The Wedding 'Mare.

As I sit here munching on my hot buttery raisin toast and earl grey tea, I realise that the 5 month mark has slipped by me without even realising. By 3 days to be exact.

It is this fact and the fact that I didn't realise, that makes me realise that we are on that downward roller-coaster ride to the wedding day. What also solidified this realisation was the start of the wedding nightmares.

This started happening last week - when my subliminal mind must have been trying to tell me that the countdown had begun - as I awoke in a panic realising that I had just lived out my wedding day without any head wear or ceremony decorations. To top it all off, no one ate the cake. The panic set in.

I am reluctant to subscribe to the constant countdown to the wedding day, as this can instil worry, panic, anxiety, pressure, nightmares or all of the above. The pressure that we all put ourselves under for the sake of ensuring it is the most photogenic event ever, to top cousin Bethal's $100k wedding on Hamilton Island with dolphins delivering the rings to the shore*, is getting out of hand.

However, although I am trying to be the 'cool, calm and collected' bride that I would like to be, I am not immune to the wedding nightmares.

The lists of tasks not yet completed, the decisions not yet made, the millions of ideas to sift through and discuss of yet another Pinterest board will definitely reek havoc on your sleep content.

The fact that most wedding guests don't take home their 'gift' or can't recall the flower arrangements on the tables does help to refocus our energies on areas that will actually enhance the day without spending hours or money worrying about the finest details - that will be forgotten in an instant.

I have it on good authority, and from my own experience, that guests always remember the dress, the food, the music selection, that funny moment the flower-girl farts mid-ceremony ** and whether there is a free bar or not. Sometimes the wedding cake is forgotten and left uneaten! As a lover of cake insert - Shock! Horror! here.

What I am constantly trying to remember is perspective. The reason why we are getting married and the journey that it has taken to get us both here.

Having met my gorgeous fiancé in South America, reconnecting in Australia, kidnapping him to Asia, meeting the family back home in England and then jetting off to live in Australia, we realised very early on in our relationship what we wanted our end goal to be. There were so many chances to back out and it would have been easier to do so, but we both know that we would have missed out on an incredible lifetime of happiness.

I think it is a telling sign that the hardest part of a relationship in our situation, is the situation itself, as being together is the easiest part.

So with that in mind it is now 4 months and 27 days until W-Day and I should get back to that list. Just for the record, the chocolate cake will be cut and it will be eaten in multiple slices (and that's just for me!) as nothing says "I love you" more than fabulous cake.

I am sure there will be many more wedding nightmares (like knocking over the wedding cake just like I did at my Mum and Step-dads wedding***) but if that happens, just wake up and make another hot buttery slice of raisin toast with a cup of earl grey tea - but this time, for two.


Much love xoxo


*disclaimer - I do not have any cousins, definitely none called Bethal and this is not a suggestion on how to utilise dolphins in your own wedding.

**disclaimer -This did actually happen at a friends wedding. And it was pretty funny.

***disclaimer -This also happened. Luckily the solid royal icing saved it.


Ps - Thank you for all your kind words of support for my last blog post. It is greatly appreciated and your insight has given me great inspiration for your appreciation.

Sunny Coast Adventures!

Dave and I on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland

Hello everyone!

Well, what a week! So I accepted the job offer at the Mater Foundation as a Fundraising Coordinator, which is a fantastic opportunity to learn lots more about fundraising - especially events!

So its a great start to build on my career, gain some extremely valuable experience and to start my life properly!

And to top it all off, we had a lovely (if not a bit wet!) weekend camping on the Sunshine Coast, just north of Brisbane!

We started the weekend exploring the coast, with a trip to the tres famous Eumundi Markets. We always love to eat and explore our way through every market we can get our hands on! It was a little bit wet at first, with my legs covered in specs of mud before we left the car park...but it did get a bit nicer. Although my thongs (flip flops!) had seen better days and had to be thrown away after stinky Happy (the car) out.

We spent a bit of time at Noosa - mainly trying to find a car park space, truely atrocious facilities! But is a really cute little town - kinda a small vibe like Byron and nice and chilled, even though it was still the school holidays. And the ice cream shop at the very end of the street past the information centre comes HIGHLY recommended!

Penis Mangrove

This picture is of one of the many mangroves as found around the beaches. I tend to think that most of them look like they are growing large penises. Dave doesn't share this idea, but I think there's the proof.

We ended up camping at Ocean Trailer Tourist Site - a Top Rated Site...I personally wouldn't give it this grand title. It had nice view, yes. But it was also right by the main road, had poor lighting, staff that really weren't bothered that we even turned up and the camp area (not that you can really call it that) was surrounded by dog poo.

And it rained. All night.

But we did have a nice time, it was an intriguing place, really in the middle of nowhere really - in between Landsborough and Maleny - of which neither town had much to offer and everything shut at 4pm anyway. Except the bottle shop (off license), luckily.

There were quite a few old folk that appeared to have been living in the park for quite some time, a thought that I couldn't comprehend - living in a rundown caravan park, with shared facilities and constant mosquitos...I guess not everyone in Australia is rich.

But it was good for one night, and the Sunday we spent looking around Monteville - the local tourist destination. Famous for quaint boutiques, buildings and gift shops and boy are there loads!

We found some really obscure ones like the Irish and Scottish shop, which sold tourist tack from Ireland and Scotland, despite being so very far away. But they also sold Polos and Love hearts which I thought was nice.

Mainly it was a place to indulge in snacks, shopping and scenery, which we did. We did try to go to a few view points early in the morning, to discover that we had gone straight into a cloud! Apparently the views are otherwise stunning... Dave and I have already begun our dream retirement house planning here!

And on the way back home, we went via Marochydore - Dave always laughs when I try to pronounce places in Australia. Half of them are stolen from England like Newcastle, Ipswich and Stafford.  The other half are complicated, 'Australian' names like Woolloongabba, Mudgeeraba and Wagga Wagga (really not said how you think it would be!).

So he gets a kick out of my learning Australian ways...its really not the same language at all.

Anyways, so the beach here was really pretty, out of the way and with actual shells! A few anyways - this appears to be a rare thing, unlike Kent, as all the beaches are just sand...so not much chance for shell collecting...so I took this opportunity and filled Daves hat with cool looking shells, which will most likely be used to decorate a small bowl in the guest toilet. Good use.

Anyways, I shall leave you all with this beautiful picture of the Sunshine Hinterland at Monteville - Australia is greener than you think eh?

Love to all and thanks to Laura, Sass, Max and Jack for our fabulous postcards, of which are on our fridge! We shall look forward to more in the future!

Much love, Hev xxxx

The day I met Batman, and jumping spiders.

 

Dear Readers, This is the day I met Batman. And Dave did too.

This day, was Movie World Day! The Gold Coast has a host of theme parks and Dave treated us to the Super Saver Passes! This means we get unlimited entry until the end of Oz financial year in June, Woop Woop! This means Movie World (where they actually film things like Scooby Doo!), Wet'n'Wild (they have film screenings outside in the pool!) and Sea World (More later...)

It was quite typical, that despite almost non stop sunshine and heat since our arrival, that it would chuck it down with rain the one day we try to have a day out! It was a treat for all our flat hunting an job hunting efforts - as it truely is an effort over here.

Despite the rain, it was good fun, and I am safe in the knowledge that I can return at anytime! Especially for those frozen bananas covered in chocolate - sounds weird, but really is amazing!

In other news, I have been reunited with my iMac, which is awesome. However the lack of decent internet is quite insulting to the Mac as it cannot be used in its fullest glory. I really dont know how anyone gets things done in this country - it was hard to send a 15mb PDF document earlier via email. Gee Wiz!! Oh and if anyone fore future shipping wants a recomendation: www.cargoforce.com were really good, cheaper than everyone and did door-to-door (Kent - QLD) in less than a week.

Also, Australian drivers are actual nutters (of course Dave isn't though-I'm beginning to believe that he's actually not that Australian anymore!). They all have a death wish and are crazy dangerous. Everyone seems to have an arrogant air about them. Must be all the money they are all rolling in.

And the spot-the -tragic-tatoo count is at an all time high! I must start trying to document these, its so lame, its kinda amazing-which leads me to my next segment...

...Personalised number plates. Of course, they exist in the UK, but not to the extent of here. They a few hundred dollars to have one, and they are the most ridiculous thing on most of the cars. My current faves have been:

Mr Ice (Truely, deeply, wanky)

Closer (err...no thanks)

I shall keep a tally of all the 'good' ones I see..maybe for some inspiration, haha!

Last night we went to Tropfest - the worlds largest short film festival - which was really cool. We saw it at Surfers Paradise, right on the beach, with some quaint, gross and interesting films! They show it all live in areas across Australia, with Sydney being the main one, with all the celebs, but it was chucking it down with rain so haha! Such a great idea though, loving the outdoor cinema culture here.

Our second installment for theme park fun was Sea World!! This is more of a family orientated day out, with lots of sea creatures to look at, shows and some rides..but I absolutely loved it! My favourites were:

The Sea Lion fish detectives show, the jet ski rollar coaster, the dolphin show and seeing baby penguins. As well as stroking big old Rays and the underground aqaurium:

Oh, and just in case you were wondering...spiders in Australia can jump. I witnessed one jump onto Daves back whilst in the pool, and then later coming out to taunt me whilst I was reading. They are only little ones, but yes, they take a leap when threatened. Insane. Why would anyone create spiders that can fly and jump?!? Should cross reference this one also.

And a big Happy Birthday to Elliott, who is on a much smaller rock than I, but with much faster internet ;)

And mine and Daves thoughts go out to Sarah and James McBurney after their sad loss <3

For the time being, I am just applying for jobs, reading copius amounts in an attempt to get into Holiday Mode, before the world of work arrives in the future. This includes updating my steadily growing tan. A work in progress.

So anyways, Im going to hop to the sun and get my bake on!

Much love to all xxx