Work is so getting in the way of life.... January update

Well how good has January been! Full of nights out, bbqs, cycles after work, and beach action! The more time I spend in Melbourne, the better it gets!!!!

To start with, the Melbourne Tennis Open kept me very busy for a fortnight! Club Scotia was in full form at the Andy Murray games - cheering on the Scot with our c u jimmy hats on and soltires! He did so well - got to the fourth round, and got put out by Nadal in a stunning match that went on till 2am! He did Scotland proud anyway! The other open highlights were cheering on Andy Roddick aka Stifler, and watching Serena Williams - man I wouldn't like to bump into her in a dark alleyway on my own!



Also, was great catching up with Jen who is over visiting for a couple of classic weekends. However, she did bring the rain over with her - I wasn't thanking her but I'm sure the firefighters were! So what on earth do you do in Melbourne in the rain? Good question - even John the tour guide was struggling, until someone suggested paying Harold Bishop a visit! So off we went to Ramsay street... nuff said!


National Ozzie day eve was a great sister night out - with Jules and I starting the night off in the Docklands and finishing up in Pugg Mahones listening to one of the best guitarists ever... those Ozzie day Malibu jelly shots went down a treat!!! Then Ozzie day was spent down at St Kilda people watching from Stokehouse pub on the waterfront and then a party at the Yarra with fireworks coming from the sky scrapers. Was a great reunion with the Tin Billy (Brissy) gang again - (I feel like I was there), and a good way to celebrate all that is good about Australia.


Lots of great ladette reunion night outs with Jen and Emma have been going on, but the highlight was Big Day Out - what a day - like a mini T in the Park - "u no the wans I feel sorry fur...the wans that arney here" (Cazza Kanye, Jul 06) Loads of great bands, Killers, Kasabian, Evermore, Jet, The Streets, Muse, The Vines... finished by some crazy dancing with Adam and Jules to Crystal Method DJs in the boiler room. Yes seriously it as a room full of boilers (the slam tent equivalent!)



Hope u enjoy the pics!

And ps.... it didn't rain the whole time Jen was here - evidence below!!!

Christmas and Hogmany kinda in the sun...!

OK, so Christmas in Australia wasn't exactly everything I thought it would be! Well, firstly it really didn't seem like Christmas at all. For one, I'm living in the middle of a drought and pretty serious bush fires. How does Santa survive out here with his big suit and beard? Also, I had been too loads of xmas lunches and dinners without a sniff of turkey. Its all about chicken parmas and prawns here! The turkey on the barbie did look quite weird though, but it tasted delicious!


It was the rainiest Christmas eve/day EVER and the coldest one on record in 70 years! Can you believe the timimg! I spent Christmas with my cousins down in Mornington peninsula, in doors! Had a lovely day despite the rain and kept up the Christmas tradition of going out on Christmas eve with Julie and Adam. We ended up in Frankston when Adam tried to poison me with the most horrific shots imagineable!
We did meet Santa though on his way round the houses - he stopped into the pub for a quick beer...


Anyway, the week inbetween Christmas and New Year was filled with chat about the Ashes as it was in Melbourne, where I happily admit to supporting Australia and watching the biggest defeat of England ever! So many barmy army nights out in all the pubs and good crack!

Hogmany on the harbour... Love the clouds!


Picnic on McQuarries Point


So decided to leave the rain and head for sunnier climates in Sydney for Hogmany... or so we thought! Melbourne ended up pretty dam sunny, and we had it much colder in Sydney. That song "everywhere you go, always take the weather with you" really does apply to Jules! However Sydney was awesome anyway! Met up with all Julies mates she worked with in Brisbane for 3 months, and we did some serious partying! The firewords on the harbour were spectacular and we had the best time dancing around to Auld Lang Syne at the bells! (Getting strange looks from the Ozzies!!) Went back to a party in Balmain and were still dancing around till about 7am in the morning! Didn't quite make staying awake till Scottish New Year though, although we did try.

On January 1st, we all got up with bouncing heads and had to go straight to Cooggee Bay Hotel to see Judge Jules. Well it was hilarious walking into the middle of a club night when we were stone cold sober and hungover! So we ended up just watching the free band for a bit and waiting till later to brave the Judge Jules crowd. another late night which resulted in about 4 hours sleep and a walk in the pouring rain in the morning to get the bus back to Mel... nice wet jeans, air conditioning and a 13 our bus journey do not mix well! Never again!