Melbourne and other places

Rightio...what's happened in the past month or so??!!!?! We got up to a bit before our trip to Melbourne. Some of the highlights included dinner at the Plough Inn with Mickie and Nell, Tony went to Big Day Out (I stayed way away from that one!). I met up with Vanessa and Fi for a drink - I hadn't seen Ness in ages and it was so good to see her.

On the Wednesday night before Australia Day we flew to Melbourne for a long weekend. We stayed with Tony's cousin Tony and his wife Nat and their son Sylas. We arrived safe, minus Tony's bag which had been left behind by Virgin Blue. Never fear, it arrived bright and early the next morning!

On Thursday afternoon we visited with Tony's uncle Willy and aunt Agnes, had a BBQ with their son Jeff, his wife Melissa and their darling daughter Renee. Thursday night Agnes and I got stuck into a couple bottles of Rose' while Willy and Tony polished off most of a bottle of Southern Comfort. Needless to say, we were a little slow off the mark on Friday morning! Willy and Agnes drove down to Mornington Peninsula ahead of us, to show us the way. We stopped off to visit Tony's mum (she's buried in the most picturesque cemetary on the Peninsula).

Agnes, Tony, Willy (holding Becky)

We then said goodby to Willy and Agnes and went on to Portsea where we wandered down to the ocean side of the point. Man that water was cold - straight off the icebergs! The funny thing was, that there were crazy Melburnians sunbaking!!!

We then stopped for lunch in Sorrento before making our way back round the bay. Mid afternoon the weather did a sharp change (how very un-Melbourne!) and a nasty little storm blew through the area. I couldn't help but admire the rapid response of the local SES, not to mention their fancy Ops vehicle... (I had to hang out the car in the rain to get this pic!)


Friday evening we caught up with our friends Paul and Jillian at their place in Glen Waverley. We had a lovely antipasto style dinner with them and a couple glasses of champers! We had to cut our visit short though as we had to get the car back to Tony's cousin.

Saturday afternoon we hit Chapel Street (in the rain!) and then had a BBQ dinner with Tony, Nat and Sylas. Sunday morning we went into town to pick up a few things and then met another Paul in Brunswick St, Fitzroy. This is where I discovered Jen Heaven - a discount Alannah Hill outlet. That evening we caught up with Tony's long-time friend Ernie, partner Dora and new baby Stella.

Monday was a quick trip back to the Alannah Hill outlet (there were a couple of things in the shop I didn't buy!) before flying home to Bris Vegas.

Here's little Sylas

Part 2 - January round-up

Ok, here is really quick run-down on the past month or so....

Christmas Eve - Fi and I went to the movies and saw Cheaper by the Dozen 2, then back to her place to assemble Chey's Chrissie present - a new bike
Christmas Day - at Mum and Dads with the family, swimming in the pool etc...
Boxing Day - in the afternoon Tony and I ventured into town for some shopping, we got some bargains for Tony and he had a ball spending his vouchers.
Tuesday 27th - We went to the movies and saw Narnia. I loved it, but Tony thought it was a bit childish (well, it is a children's story!)
Wednesday 28th - Fiona was staying up the coast for a week at a friend's holiday home, so we made good use of the free accommodation and went up to Caloundra for the night. We took Zack and he had a ball playing on the beach. Here's a pic of Fi's daughter Chey and our puppy dog:



Thursday - on our way home from Caloundra, we stopped in to see Tony's folks (who were staying at Redcliffe), then went for a swim at Mum and Dads
Friday - we had lunch in town, did a bit of shopping then that evening I did more shopping with Fi, meanwhile Tony played a friend's Playstation at home
Saturday (New Year's Eve) - lunch with Tony's dad at Redcliffe, quiet dinner at home with friends (while we finished playing the kiddy Playstation game, Madagascar - never again, those things are too addictive!!). For New Year's Eve we went to the Shadow Lounge on the river. Twas a lovely night and we were home around 2-ish.
New Year's Day - We went to BBQ Breaks at Fridays

Tuesday 3 Jan - back to work.... :-(
Thurday - Dinner at Wagamama's with Mickie and Nell
Friday - I got an SES call-out to do a forensic search at Inala. It was about 40 degrees and we were searching for a murder victim's wallet in REALLY long grass. I just about died it was so friggin hot. That night we went to Vince's birthday drinks at South Bank, although it wasn't a very long night - I think I was suffering the effects of heat stress.
Saturday 7 Jan - we went to Summafield Dayze on the Gold Coast (a music festival)
Monday & Tuesday - I think the effects of Friday caught up with me and the annoying little cold I had the previous week turned nasty - I had a couple of days off work

Friday 13 - My cousin Katrina and her partner Guy were in town for the weekend, so I had dinner with them at Mum and Dad's then took them on a Brisbane-by-night sightseeing tour.
Saturday - SES training (to get my Certificate I and part of Certificate II in Public Safety, plus nationally recognised accreditation in Land Search)
Sunday - SES again until lunchtime, then up to Bribie Island to spend the afternoon with my old school friends.

Thursday 21 December
Over the two weeks prior to Christmas, my Marketing team at work had been playing "dress-ups" with themed days - e.g. red day, white day, stripes, beach/Hawaiian wear etc... On the last day we went all out for Eighties day...