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.............

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..........