Angela's Wedding!

Yesterday we went to my friend's 'kind of' wedding. She was actually married over a onth a go in a civil ceremony in Melbourne but no one except his parents, went to that. THen her and her fiance flew to England where they had a marriage ceremony which was really just a blessing (because English laws about being in the country for the reading of the Banns stopped her from having a real wedding) and then they went on honeymoon and now they are back in Oz and had a big party for all their friends and family here!! Maddness!! But the party was cool! See the photos on flicker!

Friday was our nephew Ronnie's 2nd birthday. We cannot believe that he is 2 already. Even though we were sad to not be with him it was cool because we saw him open his cards and presents on the webcam and he even blew out his candles infornt of us. If we had been in the UK a phone call would probably have sufficed! We bought him a tshirt and some cool Wiggles underpants and we could hear him on the webcam saying 'wiggles, wiggles'- very cute.

Chris is still doing his biggest loser thing and he is doing really well with out crash dieting! (which I suspect some of his mates are doing!) You can see a picture on flicker of one of his healthy meals- steamed fish, rice and vegetables!! Impressive!!

Final bit of news- I interviewed for, and got, my job this week. I really wasn't too worried because I was pretty sure that the school wanted to keep me, but it is still always a bit nerve racking to wait to be told you have a job. My contract now goes through to December 2008- how exciting!

Love Helen***

Cleveland Winery

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would update you with our lovely night away at a winery last weekend.

My sister in law bought us a voucher for 'lunch for two at a winery' for chirstmas, so after a bit of research, we decided to make a little getaway out of it. It turned out that the winery was a little further away than we (and Sarah) thought - it was in Lancefield, about 90 minutes north of melbourne.

So after we found out that they only honoured the voucher on sundays, and we wanted to enjoy the associated wine tasting, we booked to stay at the retreat, and take the monday off work.

Little did we know that it was actually mother's day here in oz on that day, and the place was teaming with large groups out to treat mum for the day. It was nice to see, and made for a more festive atmosphere. However, the problem was that the Grange was undergoing a large scale 'remodelling', which they failed to tell us on the phone when I booked. The cellar door was closed. Why else would you visit a winery???

We gritted our teeth, and politley made our disappointment know. Their compensation was a glass of wine each, and a glass of chamagne for helen. Plus we got to do our own tasting of the wines they had to offer, at my insistance.

We chose a nice bottle of Shiraz to have with our meal, and bought a nother couple of bottles too, one for later that night and one for keepsies.

The lunch was lovely, thanks Sarah, we both opted for the Scotch Fillet which was devine, and I had the sticky date pudding for dessert. Helen had the chocolate volcano pudding mmmmm

After lunch we headed over to reception to check in and we dutifully headed to our room.

Now, generally speaking, hotels in Australia are considerably cheaper than europe, and the standards can be much higher - I regulalry stay in 4/5 star accommodation for less that $160 a night. However, as we were paying $180 for this place, I had high expectations.....

Which were very quickly dashed....

The room was on the ground floor, dingy and had an intersting odour. The furniture consisted of a bed that was two singles hastily pushed together, a minibar (that was empty), dry biscuits that looked like they had been there for months, and 'tiny' television -similar to the portable ones you can take in your car, and a single chair, next to a single table. The bathroom facilities were appalling - basically a bog and a shower. No hairdryer, a tiny mirror, not even complimentary shampoo (not that I would ever use it).

It was no better than a seedy metropolitan motel.

Needless to say I went to complain. You see, the thing was this - although the place was teaming with families, we discovered that we were in fact one of only two couples staying in the complex that night, so it was not as if they were short of rooms, and I wondered if that really was the best they could offer.

That was not indeed the case, as they lead me up to another room, in another building. I was informed that this part of the complex had only been open for a week. You could smell the fresh paint.

Our new room was significantly better, although I have to say still a bit shy of $180 better! We were the only people in the whole new building.

After we delivered all our luggage, we headed back outside, where it was a balmy 21c with books in hand. We found a lovely swinging garden seat to camp at, and spent the best part of 2 hours just sitting, taking in the fresh air and chilling out. It was lovely.

Afterwards, we went for a walk around the vineyards. We both seemed to be in a mischievous mood because we found a whole heap of things to do - they had some kind of adventure course, which probably needed supervision, but we decided to give it a go, half expecting to get chided for our naughtiness. We had fun balancing on the high-wires, trying to get from A-B, but usually ending up at C with arms flailing.

Below is a pic of the vineyard, and the winery in the background - I was actually standing the lake bed - I would have been up to my knees if it wasn't in drought.

As the evening fast approached, we headed back to the room where we continued to chill for a few hours, watching our huge plasma TV, whilst eating home-made bacon butties and consuming modest quantities of wine. It got to around 9pm and we became bored and decided to go and explore in our pyjamas - we felt like we were on school camp or something.

We discovered that in the new wing, downstairs, was a very large lounge, with comfy sofas, a foozball table, and a brand new pool table, taht I don't think had even been used! But the piece de la resistance was the TV. It was without doubt the biggest plasma TV I have ever seen. It was wider than I am tall, considerably. The pic below shows it, the depth doesn't do it justice - it really was thiiiiiiiis big! We watched the Eurovison song contest, and really enjoyed Terry Wogan in his usual drunken tirade.

So, the following morning we rose at around 9am for our breakkie and made haste to get on the road where we decided to have a bit of a magical mystery tour, literally following our noses. We ended up at Mt Macedon, but as we were driving, we blinked and missed it! It's barely noticable as a 'Mount'!!

We headed back over to the main road again, and came across Hanging Rock, or Mt Diogenes. This place has a very mysterious air about the place. Some of you may recall an aussie movie called Picnic at Hanging Rock, where a group of teenage girls who go on a school picnic on Valentine's Day in 1900 disappear in very odd circumstances. Although this is a work of fiction, it really draws on the atmosphere of this place. When we arrived, we were the only visitors, and there was a peculiar smell to the place, possibly because they had been control-burning the bushland nearby recently, and it had been raining the night before. Anyhow, we climbed to the top, around 1,000ft up, and I was in awe of the rock formations. It really was a stunning place. And here's yours truly at the summit:So, we finished up here, and headed back towards melbourne by lunchtime. We found a gorgeous cafe in Richmond and had a nice lunch and had fun watching the world at work when we had the day off, very good.

That was our short but sweet adventure to central Victoria!

Catch you soon, the weekend is running away....

Chris

Current reading:

Chris Clive Cussler - White Death

Helen Jodie Picoult - Nineteen Minutes

Times, they are a changin'

Well, here I go.

I'm 33 years old, nearly 34 and I have been going to gyms on and off for most of my adult life. At the same time, I have watched as my weight has gradually stacked up, so insidiously, that as of yesterday, I am 108.5kg.

I take no pride in that, it's actually shocking to think that as a little 'whipper snapper' there was nothing to me, and I had the name Stringbean and Skinnymalinks! Maybe all the working out has had the opposite affect???

I think not. I have had to face a dawning realisation that ultimately, my health/weight is largely down to what crap I put in my mouth.

Wow, that's deep.

It's all to easy to go for the quick option, eat a macca's, or a KFC or such like. Even Subway, advertised at the healthy option, is really highly processed junk.

There really is no substitute for a good, home cooked meal. And last night, Helen and I experienced our first real home cooked Aussie roast. Our friends from church, who, incidentally had their first child 5 weeks ago, had the two of us round for dinner and did a beautiful roast pork dinner. The problem being that, along with this lovely pork was:

• Carrots mmmmm, Helen's absolute favourite
• Peas. Helen's #2 veg!
• Cauliflower
• Stringbeans (what a coincidence)
• Broccolli

Peter and Maureen - you will be pleased to read that Helen actually ate carrot! I kid you not...

And mum... I ate the lot! And I enjoyed it. I kid you not. (Well, maybe not the cauliflower, but give me time...). I am trying really hard with the whole veggie lark. It's all about tatse and consistancy. And I am getting there, I really am.

I guess linked into this frenzied vegetable eating and the graphic descriptions of my weight, is the news that Helen and I resigned our respective gyms at the end of last month, and joined a new place together. The idea being that we will encourage each other to go more regulalry. It seems like a good gym, much larger than my last place, with a huge pool and nice hot sauna too.

As well as this (sorry, I'm going to waffle here) my work has just this week lauched a 'Biggest Loser' competition. For those outside of Australia, The Biggest Loser is a competition that runs here on TV every year where fat people compete (rather funnily) to win huge amounts of money by losing the biggest amount of weight. Apparrently, the chap who won this year went from 142kg down to 73kg in 16 weeks. Surely this is not healthy. Insane in fact. I am no doctor, but I'm pretty sure there are a number of serious side effects to such rapid weight loss.

Anyhow, I digress. I have joined in the shenanigans at work for this competition. It actually seems like a great idea, beacuse it will be making me accountable to my work buddies, who see me everyday, but are not afriad to give me some stick about what I am eating. So yesterday was the launch day, with the group weigh in. I tipped the scales at 108.5kg. That is 17stone. That is the fattest I have ever been.

Someone has been eating all the pies.

Yes , it was me.

Anyhow, watch this space. My goals are as follows.

1. To improve my health. I have lower back problems, high blood pressure and chronic heartburn "get the rennie" ;o)
2. To improve my eating habits.
3. To lose weight. I am aiming for 10-15kg loss before next summer.

Ok, it's late, and I have to be up at 5am for my 10km run in the morning

hehe just kidding!!!

Chris

Bon Voyage!

Today, after 8 years of waiting, the AFrica Mercy, the worlds newest and largest non-govermental hospital ship, set sail and has safely arrived in Rotterdam on route to Liberia, West Africa.

For me, as for some of my friends I feel proud to have been part of the ministry of Mercy Ships and to have supported this endevour in prayer right from early on. To actually watch videos of her sailing out of Newcastle, where she has been berthed for such a long time was a spectacular moment and a fulfilment of so many of God's promises.

ON the other hand this new beginning also marks the beginning of the end of the Anastasis, my much loved home for a year, before I met Chris. When the Africa Mercy arrives in Liberia the Anastasis will be stripped of all her worldly possessions and then decommissioned and quite possibly sunk out there in an African graveyard! I know it's only a hunk of metal but it is sad that such a beautiful ship that has seen so many amazing things has to end her life in such a way.

Whilst I'm sure that the Africa Mercy will be just as good, if not better, at providing care and help for communities in Africa, she will never hold the same majestic glory of the ex-cruise ship, the Anastasis but, I hope, that the same attitude of love, fellowship and community will be fostered on this bigger and newer ship so that the Mercy SHip family and mission can continue to grow and develop in Africa and maybe, possibly, (who knows when) across the world. Here's a great set of pictures on the BBC

Miss Saigon

Hi Everyone, I have a few minutes spare, so I thouhgt I would podt this pic of us at Miss Saigon last friday...



We had a fab night out, and stayed over at a very funky penthouse apartment in town. Very nice indeed!

Not much going on this week, I've already been to Sydney and back, and am in the process of planning a trip to the US for some new product training, probably in July/August time.

Oh yes, I have just booked out flights to the Sunshine Coast in the July school holidays. We're both looking forward to a whole week of downtime, reading books, and basically just chilling out... Happy days! I know that part of the world will not be particularly tropical in July, but it will definitely be better than melbourne, that's for sure.

Anyhow, see you soon...

C