"Freo, Freo, I wanna live in Freo and I want to now"

23rd Dec, we arrive in Perth to holiday with Alan and Kelly, and Bob's good friend from uni, Sally who is travelling for 10 weeks around Australia. The flat we were renting was an absolute dream! Perfect for a long weekend in Fremantle. We quickly adopted the biggest plant in the living room as our Christmas Tree and after decorating with mini baubles, we stuck our Secret Santa pressies under it. Christmas Tunes - check. Boxes of Goon - check. Presents - check. Roast ham for dinner - check. Excellent!

Christmas Eve was spent on the beach - a dog beach at that! We quickly learned that sunbathing on dog poo was not what we all had in mind for a christmas holiday so we moved onto Cottlesloe beach for a dip in the sea and some chilling out. A bottle of fizz was popped open and the sun was shining. Slightly different to our usual Christmas Eve at the Fox and Hounds by the fire! A pint in Little Creatures pub was our next stop - this pub is famous for it's atmosphere and also for having the open planned bar in an old boatshed/warehouse, where the beer is served fresh from the tank. I would recommend the Little Creatures Bright! Delicious.

Christmas Day was a rather chilled out affair! After a rather excitable morning of Bob playing Santa and handing out the pressies (Alan's present of junior beach cricket came in quite handy later on), we headed off to Scarborough beach to meet Alan and Kelly's friends Chris and Sam, fellow Edinburgers and their friends Katy and Gary, fellow Glaswegians (it's a small world - Katy also played in the Johnstone Silver Band!!) More cricket, pitenque, swimming in the sea and general silliness followed, along with watching a lot of Santas running around the beach like loonies (backpacker central) before we headed back to the flat to cook the crimbo dinner. Kelly and I were in charge of cocktails and dessert, Bob and Sally in charge of the ham and Alan was the veggie man. Pavlova was a success! Sparkling Rose Strawberry Jelly not so successful - everyone but Alan was at least polite enough to eat some of it - Alan just simply refused. It was indeed quite strong! Christmas tunes were on, party hats and crackers galore but nothing could make us feel festive. It was hot and sunny out side! It was all wrong!

General silliness continued into the wee small hours - some of us attempted some ceilidh dancing which ended up with us lying in a crumpled heap (Kelly still has the bruises) and indoor cricket was played for shots of goon - put simply, it got quite messy but much fun was had by all.

Boxing Day was a non event! Cricket watching anyone? We did hear on the news that Scarborough beach had to be closed for 5 hours for SHARK ALERT! Lucky the hammerhead and tiger sharks decided to stay away on Christmas Day or one of us might have been eaten......

27th Dec - Rottnest Island (the day we all nearly died)

We headed to Rottnest Island early doors to hire a bike and cycle round the island - think Millport but 10 times better! Beautiful blue green water, perfect for snorkelling. Unfortunately for us, cycling at 12 noon in 40C was not the best idea and as we all started to get slightly grumpy and burnt, we found a magic cave where we all sheltered for the next 3 hours! We occasionally jooked out for a cool down in the sea and some snorkelling action then back into the cave to avoid the sun. Without the cave, I think our five skeletons would've been found at the end of the day, as we all melted under the heat. El scorchio! Had my first snorkelling experience, I was a little apprehensive about snorkelling where I could see what was underneath my feet but couldn't put my feet down (I know, it sounds weird) but I quickly got over that and saw some lovely angel fish and some other big fish too (not sure what type they were!). Luckily I didn't see a shark although Alan did catch me out amazingly by swimming underwater and grabbing my leg - oh ha ha (I did scream quite loud).

After baking ourselves in and out of the cave, it was back to the pub for a cold beer where we congratulated ourselves for coming out alive. A very relaxing day if not a sweltering one!

We celebrated our survival with a trip to the local casino - Bob and I, continuing our poor form with betting, managed to lose $50 at Roulette but Alan and Kelly had more luck with the Blackjack - maybe we should change our tactics next time!

Fremantle was fab, a very chilled out holiday, next stop Sydney for New Year! xx

The Big Red Rock

An escape from a miserable morning in Melbourne at 6am was just what we needed as we headed to Alice Springs where the sun was shining and the temp was above 30C, brilliant! Having only 2.5 hours before flying to Uluru airport, we decided to hop in a taxi and see exactly what Alice Springs had to offer. The answer? Not a lot! The town, dominated by an Aboriginal population, was relatively quiet and to be honest, we didn't really spent a huge amount of time there! Onwards to Uluru. Our hotel, The Lost Camel, was excellent. The hotel was part of the Ayers Rock resort, which consisted of several hotels, a campsite, pub, town square with cafes and restaurants and some swimming pools. Oh, and some camels. With the sun blazing and not a cloud in the sky, we decided to book ourselves on to the Sounds of Silence dinner that evening and off we went on the bus to the lookout for Ayers Rock where we were supplied with champagne, kangaroo and crocodile canapes and some didgeridoo music from the didgeridoo man. Interesting fact No 1: Kangaroo means "I don't know" in Aboriginal language! Way back when, when asked what the animal was called, the aboriginals replied that they didn't know by saying Kangaroo. Interesting fact No 2: Didgeridoo is the most unplayed instrument in the world, despite 100,000 being shipped out of Australia on a yearly basis! Watching the sun set over Ayers Rock was quite spectacular and despite looking like I was an extra in Out of Africa, we managed to get some good photos of us both (these are to follow once we get back to Melborneo). Next stop was the 'restaurant' that was laid out in the sand -we had befriended John and Marcus from Ontario, Canada and so we sat with them at the table, along with some Italians and Spanish folk who were extremely friendly. It was one of those situations where you felt a complete idiot for not uttering a single word of their languange. One of the guys from Barcelona had only been speaking English for one month but still managed to give us a Spanish history lesson! Quite remarkable.

The Sounds of Silence was slighty cheesy but a random night all the same. The BBQ food was great, the wine was flowing and the chat from the astronomer guy was good enough to keep us all awake! We saw Jupiter through a telescope (with 6 of it's 63 moons) and Bob claims he saw a shooting star but apparently I was looking the wrong way - whatever.

Randomly, at the start of the meal, a bride and groom got out of their car to join us having just been married (obviously) but didn't appear to have anyone else other than their photographer to help them celebrate so we all had to pretend to be their wedding guests! Rather strange but by that time we had all been well oiled and were happy to comply. Bob and Morag were the last to leave, good times : )

Having looked at the prices of the tours, we decided to simply hire a car and do the trips to Uluru and CatchaTutu (okay Kata Tjuta is it's proper name but that was too difficult for us) ourselves. Noone else seemed to cotton on to the fact that they might have saved themselves a few hundred dollars and a lot of timewasting by doing this!! mwahaha. So off we went to Ayers Rock one fine morning, trainers on and a truck load of water in the backpack with factor 40 sunscreen slathered on and completely useless Aeroguard skooshed all over. We successfully battled against the flies walking around Uluru; we initially laughed at the people with the fly nets over their heads as they looked absolutely ridiculous......2 hours later, we were thinking they had the right idea!! The walk was approximately 3 hours long, fairly flat and quite awesome. It really is quite a spectacular sight up close, this massive lump of rock in the middle of nowhere. We decided to return the next day for a glimpse of the colour changes from orange to red to reddy brown to charcoal at sunset, from the boot of our car. Bob and I weren't quite observant enough to see the changes ourselves but a sequence of photos did indeed prove that it changes colour! Back to the hotel for some scran and vino, in bed by 10pm, lots of sun and fresh air did not party animals make!

Next day we conquered the Valley of the Winds 8km walk on rather rough and steep terrain in 40C!! Again, quite spectacular walking through the 36 'many heads' that the catchatutu rocks were named after. Walking down into the valley and completing the full walk didn't seem like an option for most people who were there, so for the last third of the walk, we were by ourselves in the wilderness, I was feeling quite the adventurer! Back to the pool and a lazy afternoon before heading to the neighbouring hotel for some cocktails and dinner :

An amazing three days in the Northern Territory, with the sun shining and the bluest of blue skies. We couldn't have asked for a better start to our holiday! Next stop Fremantle, Perth. Photos to follow xx

A winning streak!

It would appear that getting engaged brings some luck! Not only did Bob win the major prize last Friday (that would be ME!), we managed to win the major prize at the local country club raffle at the weekend, so I've got my very own set of golf clubs!! Hurrah. No excuses now not to learn. On top of that, Bob won $74 when he got closest to the pin at the golf on Saturday AND he won $65 on a wee bet on the cricket!! Lucky us. Have already tested out my new clubs although needless to say I was rubbish and promptly threw the toys out of the pram after about 10 mins. Bob as ever was particularly patient with me but I think I might have to stick to the netball from now on....

We are looking forward to our holidays! The weather has been somewhat rubbish the past few weeks, wet and miserable, and so we are pleased to see that the weather forecast for Alice Springs is 36C and very hot. At last! Some sunshine. Planning on a trip to the big rock and Kings Canyon and also lazing by the pool at our hotel, The Lost Camel. Flying out tomorrow at 6am and staying there for 3 days until we fly out to Perth for 6 days - this is our house that we'll be staying in with our friends Alan, Kelly and Sally, looks pretty good to us!

http://www.stayz.com.au/60782

Planning on a seafood BBQ for christmas day and some fun and games on the beach, very bizarre for December! Have packed my santa hat to feel slightly festive...

Bob and I had our own Christmas dinner this weekend, roast ham (BBQ'd of course) with spiced apples and roast potatoes, yum yum! We did have the Pogues singing away in the background but it just wasn't the same - dare I say it, I'm missing the snow!!

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas, we are taking our laptop with us so hopefully I shall continue the weekly blogging! Ho Ho Ho and all that, lots of love Mo and Bob xxx

An engaging weekend? I propose so

What a weekend! It's 7pm Sunday evening and I'm contemplating bed already, I've been surprised, shocked and excited for the best part of 2 days and with minimal sleep I'm ready for big zzzz's!

Mornington Peninsula is a beautiful part of the world and having been taken to St Andrews beach on Friday evening for a romantic sunset marriage proposal makes it even more beautiful. Not being the most observant human being ever, I had absolutely no idea this was coming and therefore poor Bob got a rather mixed bag of emotions when he popped the question! I thought about tears then I kinda stared at the ring in disbelief and then started grinning like an idiot before leaping about and running up and down the beach screaming (thank goodness no one else was about but to be honest, I don't think that would've stopped me). A minor toe injury (the less said about that the better!) and lots of jumping up and down from both of us led to a swift departure in Jimmy back to the beach house for some pre-arranged celebratory Tasmanian champers, delicious! A perfect proposal, a perfect ring that fits, well, perfectly and a perfect man to be my husband (aw). I. Am. Happy : )

If you're sitting comfortably, I shall begin......

Friday was Bob's last day at work for LaTrobe Community Health and I believe he had a rather awesome send off with a lunchtime BBQ and garden cricket. Not bad at all! Picked him up from work and we headed straight for Mornington Peninsula which is about 90 mins southwest of Warragul. It's a wealthy part of Melbourne, renowed for golfing resorts, the hot springs pools and the wineries so we were looking forward to spoiling ourselves, well mainly Bob as this was meant to be for his birthday on Wednesday! He wanted to stay on St Andrews beach as he is, of course, a fan of St Andrews itself and so we had booked a beach house overlooking the links golf course. We arrived about 7pm to a lovely modern beach house with deck and upstairs balcony, with a rather strange layout of bedroom/bathroom but we'll not go into that!! (let's just say, there was lots of whistling) A rather hyperactive Bob leapt into action, announcing that the beach would be stunning at this time of the evening so we should go for a walk while the sun is setting. Right, okay, yep, no probs, I'm in. Now? Oh, no, Bob wants to have a shower right this minute. Not later? Nope, he feels a bit sticky. Fine, no probs I'll wait. So off we go to the beach with me dilly dallying around taking photos of this that and the other thing, whilst Bob is strolling ahead looking nonchalent and reflective. Me? Oblivous. Snap snapping away oh yes isn't this lovely. Anyway it's rather windy at this point so Bob has found a little sheltered area, almost like a little cave in the sand so he invites me to sit so I'm out of the wind. Oh thanks Bob, great, ah that's better I'm not chewing my hair now and I can see. Lovely waves, lovely sunset, yes love you too, mm hmmm. Me? Still oblivious as to what he is doing.....until.......he's down on one knee (well two actually but I'll let him off with it!) and producing a ring, asking me to marry him. Eh, what? (silence, stare stare stare) Seriously? (more silence, stare stare stare) Woo hoo! (grinning) Yes! (I'm out of my seat) Fantastic! And off I leap into the sunset, screaming like a lunatic with a big grin on my face. He is giving himself a 10 out of 10 for the romantic proposal, he's quite chuffed with himself and so he should be! So that's that, detail by detail! I'm going to be Mrs Barr! Still trying to get used to it, Mo Barr sounds like some dodgy character from Prisoner Cell Block H, you know, the one that people go to if they want to give somebody a doing!!! Maybe I should be Morag Fraser-Barr hehe

So, after lots of phoning then running out of credit on both our phones (rubbish!) we enjoyed the champagne and giggled lots. Fun and games. Next morning, I still had the ring on my finger, nope it wasn't a dream and so we giggled some more. BBQ breakfast then off we go for a look around the peninsula - Rye, Sorrento, Portsea - the weather isn't great but it's warm enough to go wandering. I buy 3 wedding magazines and a silver chain to wear my engagement ring on when I'm working (don't fancy getting 20 people's germs on it every day) - a clever idea from Bob himself! Awesome. A wee cappucino at the local cafe in Sorrento then off we trot to a couple of wineries, Ten Minutes by Tractor and T'Gallant, both marvellous. I decide to get a silly photo on the tractor reading my wedding magazine, quite ridiculous. In true cheesy style, we try the Romeo Shiraz and the Juliet Pinot grigio in the T'Gallant winery because we feel we have to! Unfortunately both were horrid, boo. Never mind, wine tasting is always fun and we bought a bottle of Pinot Gris to drink on Bob's birthday, hurrah.

Time is ticking on, so back to the beach house to get ready for dinner at the Sorrento Seafood Tavern. Seafood paella for Bob, Mussels for Mo and lots of wedding chat! Quite fun actually. A quick stroll along the beach (no proposals this time, boring) before the rain hits us and we make a dash for the car. Home for more fun phone calls, it really was awesome to hear all the responses from everyone, we had a few screams down the phone and some tears! Excellent. No one told us we were idiots which is always reassuring : )

This morning, Bob tee-d off at the St Andrews course at 9am and I headed off for some horseriding along the beach! Very VERY out of practice (could I remember how to trot? eh not sure) but decided to call my horse Bob just so that I could practice for married life in telling him what to do (only joking Bob!) There actually was a horse called Bob but I got to ride one called Scully, who looked a little bit sad and liked to munch on twigs quite a lot. On the trek, I got stuck behind the horse that liked to pass wind rather frequently (just my luck!!) so that made for some interesting aromas! Tried to canter along the beach but it turned into a cross between a fast trot and some skipping - neither Scully or myself could really fathom what the heck was going on - so we called it a day and had a wee splash in the water. At one point, I thought I was nearly going to fall off (that could've been quite embarrassing) but I held on for dear life and Scully decided to behave himself. As expected, got off the horse with rather sore thighs - no need for a Thighmaster when you've got a horsey I tell you. Ouch!

Picked a rather windswept and wind burned Bob up from the golf course, he seemed very happy with his round of 1 under par, excellent stuff! I got a ride and Bob got a 69 - boom boom (if you're a parent/grandparent/aunt/uncle or parent in law to be (delete as appropriate), please ignore that horrendous joke! oops)

Time to head home vis the Peninsula Hot Springs, a variety of 10 hot mineral spa pools with sauna, steam room and plunge pools to keep us busy. Bob was brave and jumped into the plunge pool after the sauna which he claimed made him feel quite good but I'm not sure his face was talking the same language! I got to my hips and felt it was time to get back out again - bad memories of ice baths!!

So that was the end of our amazing weekend! Unexpected, brilliant, fun, exciting. We are so happy. Thanks to everyone for their best wishes, it was so nice to chat to you all back home. We'll be coming back to Edinburgh for the wedding, no date as yet but of course will keep you all posted! Tune in next week for the next episode of the blog, lots of love from The Barrs (haha) xx

"Neighbours....everybody needs good neighbours"!!

It's the 5th of December and I'm still not feeling festive! The weather has been 30C the past few days and I'm struggling a little at work, I'm just so lethargic in the afternoon even with the air conditioning on! Having watched the news, and heard from friends and family back home though, the cold snap seems to be continuing in Scotland, can't believe there is an avalanche warning for Arthur's Seat! Even though the snow is a pest, the photos we have seen on Facebook have been glorious, would love a mulled wine from the Christmas market! I shall, however, appreciate the summer and stop whinging about how hot it is as I know how cold you must be at the moment. Get your thermals on!

Once again, it's been a busy week at work for me - don't think Bob is too snowed under as he is into his final two weeks at work and appears to be on the internet quite a lot, emailing people and reading the news. In fact, he managed to download a virus when trying to get onto the Guardian newspaper website which resulted in him having to close down his computer and send it away to I.T. He is now in the naughty corner counting the paperclips and trying to behave himself until his last day on the 10th! Myself and the girls from work, Renee and Nat, decided to reward ourselves with cocktail hour at the local wine bar at 430 on Friday, this could become a rather nice habit! Feet up in the beer garden with the sun shining, brilliant. Then it was off home for me to make some mulled wine to take to the netball gathering at another Nat's house, which no one was game to try (most of the girls had never heard of it). Ah well, more for me!

The MO is finally off! That thing was horrendous, even Bob would say it himself. It was very strange to see him with a smooth face!! I've put some photos up so you can check out the transformation.

A trip to Dandenong was on the cards for Saturday morning to get the haggis! Can't believe a round trip of 2 hours and $1oo was what was required to prepare for the Scottish party but I must admit, I had a fun time in the british butchers getting some haggis and square sausage and some tattie scones, hurrah! Also got some macaroon bars and pickled onion monster munch, yum yum. A detour via Chadstone (love that place) for some final christmas pressies before heading home for 11am. When the sun shines, it's easier to get up earlier and get things done!

Sportswise, we've managed to get a couple of games of tennis in after work, it really is not weather for the gym! Bob played with the Dingos in twilight golf on Thursday which resulted in a loss sadly but he managed to tee off at 730am on Saturday morning for the monthly medal in 30C heat before heading to the tennis club to play our match from 1-5pm, he was wilting towards the end and is sore today!! Our tennis match was mediocre; Bob played well in his men's doubles but we didn't play well together in the mixed, although we do think we're getting a little bit better....a sweaty palm does not make for a good grip on the racquet!! Think i'll need to do something about that

It's now 9pm on Sunday evening and I'm absolutely knackered as we've had an eventful day of Scottishness from haggis eating, irn bru tasting, whisky drinking and ceilidh dancing with neighbours, netballers, golfers and work pals! Most people were willing to at least try the haggis, but unfortunately there is a tv show on at the moment, hosted by radio celebrities Hamish and Andy, which showed how haggis was made and what it is made from so I don't think that helped sell it to our friends! (You can check out Skye and Stacey's reaction in the video when Bob is cutting open the haggis, it's quite amusing)

With the music playlist sorted and bbq ready to go, our first netball visitors Liza, Skye, Stacey and Ashlea arrived followed by Renee, the myotherapist from my work. A relaxing couple of hours in the sun with a glass of wine and some irn bru was enjoyed by all, before we decided it was time to crank up the Runrig and show them how to dance - there were 6 of us so the Dashing White Sergeant seemed like the obvious choice - very very funny although actually harder to dance in a pair of flip flops compared to high heels! (If you're reading this Lindsey and Margaret, Bob still doesn't know how to teach the correct dancing techniques!! - I didn't intervene this time though)

Square sausage and black pudding rolls were given out for those who were feeling a little hungover but I don't think they were enjoyed very much. Stacey decided that if she had to try the haggis, Bob would have to try the Vegemite on toast, which I don't think was enjoyed very much either! Maybe we'll keep our haggis and the ozzies can keep their Vegemite, that way everyone will be happy : )

Bob's golfing buddies David, Peter, Penny and Anna arrived later on, along with our immediate next door neighbours Tess, Brendan (who are in their mid 20's) and 7 month old Lincoln. Tess was keen to ask how many huntsman spiders we'd had in our house as they had had quite a few. The conversation went some thing like this - Tess: "So have you had many spiders in your house?" Me: "Only the ones with the small bodies and big legs, see about 2-3 per day, that's enough for me!" Tess: Wow, you're lucky, we've had quite a few big hairy ones" Me: "Well we haven't seen any yet but I think I'll probably bypass the screaming and simply pass out and die if I do" Tess: "Even worse, we had a wolf spider in our house, they're even bigger and they're more aggressive, they actually run towards you not away from you" Me: Silence (the blood is now draining from my face) "Hmm, that's interesting, isn't the weather nice today".....

Em, thanks love but I really really didn't need to know that! The conversation turns to snakes, apparenty if we see one (which is likely) we've to hit it over the head with a shovel (which I've heard is illegal) but you can't miss otherwise you'll make it mad. Why did we move to this country again??

Debbie, who works with Bob, and her partner Tony arrive later, they've brought their little Scottish policeman mascot teddy thing and tell us tales of their Scottish relations, including the stories of the clash between the Macdonalds and the Campbells, and the Bannockburn and Culloden battles. Someone asks about Saint Andrews "well, he was cannonised, he must have done something good?" - hmmm, something I should really know but don't - so I tell him he was famous for creating the first golf course in Scotland. Then Bob comes along and tells the real story about Saint Andrew being the first guy to get a hole in one, which was met with much hilarity! Then he tells the real real story which makes me think I should've listened more in History lessons....ah well, everyday is a school day!

The day goes well, from sunshine outdoors to inside for a sit down dinner. Anna has made a lovely pavlova and Penny brought some local cheeses which were delicious. We met our neighbour Marion, a 70 year old Londoner who has been out here for 52 years. Her son plays tennis with us in Drouin so he came along too, she enjoyed the haggis and got tucked into the whiskey too! We think we'll like Marion.

A random mix of people made for a random day, but it really was good fun and we've realised we have made some fantastic friends. Here's some videos to enjoy, I'm off to bed! x x x

An unsuccessful haggis trip in the rain - are you sure we're not in Scotland?

As usual, this week consisted of some netball on Monday (indoors, 30C outside and no air conditioning, eurgh), some twilight golf with the Dingoes for Bob on Thursday and a feeble attempt at the gym on Friday before abandoning ship and heading outside for some tennis - too hot to be couped up inside! A netball loss for me, a golfing loss for Bob and no tennis match this weekend as we had a bye. Hopefully next week shall bring us some victories! I did make the decision to get up early on Thursday morning at 630am and swim 40 lengths before work - won't be doing that again, I thought I was going to die of fatigue before 10am!! Don't know how people do that every morning. Needless to say, Bob declined to join me and stayed in bed for an extra hour sleep - a wise move

We are preparing for our Scottish party this Sunday and so we decided to drive to Dandenong (45 mins west of Warragul) to get some haggis from the British Butcher, only to get caught in a rainstorm so bad that we had to pull over to the side until it calmed down! Australia weather is so up and down it's unbelievable! We arrive in Dandenong only to discover that the butcher shut an hour before we arrived - d'oh. How annoying! Same trip planned for next Saturday, a bit earlier this time

On the way home, we took a detour to Wild Dog Winery in Warragul - we were heading to a dinner party and wanted to pick up some wine, which obviously called for some wine tasting. Lovely spot, bringing you here Mum and Dad, Helen and Steven when you arrive!

Our dinner could be described as partially multicultural - Lisa and Barry (Australian hosts), Barry's bro Ross and his girlf Chrissanya (also Australian), Danish guy Lars, Dutch girl Susan and us Scottish folks, a good mix and made for some interesting chat! Lars and Susan run a campsite in Denmark and somehow manage to give themselves 5 months holiday every year, brilliant! Free tent pitch site if we are ever in Denmark : )

Today Bob had a golfing outing all planned with two of his mates but was sadly rained off which meant he had to stay at home and watch the cricket. Hard, but somebody has to do it. I was off to Melbourne for a hip pathology course, my brain is now officially fried with information overload but reckon I've now got some good stuff to use in the clinic for some sporty patients. Now relaxing on the sofa with a wee glass of vino, with Bob baking Gingerbread in the kitchen!!!

Can't believe it's snowing at home, sounds like it'll be lovely and festive, especially with the christmas markets in Edinburgh, missing the mulled wine!! Would love to say that the weather is hot and sunny every day but it really is a 'four seasons in one day' climate at the moment. Only 3 weeks until Perth, hot and sunny all the way, hurrah!

Christmas cards should be en route soon - I'm working on it!

Have fun in the snow everyone - got a cocktail party on Friday and our Scottish party on Sunday, will update you next week with the next episode from Oz : )

xxxxxx

Sunshine!

Apologies folks for the lack of blogging over the past couple of weeks - truth be told, Bob and I have led a fairly quiet life in the country so not much to report!

Bob was excited about going into the final round of the club championship on Saturday but it appeared he got himself overexcited, took a few risks that didn't pay off unfortunately and finished an admirable 2nd. Not bad at all from 150 competitors! On a plus note however, he has a new job (managed to get through the interview without putting off his new employers with that horrendous MO) and starts with Baw Baw Shire council on 3rd Jan with a company car thrown in for good measure - hurrah!

Tennis has been somewhat variable over the past two weeks - played really well one week, then it was rained off the next and then Saturday there, I had an absolute 'mare, probably something to do with the coach telling me my ball toss on my serve is about 7ft too high and me trying to change it and failing miserably. Double faults galore! Hmph. I shall persevere.

Work is busy busy busy! We had our christmas party (early I know) at Chambers on Saturday night, a chance to get glammed up in the country and a posh meal and champers all paid for by the boss. Awesome and much fun. No scandal to report, everyone was fairly well behaved and we were all tucked up in bed by midnight. It felt really weird to have a christmas party in the beer garden with the sun shining - disappointed about the lack of crackers and party hats! Not a santa in sight. Scottish crimbo parties win hands down : )

The weather has been picking up here - we had a glorious day yesterday, sat out in the garden and BBQ'd, sunny and 28C, think it's meant to be 32C today which is rubbish as it's Monday morning and we'll be at work all day! At least it'll be pleasant to eat lunch in the park. Sunscreen is becoming a permanent fixture on my peely wally skin these days!

Got a physio hip course coming up this Sunday in Melbourne, dinner with some friends on Saturday night and tennis on Saturday. We are currently planning a scottish street party on 5th Dec for St Andrews day - we have found a british butcher who sells square sausage and haggis but still need to hunt down some Irn Bru. Think we'll need to have vegemite and pavlova on standby for the ozzies who refuse the haggis!

Think that's all from our end - will update again next Sunday, love to all xx

The Races!

The Melbourne Cup was a grand day out. With a random last minute purchase of a rather feathery fascinator (with some added feathers sewn in by my non-creative self), a dressmaker required to adjust my dress at the last minute and the only glam shoes I packed killing my feet (I should have put more effort in to the packing) I was ready to go! Bob chose to wear his kilt and managed to attract lots of attention from racegoers although not one female asked him what he was wearing under his kilt - a welcome change from home! We did find some kilted friends in the crowds - teuchter man in full kilt dress, a Kirkcaldy boy who wore his with an open shirt and a pair of very old Adidas trainers circa 1990's and a Glasgwegian man who had a tweed flat cap to match. It really is quite funny when you meet fellow kilted people in that they become instant friends and the Scottish accent suddenly flows much faster and gets much broader! Bob was considering entering into the Fashion on the Field contest but sadly it was only for girls - I guess he could've argued that he was wearing a skirt.....

Having had Scotland the Brave played to us by a brass band fronted by Elvis, we managed to find our way into the field to find a spot on the lawn for the races. We got a good spot right by the winning post but unfortunately due to the public car parks being closed due to rain, we had to park in Richmond and get the train in, therefore sacrificing our camping chairs and picnic rug! Bah. Never mind. Despite two or three showers (sorry rephrase that horrendous downpours) we saw some sunshine and it turned out a rather nice day. We were all set for coming home with some winnings but we really didn't do very well - we managed to win $11 on a horse that came third in race 4 and that was that! Our form guide was rubbish!! I really should've used my normal tactic of best jockey fashion or unique name but we went with the odds and it just didn't work in our favour, even after all the debating about who we should put our money on for the actual cup race. So You Think was the favourite and we put $20 on to win - in hindsight that was silly, the favourite never wins! You live and learn.

We moved up to the top of the field, past the winning post and found some rather interesting people to chat to! A wee glass of fizz or two later and we decided to call it a day. Would definitely recommend a trip to the Cup, the people were fantastic, no drunken louts to ruin the day, the sun was out and the yelling at the horses was fun if only shortlived. Would've been much better to win a few bucks more - c'est la vie!

What else have we been up to........Bob had round 1 of his club championship yesterday - in Bob's words he was "a bit average but not out of it" so hopefully the rainy and windy conditions due for this Saturday will make for a better round! I was playing for Drouin Tennis Club against Tooradin and we had a convincing win, winning both women's doubles, two men's doubles and two mixed - myself and a guy called Matt lost our mixed when it went to a tiebreak at 8-8 and we lost 5-7! Argh. Beautiful day for both our sports yesterday with the sun splitting the skies and a warm 25C. Let's hope it continues!

I had a first this weekend - I went to a Tupperware party on Friday night!! Not my usual choice of party and it was clear I was in the minority with not being married, no children and no house! Never mind, the girls were lovely and I did manage to buy a loaf tin!!! Will I ever use it? Em.....It was an interesting experience, I had no idea how enthusiastic some people could be about tupperware boxes - Lisa, a fellow physio who hosted the party, was showing off her very organised cupboard with a zillion different kinds of tupperware boxes all labelled in alphabetical order - think I'm a looooong way from that ever happening in our house! I think Bob is quite glad

Found a potential Scottish friend in Warragul! It's a miracle. Went to the local wine bar with Nat and Renee for work on Friday and when I heard the voice announce that he had a mojito and cosmopolitan in true weegie mode, I had to question his accent! Turns out that was his first shift, he'd been in Warragul for 8 days and plans to be here for the year as his brother lives here. He used to live off Byres Road and went to Glasgow Uni! Hurrah. Bob and I have decided we shall befriend him.

Well I think that's it! X factor on a Sunday night - there's no escape!

Hope you are all well. xx
PS For those of you who know that I just go from white to red, peel then back to white again, I think I've finally managed to get a slight tan - AT LAST!!! : )

Bob grows a Mo for Movember!

Movember
I’ve donated my face to Movember! Now I’m asking you to make a small donation to support my moustache and the 3,300 men who will die of prostate cancer and the one in eight men who will experience depression in their lifetime. Thank you. http://au.movember.com/donate/

As Crowded House would say "Everywhere you go...Always take the weather with you" Bah Humbug!

The plan for the Melbourne Cup 4 day weekend was to stay over in Geelong (2 hours west of Warragul) on the Friday night and then head along the Great Ocean Road on Saturday morning, camping in Apollo Bay for 3 nights and heading to the Melbourne Cup Races on Tuesday.

Sounds great! Alas, 'twas not to be. Factor in the worst weather ever and suddenly there is a change of plan. Yup, that's right, I'm not typing this blog from my tent, I'm back home warm and dry with a good cup of coffee and rotten morning tv in the background. Never before have we been defeated on a camping trip but we were both in agreement having spent a miserable night in the tent that heading home was the best option.

However, I'll tell you from the start what we did manage to do - it wasn't all bad!

Packed up Jimmy on Friday early evening with a tonne of stuff that we probably didn't need but thought we'd take anyway. Headed to Geelong, 2 hours west of Warragul/Drouin, and stayed the night in a motel on the esplanade. Ordered a nice bottle of Clyde Sauv Blanc, made in Rutherglen, Melbourne! Mmmm. Next morning we set off bright and early, just as the grey clouds set in, and stop off in Torquay for some information - the lovely Marie was very excited about our trip and gave us lots of good advice about where to stop and what to see. Really would recommend anyone coming to do the Great Ocean Road to go and see Marie, excellent guide! Anyway that's by the by...

We head into Torquay, 17km from Geelong, for a spot of breakfast and a caffeine fix before heading to the Aboriginal Sundial which was quite stunning but of course didn't work - no sun!! Bah. Still optomistic we drive to Bells Beach to admire some good surfers surfing but that didn't quite work either - no surf! Bah. Trying to stay optomistic, we drive through Point Addis, Anglesea, stop off in Aireys Inlet to attend a local random market and try some wine from Moggs Creek (liked the name, sadly didn't like the wine) then arrived in Lorne, surfing town extravaganza! More wine and fudge tasting for us. Mid afternoon we drive through Wye River and on to Kennett River for some koala spotting - found one - before arriving in Apollo Bay for some camping. Would we say we were still optomistic about camping, when all we can see is rain and fog? Em, no, but we still put up our tent....

Isn't it funny that the weather just waits on you to arrive at the campsite and step out the car before it chucks it down good and proper, flinging in a bit of wind just to make it even more exciting? It was actually quite hilarous trying to put up our tent - by the time it was up, a small moat had formed round the outskirts - and blowing up our airbed proved hard to do inside Jimmy - it got a bit stuck - and when we pulled it out it got a bit wet. We looked like drowned rats by the time we got into the tent! There was a couple pitching their tent next to ours having a proper domestic - not quite sure how long they were going to last!

So anyway, we were still thinking that we could have a good weekend. Gone were the plans of basking in the sunshine, sunglasses on, glass of wine in hand, burger in the other, chilling out with a good book, planning the surfing and hang-gliding lessons! We sat in the indoor area cooking our sausages trying to keep warm and decided to head into the town for a small beer or two. Funnily enough, the pub was very busy!! A safe haven from the stormy weather.

Arriving back to the tent, rain lashing against the sides, we decided the best thing to do would be to go to sleep and hopefully wake up to glorious sunshine. The persistent drips to the head every 20 secs or so did not make for a good sleep and so at approximately 4am in the morning, we made the executive decision to GIVE UP!!

Slightly disappointed that we didn't get to complete the Great Ocean Road but we'll just need to go it another day when the sun is shining. We still have the trip to the Twelve (now eight) Apostles to do and then onto the end at Warnambool, the end being 3 hours from Apollo Bay.

Anyway, on the up side, we are still on holiday and I've got to pretend to be creative and make my fascinator for tomorrow even though my feathers are now looking a little worse for wear! Will update the blog in a couple of days to let you know the outcome of the Races. What's the forecast for the Races? Rain. What's the forecast for this weekend? 25C and sunny. C'est la vie!

One funny thing happened to us when we arrived back to the house yesterday early evening. We had totally forgotten it was Halloween and when we saw all these little kids dressed up in their scary outfits walking up our street, Bob was thrown into a panic, screaming "uh oh, we're in big trouble here, BIG TROUBLE", trying to miraculously conjure up sweeties for the kids. All he could manage was 3 small cans of coke and 5 timtams which he clearly wasn't happy about so he shut the blinds and sat in silence, hoping that they would all miss out our house. That didn't happen but at the same time, we weren't inundated with them either. Our friend Liza popped round and when we told her our story about hiding from the kids, she kindly offered to pop round the corner to her sisters and brought us back some sweets. Lifesaver! Bob was much happier. NB Children here don't even tell a joke or sing a song! They just stand there. Think the next Halloween we'll have to get them dooking for apples or something. That is if they even understand the work 'dook'. Bah.

In the end, we only had two more kids come round so we got to eat the sweets ourselves. Result : )

Love to all! xx