We're going to see the All Blacks!!

YAY!! Paul and I are off to see the All Blacks Bledisloe cup match at Suncorp stadium on September 13th. I'm SO excited!! He had to join the Wallabies fan club (or something like that) in order to get advance tickets but it is totally worth it!! Ha ha - we're actually doing NZ a favour as we've now decreased the number of Aussie supporters at the game by 4 :-) We were able to get 4 tickets so my cousin Janell and her husband Alex are coming with us. I text Lance to see if him and Debz wanted to come but he didn't get his text message until just before the tickets went on sale so I had already offered the tickets to Janell instead. Stink :-( Oh well, hopefully they can get some tickets in the public sale in a few weeks.

Can you believe this will only be the 2nd All Blacks game I've ever been to. The other of course being in Paris when I was there on my Europe tour when the ABs kicked the French by something like 40-6

GO THE ALL BLACKS!!!

Camping soon

Yay - only a couple more days until Paul and I go camping at Coolum beach. I got an email from my cousin Janell this morning with the list of what food Paul and I need to bring and the menu for the trip. Don't you love it when you find people who are just at pedantic as you are :-D te he he :-)

Anyway so here is our menu for the weekend:
Friday Lunch

Bacon Egg Pie

Tomato Sauce

Friday Dinner

Garlic bread

Garden Salad

BBQ Meat

Saturday Breakie

Muesli

Yogurt

Saturday Lunch

Chippie Sandwiches (salt & vinegar chips, bread, butter, marmite)

Saturday Dinner

Salad

Potato Salad

BBQ Meat

Sunday Breakie

Muesli

Yogurt

Sunday Lunch

Bacon Egg Pie

Snacks

Beverages

Ice

Water

Juice

Booze

So 8am Friday morning we shall be off!! VERY exciting!!!

Go away

Right - some weirdo keeps commenting on my blog entries with a "See here please" and a link. Obviously I have no idea who you are and you are wanting my readers to go to your dodgy link.
So ... if you (my honest readers) ever see one of these comments before I manage to delete them then please don't click on the link.
However if you are the ANNOYING person who keeps making these comments that I have one thing to say to you. GO AWAY!!!!!

Vege garden - step 1

Well we've taken the first step to creating our vege garden. On the weekend Paul set up our new compost bin (we won't mention that it sat in its box for 3 weeks first will we now). We decided to put it down the back of the section as eventually we're going to dig all the ferns etc up anyway so why not start now (one day we may put a workshop in down there). Plus down the back it's as far away as possible from our house and our neighbours houses so we shouldn't stink anyone out :-) So here are a few pics I took of Paul setting it up.

Evidence # 1 - some men do read instructions

The freshly cleared spot for the compost bin. All we have to do now is put all our vege scraps in and hey presto we have compost. Yeah right! I think looking after it may end up being Paul's job :-)

Ferns no more. I'm not sure how many bugs Paul found in clearing the space and I don't want to know. Note the neighbours fence on the back left has metal posts instead of wooden ones like the neighbours behind us. That's to stop the termites eating out your fence - nice aye ;-)

Paul about to put in our first lot of scraps. Fortunately we have a little bin with a lid as this stuff had been in it for about 3 weeks. I figured the best way force ourselves to put the compost bin up was to start filling up the scraps bucket :-) It worked :-)

Virgin bin no more :-) Don't ask me what the concrete thing is behind Paul. I'm wondering if it was used in the past for incinerating rubbish. You can tell that there used to be some oldies living here (support rail in bath) so maybe they used to burn their rubbish. But the concrete bricks just sit on each other so it's pretty dodge!

Going camping!

Well last weekend my cousin Janell and her new husband Alex came around for dinner (yes London branch of the family I remembered to give them the voucher - phew). We had a great night just chatting and catching up. I'm a bad cousin and the last time (and first time) we caught was at Uncle Ralph's funeral last year - whoops. I got to check out their wedding photos (she looked lovely mum :-) ) and pick Janell's brain about how she did things for the wedding.

Anyway so an outcome of the evening was that we're going camping at Coolum with Janell and Alex on Anzac day long weekend. Very exciting! Paul has been wanting to go camping since we moved here so this is our first opportunity! So we went out the next day and bought a lovely tent from Anaconda (my other favourite store - Anaconda and Bunnings rock!) on special. Paul wanted to get a smaller one but for $30 more we could get one where

1. Paul can stand inside it
2. We can fit our bags at the end of the "bed" and still have the middle or side to walk around in
3. It has a decent sized, zipped in awning at the of the tent to store things or hang out in if it rains
   

Paul starting our "test run" of putting the tent up. Thought it'd be best to find out if there was anything wrong with it at home rather than when we're actually out camping.

The inner part of the tent put up. It has lots of netting on it so that you can let the breeze through during the hot day

The finished product.

The view of the tent from the side. Pretty big aye! But I'm so glad we got the big tent. it also means that if we have some visitors and decide to go camping then they don't have to sleep under the starts unless they want to (apparently the tent sleeps 6 - but I'm sure 4 would be comfy.) Paul now also has his "dog box" ;-) te he

Colourful Walls

Well Paul and I recently decided that we've been in living in our house long enough that we'd better start making our white walls look a bit more interesting. This was started by the clock and thermometer we bought at the Eumundi markets at Easter. Plus Paul's parents bought us this really cool 3 part picture for our house warming present that we had yet to put up.

Then yesterday it was a nice sunny day so I decided to get started on one of my "projects" I'd been planning for a while - painting!! So I got out with my paints and rollers and paint brushes and just started painting. So I struggle to draw a stick figure and this was the first time in my life I've ever painted. However I was pretty happy with the outcome for a first go (considering I had no idea what the plan was when I started). The painting is "straight line challenged" but I've decided that is totally how it's meant to be ;-) te he. Anyway so I've included a few pictures for your pleasure :-)

The picture Paul's parents gave us. It is very cool! I'm really into pictures where they're separated into multiple parts. It sits in the hallway with the photo taken from the lounge.

The view of the photo from the lounge (at night) showing the view of the pic as you walk into the hallway. You have no idea how hard it was getting the picture hooks into the wall! Brute strength wasn't enough so pre-drilling was the next option - Paul ended up breaking 2 drill bits to get 3 little nails in! It's much easier when there is a beam to drill into as the board doesn't bounce back.

My very first painting. It looks nicer from further away as you can't see the crooked lines so much :-) The peace lily plant we had to move from the hallway into the kitchen/dining area as its going for gold and was taking up the whole hallway.

A close up of my very first painting :-) It was lots of fun! And it adds some great colour to the kitchen :-)

Bounce bounce

Oh dear - I'm in another of my bounce bounce moods today. I think it's because I'm very excited it's almost the weekend. Not that I'm doing anything exciting this weekend - I just don't have to work. Yay! Poor Paul this morning had to put up with me bouncing around the house giving him hugs and stuff. Gross aye :-) Te he.

Bring on Saturday!!!

Almost the weekend

N - n - n - nine degrees! That was the apparent current temperature when I just logged onto stuff. And with the time difference that's at 11:15am! That's not even funny! If it got to 9 degrees here then I actually think my toes would fall off when I tried to put on my shoes. Cold! I'm such a wuss that I'm wearing trousers and my ankle boots today :-)

Well it's almost the weekend and I can't wait. Not because I'm doing anything in particular but just because I want this week to be over. Yesterday felt like it was about 3 days in length and I get the feeling that today is going to be the same *sigh* Oh well at least I get to leave early today as I need to go to the doctor to get a flu jab and some asthma inhalers.

So cold!!

Man is it getting cold at the moment! Outside it's only 16 degrees today and the high is only getting up to 24 *shiver*. I have discovered what the difference between the start and end of Autumn is - it's not necessarily the high for the day as we still get days up around 27 - 29. It's the fact that it takes a lot longer in the day to get there. Instead of it being 25 degrees by 8am it's 16-18 degrees at 8am *shiver*. Although that's not such a bad thing as it's really gross getting to work in summer and being all sweaty! The scary thing is that I suspect I may end up wearing my woolly coat this year - who would have thought aye!

Photos from Noosa

Here are some photos from our trip to Noosa over Easter weekend. We had a fantasic weekend - especially as it was my first proper holiday since I moved to Aussie in July last year. No my recent trips to NZ don't count as holidays as they have been flat out doing wedding preparation, working and visiting the dentist. We manged to get a great little room on wotif.com in a resort right on the Noosa river for only $99 a night - sweet :-) And since the public transport system had free travel all Easter weekend on the new GO card system (like the oyster cards in London) we travelled all weekend for free as we took the train & bus to Noosa instead of getting stuck in awful traffic like everyone else. Yay!

Enjoying a Copenhagen icecream while waiting out the rain.

Going for a walk in Noosa National Park.
We did the big loop track that went through the bush and then followed the coastline on the way back.

Scary "Paul Monster" in the bush. Apparently this is a grade 4 track - right!!!! We didn't even see any snakes, although Paul freaked me out enough as we were leaving that I was positive I was going to find one.

Half way point. Views out over the nudist beach :-) No there weren't any there that day ;-) Although there was a kite surfer going for gold and a huge rip.

This plane went past overhead and I got this really cool pic - so I had to include it.

Another view out near then nudist beach. It was a bit "breezy" by Wellington standards but it was very refreshing as we'd been walking for about an hour.

Mary Poppins waiting for the bus to go to the Eumundi markets on Saturday morning.

Me at the Eumundi markets on Saturday morning. We arrived nice and early at 6:35 so that we could wander around before the hordes of tourists arrived. It was totally worth it as we got to take our time and see everything. The markets were huge and contained really good stuff. Often you go to markets and they just sell lots of junk. But the stuff they were selling here was great and mostly at pretty good prices too. I am SO going back :-)

Paul at the Eumundi markets. This was the one quiet spot we could find to get a decent pic - right by the rubbish bins (that you can't see - phew).
I love markets - YAY! And going was Paul's idea as he knows how much I love markets. Isn't he lovely :-)

One of our purchases. A very cool thermometer set in wood. It now sits in our lounge so that we really know how hot/cold we are. This may be scary come winter as it's already getting cold in our house at night. I've already started wearing bed socks - hmmm.

Our new clock - picture of the Brisbane river. Was very cheap - only cost about $30. We thought this would be a great memento of our time here should we move away from Brisbane.

Date of hens party

Well Paul and I booked our flights to come to NZ later in the year. Yay for sales.

We leave after workon Monday September 1st and get into Wellington just after midnight. We're in Wellington for the rest of the week and fly back to Brisbane on the afternoon of Monday 8th September.

So .... My hens party will be September 6th so put that in your diaries ladies :-) More plans will follow! I know it's 3 months early (ha ha funny - to the day even) but the only other option is the weekend before the wedding. And if I drank that close to the wedding then on the day I would have major breakout - yuk!!

11 days to go

I've just realised that Marea and Dan only have 11 days until they go on their trip for the next 6 months. That's only 11 days of chatting on Google chat and knowing that I can ring them at any time (note here that I never actaully ring - google is much cheaper - but it's the thought that I could if I wanted to). I guess the good side is that I'm that much closer to having my big sister living closer to me :-) Yay!
*sigh*
Hope the planning is going well guys :-) I'm looking forward to hearing all your stories!

Mind games

Right - time to play mind games with myself. I am very very good at making excuses not to do something because I can't be bothered. Case and point is that I'm trying to get back into the habit of going to the gym again after a month of travelling, injury and easter chocolates. I went on Sunday so therefore today, Tuesday, is my next day to go. If I don't force myself to go today then it will be a lot easier to make an excuse tomorrow. Plus Paul is away tonight at a conference on the gold coast so he would never know if I had in fact slacked off.

So what excuse am I making today you may ask. Well that involves another "shame" revelation. Unfortunately when I moved to Aussie I moved from an addiction to crappy Shortland St to an addiction to crappy Home & Away. It's so crappy it's good :-) And tonight is the last episode ever with Kate Richie (Sally). So I have to watch it! But by the time I get home from work, bike to the gym, do a decent workout and get home it will be way too late to watch Home & Away (it's on at 7pm too - grr).

So ... what shall I do! Well by talking about it here surely I will actually make it to the gym. Fingers crossed aye! I should probably just go out and buy a DVD recorder and then I wouldn't have to worry about it. Oh well!!