It's Koala time

While Ian was staying with us we visited Australia Zoo, which was opened by Steve Irwin. For me the real show stoppers were the Koalas. I just love them. Ian was pretty fond of them too and he bought me a 'Koala hold' which totally made my day! My Koala was called Craimar and he was a little smelly, the males have a patch of their front which releases a scent to mark their territory, but I loved him and he really held onto me when I hugged him. Of course where were lots of other animals; kangaroos, birds, crocs, snakes, dingos, etc... But my true loves are the Koalas!

When it rains, it pours...

Hello!

The last few weeks have been so busy I hardly know where the time has gone!

Last week James did a set of four nights at work, so I had my first experience of being in the unit on my own at night. For those of you that know me well, you'll know I am a huge wimp about being on my own at home. (My infamous escaping my own house through the kitchen door and out through the garage when I heard a noise, which turned out to be shampoo bottles falling off a shelf, may spring to mind... it only happened in September... ) Well, turns out I have matured in the last few months because I was fine : ) hooray! 

James was worried how he'd cope being on nights and trying to sleep during the day but it coincided with a week of heavy down pour... see the shoots below of a very wet Mooloolaba... so it cooled down quite a bit. 

I did my best to creep around while he was sleeping and was pretty successful at not waking him. It did mean we were hardly awake at the same time! 

In other news from last week...

I finally got my hair cut, a whole 2 inches off. The hairdresser had to get me to stand up so he could cut it because it was so long! I left $90 lighter in the purse but with some very sleek hair!

I've started doing some extra work on top of waitressing, I'm using the Internet to do some editorial work for my old company so that means I've had to cut down on my Kardashian and Gossip Girl consumption - probably not a bad thing. 

My Uncle Tony turned 70 and had a big birthday party in Brisbane so I drove down for that. It was a fun night with a band, catering and non-stop drinks... pretty banging for a 70th, I have to say. Lots of people approached me at the party, remembering me from when I was 10, although they did comment that I wasn't that little round white-haired child anymore and that I now look just like my Mum. I also caught up with my Mum's friend Collen before the party, it's always great to see her, just like having a chat with my Mum. 

James' Dad, Ian, arrived on the Thursday of last week and I drove down to collect him from Brisbane. Both Ian and James were on funny time patterns, being jet lagged and having finished nights respectively, so I left them at home in Mooloolaba while I saw my family in Brisbane on the Saturday. But on the Friday we went to my restaurant for dinner, which I was pretty excited about. After a few months of serving the food I knew exactly what I wanted! We shared antipasto, then I had prawn and crab penne (the chefs gave me extra), and then a creme brulee - I was so full I had to have an early night!

As an early Xmas present Ian bought us body boards so that has become James' new obsession and he drags us out to the sea at every possible opportunity. It is actually great fun but has proved to be just as undignified for me as surfing was. Yesterday I was walking in to the sea with my board and some how my bottoms came undone on one side and I couldn't save my dignity and hold my board at the same time so had to yell for James to come help me as I clutched the board to my front and scrambled to cover my bum with the other hand. Luckily it was just a Mum behind me who diplomatically looked the other way. However, the day before I wasn't quite so lucky when I got caught up in a big wave, turned upside down several times and surfaced with hair all over my face and copious amounts of seaweed on me, and looked down to see my bikini top had totally shifted exposing everything. I quickly rearranged and looked up to see a 16 year old boy shouting 'woo hoo' in my direction and James pissing himself laughing. I think I need to invest in something more secure for the future. But it is such a rush when you catch a good wave and can feel the surf under your tummy carrying you along! I'll have to get a picture to post.

For now, here are some shots of the crazy rain...

Test match cricket is very loooong

Saturday was the Australia vs New Zealand Test Match. James was very excited about the Cricket and my cousins and Uncle Tony came with us as well. I wasn't quite prepared for what a long day it was - 8 hours - but it was still fun, and Australia won! Here are some photos from The Gabba in Brisbane.

Remembering my family

 On Friday James and I headed down to Brisbane for a few days.

Both my Sister and I were Christened in Queensland when we were young so I decided I wanted to re-visit the Church. Catherine was Christened in 1983 and mine was in 1991, out of the five adults that attended these Christenings; Nana, Poppy, my Mum, my Aunt Dee and Uncle Tony, only Tony is still here with us today. Unfortunately, Tony couldn't remember what the Church was called but my cousin Sean remembered it was in Cleveland, near where Nana and Poppy lived. After a quick look at Churches in the area on Google Street View I recognised St Paul's from my Christening photos.

It was lovely to see the Church again and there was another special surprise there too. My Mum was quite a spiritual person and really loved trees. As she was ill for quite a while she had some time to quietly make plans for her funeral. Unbeknown to my family she had given a photo of herself to my Godmother Jenny and asked Jenny to keep hold of it for when the right time came. The photo was taken on the day of my Christening and it's of my Mum in front of a really unusual tree, with lots of shoots going into the ground. In the original picture my cousin Michael is climbing the tree and my Mum is reaching up to him, but Jenny airbrushed Michael out so that it's just of Mum. It's a really symbolic photo of my Mum for me, in fact just before I left for Australia my friends Kat and Pascale gave me a locket necklace with that photo on one side and my Godson Lucas on the other (Kat also has a copy of this photo of my Mum in Lucas' room so that he'll know her, I got a surprise when I saw it there but think it's really sweet). Anyway, back to the story... I had always thought this tree was in Wellington Point but it turns out it is right in front of the Church, I recognised it straight away. I hadn't expected to see it and it made me feel both really happy and really sad at the same time.

Later we took a drive down to the Great Southern Gardens of Remembrance which is where Nana and Poppy's graves are. My Dad had taken Nana here several times to see Poppy's before she passed away. It's a really beautiful area and the words on the plaques really moved me. It was a real 'me' today so the next day was all about James - the cricket...

Here are some photos from last Friday...

St Paul's Church, Cleveland

My Mum's tree!

xoxo

The day I got kissed by a Seal

Hey!

James had yesterday and today off work so we decided to take in one of the local tourist attractions - Under Water World, which is a five minute walk from our home. Yesterday we joined several school trips and young families to take in the under water tank walk, the Otter show and the 'Seals behaving badly' show. There is also a reptile section, but I walked through that one pretty quickly. The Otters, Mayhem, Chaos and Lu were adorable and such smart animals. The Seals, Bella, Groucho (they are girlfriend and boyfriend), Leahette and April were amazing and so responsive to their trainer, their tricks were unbelievable. At the end of the show James bought me a 'Seal kiss' from Leahette - she had just munched on a fish before she gave me a wet kiss and tickled me with her whiskers! I loved it! (Although it took two washes of my face to get rid of the fish scent.) Here's some of James' pictures from our day out...

The Otters

Check out those little hands!

Groucho

Bella

Crazy strong!

Our special moment!

This photo is a photo of a photo, as it was extra to buy it I quickly snapped it before the woman came running over to tell us off! Haha! Also, you may have noticed James' hair is a little long in these photos, fear not I gave him a haircut last night with the kitchen scissors and he is now back to looking respectable.


xoxo

Glass House Mountains

James and I both had Wednesday off work to we decided to check out the Glass House Mountains, which are only about 30 minutes away. It's so gorgeous there and there is a trail to walk and public BBQ's so we're going to come back here in a few weeks when James' Dad comes to stay.

Check this place out...