The Biggest Loser Australia

Well, it is that Season again.................. Biggest Loser Australia is now rolling into it's third week on t.v and I haven't missed an episode.

I am so addicted to watching this series and seeing these people transform from overweight, week souls to fit, healthy and positive individuals. It is a great way to stay motivated and want to do something about your own health.

This year, for the first time, they are doing it in couples. This is a first for the t.v series, just for the Australian series. The last season I watched in Canada was a couples and it was great as you had somebody there with you to keep you going.

I think the thrilling thing for me is that these people are Australian's and some of them live quite close by to me here on the Gold Coast. Infact, just the other day at work the husband of one of the contestants came in and was so excited as he was going to see his wife for the first time in a while. That was when it really hit close to home that these are 'real' people with a 'real' struggle and they do have loved ones anxiously wanting to see them.

The trainers in the Australian series are amazing too - Shannan and Michelle. I do miss the trainer's from the North American series but these guys are just as inspiring.

While watching the show I learned that Australia has now overtaken the U.S.A as the fattest country in the world. THE FATTEST!!! The suprising thing is, I really wasn't shocked. When I moved back home I have to say that that was one of the first things I noticed, how much bigger everybody looked. The silly thing is - we have such great weather here all year round, there is no excuse for not being outdoors and exercising!!! It is scary.............. really scary to see how big some people are getting and to top it off, it is not the guys out there - most of the larger people I see are girls!!

So, how has The Biggest Loser inspired me............... since losing weight with Weight Watchers a few years ago I have always been watching what I put into my mouth. It is so easy to get carried away with candies, fast food, etc. I have started waking up extra early before work to do weights and go for either a jog or a walk. I have committed myself to a Netball team and will be playing once a week (the season starts this Tuesday), and I am going to continue to watch what I eat - I don't want to put on all the weight I have lost.

My theory is, if these people on t.v who weigh over 200kg can do this...................... so can I.

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

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish.......... any fish?

Last Sunday my brother, sister and I (and all our respected family) decided to head down to The Spit to go fishing. Yes, there is a place known as The Spit on the Gold Coast. Click on the link to learn more about it's name.

Sunday was another amazingly hot day - perfect weather to be by the water. Our adventure first started in the car park. The parking was on soft sand and unlike my brother and sister, we do not have a 4WD. Right now we are still borrowing my other sister's spare car (more on the car front in a later blog). Anywho, our car got stuck in the sand. My first thought, 'What a great way to start the day'. No matter what we did we couldn't move it forward and we couldn't move it backward. This reminded me so much of driving in the snow in Vancouver!! My DH suggested that we use one of the 4WD's to bump us out of the sand. I thought this was a bad idea but didn't want to say anything - I'm only a girl of course, what do I know!! Thank goodness a local could see what we were just about to do and came over to let us know that was a bad idea (told you) and that we should dig the sand from under the back tyres. My brother was absolutley no help - he had injured his finger the night before and didn't want to get sand on it. So here I am underneath the car digging the sand out from under the tyres - me and this very helpful stranger. We eventually got the car out of the sand and could start fishing.............. the story continues.

Fishing................. yeh right. As soon as we arrived at the watering hole I knew the boys were not going to be catching any fish. There were boats docked in the water, people swimming in the water and noise from the shore. Again, I didn't want to say anything, but how the heck did they think the fish would be biting - unless the fish were deaf of course. From what I understand it is best to fish in quiet surroundings. Of course I was right - there were no fish biting that day but the boys had alot of fun 'pretending' to catch fish.

The highlight for the kids was finding everything BUT fish that day. My nephews had found balls, a fork, bottles, sunglasses, etc in the water - everything but fish!!! That was the joke of the day.

After our attempt at fishing we decided to head to the nearby beach to get thrown around by the waves. We went to Main Beach were there were dogs allowed on the beach. I thought this was really cool. It was so cute to watch the dogs jumping waves too.

Another great weekend had by all in the sunshine............... I LOVE IT!

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

Rainbow Beach

...... doesn't the title just say it all. This past weekend we went up to the Sunshine Coast and stayed at Rainbow Beach. It is a four hour drive from where we live but it felt like a million miles away.

When my DH and I first moved to Australia my family had decided that they wanted to do a trip away all together and we were defintely up for that. I am always up for relaxing days by the ocean and just relaxing in general.

After work on Friday afternoon my DH and I hit the road with my two brother-in-laws and nephew for the long drive up north. It was quite interesting sitting in a car with four boys - I didn't know what to expect but we had a good drive up. We were listening to some really good road tripping music and had fun singing along to ACDC, Nickleback and Bon Jovi. Anywho........ we got to Rainbow Beach at about 10pm and sat around and chatted for a while (the rest of the family had driven up earlier in the day) and then we called it a night.

We stayed at Rainbow Beach Holiday Village - people could either rent a cabin, camp or caravan there. We stayed in a cute little cabin - apparently these cabins were used in the 2000 Sydney Olympics as part of the Olympic Village. Our cabin was perfect for what we needed. It had a mini kitchen, bathroom, bed and most importantly - air conditioning!!! It was really really hot while we were there.

On the Saturday morning we all met up at the BBQ area for bacon and eggs. Too bad if anybody else in the Village wanted to use the BBQ, just my family alone filled up the area. There were people staying in a tent just nearby the BBQ area - I am sure they were glad to see us leave after our few days there. It has hard to be quiet with 8 kids and 10 adults!!

After breakfast we headed out to the sand dunes that were nearby. My mum had been telling us about this area for quite some time and she wanted us all to see what it looked like. After a quick drive and a short walk through bushes we found the sand dunes. They were just magnificient - it was so amazing to see. I did take some photo's but it is truly something you have to see to believe. All around is just sand until you look over to each side and there is a cliff with the beautiful blue ocean all around. It was absolutely breathtaking.

After our morning at the sand dunes we headed down to the beach and went for a swim. The water was beautiful.......... a little rough but the kids loved jumping the waves. We had heard that there were jelly fish around and those things really hurt when they sting you. We kept a watch out for the jelly fish but we were all good - no stings on us. Unfortunatley, as we decided to leave the beach a little girl that was there with her family got stung. The lifeguards are well prepared for this and had an icepack on hand.

After the beach we headed back to our resort and had some lunch and then a swim in the pool. You would think that we would have had enough of water by then but it was so hot and it seemed like the best way to cool down. For some reason the men/boys decided to act out the final dance scene in Dirty Dancing while in the water. My DH and my brother were attempting to lift each other up in the air - it was actually quite funny and I got some great shots. None will be posted on my blog though - I don't think my DH would appreciate that.

For dinner that night we again took over the BBQ and had some sausages and steaks then the girls adjourned to one of the rooms and played poker whilst they boys drank beer and talked. It was a great way to end a great day. Us girls had lots of fun giggling, drinking and playing our version of poker.

We only wished that we could have stayed longer. My DH and I have decided we will try to do the trip again - this time staying longer than a couple of nights.

I love being able to do little getaways like this - it give you time to chill out and pretend you are far far away!!!

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