Where, oh where has Jen been?

Oh man... I've got a whole month to try and remember... it's been a busy time in the Tony and Jen household...here goes:

Sometime in the week after the wedding
I went to book club for the first time. A girl from work, Carli, and some of her friends and friends-of-friends have formed a book club and I went along to see how I like it. It's perfect for me - they spend about five minutes talking about the book and the rest of the time talking about other girlie things. Very enjoyable.

Friday 18 November
I caught up again with my adorable friend Mattie. He was just coming over for a quiet night watching a DVD but at the last minute we decided to head out for dinner. At the restaurant we ordered EVERYTHING on the tapas menu and washed it down with a lovely drop of NZ Sav Blanc...tasty.

However, I was later regretting the wine and late night because I was on call for an SES Eastern Group exercise - we were told it would all happen between 12 midnight and 12 midday and so of course at 12.13am after six minutes sleep I got the call for...

Saturday 19 November
... our SES "activation"

The first part of the exercise was easy and lots of fun - just a few of us were called out to do a "search" of Norman Creek in our new floodboat. All run-of -the-mill until one of the "characters" on board (aka our Group Leader in his Oscar-winning performance of an idiot) fell overboard into the Brisbane River. So then we had to do some rescue stuff, which was fun. (Keep in mind this is at about 3am)

The rest of the group was then called out and we made our way down to the old deserted quarries in Karawatha State Forest (near Kuraby). This is where I was really starting to regret the wine - we had to do a full land search and recover victims from all over the quarry (Southern Group SES members had been stashed around the area before we arrived), as well as use the boat for some recovery. All good and well until the sun came up and the heat reflected off the shale quarry - it was like a sauna in there, and made worse by our lovely, cover-everything, thick overalls and boots. Ugh...this wine headache was really starting to take hold now, especially trying to lug 100kg victims over rough terrain in full sun.

So after they trucked in a Macca's breakfast I quickly volunteered to help man the Ops Centre and do radio comms. Ahhhh....shade, a comfy chair, and a good view of the rest of them out there sweating in the hot sun :-) For the remainder of the morning I stayed put.

After we packed up, cleaned up back at our Morningside Headquarters I finally got home around 12'ish. As I had a Tupperware party to go to, I decided to lay down for just a little while to get some sleep. I finally woke up after a seven hour "nap".

Sunday 20 November
Sunday was a quiet day - just some Chrissie shopping with Fi.

Wednesday 23 November
The work Christmas drinks... I was one of the last four standing and the last to leave the pub. Need I say more?!

Saturday 26 November
My gorgeous little niece had her end of year ballet concert at the Powerhouse in New Farm. Here's a pictures of her adorable costume:

Monday 28 November
A very exciting day...my new little niece Annika Tatum was born at 1.45pm weighing 3620g!!! She's a little sister to Sharda (see pic above). Here's a photo of my beautiful new niece:

Thursday 1 December
Book Club met up for their Christmas dinner at Monsoon. Iit was a fun night - I had this gorgeous "Lemon Meringue" cocktail and divine lamb shank Indian curry for dinner. Yummo!

Friday 2 December
My Marketing unit had our Christmas party (organised by yours truly!) at Augellos in New Farm. Unfortunately I didn't get to enjoy the pre-dinner drinks because I had to do a last minute trip out to the airport to try and get some publications on a plane (all 40 boxes or 400kg of them!!). It was a tad stressful - 20 minutes to get to the airport in heavy rain, Friday evening peak hour, past three road accidents and without messing my party hair. But we made it! We were a tad late to dinner, but then we enjoyed a couple drinks, some divine pizza and dancing.

Saturday 3 December
Twas the night before Chey's birthday party and hence the annual pilgrimage to Fi's house to decorate the birthday cake. It's always a good laugh - neither Fi nor I are very good at it, but we always have a go and the results are usually good. This year was no exception with the cake being a huge success with the birthday girl.

Sunday 4 December
I picked up my niece Sharda and took her to Chey's 5th birthday party. It was a great day - the weather was kind (it normally rains for Chey's party!) and the kids had a ball playing in the park, and all over "Uncle Tony". I had fun running around playing games like Statues and What's the Time, Mr Wolf. Remember those games?!?!

After the kids were exhausted and stuffed full of lollies and soft drink, Tony and I visited my sister Ronda and her husband Brad and then we invited ourselves to dinner with Mum and Dad.
Friday 9 December
My head hurts just thinking about this evening - the Lord Mayor's annual reception for SES members. It's a cocktail party held at City Hall with presentations to members and lots of finger food and champagne. After a few too many our group went down the road for dinner and a few more (wine this time), then on to the Victory (cringe!) to settle in for the night (shots and vodka). After some of our group were kicked out by over-zealous security (they picked on the sober ones!!) we moved to the balcony in the Premier's bar at the casino (frozen slushie daiquiris). Yet again I was one of the final five standing...or leaning...when I left them at 4am. I was barely able to keep my eyes open and didn't particularly want to see the sun come up, much to the disgust of the stragglers I left at the bar. It was home to bed and panadol for this little chicken.

Saturday 10 December
After a very big sleep-in, I did it all again (December is soooo tiring!). This time, it was with Tony, Fi and Scottie and we went down the coast to support a friend of ours, Mal, as he was DJ'ing at a club in Broadbeach. Mal did a fantastic job, as always, and we had a great time dancing to the awesome mix he played.

Sunday 11 December
After another sleep-in Tony and I went to my SES group Christmas BBQ. It was heaps of fun - there was lots of food, some backyard-style cricket, a pool for the kids and even a visit from Santa - complete with pressies for the littlies. After Santa left (the reindeer were getting restless) our Group Leader presented every member with a certificate of appreciation for the number of hours they've contributed to the community. I was totally surprised to learn I've volunteered 144 hours of my time in a little over six months of service.

Monday 12 December
The worst day of the year - my grandfather on my Mum's side passed away. He was a very sick man and it was expected, but this still doesn't make it any easier.

Saturday 17 December
After a very hard week, my sweet boy took me on a Saturday night date - we had a lovely Thai dinner and then saw King Kong. It was a very long movie and could have easily had an hour shaved off it. Good if you like watching Naomi Watts pull every single facial expression under the sun. Five out of 10.

Sunday 18 December
Time for the annual Dodgy Secret Santa with the uni gang - this year's theme for the presents was red and as always, it had to be something tacky and under $10. Even though most of our group is in London we managed to coordinate a web-cam hook-up despite busy pre-Christmas schedules and time zone differences. It was 9am and hot in Brisbane and 11pm Saturday night and freezing in London. Tony and I went to Cath and Grant's place, while Davo, Jaimee, Damian, Ben and Mitch went to an internet cafe. It was sooooo good to see my pals and wave madly at each other!

After enjoying brunch with Cath and Grant, Tony and I went to my Nanna's house for a BBQ with the family. My uncle and cousins had come up from Gosford and it was the first time I'd seen them in ages. Despite the reason everyone was there, it was lovely to have all my family together.

Monday 19 December
The most difficult day of the year - my grandfather's funeral. I've always found public speaking easy, but reading a few short passages I'd written about Father was the hardest thing I have ever done. But I was determined to do it - I needed for him to be remembered by someone in the family, not just the celebrant.

Wednesday 20 December
Dad and I did his Christmas shopping for Mum at Chermside. Always good fun.

...to be continued...

A beach wedding

On Friday November 11, friends Shay and Tracey got married on the beach at Maroochydore. Here are some picutres from their wonderful day:

Tony and I frocked up for the occaision.

Us girls ditched our heels in sand - Kylie, Jess, Tracey and me.

Meanwhile the Wiggles pay a visit in pastel - Tony, Vince, Mike, Tero and Paul.

Tracey and Shay exchange vows on the Maroochydore beach, just near the mouth of the river.

The happy couple, Tracey and Shay, with daughter Madison.

Jess and I kick-start the reception with some frozen daiquiris - they were more toxic than we thought!

Tony and Tracey ham it up for the camera!

Feeling slight less glamorous after one too many chardys.

After the wedding we partied on for a bit at one of the apartments, before Tony and I called it a night and crashed at our hotel. Saturday morning we all met up again for brekkie and then hung out for a few hours. Later that afternoon Tony and I stopped for an early dinner at some top nosh little eatery on the coast before heading back to Bris Vegas and a Saturday night out on the town with Fi, Mike, Mattie and his "my mate Steve". A fantasitc party-filled weekend, but geez I was tired after it all!!!

On a high

At SES tonight we did full speed donuts under the Gateway Bridge in our brand spanking new $55,000 flood boat. What an amazing rush!!! We hooned up and down the river and put our new rescue boat through it's paces. It was a tough job - it was a warm night and the water was like glass. We could turn that thing on its side as we did 360's under the bridge...*sigh* I just loved every minute of it!

Last night Tony and I went to Tero and Tracey's place at Karana Downs for a BBQ. There was a few of us there and a great time was had by all. Lots of yummy food and a few glasses of wine went down the hatch.

I caught up with my old work pals for lunch today - Marcia, Celsie and Hue. We had way too much to talk about and an hour just wasn't long enough. Have to do it again very soon.

A quick update...

I had a great day shopping yesterday! Marscha and I spent almost five hours in a systematic attack on the DFO shopping centre. I came away with four new tops, a pair of shoes and the bargain of the day - a $90 pair of funky Espirit black pants for $27!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!! Rejoice!!!

Here are a couple of pics taken last weekend when I went swimming at Mum and Dad's place - my little niece Sharda was with me, along with our horse-sized puppy Zack. Zack was a tad over-protective of Sharda and every time she squealed or splashed in the pool he went beserk. At one point he actually jumped in to try and save her, all went well until he realised this meant he had to swim (a bit of a problem since he's never really done it before, apart from a quick splash at the beach). But he is a doggy and doggy paddle does come naturally so he managed to cross the pool and half clamber out the other side. After a bit of help with a hiney push from me, he was out - albeit very wet and confused! He was banned from the pool area after this!

"Help me get out of here, Mum!"

Poor puppy was a bit "shaken" after his swim...

Rain, rain go away...come again another day

I woke up early this morning to the loud roar of heavy rain (thanks to our corrugated iron roof!) So there goes the plans for a nice outdoorsy Saturday, I guess that means I'll have to stay indoors and for a girl like me that can only mean one thing - get your mind out of the gutter because I mean shopping!! Oh what a chore...

I'm going to brave the crowds and head over to the new'ish factory outlet centre near the airport, Direct Factory Outlet. I'll report back later with details on goodies purchased.

p.s. Yesterday I was at the Convention Centre all day (my work was hosting a conference - long day but very bludgey as we got to sit around and chat while the delegates were in session!)...Anyways, the Convention Centre also had one of those MASSIVE LIQUIDATION ALL STOCK MUST GO BELOW COST sales that they advertise on late night telly. To cut a long story short I managed to get $1080 worth of Sheridan sheets for the bargain price of $240. What a steal.

Where has the time gone?!?!

Yes, I know it's been about a month since I've updated the blog - it's very slack of me! I can't believe how the time has flown by...

We've been having a few dramas with the computer at home - the internet has been playing up, making blog updates painfully slow. I'm not sure what happened, we've got cable and everything? And then when that was sorted, the fan in the computer went kaput! It's been so frustrating not having proper access, goodness knows what I'd do if I didn't have a computer! And I can't really update the blog at work - I'm actually busy, surprise, surprise.

What's been happening....um...it's been so long now that I can't remember all the day-to-day stuff. We've been up the coast to the beach a few times, had a few visits from family members, more furniture buying (I think I've been to every furniture store in SE Qld, if Tony takes me to another one I'm going to scream!) . Done a few dinners with friends and weekend drinkies and parties.

I'm still going strong with the SES - in fact, I am now officially a member! I passed my prac and theory exams. Woohoo! Monday nights are now spent doing weird and wonderful things like practising search and rescue, storm damage repairs, navigation etc... So very un-Jen, but hey, that's why I'm doing it!

I've started back at Pilates again. I'm slowly but surely getting there with the personal fitness thing. Now that the weather is warming up and the sun is up longer I'll also start walking home again. Tony sometimes meets me halfway with Zack. Having a dog is a great motivation for exercise! Speaking of Zack - our little puppy is now six months old and growing bigger and BIGGER every day. He's doubled in size in the short time we've had him. I'll post some pictures soon.

Amelie Catherine

Congratulations to our dear friends, Cathy and Grant, who welcomed their beautiful little girl into the world on Monday evening.

Welcome to the world, Amelie Catherine!

The computer is finally working...

...so I've managed to load Zack's photo in the post below!

And I must apologise for the slack reports - I've been so busy lately. In between SES, puppy school, work, visiting family, friends etc... I haven't had much time to keep the blog updated. I'll upload some more photos soon :-)

"A homely spot for a weary soul"

There's a homely spot at even',
And a weary soul is bound
Where the purple jacarandas shed
Their blossom on the ground;
And the crimson rambler roses
Nestle freely 'midst the green
While the tall and stately fir tree
Towers proudly o'er the scene

Millicent Watson wrote these words nearly 100 years ago while she was a student at Lagoon Pocket School. The school is now long gone, but the new owners of the original headmaster's cottage have opened up a wonderful little B&B - our destination for the weekend!

Tony surprised me last week with a "mini weekend break" for the three of us (yes, Zack as well!). After a lazy start on Saturday morning we drove up the highway and took the Beerwah/Landsborough exit and headed for Maleny. Here we picked up fresh breadrolls and some chicken to complete our picnic basket of wine, strawberries and cheeses. We drove west from Maleny towards the southern end of the Mary Valley. From here we followed the Mary River north, past the Conondale National Park before stopping at a lovely picnic spot for a late lunch. Zack raced around the park chasing his tail, sniffing and exploring while Tony and I ate like Kings and Queens.

With full bellies we packed up and continued north on the tourist drive through Kenilworth, east of Imbil and the Amamoor National Park arriving at Lagoon Pocket Bed & Breakfast around 4'ish (about 15 minutes south of Gympie). It was such a lovely drive and so close to Brisbane - we highly recommend it!

The B&B is tucked in a quiet spot amongst the gum trees and hilly paddocks. The owners, James and Suzannah, are animal lovers and they adored Zack at first site! They've also got a dog - a collie called Tullah - and after a few growls the two "fur kids" were firm friends. Zack wasn't too keen on the chickens and cows though!!

We settled into our lovely cabin and went for a country ramble across the paddocks, down the road, passing by horses and dams, under the Mary Valley Rattler tracks and up over hills. The views of the valley at sunset were amazing - the sky was like a layer cake; green hills topped with orange, pink, mauve and blue icing.

For dinner we went into Gympie and were delighted with our meal at the alternative cafe-cum-art-gallery-cum-live-folk-music-venue, Abundant Soul. Our dinner was organic - grilled dory, wok-tossed vegies and potato bake. Yum!

On Sunday morning we were treated to a BBQ breakfast on the deck with farm eggs and home-made rolls with home-made spreads. Another yum! We said our goodbyes and headed south again to the Kenilworth Cheese Factory. After trying every sample on offer we settled for the garlic cheese.

We then wiled away an hour in the park listening to the local musicians playing for the Kenilworth Art Festival. Back in the car, we headed east up the steep Obi Obi Road to Mapleton, then winding back down through Nambour and Bli Bli to Mudjimba. Final destination: the doggie off-leash area on Mudjimba Beach.

After a run up and down the beach and a few tentative steps in the water, Zack mastered the doggie paddle! He had a bow wow of a time and was covered in sand from nose to tail! Here's a pick of our exhausted pooch after his frolick in the waves...

We drove home to the rythym of Zack snoring from the back seat. On our way, we stopped by Mum and Dad's to see my Grandma and Auntie Jill who are visiting from Sydney. After dinner and a chat we finally made it home around 10pm.

p.s. Zack spent the most part of Monday sound asleep. Obviously the excitment of new friends, the country air and a surf at the beach was just too much for our little pup!

My restaurant rules...

I had the most wonderful time on Sunday. Why? Because I spent the better part of the day singing in the kitchen before some of my dearest friends joined Tony and I for a lovely dinner party on our candlelit deck.

Cath, Grant, Damian, Jaimee, Fiona, Mattie, Tony and I feasted on:

• slow roasted vegetables and crumbled tasmanian fetta served on toasted turkish bread with fresh basil - served with verdelho
• queensland macadamia crusted fresh barramundi served with asparagus spears on a potato rosti bed with wilted greens and a mango sauce - accompanied by semilon sauvignon blanc
• warmed flour-less hazelmeal dark chocolate puddings with raspberry coulis and french vanila ice-cream - finished with a nightcap of irish cream

I had a ball - I love cooking for an appreciative audience and eating with friends! I can't wait to do it again soon.

I'll post some pics of the night up soon - blogger is being a bit too slow at the moment.

Blown away

Saturday's planned trip to the beach was put aside in favour of a 4WD trip around the Glasshouse Mountains - those gale force winds got the better of us!! Here's a photo of Cath, Damian, Jaimee and myself feasting on tasty hotdogs in the shadow of Mt Beerwah (I left Tony at home to do the washing and groceries! Seriously though - he went to his mates birthday party - after he finished the housework!)

Late Saturday I stopped by Mum and Dad's place to see them and my little niece Sharda, who was staying the night. Sharda was a bit disappointed that I didn't bring Zack and even more disappointed when I didn't stay for dinner. That quivering bottom lip is heart-breaking!

Afterwards, I met up with some friends who were celebrating Mickie's birthday at the Story Bridge Hotel.

Happy Birthday Jaimee!

Tonight we celebrated Jaimee's birthday at the Breakie Creek Hotel. Happy Birthday Jaimee - we hope you had a wonderful day.

And it was so lovely to finally meet Damian tonight! We look forward to spending heaps more time with you guys!


Tonight was also Dave's last night in Oz - I'll really miss you Dave!! :-(



Cath, Grant, Jaimee, Damian, me and Tony

Scott, Wendy and Jaimee

It's a dog life...

Our little puppy is growing up so quickly - he's almost doubled in weight to about 12 kilos and grown about four inches taller.

He's settling in well - no major mishaps. I think the worst thing he's done is dig a few little holes in the garden. I think Zack has Tony and me wrapped around his little paw!

Here are some photos we took this week...

busy days...

Oh wow! What an amazing week or two!!!! I've been a bit slack with the blog lately because life has been a bit hectic! Here goes...

Last weekend was fun - drinkies at work on Friday, Father's Day lunch at Enchildadas on Saturday with the family and then Riverfire on Saturday night. Tony and I wandered up to the Kangaroo Point cliffs and got a great position with views to Southbank, the city and the Story Bridge. The fireworks were amazing and we could feel the heat from the F1-11 dump and burn. I'm such a kid when it comes to fireworks, I just love all the pretty colours and the different noises when they wizz, pop and bang. We picked up some pizza on the way home and then watched Willy Wonka to top off a truly childish evening!

Sunday wasn't terribly exciting - I scrubbed the house walls around our deck and then Tony painted them. I also managed to squeeze in a quick shopping splurge at Freedom.

Some very exciting news on Sunday night - our friends Michelle and Ben got engaged!! Congratulations guys, we are so happy for you! :-) We wish you all the best and we selfishly hope you come home soon so we can celebrate with you!!

On Wednesday afternoon I finished work early to meet up with Jaimee. It was so good to see her! I've missed Jaimee so much since she moved to London just over a year ago. We had a lovely afternoon wandering around the Kylie exhibition (Jaimee is a fellow Kylie addict), and then a spot of shopping in the mall. Jolly good.

After dropping Jaimee at a friends place, Tony and I joined Cath and Grant for dinner at Fi's place, followed by the girls moving to Fi's garage for the regular "Lloyd's House of Beauty". It was such a fun night and I'm sure Fi's neighbours got a kick out of it. Fi, maybe you should invest in some curtains for your garage!!

Friday arvo I left work early again (gee I love working in the public service!) to meet up with Dave. We mucked around for a bit in town - shopping and vogueing in the change rooms - before heading home for a few tasty cocktails.



Jaimee also came over and we all cabbed it in to town to meet up with some of her old work mates for a Friday arvy drink.

And then....drumroll please....it was Pane e Vino time!!! Yay, the uni gang together again at our fave haunt. We toasted Ben and Mitch's engagement over a few bottles of house white before moving on to classy establishments like the Elephant and Wheelbarrow!!! Such a fun night!! Here's some of my favourite photos:

...although the fun night was not so fun the next morning when I had to get ready for my SES exam. I think I did ok - I was competent on all the practical stuff and I'll find out how I went in the theory exam tomorrow.

Saturday night, Tony and I had dinner with Mum and Dad and then I joined Davo and his friends in the karaoke bar at Dooleys. It was...um...interesting. Very impressed with Jaimee's rendition of Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer.

And then today I went to Cath's baby shower. It was a lovely afternoon chatting with the girls, playing some fun party games and eating tasty treats!


Phew...I think it's time for bed!

p.s. Welcome to the world of blogs, Nik and Paul!

The week so far...

We've had a really lovely week so far...

After we caught up with friends on Saturday night (Tony had a drink with Vince and I saw Mattie), we had a sleep-in on Sunday before a spot of furniture shopping! I got a nice new tallboy set of drawers for my side of the bed. They're a bit exotic looking with baskets for drawers (maybe it's some sort of Asian influence from our hols? Or maybe I just liked them!! Hee hee...) We also got a couple of nice baskets for a cupboard. I'm in a bit of a spring-cleaning mode and we're chucking out junk and re-organising stuff.

[Yes, you read correctly. I am cleaning.]

We then took Zack for a car ride over to see his Grandma. Mum was happy to see us because we turned up with some really yummy home-style hamburgers for lunch from the local take-away place.

Sunday arvo was just a quiet one at home playing with our new furniture while I slow roasted some red capsicum, eggplant, zucchini and garlic in olive oil. Mmmmm....even tastier when we ate the vegies on toasted turkish bread with crumbled Tasmanian fetta. Heaven.

Monday night at SES we did training on emergency procedures - after a short bit of theory, they kicked us out of our two-storey building, turned out the lights and hid a few "victims" with all sorts of pretend injuries. Basically the training involved us doing recon, searches, rescue and recovery. We had to get the injured out of the building on stretchers down tight stairwells, off the top of high cupboards etc etc... It was fun and challenging! There's alot more to it than just dragging a few bodies out of a building.

Today has been the best day of the week so far, because I got to see one of my best mates, uni buddy Dave (pictured), for the first time in 18 months. He's been living it up in London and he's home for a visit. We dined on gourmet sandwiches at Jorge Bar and washed them down with a glass or two of wine.

It was soooo good to see him - we picked up just where we left off. It was like we only saw each other a couple of weeks ago. You certainly know someone is a great friend when you can do that!

I was so happy the smile lasted all afternoon - although, that could have had something to do with the wine...

I finished off today with a trip to my hairdressers up the road for a cut, colour and blow-dry. So I'm feeling very stylish as I sit here in my trackies and pink fluffy slippers :-)

Saturday 27 August

Me and my dear friend Mattie enjoying the Sangria at Montezumas on Saturday night. We talked so much the waitress was just about pushing us out the door so they could close! Mattie and I can talk about anything - from the key to a successful relationship, to the mysteries of a black hole, to toe jam.

Ben, Grant, Cath (plus 1), Shane and me on Saturday afternoon at the Brekkie Creek Hotel. Shane is heading to London for two years. Good luck! Hopefully we'll see you soon!

Sunday 21 August

Apparently staffies are quite loyal and protective of their owners. We don't see any of that with Zack.... ;-) This photo was taken just after he'd try to sit ON me!!!

Saturday 20 August

The girls hit the town on Saturday night to celebrate Fi's birthday. It was very cold, so we cowered in the couch til the last possible moment!

Here I am getting a cuddle from Auntie Fi.

Check out the size of that lamb bone!!!

A new addition to our family

On Saturday afternoon Tony and I brought home our new little bundle of joy - a 16-week-old Staffy/Labrador cross puppy.

We've been looking at dogs for some time now, and when we saw this little fellow we just knew he was the right one.

Zack is from the RSPCA, so he's de-sexed, micro-chipped, vaccinated etc...

Here is Zack just after we brought him home on Saturday. It was so cold the folks at the RSPCA left his little coat on. We'll take it back when he grows out of it (which will be soon!)

It's hard to tell who enjoys cuddles the most - Zack or Jen?

Aren't I cute?! I've just had my first bath in my new home and I'm snuggled up in front of the heater! It's such a tough life. Where's that lamb bone?

Zack loves the squeaky snowman toy my niece Sharda picked out for him! Very tasty!

p.s. This photo was taken on Wednesday - I think he has definitely grown since Saturday (when the pics above were taken).

Escape to Malaysia

Our journey across Malaysia - we flew in from Brunei to KL, up to Langkawi, then caught the bus south to Singapore.

Day one - Brisbane to Brunei

After counting down for weeks - we were finally on our way for our first overseas trip together. Mum and Dad dropped us at the airport for our 1pm flight to Bander Seri Begawan, capital of Brunei (5455km from Bris Vegas, or about seven hours flying time).

We were flying Royal Brunei to Malaysia, hence the stopover. They were pretty good - not as fancy as Singapore Airlines, but comfortable and a good price. A few little oddities though - they play a Prayer to Allah video shortly before each take-off and the TV screens will show an arrow pointing to Mecca each time the plane changes directions!

The night we arrived in Brunei the locals were still celebrating the Sultan's 59th birthday, hence the fireworks over the Sultan's Mosque. This picture was taken in the centre of town, only a short walk from our hotel. It was about 30 degrees and very humid, with rain off and on. We had a look through some of the shops, walked down by the river to see all the water taxis to the river villages (Kampung Ayer) then Butter Chicken for dinner - YUM! Back at the hotel, Tony settled in to watch some Simpsons. You just can't escape them!!!

Day 2 - Brunei to Langkawi

The next morning we went back to the Mosque to have a look on the inside - it was magnificent! Italian marble, English stained glass and gold leaf. That big gold dome isn't solid, it's actually stained glass that lets in the most beautiful light to the inside of the mosque. If you look at the pic above closely, you can see Jen on the steps (dressed in her most conservative outfit on the whole trip!)

Tony in front of the mosque