Rella's Ring

What do you think?

Of course, no full hand shots as the nails are still terrible and I can't put falsies on because of the bloody snakes!

Vampirates

The Birthday Bash!

This weekend arrived with two birthdays to celebrate, Cindy's and Claire's. For the want of doing something different we decided that fancy dress was definitely in order and headed for Draculas (Ed and I had been here before with Stef). The theme this time was Vampirates, which I believe Ed and I managed in style! The costumes created by everyone were great and it made for a very fun night! Here are some piccies just to give you the idea of how we were looking!

Thankfully the sickly pallor was more to do with face paint rather than Melbourne's winter!

Here's hoping that Ed would not like this look at the wedding!

Can you even figure out who this person is???

Well He's Finally Done it!

As you have all heard from my hubbie to be, he has finally done it, and put a ring on my finger! Well nearly...a stunning ring will be ready for collection on Saturday and then it shall be official! We spent the weekend following our engagement/anniversary night at a small cottage in the Dandenong Hills. The place was a real find and just oozed romance.

from the outside...

From the inside...

Couldn't resist showing you this one!

Just outside the kitchen door

We spent Friday soaking up the atmosphere and early (ish) Saturday morning we headed off to the 'Puffing Billy' Railway line to see some of the surrounding countryside.

We had a wonderful weekend, relaxing, fun and of course filled with the inevitable wedding planning - you know me!!!

Honest Woman

Rella and I celebrated our 10th anniversary yesterday, and I thought it was about time that I made an honest woman out of her, and so I asked her to marry me!!!

Thankfully she said yes. The deed was done in our 'cosy' flat before we went out for a meal. It's become a bit of a tradition at special occasions to make each other cards, and my proposal was a small poem in the card, naturally on one knee and with a dozen red roses.

We haven't set a date yet, but we'll be back in the UK in March. We both want a Summer wedding so are setting our sights on either Aug 2008, or Aug 2009.

Just one last detail - at our celebratory meal last night, I had brains for a starter. Never had them before and it was yummy!! (even Rella liked them). Who said romance was dead...

Going to the Snow!

After a hectic week at work, we quickly jumped into our 'Rent a Bomb' car and headed for the snow. Excited, but tired, we stopped over for the night in Bright, a small town about three or four hours from Melbourne.

Ed was not that happy about it...he was far too excited about those slopes!

Views on the way up

An early start found us on the mountain climb to Mt Hoffam, where we had booked ourselves in to a lodge complete with log fires, bunk beds and quickly accessible ski runs. The journey was a bit tricky

...thankfully we made it more successfully than others on the road -he he he!

Wheel chains were a necessity!

Finally we made it...

quickly grabbed our rented ski gear and headed over for a lesson.

Paul, Ed and Mark went into level 4 and little old Rellie had to head over to the beginners group. The morning was great fun, snow had been falling quick and fast and the slopes were covered in a fresh covering of brand new flakes...lush! The afternoon was a little more tricky as the boys insisted on taking me down some pretty steep stuff (well, it was steep for a beginner!), with much grumbling from me we managed to get down to the bottom and proceeded to do it all again. Much better the second time!

The weekend continued in much the same manner - the boys headed off for more dangerous stuff and I stuck to the lessons, joining them in the afternoon.

I am glad to say that I didn't even attempt this one! Ed did

and look what happened!

Our comfy lodge

Our bodies were way too tired for much apres ski partying, so we spent most of our time with glass of wine in hand by the fire - I can think of worse places!

Knackered!

One of those weekends...

The weekend began well, we joined Mark at his local, a record shop/bar where we consumed copious amounts of red wine to get rid of the chill. Saturday however, brought around a couple of headaches that were not necessarily due to the wine. We headed in to town, where we were meeting most of the usual suspects to go to the rugby New Zealand v Australia...a game we'd been looking forward to for a while. A few drinks and a curry to precede the game were always on the cards, Paul having a serious reaction to the nuts was not.

After a while spent in first aid at the 'G' he was given the clear. This was followed by the most boring game of rugby I have ever put myself through and queues to the bar that were so long it just wasn't worth the bother. The game finshed, the heavens opened and we walked home in the bitter cold and rain - it's not always shiny down under!

Sunday was better though, a trip to 'Winter Wonderland'...

a wonderful place filled with all sorts of wonderful things including a singing caterpillar...oh boy, (make your own judgement!) and a kiddies ice rink...you could just smell those e numbers in the air!

The ice skating was fun but in general...not a great one...looking forward to next weekend and hoping it will be better!

Busy bees

Sorry for the lack of blog action over the last couple of weeks, things have been a bit full on, both at work and at the weekend. Rella managed to do her first full week at work since arriving in Australia and my job role has changed quite a bit meaning that basically I have got a lot more to do.


The weekend of the 16th was relatively quiet. On the Friday night we found a nice pub - the oldest in Melbourne on our way to the footy which had a free sausage sizzle. Our team Carlton got thumped, but we were rewarded for leaving early by stumbling across a boozer selling Guinness for $3.50 a pint (1.40 sterling).


On the Sunday Rella and I went to see Cirque Du Solei. It wasn't cheap, but was an amazing show, with acrobatics, juggling and awesome costumes. If you ever get to see these guys perform you won't be disappointed - never knew that the human body could actually do some of the things they were showing. WOW!


After a busy week, a few of us headed down to Philip Island south of Melbourne for the weekend. We stayed in a beach house with an open log fire. It was very pleasant.

The main reason for visiting was to see the little (very little - only 30cm high!) penguins which come in like clockwork every evening at sundown. Hundreds of the little buggers arrive on mass at the shore then waddle up the beach and into the dunes for the night, no photos to show as the poor little things get too startled by the flashes of the hundreds of people who come to visit them every day. To keep the wildlife hunting thing going Rella and I also spent a little bit of time at the koala conservation park - can't get bored of the little critters!


Still not having held a koala, Rella settled for a cuddle from this beast instead!

Fun on Smith's Beach, Philip Island

Much alcohol was consumed by all, having over done it completely on the Friday, most fell asleep by the fire before 10. Not to be out done, Paul and I headed to a local Irish bar on Sunday night for further cheap guinness and sore heads on Monday.

Another Quiet One

Not much to report this week...little can compare with our weekend in the snow. Our long weekend (Monday off due to Queenie's Birthday) consisted of beer, sausages and kebabs and a follow up of Sunday recovering! We managed to drag our sorry arses out of bed to make it to the football on Monday, once again at the 'G' and followed up with a curry. Not very exciting I am afraid. The money is tight and we need to sandwich the fun with a few quiet ones!

Tuesday was fun for Rella though, another paid day at the zoo, in the guise of an induction day. The hair looked bad (hating the transition from short back to long!!!!) but touching the elephant and watching the tigers made up for it.

An exciting moment!

Loving the animal stuff!

Can't ever get bored of these guys!

Busy Weekend!

Ed and I began our fun packed weekend with a trip into the city for the opening of the Melbourne Art's Festival. A packed laneway for local movers and shakers...free entry...free drinks...freezing cold and just an example of the randomn events happening here!

The highlight had to be a visit from Melbourne's Mayor. We only managed to picture the back of his head though!

Saturday morning brought with it an early, early start with a long drive to the mountains. We stopped half way to check out the work of a local artist that we'd heard good things about. Weird! Certainly would not have liked to have been in his garden after dark. Hiding in every nook and cranny were examples of his work. Some thought provoking and other just down right strange! Here are just a couple of examples...

Check out this dude's tap!

A favourite...

This one too.

Couldn't resist a quick canoodle with this chappy!

After a couple of hours of driving we thought the snow we'd heard about on the news was all hype...

The long and winding road...

We were soon proved wrong and arrived in the winter wonderland of Mount Buller, Victoria's ski resort. Struggling to climb the hill with its six passengers the Bongo finally made it and gave us a quick hour of fun in the snow before dark.

Ed...very excited!

Paul

Simon

Routine snow ball fight

The obligatory snowman...

and of course, angel.

We made it back to our cabin just after an incredible sunset, where we settled in to port, stew and many pots of beer.

What a great weekend! Can't believe that in the last few months we have manged to sun bathe on a beach and also play in the snow!!!