Australia Day

On Monday, January 26th was Australia Day. This is the day, back in 1788, that Captain Arthur Phillip landed in Australia. Click on the link if you are interested in learning more.

Basically as Australian's, we celebrate Australia Day in numerous ways - going to the beach, having a BBQ, at a park with friends, playing beach cricket, etc.

What did I do for Australia Day............ My DH, my parents and myself headed to our local council grounds to particpate in the Australia Day Celebrations. There was so much to see and do there, where do I begin.............

There were cute little piggies that did pig races - why is this an Australian thing to do?? Not too sure....... but it was fun to watch.

There was a rodeo with Australian Cowboys - it reminded me of the Rodeo at Cloverdale in B.C. We watched bull riding and and horse riding - it was actually really cool. There was also a wood chopping contest going on throughout the day too. I had never seen this done before and it was pretty cool to see them at work.

There was a poet who was reciting works done by Banjo Patterson. Banjo Patterson was a famous ballad writer back in the 'olden days' and he wrote our very famous song 'Waltzing Matilda' which alot of Australian's like to think is our 2nd National Anthem. While we were listening to the poet on Australian Day he was reciting the poem, 'The Man From Ironbark'. I remember learning this poem at school.

For lunch I had a yummy meat pie.......... Australia is known for there meat pies and even though it was a hot day I had to have one - it was Australia Day after all. There was also a group of people cooking damper the old fasioned way (see picture below). Damper is basically bread that was cooked in the outback on an open fire. It is so yummy to eat warm with golden syrup.

There was also a dog show with the cutest Border Collies. We spoke to one of the breaders there and her dogs were a mum and son, Trixie and Bronson. Sooooooooo cute and so friendly. During the dog show we watched as a trainer was 'dancing' with her dog and they also explained how to train dogs to catch frisbee's. This has made me want to get a dog ASAP!! Below is a picture of Trixie catching a frisbee.

We stayed at the Celebrations for a few hours but it was really hot out and decided to call it a day at about 1pm. We headed home to go for a swim in the pool and just chill out. It was nice to have the day off from work and relax.

For dinner that night we of course had a BBQ............ a great way to end the day.

It was so good to be home for Australia Day and my DH enjoyed his first Australia Day too.

Till next time.................

Who Turned The Heat Up??

Last night had to be the hottest night we have had here on the Gold Coast this Summer so far. We had our window open with no breeze at all coming in. We also had our ceiling fan on full blast and I could not get cool. I finally woke up from the extreme heat at 3:30am - yes, A.M!!!! I never wake up this morning - only if my alarm is set to go off at that ridiculous time!!

I was so hot that I got up and laid infront of the t.v with a fan on me to cool down. I could not go back to sleep for the life of me and ended up watching so much crap t.v - Maury Povich, Oprah, The Fabulous Life of Kimora (boy that woman is so demanding and gets everything she wants), I also ended up watching quite a cute movie, Unaccompanied Minors. It had Wilmer Valderamma in it and the kid from Bad Santa (another great movie if you haven't seen it already). Unaccompanied Minors is about a bunch of kids who get stuck in an airport because of bad weather and get up to mischief while there. Just a fun movie to watch at 5am!!!! Seriously though, try and watch it if you get a chance.

By 6am the sun was already coming up and I realiased there was no way I was going to be able to fall asleep now. At 7am I was in the pool doing laps - it was still stinking hot and the pool felt more like a bath then a pool - the water was warm already so early in the morning.

Plans for the day............ to be honest I thought I would be half asleep by 9am but I wasn't. My DH and I decided to head to the beach for the day and we met up with my sister and her family. By the time we got to the beach the sun was mostly gone with alot of cloud in the sky but looks can be deceiving as it was still pretty warm out. We took an esky of fruit, lots of water to drink and headed to Miami Beach for the day.

Here is my neice Chloe enjoying the beach. She loved the water and jumping the waves but preferred to be playing in the sand.

As expected the beach was fairly busy today. The waves weren't too rough either which was good. My nephews just loved going out and jumping the waves. My older nephew had fun with my DH, they went out quite fair and were swimming in the waves and diving into them as well. After a swim the kids loved playing in the sand. I cannot stand the sand all over me - I know as I kid I would sit there and let my brother and sister's bury me in the sand, I just couldn't imagine doing that now.

We were at the beach for about three hours when we saw the dramatic change in the weather. The weather here reminds me of what we had to deal with when we lived in Florida. It can be hot and sunny one minute and then a total downpour the next. That's what happened today......

We noticed the dark clouds in the distance - while at the beach you can basically see from one end of the Gold Coast to the other and we could clearly see that there was rain in the northern part of the Gold Coast.

We decided to call it a day and thought we had plenty of time to pack up our stuff but we were mistaken. The rain came from no where and was hitting so hard. We had to pack up in the rain and walk all the back to our cars while getting soaking wet........... oh well, all the more fun I thought!! We had a great day at the beach but it was nice to go home and have a shower and a cup of tea.

The good thing about not getting much sleep last night is that I have tomorrow off from work as it is Australia Day, so I can sleep in a little. We are celebrating Australia Day by going to a type of fair, I guess you could call it. This will be my husband's first Australia Day celebrated in Australia. We are looking forward to a great day.......... hope the weather co-operates. Time to go, Dad's cooking a barbie for dinner (not the doll, a BBQ).

Till next time...........

Happy Birthday To Me!

This past week I celebrated my birthday - my first birthday at home in quite a long time. My twin sister and I were able to celebrate our birthday together and we had a great time.

Our DH's had planned a surprise for us on the Saturday night and rented a limo to take us out to Surfer's Paradise. I had no idea where we were going, all I knew was that I had to get dressed up and be ready by 5pm. While in the limo I obviously figured out that we were heading to Surfer's Paradise but when it pulled up in front of the hotel - I had no idea where we were. It is pretty easy to keep a secret from me...........sometimes I am so clueless.

We arrived at the Marriott Hotel just before 6pm. This hotel is absolutely gorgeous - I love the ceiling fans they have throughout the lobby. We had dinner reservations at the Lagoon Restaurant which is an All You Can Seafood Buffett. Now usually I don't like buffett's but when it's Seafood I am all over it!!!! The food was amazing - I think I ate enough prawns to last me forever. My sister and I also got the wine buffett too - basically you pay $19 and can all you can drink red or white wine all night long.

After our amazing dinner we went for a walk through Surfer's Paradise then headed down to Broadbeach to Jupiter's Casino. We gambled for a little while and then called it a night. We had an awesome evening - it was fun to dress up and be treated like a Princess for a while.

The next day we had a family BBQ at my parent's place to celebrate my nephew's birthday and my sister's and my birthday. All the family came over, even my Grandmother came to the house for a while, which was great.

As I have probably said a thousand times, I love having my family all together for events like this. I missed it for those 8 years I was away and am enjoying it all over again.

Don't ever take your family for granted........

Till next time..............

Wet N Wild

A few weekend's ago we went to Wet'N'Wild for my nephews birthday.

Wet'N'Wild is a theme park we have here on the Gold Coast that is filled with fun water slides, a great kids area, a lagoon to totally chill out in and a swimming pool with waves.

My older sister and her family have season tickets to this theme park so they know the ins and outs of it all. We got there early in the morning so we could be the first in to get good lounge chairs and a picnic area. My Brother In Law was on top of this - he ran with my two nephews to get the perfect spot - right in front of the wave pool. Why is this the perfect spot........... well at dusk they play a movie on the big screen at the wave pool. It was the perfect setting for an awesome day. That night's movie was the latest Indianna Jones movie - we stayed a watched a bit of it then left early................ we had been out in the sun all day and were exhausted.

We picked the perfect day to go as it was hot all day long........... we realiased how hot it was that night when we couldn't sleep thanks to the sun burn!!! We started off the day going on a few of the slides - I am not a huge fan of water slides so I only went on a couple of them but I had lots of fun.

My favourite thing to do was to go on the lagoon ride where you lay in a tube and float around a lagoon for as long as you like. It was fun to watch my DH totally pick on my mother - she couldn't control the tube and my DH wasn't helping much either by pushing her in every direction possible. Later in the day we went on the tubes again but this time we got separated from my older sister and my neice. We couldn't find them for quite a while until finally they met us back at our lounge chairs. My two-year-old neice had fallen asleep on my sister and she couldn't get out of the lagoon so she kept going round in circles till her husband found her!!!

The wave pool was alot of fun too. Surprisingly, the waves were fairly strong and it didn't help that my DH kept throwing me under the water. Later in the day my twin sister's daughter came into the wave pool with me and that girl has no fear at all. She is only 3 but wanted me to leave her on her own in the wave pool - she kept wanting to go out into the rougher waves. She had a blast and was making me laugh so much!!

The birthday boy had lots of fun on his special day......... he enjoyed going on all the rides with everybody from his brother to his Grandfather.

We even had a birthday cake for him and a BBQ for dinner.

Happy Birthday Liam - glad I could be there to have fun with you!!!

Till next time..........

Mamma Mia, Here I Go Again........................

Sing it with me everybody......... finally after a long wait I got to see the movie Mamma Mia - and I LOVED IT!!

There was a showing of the movie at a park at Varsity Lakes. Varsity Lakes is a really nice new area on the Gold Coast that is growing so fast. I wouldn't mind being able to afford a house there. A development company had planned a big screen in a park and encouraged people in the area to enjoy an outdoor movie under the stars. It was awesome. I went with my mum and older sister and my nephew - who celebrated his birthday that day - and we also took two homestay children that were staying with my sister.

Here's a little preview of Mamma Mia - if you haven't seen it already you should go.



As for the movie........................ fantasic. If you are a huge fan of ABBA music and just love a good fun movie you have to go see it. Also, it doesn't help that the really hot Colin Firth is in it (he is so yummy)

My nephew celebrated his birthday that night, Friday January 16th and he was quite happy to spend it with us watching Mamma Mia. He was having a blast............ singing along to all the songs. Even the two little girls that were with us were dancing and having fun!!

There is still lots to tell about stuff I have been up to.......... will leave that till a later date.

till next time..........

Happy New Year

Hope everybody had a wonderful New Year. We did the usual thing of celebrating at home with family. This year's theme was 'At the Beach' - basically we just had to wear our bathing suits so it was easy to dress up for.

It was a great night with lots of food and drinks. There was an impromptu ABBA dance off with myself and my three neices. I don't know what it is about ABBA music but we love it here in Australia. My two year old neice Chloe can sing Mamma Mia - it is very cute.

Four days into the New Year and my DH and I went to the beach for the first time since we moved here. It was an overcast day but the water so was nice and warm. The waves were awesome but there were some strong ones - really have to watch for the rough seas here!! We had such a great time just jumping the waves and having fun. I forgot how fun it was just to go swimming in the ocean. I think we will be doing that more often now.

I found this flickr slide show on the internet of the beaches on the Gold Coast. We really do have some amazing beaches.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/gold-coast/show/with/515819212/

Have a wonderful 2009.

Till next time...........