Great Ocean Road Take II!

Hello folks, apologies for getting rather slack with the old blog writing, must be settling into a more normal way of life out here and no longer treating Australia like one big holiday! The big news is that we have secured a visa until June 2012 and I also found out the other day that I have been approved registration to work until that time, hurrah! Bob is enjoying his job and is eyeing up a promotion so all is going swimmingly on the work front. I have certainly been busy at the clinic and I have taken on an additional job working with the women’s health physio (also called Helen) who is training me up to take the pre and ante-natal classes at the local leisure centre. I have participated in a few classes just to observe what Helen does (felt rather left out without a bump!!) and I took one half of a class for the first time last week. Put it this way, the timing could have been better but there were no injuries, no one gave birth and everyone understood my accent so I viewed this as an achievement! My class will be on a Tuesday and will be a mixture of core ball aerobics, strength and conditioning and clinical pilates. The one thing I’m going to struggle with when facing the class is getting my lefts and rights correct....I’m sure this will come with practice?! I currently have a core ball in our living room and have been doing a ‘Great Expectations’ fitness DVD in front of the telly – a friend from netball popped round the other day and actually thought I was preggers when she saw the DVD lying there (to everyone back home I do actually want to fit into my wedding dress so DEFINITELY NOT) Continuing on the exercise theme, Bob and I attended our first yoga class last week at 7am on a Monday morning. Not as traumatic as we first thought and in fact, it turned out to be a personal tuition class for both of us because the other two people who were meant to be there failed to get out of their beds. Poor effort! Bob is rather pleased as he is now able to touch the floor with his fingertips – he tells me he hasn’t been able to do this since the age of 4. We have now signed up for a 6 week course and we shall be super bendy at the end of it! Apparently. Further sporting news, ‘tis the beginning of the netball season on 2nd April, with the first match against Nilma Darnum proving to be a closely fought game. We beat them by 3 goals last year and they are now missing a few players so I reckon we’re in with a shout. The end of our indoor competition in Pakenham is drawing nearer with the semi finals being played tomorrow night against Drouin (there is quite a rivalry between Warragul and Drouin – we won the first match, they won the second so we shall be determined to win this time!) If we succeed, we will go through to the final and we will definitely win a 54” TV! Don’t ask how we are meant to share this amongst 8 netballers but I’m sure we’ll come up with something. Bob’s golf is going well. He is in the Penant A Grade team, their first match is on Sunday 3rd April and he has a delightful outfit to wear (not as bad as the Dingoes pizza boy effort but close). The Dingoes finished the Twilight competition in 3rd place and had a BBQ to celebrate a couple of weeks ago. I was subjected to putting on the decidedly horrific Dingoes t-shirt at the BBQ but I just couldn’t bring myself to put the cap on. Just too much! A lovely evening with our 60 year old friends who all want to give us advice on a successful marriage at every available opportunity and I do believe the women are wanting to give me a hen do – I can’t quite imagine what it will be like!! Different I’m sure. The evening did end with one woman, Anna, drinking too much wine and playing on the kid’s swing in the garden – it was wobbling quite a bit but there were no broken arms or anything, just a rather concerned husband trying to get her off! We attended our friends Casey and Phil’s Housewarming/30th birthday/Engagement and Leaving party last weekend. The reason for the housewarming being a belated gathering was a small flood problem where Casey forgot about the sink she was filling up to wash Phil’s work trousers, went out for a few hours to come back to water flooding out the front door. Oops. Took a while to get the house back into shape, and as soon as they did, Phil got a job in Perth and they leave in a few months! C’est la vie. It was a glorious day with amazing food all cooked by housewife Casey, the most organised woman in the world! The rest of the netball girls decided that, if ever called upon to cater for 70 people, we would all call The Party Man to come round and organise it all. Hats off to Casey who pulled the whole thing off so well and Phil did a grand job drinking beer, coordinating the cooking and doing several trips to the supermarche as required. Well done Phil! A fairly tame event but good fun all the same. We got chatting to a physio about my age that has set up his own business in Tasmania so I picked his brains about the business side of the physio world. He did an MBA but doesn’t really feel it was necessary. Good news! The funny thing was, he was born in Beith, hid Dad still lives in Lochwinnoch! Bizarre how small the world is. Our latest adventure was driving along the Great Ocean Road on Labour Day weekend. The sun was shining but even so, we decided to play it safe and book an apartment in Port Campbell, a lovely seaside resort about 10 mins from the Twelve Apostles. We stayed overnight on Friday in Lorne, a fab surfing place, ideal for a wee holiday cottage!! Onwards to Apollo Bay, Port Campbell and along Shipwreck Coast to the Twelve Apostles, London Bridge, Bay of Islands and Loch Ard Gorge. All stunning and I managed to get a few geography lessons from Bob along with the way. A pleasant few days was had, including lots of beer, good food and surfing. We’re getting better at the surfing! We both managed to stand up, apparently 5 secs is the time required to stand up for before you can call yourself a surfer. Hurrah, we are surfers! Also, had fun playing with the new camera, have a look at the photos and see what you think. Other than that, wedding plans coming along well, I’ve been back on the golf course (played 3 holes this morning and scored 9 on the 1st hole (par 4), 9 on the 2nd hole (par 4) and 12 on the 3rd hole (par 4). That tells you all you need to know really! Bit more practice required but no tantrums today : ) ‘mon the Dusties netballers and ‘mon Warragul golfers! Bob and I are competing to see who gets first mention in the local Gazette. .... it keeps us entertained! Hope you are all well and enjoying the Spring weather. The nights are getting dark now around 7.30pm so I believe Summer is over. Still in my shorts though but the UGG boots are preparing to come out of hibernation. Lots of love, B & M xxxx

The Big 30!

Hello folks! I write to you as a member of the 30's club, or should I say I'm now 29 years and 368 days old? Had a thoroughly enjoyable birthday and thanks for all your cards, pressies and email/facebook messages. Still munching our way through the birthday cake, yum scrum. Apologies for not blogging that often, February has been one busy month, with the return of netball training/coaching, and the arrival of the Fraser/Black families. Phew, we are still recovering!

Last Wednesday night, Bob and I celebrated the beginning of our week off work with a trip to St Kilda to stay in a posh hotel. We met up with Helen and Steven for a few beers and a burger and of course a good chinwag in The Ludlow Foundation bar on the Southbank. It was rather bizarre to see them both on the other side of the world but it really did just seem like we were back home, chatting as normal. They had had a good couple of days in Hong Kong and were enjoying their time in Melbourne - perhaps not looking as forward to seeing the parents as we were but I guess understandable when you're on your summer hols! A good catch up and lots of stories of Meg Dog later, we headed back to the hotel for a much needed rest before the 'rents arrived!

Thursday morning, Bob and I grabbed our breakfast from the local cafe in St Kilda before heading over to Albert Park to enjoy the sunshine. Albert Park is the venue for the Australian Grand Prix at the end of March, maybe we'll need to purchase a couple of tickets?! Onwards to Southbank to meet Mum and Dad, Helen and Steven at the Casino (this is the only place Bob and I are comfortable driving to, it avoids any hook turns and avoids any crashes with trams!) We dropped the bags off in the hire car and Jimmy then headed for lunch to catch up! Sun shining, a wee pot of beer and some antipasto, a good luncheon was had by all (except poor Stevo who had a spot of food poisoning, bleurgh) Mum and Dad appeared to have had a good few days in Melbourne, as usual walking their socks off on the first day!

After lunch, us girls headed to High Street, Armadale for some wedding dress shopping. The boys headed home to Drouin to chill out. Unknown to us, Bob's house keys were in my car so they got all the way to Drouin before realising they couldn't get in! Bob felt a bit of a numpty with the father-in-law to be and tried various attempts at getting keys from our landlord, Liza, before admitting defeat and heading to the golf club for a beer (or three). Poor Stevo just wanted to go to bed but I do believe he perked up with a touch of alcohol! By the time we got back to Drouin, it was 6.30pm and the boys were ready to get settled into their accommodation!!

Back to the wedding dress shopping, I had narrowed down my choices to a top 3, all of which Mum and Helen disliked! Uh oh. So we tried on a 4th and that appeared to be the best. Being my usual indecisive self, I couldn't make the decision that day so I decided to go home and sleep on it. Will I won't I? Will I won't I? We were going to head for a glass of wine, but judging by the above fiasco, the boys were glad we didn't! Back home for a BBQ tea and some chit chat.

Friday, we had a leisurely breakfast chez Bob and Mo before heading into Warragul for a wander and a cup of coffee. Both Mum and Dad were pleasantly surprised at how nice (and big!) Warragul was. We stocked up on some supplies for the weekend in Wilson's Prom and I was given my birthday pressie from Bob, an awesome Canon Powershot digital SLR camera, woop woop! We had a quick session with the camera man about how to use all the buttons and then off we went to experiment at the local Brandy Creek Winery.

We sat at a table with a beautiful outlook across the vines, tasting 6 or 7 wines along with the port and dessert wines. Ooh yum. A few purchases of port and a tapas book later (thanks Mum!) and we were ready to hit the next stop of Wild Dog Winery for pizza, wahoo, before heading to Wilson's Prom, a 1.5 hour drive from Warragul.

We hit the beach on arrival and managed to avoid a slight petrol mishap (yes, I know, I should have filled up when we had the chance) before heading back to the accommodation. We won't mention Dad's altercation with his seatbelt (he got stuck and Mum had to help him out, honestly the elderly people of today) nor will we mention the photo of a wombat's bum that Mum got as she was just a bit too slow to get the whole thing. Next time Mum!

Saturday was a glorious day. We headed into the heart of the national park and embarked on a coastal walk to Squeaky Beach with lots of good views and sea breeze. At Squeaky Beach, we pitched up and made ourselves comfy on our towels, well everyone except Dad who forgot his towel and had to sit on a facecloth. Honestly, the elderly people of today.....We won't chat about the stubborness when he declined a seat on a full sized towel!!! Anyway, we all managed a good competitive game of beach cricket (Mum even managed to run for a few balls) before old age set in with my good self when I sustained an obscure beach cricket injury of a weird lump on the arch of my foot. Unfortunately this halted the game and halted Bob's victory over the father-in-law to be. What a shame says Dad! Helen was developing a few weird sunburn blotches and so it was time to head back for some food. A pie and a pint later and it was back to the ranch for a spot of wedding chat and poker. Dad, what's the rule? Never let the kids win! Think those days are over, mwahahahahaha

Sunday we packed up and headed for Drouin once more with a slight detour (yes Bob got lost or rather he was just showing Dad the sights of Foster). A seat on the sofa and a wee cup of tea before chilling out for the afternoon. Sunday night was fairly relaxed with a spot of chicken parmagiana and a pot at the local golf club. We got shouted at by the bingo folk for talking too loudly (sorry) - Bob thought one of the ladies look suspiciously like darts player Bobby George which had us all in a fit of laughter which caused more noise (for anyone who doesn't know who Bobby George is, all you need to know is that it's not good). Yes the parents were being bad influences on us!

Final day was my last day of being 29, eek! We headed into Melbourne via the wedding dress shop (yes, it was time to make a decision, ooh scary) and the boys were in charge of taking the hire car back. Mum, Helen and I went back into the shop only to be met with the woman who knew I'd been in there 4 times already and asked if i was struggling tomake a decision. Eh, maybe! She did give me a bit of a talking to (in a nice way) and said I was confusing myself. So a decision was made! Hurrah! No more details to be given until 28th December!

Met up with the boys for some lunch (slight misunderstanding with some potato wedges) then off to buy Helen some UGGs. Talk about having difficulties making decisions, we must be related, we were in there for an hour! She still managed to get a bargain though, and some free stuff. I don't know how she does it.

Got back to the hotel to be met with a snug-in-a-rug Bob in his PJ's tucked up in bed with a bottle of red wine and a rented movie! Make yourself at home Bob's : ) A quick spa and steam room before getting ready to head out for some birthday celebrations. Pressies, fizz, cake, all good! Happy birthday to me. Taxi to The Kitchen Cat (formerly Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant, now owned by Tobie Puttock) for some delicious food and yummy puddings. Beef carpaccio, tortellini with chicken and sage, grilled peaches, chocolate icecream and a rum baba for Dad (he was quite happy), all amazing. For anyone who might be going to Melbourne soon, I would recommend it! Managed to get a family photo outside the restaurant, if you look closely at the photo, the dude in the baseball cap who looks about 12 yrs old is Tobie Puttock! Claim to fame.

Off to the casino to try and win some money. We were all doing rather well! Dad won $30 on roulette and Bob and I won $30 on blackjack. We decided to put the $30 back onto the roulette table to crowd the number 30.......and we lost. Boo! Much fun anyways.

Back to the hotel, where I allegedly fell asleep in the middle of the bed surrounded by my birthday pressies like a toddler. Happy : )

A farewell to the parents (sob sob) and a farewell to the sis/bro in law (hug hug) and Bob and I were back hom on the sofa for my actual birthday to be slobs for the rest of the day. Recovery required (and detox!!)

Great to see the family, looking forward to September. I'm sure Dad has a few stories to tell in his wedding speech, and I'm pretty sure Bob has a few to tell in return. Bring it on!

Bob and Mo xx