Tonight is the night.

That most likely the political landscape will change with today being Election Day!

Now, as a 'foreigner' to this great country, I am not allowed to vote. However, now I live in this great country, I am allowed to have an opinion.

So here is Heather's rundown to the 2013 Australian Election:

The main showdown is between Kevin Rudd and the Australian Labor Party (ALP)...

And Tony Abbott and the Liberal National  Party (LNP)...

And unfortunately Tony is the leading man in the first counts of today's voting.

He had come up with some crackers in the last few weeks of the campaigning:

- Implying that Gay Marriage is a 'fashion trend of the moment'

- Commenting on the 'sex appeal' of a female member of his party (as a strength  of her position)

- Commenting on the attractiveness of his daughters as a reason to remember him and vote for him...said daughters below:

And other party members of his have come out with these amazing tit-bits:

- Explaining the plan to stop the boats:

Check it out - http://youtu.be/V2NDewpz1mY

- Fiona Scott's cracker stating that the congestion on the roads of her electorate are  'due to the excess asylum seekers' that have come in as Boat People. ( Boat People is a socially acceptable term for Asylum  Seekers who arrive by boat. This term is used in the news. Amazingly.)

But we also have a few other characters and parties to vote for:

Bob Katter: Face like an old orange leather shoe, fights for farmers and rural Aussie issues.

Clive Palmer: Billionaire Mining Magnet (not his words apparently), wants to run Australia as well as his businesses, a dinosaur golf course and whilst rebuilding the Titanic. Aka - Titanic 2. No jokes.

 

( oh and he remains on top of QLDs rich list despite losing over $1bn in a year)

And then we have parties like this:

http://pirateparty.org.au/

May or may not consist of pirates. I haven't bothered to look into it.

So it's a very interesting time.

The main difference between politics here and in the UK is the excessive, slanderous advertising campaigns. 

(And compulsory voting with a fine if you don't and don't declare a good reason before polling day.)

Literally the advertising is ALL negative slagging off about the other parties- you don't really hear about what the parties all stand for. 

They don't really credit the public with the intelligence to understand their policies and base it off meaningless ads.

Oh and of course this: 

The good old sausage sizzle. An institution in Australia and an accompaniment to the election.

You can find the best voting station sausage sizzles in your state, here:

 http://www.electionsausagesizzle.com.au/

Yes. It is real. And a real big deal.

Bigger than the election for some people.

And as we finish Kevin Rudd concedes his 

place as Prime Minister and has to make that 

awkward call to Abbott. What would you say 

in that situation?

So that, in a nutshell, is what I have learnt 

about Aussie politics.

A new Liberal (conservative) government 

should be an interesting one!  

Nighty night to all (or have a lovely Saturday 

if you are in the UK).

And a happy birthday to my stepdad Adam!

Much loves xxx

A new chapter, a new leaf.

It has come to my attention that I need to be more positive. Generally speaking, I don't consider myself to be too negative (of course I love the odd moan like the next English person), just the last 3 weeks have been quite up and down.

Having said this, we just heard back from a failed application for a flat we really wanted. Dave was pretty devastated. Annoyingly, theres nothing more we can do, as we put in our application just like everyone else and made it to the final two. And lost. Its annoying. We just want to move to Brisbane and have our own space!

Cest la vie. The search continues. Guess this week might not be as lucky as we hoped.

But I do have my fingers crossed for a job interview I went for last week...

Other than this, the big news in Australia at the moment is....POLITICS.

I'm not a huge fan of politics, especially when I know very little about it over here. I'm sure it hasn't been huge news elsewhere, but here, it took over the weekend for the polls on monday morning.

The Gill vs K-Rudd. A story of backstabbing and betrayal within one party, supposed to be sorted out by the poll this morning. Any change? Probably not. The Gill won, to the publics dismay and the politicians jobs are safe once more. Hurrah! All of this whilst cutting in and out of The Oscars red carpet moments.

Finally, an Oscars show I can watch without falling asleep at stupid'o'clock, as the coverage starts in the day and finishes mid afternoon. Great for the unemployed!

And, to keep you up to date on the current personalised number plate affair, check these out:

DAS HOT
DUMI 3
GLASGO
BAD A55
CUT 17
TRU 2 ME
5EVIL
5ARAH
MEL 99
S7OLEN
BUBLES
JST 4 US
RAW
BEKS
I O U
GT 4 ME
MAD OOX
FRUIT

And this is just in the last week, commuting to and from Brisbane with Dave! Nutters..

More news updates:

It has been raining quite a lot the last few days, so much so I thought the pool would overflow and it is now full of twigs.

We went to Toris 30th bday pool party last weekend (in the said rain), of which Eloise and Brants amazing, huge, chocolate and cherry penis cake went down a storm! As did the Brazilian BBQ, which really was just a big coal BBQ cooked by a Brazilian guy (which was amazing). The coals was a major talking point for the Aussies, as they all use gas BBQs and they couldn't believe how good it was. Well duh!

I have now become the house-person in the relationship, whilst I'm unemployed. After Daves hard work for 6 months, the tables have now turned! At least I can do the housework in a bikini, inbetween sunbathing and dips in the pool. However, at least he never had to iron the business shirts...pain in the bum.

And thats that really for now.

Still flat hunting, fingers crossed on the job, still trying to tan and reading copious amounts of
Marina Lewycka - she wrote "A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian", "Two Caravans" and "We are all Made of Glue" - my current read. She's brilliant.

Hope alls well at home, enjoy the sunshine!

Much love xxx