died in a road accident in Spain. I was surprised and saddened to find out that the athlete was Chanelle Carter. I shared a room with Chanelle on our Oxfam Challenge in Laos in 2007. She was a very dedicated young woman and passionate about life.

May your soul be at peace.

An Easter wedding ceremony

The day of M&T's wedding was clear and the temperature made it to a cool 16C! The ceremony was held at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens in the Conservatory. It was such a beautiful spot, sheltered and colourful with the many plants throughout it. As you can see in the photos, the sun was shining.

The menfolk belonging to the sisters of the bride.

Me with L&K. I am carrying my warm jacket (filled with down!) in anticipation of the cold evening.

The bride's getaway car!

A quick Sydney trip

Slightly embarassing, but I had never been to Sydney until this weekend. Paris, yes. London, yes. New York and even Moscow, but not Sydney. I took the opportunity of going to a friend's wedding in Hobart to stopover for a night to see what the fuss was all about.

I flew over on a redeye (midnight horror, or overnight flight). It seemed like a good idea at the time however the flight was barely more than 4 hours long and there was not enough time for sleeping.

Travel from the airport to the city is a breeze! There is the Airport Link train connection. I always think travelling by train to an airport is the way to go, having experienced the ease of travel as a tourist in places including London, Hong Kong, Brisbane...

I arrived at the hostel and parked my suitcase, then wandered off in search of breakfast. It was 7.30am and not much of the city (that I could see) was awake at this time. I found a small cafe that seemed to be doing a brisk trade with contingents of tour bus and the food seemed simple and fresh.

It was still early so I went to see the QVB (Queen Victoria Building). Such a beautiful building! Not many of the shops were open at this stage, I think that 10am was the magic time and as I left they were starting to open.

I eventually found my way onto a bus and went to the Paddington Markets. There were lots of interesting stalls selling clothes, homewares, second hand and vintage items and more! I walked back up Oxford Street to my hostel to check in.

After a snooze I checked out Market City. There is a market at the bottom, with retail shops and factory outlets and food above. It was like stepping into Asia, the style of the centre was reminiscent of being in another country! The IGA at the centre was like a giant Asian grocery store. More snoozing and then a shower before catching up with friends D&J for dinner and dessert.

The next morning I headed out to Circular Quay to find myself breakfast with view - of Sydney Opera house and Sydney Harbour Bridge. I could hardly leave Sydney without seeing that pair.

Mission accomplished I was back on the train to the airport, ready for my next adventure.

Unpredictable weather

There were forecasts of thunderstorms today. I did not take them to seriously considering last week there were also forecasts of a thunderstorm and all that happened was that it got really humid.

Ha! Little did I know...

This afternoon I left the office around 5pm, just before the skies opened up. I was trying to head down to the Novotel-Langley where C and his crew were. The rain got pretty heavy fairly quickly and I ended up taking refuge behind a bus shelter. Everyone else stood on the road side, I preferred the other side to the buses - every time they drove through they would drench the shelter! By the time C and B picked me up from the bustop about 15 minutes later I was drenched and cold. I could even pour water out of my shoes!! B dropped us home but of course traffic was pretty congested and it took a while!

Luckily we were in a 4WD (work vehicle) so the engine was better designed to cope with driving through water!

As we were driving along Riverside Drive we realised that we could not see any light in across the river in South Perth. As we drove down the freeway Chad actually called out of the window to one bloke who was on his balcony and asked if he had power. He said no, as did a couple of other blokes along Labouchere Road that he quizzed.

When we got home one of my neighbours told me that their skylights had been smashed. Since our units are pretty much identical she told me to expect the same. And they were! There was water down the bottom of the stairs and also in the ensuite. All four of us with the similar floor plans have two smashed skylights, and a couple of neighbours have casualties in the shape of windows.



As it darkened we scrounged torches and candles and placed them strategically around the house. I tried to create ambience with a plate full of tea lights but it just wasn't happening! Thankfully our stove top and hot water system are gas, so we could cook food and warm ourselves up in the shower. Power was restored around 9pm.

In the light of tomorrow we shall see what the damage is. We have two holes open to the skies and we have placed a large tub under one to catch the water. The other one is in the ensuite and should flow into the drain.

More info in news reports from the ABC and The West Australian.

More news:
Mopping Up,
Damage
more Damage,
Landslide,
more Landslide

Photo of Storm damage in Rokeby Road, Subiaco. Accredited to Clarissa Phillips, on The West Australian

Fabulous Hen!

My friend MP is getting married soon and last night was her hen's night. It was hosted by her sister SP at her place just around the corner from the Brisbane Hotel.

We were fed lovely breads and dips and salads and meats and fruit and sweets until we were full, and the we headed to the Brisbane for some more entertainment!

Three sisters.

E, MP and J

Hen and friends!

MP, me and AB

Sisters MM and JR


Thanks for the party!