I've writen before about the fun we had in greece this year and the funky people we met there....so, upon flying into sydney yesterday amid a swirly whirly storm which delayed us by 1.5 hours, the first thing on our agenda was to scrub up quick and meet up with some of the fabulous sydney and canberra-ites....going for dinner with bec, lidia and jeff in sydney was a surreal but fun experience....we had so much to catch up on so chatted at a million miles an hour before bec took us to 'the ivy'...the 'It' bar of the city centre with several bars, dance floor, open air courtyard and the sort of pretentiousness that just makes you want to get in despite the fact that you're not wearing designer and 10 inch heels like the girls getting pulled out of the line...thrusting their noses up as they waltz past the 'others' still in line because they are obviously not quite as cool....pretentious yes but oh so hip and the dj spun tunes that were anything but pretentious....killers meets JT meets TLC....I danced till my 4 inch heels were killing me and felt oh so at home back in my birthplace....Sydney...
tomorrow it's waterskiing - my first time which should make for a very interesting blog...stay tuned!! xxx
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
the return of princess kirsh
two weeks seems an awfully long time for a non-camper to have been camping....it's been fun, relaxing, sunny...i'm full to the brim with bbq-ed steak and coronas plus lime, chilled in eskys filled with ice. but i'm very much over sand through all my stuff, hot and stuffy tents and airbeds that dont protect my aging back!! needless to say that i'm quite looking forward to making a triumphant return to civilized society tomorrow as we fly to the bright lights of sydney...parties, cocktails, pretty dresses, make-up and hair straighteners...a triumphant return indeed of princess kirsh...
i've missed her!
stay tuned! xx
i've missed her!
stay tuned! xx
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
It's christmas time in Australia
It was all i'd ever known....a hot, steamy, southern hemispherian christmas....only when we started travelling did I experience the 'white christmas' of the christmas carols...stumbling around on the snow fields in austria – we didn't have to dream of it that year....
and then there are the christmases in southern england....freezing cold but snowless....dreary, grey....but filled with fun and cheer, surrounded by our 'english family'...mulled wine...hot mince pies....a roast with all the trimmings....crackers...champagne....paper hats....christmas eves spent at 'bar vin'...dressed in my party season finest with the girls...drinking cocktails....
and then there are the christmases in southern england....freezing cold but snowless....dreary, grey....but filled with fun and cheer, surrounded by our 'english family'...mulled wine...hot mince pies....a roast with all the trimmings....crackers...champagne....paper hats....christmas eves spent at 'bar vin'...dressed in my party season finest with the girls...drinking cocktails....
but this year its back to my roots....it looks like it will storm – quite normal for christmas day in queensland – tropical storms by the beach....our plans for tomorrow are for plenty of big, juicy aussie prawns, cold ham and fresh salad – it's too hot for roasts and we are camping so we're keeping it easy. ..croissants for brecky....aunty sandy's legendary christmas cake and pudding...Christmas eve means chocolate and port after dinner....lots of cold beer.
The kids are excited. Santa comes tonight. But in our family they are also taught the true meaning of christmas. As i write they are putting tea towels on their heads, helped by their grandma, ready to be shepherds and joseph....They will perform a play for all the adults...Ella is an angel and laura is mary....one of her little dolls will play baby Jesus....they accept it all with wide eyed innocence and fun...they have spent days drawing pictures of mangers and donkeys and reading picture books about their Lord Jesus who came to earth that first christmas day...
Merry Christmas everyone....we are thinking of all our friends and hoping that christmas day brings you family and fun....just like it will for us....and, if you're lucky, maybe it will bring you some sunshine...
Sunday, December 21, 2008
of soothing rainfalls and racing along the sand...
Rain smells different in australia...it's a heady aroma of eucalyptus...dusty heat....cold relief...it's fresh and beautiful and is welcome in our drought stricken country...we love the sound of it hitting the dusty tin roofs and, in our case, our tent last night....finding it's way into the screens we had left open to catch even the slightest cool breeze so we could sleep.
my blogs, i'm afraid, have been few and far between as one day blends into another here on the sunshine coast. we have had visits by old school friends, spent hours chatting over cold beers and I particularly have spent many long hours just reading novels and thinking about the one i will write one day.
Today marked the most important day next to christmas on Matt's family's camping calender....it was the day of the big race...an annual tradition which involves every member of the family (including the most reluctant ones - ie me) racing across the sand for 50meters. This race has been run as long as I can remember....this year i'm sure we had the biggest field....11 kids, 12 or so adults....we had been psyching ourselves up for days....in the end the older kids (with a slight advantage of a headstart) thrashed the adults with PE teacher Sam and my fast and fit friend Clare close behind....exhilarating excitement amongst a quiet life of sun and sand...we have another week of this....
This is the longest we have stayed in one place in the past 3 months and I'm not particularly surprised to find myself with itchy feet again...ready to move on....i'm not used to doing nothing....i feel uneasy and antsy with no plans....nothing to do....nothing to explore when i know this part of australia back to front....but I'm forcing myself to relax....soon enough we will be hitting the road and, no doubt, i'll be wishing myself back on the sands of Maroochydore...
stay tuned. xx
my blogs, i'm afraid, have been few and far between as one day blends into another here on the sunshine coast. we have had visits by old school friends, spent hours chatting over cold beers and I particularly have spent many long hours just reading novels and thinking about the one i will write one day.
Today marked the most important day next to christmas on Matt's family's camping calender....it was the day of the big race...an annual tradition which involves every member of the family (including the most reluctant ones - ie me) racing across the sand for 50meters. This race has been run as long as I can remember....this year i'm sure we had the biggest field....11 kids, 12 or so adults....we had been psyching ourselves up for days....in the end the older kids (with a slight advantage of a headstart) thrashed the adults with PE teacher Sam and my fast and fit friend Clare close behind....exhilarating excitement amongst a quiet life of sun and sand...we have another week of this....
This is the longest we have stayed in one place in the past 3 months and I'm not particularly surprised to find myself with itchy feet again...ready to move on....i'm not used to doing nothing....i feel uneasy and antsy with no plans....nothing to do....nothing to explore when i know this part of australia back to front....but I'm forcing myself to relax....soon enough we will be hitting the road and, no doubt, i'll be wishing myself back on the sands of Maroochydore...
stay tuned. xx
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
camper than a row of tents...
I was 6 weeks old when i met my first friend for life....Alex had just been born....her mum was my mum's flatmate in their wild and single party days....we spent our first 5 years playing in eachother's backyards before my family moved away from sydney....so we became penpals - the old fashioned kind before emails and instant messaging where you actually sent a letter, in our case usually 10 pages long....as teenagers she came to queensland to see me and i went to sydney to see her and we were as close as ever....we've hung out in our mutally favorite city, paris, and when, a couple of years ago, alex spent a few months in london we partied hard together. so when it turned out she would be in brisvegas last weekend we arranged to catch up for brunch....a little catch up before we meet again in london in a few months time....pancakes and coffee and a sad 'see ya' later we were whisked off to the 'sunshine coast' of queensland....an iconic holiday spot for aussies - beach after beach of golden sand stretching up the coast....caloundra, mooloolaba, maroochydore, coolum, the fashionable noosa....we are in 'cotton tree' a tinsy winsy village with a campsite stretching out between the maroochy river and the pacific ocean....
It has not taken long for princess kirsh to acclimatise to a camper's life...waking with the sun and making tracks to the beach, the whole day continues in the same vein....maybe a little nap, another swim....I've been known to make a little trip up to the shopping mall and slowly mozzy around checking out the aussie fashions....as the evening draws in the beers come out and the bbqs around the campsite start to smoke....Im hanging out with my old school friend, clare and her boyfriend, Joel, matt's 3 siblings and their partners, their collective hoard of 9 children, and his parents....it's a crazy gang - a laugh a minute....stories, memories, children playing...life is good.
It's hot...my tan is glorious....i'm more chilled out than mr chilled and all his chilled out friends....and there are 2 gorgeous weeks of this stretching out ahead...
stay tuned....xxx
It has not taken long for princess kirsh to acclimatise to a camper's life...waking with the sun and making tracks to the beach, the whole day continues in the same vein....maybe a little nap, another swim....I've been known to make a little trip up to the shopping mall and slowly mozzy around checking out the aussie fashions....as the evening draws in the beers come out and the bbqs around the campsite start to smoke....Im hanging out with my old school friend, clare and her boyfriend, Joel, matt's 3 siblings and their partners, their collective hoard of 9 children, and his parents....it's a crazy gang - a laugh a minute....stories, memories, children playing...life is good.
It's hot...my tan is glorious....i'm more chilled out than mr chilled and all his chilled out friends....and there are 2 gorgeous weeks of this stretching out ahead...
stay tuned....xxx
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Princess Kirsh
I'm a fairly easy going kinda girl i think....it doesn't take much to make me happy....some interesting company, a few drinks (preferably alcoholic of course) at hand and perhaps some kind of food item and you've got Happy Kirsh....pick up that scenario and place it somewhere amazing and exotic in the world and I'm estactic.....i'm easily pleased....
....but sometimes...a little 5 * luxury does not go astray for a girl like me....and, since we've now been married for 9 years, matt and i thought we'd shout ourselves to a bit of that to celebrate. A huge apartment (bigger, i think, than our old flat in horsham!) overlooking Brisbane's botanical gardens and seconds from the shops and cafes lining the streets we were smack bang in the centre of the 'Sunshine Capital'. drinking bubbles and watching mysterious goings on in the park from our birds eye view (what WERE those cops doing?) we spent the first night in. after all...if you pay for the luxury you may as well spend as much time there as you can....
Brisbane is hot. Always muggy....always time to relax in a cool pool complete with fountains and waitresses that bring you cocktails...needless to say we spent significant time there before heading for dinner the next night....
a table by the river, a menu crammed with the best australia has to offer - steak and seafood and deep rich reds...so, greedily, i had it all.....a bloody mary oyster shot first to get the senses going...crab cakes...then a petite eye fillet so tender and juicy complete with prawns and Bearnaise sauce....'surf and turf'...an all australian specialty....
But now our 5 * living comes crashing to a close as we head this afternoon to the Sunshine coast where we will swap our big bed and white sheets for a mattress and a sleeping bag and camp in a tent for 2 weeks....no more Princess Kirsh.
but first - brunch with my oldest friend....
stay tuned. xxx
....but sometimes...a little 5 * luxury does not go astray for a girl like me....and, since we've now been married for 9 years, matt and i thought we'd shout ourselves to a bit of that to celebrate. A huge apartment (bigger, i think, than our old flat in horsham!) overlooking Brisbane's botanical gardens and seconds from the shops and cafes lining the streets we were smack bang in the centre of the 'Sunshine Capital'. drinking bubbles and watching mysterious goings on in the park from our birds eye view (what WERE those cops doing?) we spent the first night in. after all...if you pay for the luxury you may as well spend as much time there as you can....
Brisbane is hot. Always muggy....always time to relax in a cool pool complete with fountains and waitresses that bring you cocktails...needless to say we spent significant time there before heading for dinner the next night....
a table by the river, a menu crammed with the best australia has to offer - steak and seafood and deep rich reds...so, greedily, i had it all.....a bloody mary oyster shot first to get the senses going...crab cakes...then a petite eye fillet so tender and juicy complete with prawns and Bearnaise sauce....'surf and turf'...an all australian specialty....
But now our 5 * living comes crashing to a close as we head this afternoon to the Sunshine coast where we will swap our big bed and white sheets for a mattress and a sleeping bag and camp in a tent for 2 weeks....no more Princess Kirsh.
but first - brunch with my oldest friend....
stay tuned. xxx
Friday, December 12, 2008
dreams....don't stop dreaming
It's been a busy few days....when Matt and I come home we sometimes feel like 'Australia's most wanted'.....its nice that everyone wants to see us but makes for a busy time...
But this week has been all about spending time with my sister, Tam. While matt went back to work for his old employer (making him REALLY feel like the past 4 years hadnt happened!) Tam and i have spent our time shopping and swimming and generally relaxing. being a high school teacher means that she works like a dog during term time....the fact that many of my good friends are teachers has helped me realise just how hard these guys work... and she needs her summer holidays to recupe....and it's my job to help her do just that!
but on Wednesday we made ourselves even more exhausted by going to Dreamworld and regressing to circa 10 ans....we made ourselves sick on crazy rides....marvelled over magnificent tigers... and pigged out on ice cream and pizza....unfortunately not only had it seemed we'd chosen the hottest day of the year so far, we also chose a day where the park was filled to the brim with students on excursions during their last week of school....i've never seen so many bratty kids in my life...but we fit right in and played with the best of them...
spending time with my god-daugher, Harriet and her sister Georgia in the pool yesterday we continued to play like children....horsey rides and underwater ballet....how far can YOU swim underwater?? marco POLO!!
but tonight i must once again pretend to be an adult for, to celebrate our 9th (yes 9th) wedding anniversary Matt and i are treating ourselves to some five star luxury in brisvegas...right on the river and in the city....the weekend might include some strawberries...perhaps some champagne....a little chocolate....a nice dinner or 2 in the city....a stroll along the waterfront....perhaps some magic....
then...to top it all off we will spend a gorgeous sunday morning relaxing over lunch with my oldest friend, alex....(old as in length of years spent as dear friends rather than years of age....!)....
stay tuned. xx
But this week has been all about spending time with my sister, Tam. While matt went back to work for his old employer (making him REALLY feel like the past 4 years hadnt happened!) Tam and i have spent our time shopping and swimming and generally relaxing. being a high school teacher means that she works like a dog during term time....the fact that many of my good friends are teachers has helped me realise just how hard these guys work... and she needs her summer holidays to recupe....and it's my job to help her do just that!
but on Wednesday we made ourselves even more exhausted by going to Dreamworld and regressing to circa 10 ans....we made ourselves sick on crazy rides....marvelled over magnificent tigers... and pigged out on ice cream and pizza....unfortunately not only had it seemed we'd chosen the hottest day of the year so far, we also chose a day where the park was filled to the brim with students on excursions during their last week of school....i've never seen so many bratty kids in my life...but we fit right in and played with the best of them...
spending time with my god-daugher, Harriet and her sister Georgia in the pool yesterday we continued to play like children....horsey rides and underwater ballet....how far can YOU swim underwater?? marco POLO!!
but tonight i must once again pretend to be an adult for, to celebrate our 9th (yes 9th) wedding anniversary Matt and i are treating ourselves to some five star luxury in brisvegas...right on the river and in the city....the weekend might include some strawberries...perhaps some champagne....a little chocolate....a nice dinner or 2 in the city....a stroll along the waterfront....perhaps some magic....
then...to top it all off we will spend a gorgeous sunday morning relaxing over lunch with my oldest friend, alex....(old as in length of years spent as dear friends rather than years of age....!)....
stay tuned. xx
Sunday, December 7, 2008
hot stuff
One of the things the British seem to like the most about the idea of Australia is the heat...the idea that the sun is always shining while bronzed aussies run down the beach in a slow motion, baywatch-esque manner...what non-aussies don't seem to realise until they get here is that our country's famous heat can be uncomfortable, humid and oppressive...
It's the kind of heat where you lie in your own sweat at night....where there's no point putting on makeup as it runs off your face immediately....where drying your hair with a hairdryer becomes a thing of the past unless you want to faint of heat exhaustion....where the only thing to do is to float in the pool and be cool....
so that's what we've been doing....yesterday and today at my parent's pool...sipping ice cold water and watching the tropical storms roll in...
I feel more relaxed than I have in a long while. there's nothing I have to do but laze around and the biggest decision I have to make is whether I can be bothered to move from poolside to the water or vice versa....
And the best thing about it is that I have weeks of this stretching out before me....jealous much?
stay tuned....xxx
It's the kind of heat where you lie in your own sweat at night....where there's no point putting on makeup as it runs off your face immediately....where drying your hair with a hairdryer becomes a thing of the past unless you want to faint of heat exhaustion....where the only thing to do is to float in the pool and be cool....
so that's what we've been doing....yesterday and today at my parent's pool...sipping ice cold water and watching the tropical storms roll in...
I feel more relaxed than I have in a long while. there's nothing I have to do but laze around and the biggest decision I have to make is whether I can be bothered to move from poolside to the water or vice versa....
And the best thing about it is that I have weeks of this stretching out before me....jealous much?
stay tuned....xxx
Saturday, December 6, 2008
A trip down the stairs
When you wake up with a raging headache and cuts and bruises down your leg it usually means one of 2 things....a) that you've had some sort of minor accident or b) that you've had an awesome night out in your home town with some crazy friends. Apart from falling down the stairs due to some sort of mohito induced haze our big reunion was everything I'd been looking forward to and more.
Clare and Megs are my girls....my schoolyard friends, the three amigos - together we have seen eachother through everything from the playground to first kisses to teenage anxst to break ups and to weddings....they know me back to front and inside out and somehow still they love me!! I miss them terribly when I'm in England....so to see them again yesterday and to fall back into fun banter as if we'd gone for lunch the day before was such a treat...
and their friends.....that crazy fun gang that we met and loved last year at Megs and James' wedding were there to join the girls in welcoming us home...drinking and chatting and falling down stairs at Megs and James' place (and I vaguely remember trying on hats???) we laughed and chatted till the wee hours, even bringing the poor neighbour in on the act, before heading into town to Tomba's. Toowoomba's main nightclub...new since I moved to England...the place is huge and pumping. Gorgeous Stace, cocktail designer extrodinaire, knows the people in the high places and got us in and cutting up the rug before we could say 'margarita please'....
Toowoomba might not change so much in 4 years...and it might not be one of the hot spots of the world...but i tell you what - it can be a pretty cool place...and the people here are legends...
i'm off to nurse my wounds....stay tuned. xxx
Clare and Megs are my girls....my schoolyard friends, the three amigos - together we have seen eachother through everything from the playground to first kisses to teenage anxst to break ups and to weddings....they know me back to front and inside out and somehow still they love me!! I miss them terribly when I'm in England....so to see them again yesterday and to fall back into fun banter as if we'd gone for lunch the day before was such a treat...
and their friends.....that crazy fun gang that we met and loved last year at Megs and James' wedding were there to join the girls in welcoming us home...drinking and chatting and falling down stairs at Megs and James' place (and I vaguely remember trying on hats???) we laughed and chatted till the wee hours, even bringing the poor neighbour in on the act, before heading into town to Tomba's. Toowoomba's main nightclub...new since I moved to England...the place is huge and pumping. Gorgeous Stace, cocktail designer extrodinaire, knows the people in the high places and got us in and cutting up the rug before we could say 'margarita please'....
Toowoomba might not change so much in 4 years...and it might not be one of the hot spots of the world...but i tell you what - it can be a pretty cool place...and the people here are legends...
i'm off to nurse my wounds....stay tuned. xxx
Thursday, December 4, 2008
I still call Australia home
That qantas song keeps playing on repeat in my head. You aussies know the one i mean...
"I've been to cities that never close down
from New York to Rome and old London town
but no matter how far or how wide i roam
I still call Australia home..."
I can't ever imagine not referring to Australia as 'home'. No matter how long I continue to live in England or if I ever live out my dream of living in France...those places will also be home and I love them....but nothing compares to the sunburnt country where i spent my childhood. Where I was formed to be the person I am - a fun loving, beer swilling aussie who, just like the majority of my fellow countrymen, just loves to have a good time, who cheers on the underdog, believes strongly in loyalty and mateship and who is, and always will be, immensly proud to call this great country home.
and yesterday as i walked up to the immigration officer and passed him my blue australian passport and as he greeted us with 'gday guys, how ya goin?'...I knew I was home. Driving the familiar 2.5hrs to my home town of Toowoomba from Brisbane through a tropical queensland storm I began to feel the same way I always do when I come home - that the last 4 years of living overseas may have just been a dream...that I was home and I had never left. Getting to my sister's house and enjoying delicious food and some bubbly to welcome us I was content to put down my backpack for a while and just relax...at home...
stay tuned. xxx
"I've been to cities that never close down
from New York to Rome and old London town
but no matter how far or how wide i roam
I still call Australia home..."
I can't ever imagine not referring to Australia as 'home'. No matter how long I continue to live in England or if I ever live out my dream of living in France...those places will also be home and I love them....but nothing compares to the sunburnt country where i spent my childhood. Where I was formed to be the person I am - a fun loving, beer swilling aussie who, just like the majority of my fellow countrymen, just loves to have a good time, who cheers on the underdog, believes strongly in loyalty and mateship and who is, and always will be, immensly proud to call this great country home.
and yesterday as i walked up to the immigration officer and passed him my blue australian passport and as he greeted us with 'gday guys, how ya goin?'...I knew I was home. Driving the familiar 2.5hrs to my home town of Toowoomba from Brisbane through a tropical queensland storm I began to feel the same way I always do when I come home - that the last 4 years of living overseas may have just been a dream...that I was home and I had never left. Getting to my sister's house and enjoying delicious food and some bubbly to welcome us I was content to put down my backpack for a while and just relax...at home...
stay tuned. xxx
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Wilderness
to say we have traveled through the most remote of New Zealand wilderness over the past few days would not, i dont think, be too much of an exaggeration.
after my skydiving disappointment in queenstown we left on a gorgeous day (perfect for little hops out of high-flying aircraft....typical!) and headed towards franz josef....a glacier halfway up the west coast of NZ where, also typically, it was absolutely pouring. I had hoped to walk on the glacier itself....a 4.5 hour hike that would have taken me up the terminal face of the glacier, the part of the glacier that, scarily, tends to break off every now and then....strangely - perhaps due to remnant adrenaline from queenstown, that didn't worry me as much as the prospect of getting soaked. unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it...) the hike was booked out so we instead walked, dripping, to the public access point where we looked at ice and oohed and ahhhed appropriately before heading quickly back to our lovely boutique hotel and feasting in the dry and warm dining room on homemade pavlova...a much nicer, if not quite as dangerous, experience!
it does seem as though the gods of NZ weather are conspiring against me though. we left franz josef this morning on another gorgeous day which would have been perfect for glacier hiking....well, that, alongside jumping out of planes, will be experiences kept for the next time we are in the south island, which, if i have my way, will definitely not be in too distant a future....for, as we drove across Arthur's pass and the Alps which stretch across the centre of the island, I was again floored by the breathtaking beauty of this country....over the past few days i've fallen in love with the lakes, the sounds and the fjords....this time i fell in love with the mountains....wilderness indeed - i imagine there are sections of this part of NZ which are almost unaccessible by humans....the colours of the rock...the sheer ruggedness of the granite....forests which seem to go on for miles - untouched, i imagine, by a human's axe. True, pure wilderness....
But for now, we are back in civilization...in fact this afternoon I went shopping! and tomorrow we are experiencing 'antarctica' before getting on a plane bound for home sweet home......we will arrive in brisbane and embark on the familiar 2 hour drive to our home town, where my beautiful sister will have put together a delicious, warming, welcoming meal and her husband will have picked wines to match....i can't wait.
stay tuned. xx
after my skydiving disappointment in queenstown we left on a gorgeous day (perfect for little hops out of high-flying aircraft....typical!) and headed towards franz josef....a glacier halfway up the west coast of NZ where, also typically, it was absolutely pouring. I had hoped to walk on the glacier itself....a 4.5 hour hike that would have taken me up the terminal face of the glacier, the part of the glacier that, scarily, tends to break off every now and then....strangely - perhaps due to remnant adrenaline from queenstown, that didn't worry me as much as the prospect of getting soaked. unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it...) the hike was booked out so we instead walked, dripping, to the public access point where we looked at ice and oohed and ahhhed appropriately before heading quickly back to our lovely boutique hotel and feasting in the dry and warm dining room on homemade pavlova...a much nicer, if not quite as dangerous, experience!
it does seem as though the gods of NZ weather are conspiring against me though. we left franz josef this morning on another gorgeous day which would have been perfect for glacier hiking....well, that, alongside jumping out of planes, will be experiences kept for the next time we are in the south island, which, if i have my way, will definitely not be in too distant a future....for, as we drove across Arthur's pass and the Alps which stretch across the centre of the island, I was again floored by the breathtaking beauty of this country....over the past few days i've fallen in love with the lakes, the sounds and the fjords....this time i fell in love with the mountains....wilderness indeed - i imagine there are sections of this part of NZ which are almost unaccessible by humans....the colours of the rock...the sheer ruggedness of the granite....forests which seem to go on for miles - untouched, i imagine, by a human's axe. True, pure wilderness....
But for now, we are back in civilization...in fact this afternoon I went shopping! and tomorrow we are experiencing 'antarctica' before getting on a plane bound for home sweet home......we will arrive in brisbane and embark on the familiar 2 hour drive to our home town, where my beautiful sister will have put together a delicious, warming, welcoming meal and her husband will have picked wines to match....i can't wait.
stay tuned. xx
Monday, December 1, 2008
Dreams of flying...crushed!
I'm gutted...after spending a night of very little sleep psyching myself up for my skydive the bloody NZ weather turned on me....today dawned with a thick layer of cloud and, when i turned up at the skydive shop i was told that they weren't jumping in the morning but would book me in for later in the day...much nervous retail therapy later I went back...only to be told they still weren't running and probably wouldnt for the rest of the day....and there went my dreams of flying over queenstown.....the dream of jumping out of a plane lives on though and, one FINE day I will do it....maybe, in fact over my own home state of queensland...us aussies know how to do extreme too you know!!
I did not miss out on adreneline altogether though...this arvo I went with Matt to watch him do the 'Nevis' bungy....134 meters off a pod suspended over a rocky canyon...his life depended on a few elastic bands tied together! Trying to be brave for him since he was so nervous I kept pretty quiet but I have to say I was very glad when it was over. The scream he let out as he jumped was a sound I never want to hear from him again! But he was so glad when he'd done it - a big tick off the 'must do' list for Matt!!
Tomorrow we leave queenstown behind and head for the beautiful franz josef glacier...our time in NZ is drawing to a close but ahead we have our reunion with all our friends and family back home to look forward to and i'm starting to get very very excited!
Stay tuned... xx
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