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