Goin to the Chapel

It’s been the best Christmas ever out here – my brothers and Mum & Dad came out from Eng and we spent it in NZ with Stacey’s family wakeboarding, jetskiing, fishing, pig hunting, cliff jumping, sitting in hot streams, eating, drinking and getting engaged.

 

I proposed to Stace on the day of our Lord’s birth, down by the stream that runs through their bushland. We’d all been for a swim in the waterhole and I took the two of us on a detour on the way back The ring was in a box on a rock in the middle of the water, with the sun streaming through the surrounding native trees and bush etc,  and it was all pretty special. She slipped down the bank upon seeing it through shock but luckily regained her composure to say yes each of the eight times she made me ask her (so she wouldn’t forget).

 We headed back up to the house to announce the news, where this picture was taken, and are obviously both very happy and excited about the whole thing. Only Oliver was a dissenting voice, noting that we had stolen the day from baby Jesus. So we promptly knocked out a medley of Away in a manger & O come O come Emmanuel and all was right with the world.

 On boxing day we hooked up with a bloke based in the next-door village who builds Wakeboard Towers / A-Frames for a living and he took us out on the Waikato River for a couple of hours in his fat boat with the biggest wake I have ever seen. It was scary, but great fun, until each of us either dinged ribs or heads. We hopped off the wakeboard boat straight onto Stace’s brother in law’s jetski and zoomed around on that for a while, each trying to break the previous rider’s speed record (89km/h the winning total) without colliding with a great big barge carelessly positioned in the middle of the river. Was brilliant. The rest of our trip was more of the same, then back here for the Ashes which was fun despite the result (esp due to the combined visits of Jon B & Neisha, Stockport J, Rupert, Andy Robbo, J & Mary), then a 5 day trip up to the NSW Central Coast where we’d rented an 8-bed house (Pete K & Gems having joined our merry crew). Unfortunately Timo dislocated his shoulder but it didn’t seem to hold him back too much (Smith Steel) whilst Pete, Ol and I had a couple of memorable surf sessions on near-deserted beaches. We saw dolphins and big spiders, Stace took the girls to a local market and it was brilliant to be amongst the family again. T&G have now left for London via a couple of days in Melbourne but the others are around and about until the end of the month. Will be very very sad to see them go.

Think that covers most of it. Hope you had a great Christmas too and a happy and healthy 2007. Love S&S

The Whisker Treatment

Here it is, mo- lovers: the results of my month-long moustache growing effort. This picture from the final day last week.

**Winner – Best Moustache 2006, Level 9, Moustache Towers** 

I am currently still sporting; one of only two in our work team of twenty who hasn’t shaved it off, though I have trimmed it into a more Miami Vice style. I wanted to show it to Dad (they flew out here Weds night) and Oliver has been trying to squeeze out a few lippy strands too so we can have a moustachey Christmas together. Previous form would indicate Thumb lacks the commitment required to take part (ref Piquay, Christmas 2005). Three out of five ain’t bad. Add Stace’s Dad Rob to the party and it’s looking like the best Whiskermas ever!

 

Day 3 – got some food stuck in it

 

Please click here to sponsor me and raise money for Prostate Cancer and Beyond Blue

On your marks! Get set! MO!

Tomorrow (Nov 1st) marks the start of Movember and it’s time to moustache me up a bad boy for charity. I’ve organised our team at work and that was pretty funny, cos whilst a couple of people were very keen, most had never heard of it and being fun number bods the suggestion was met with a few confused looks. However it’s done now, and being the organiser the pressure is on to produce the goods. It’s a month to grow a moustache, starting tomorrow with a clean slate and ending Nov 29th with a big gala party in Luna Park, the old fashioned funfair under the bridge. The charitable causes being supported are both men’s health ones – Prostate Cancer & Beyond Blue, a depression initiative, and the idea is that men are typically too proud and think it’s braver to ignore the risks of these issues instead of being tested / seeing someone etc. Growing a moustache for the month is as much about raising awareness of what we should be doing (having a finger stuck up the pooper) as it is raising money… and I think it is a great cause. Plus, being my father’s son, I have always thought whiskers are pretty choice and wearing a patchy bum fluff tache to important client meetings is a pretty funny thought, as those of you who came to my moustache party a few years ago will no doubt agree. I’ll be putting weekly pictures on here of my progress. If you want to sponsor me please click here.

Day one: bare lipped, with my new surfboard (need much stronger arms to make it work – hoping will come with the moustache)

This takes a couple mins to load but is worth it

Little film of us out doin it, movin it, can we count it on? A buh buh buh buh buh buh buh get up

Some questions

Over the next few days we’ll be picking one of the many emails we get each day from our beloved readers and answering it here. What a treat this time, for aspiring young hack Martyn Kent of London, England! His questions, and our answers, below:

[MBK] How’s the job?

[Simon] brrrt

[Stacey] ah yeah

[MBK] Is the Blue Chip gone?

[Simon] No, still there, and looks to be thriving as ever. See if you can spot a cheeky sighting on the video (link opposite). The Irish pub opposite has gone though and is now an upmarket fish and chips resto.

[MBK] Are you heading back for Xmas?

[Stace] We’re going to NZ for Christmas to eat pork bones and puha. Simon’s family coming out too for a Tri-Nation Family Championship. Cannot wait.

[MBK] Would you agree that Craig David will have the same career longevity as George Michael?

[Stace] Is it a coincidence they both have christian names for surnames? Look at Clive Allen. Stefan Dennis. Robert the Bruce. Guaranteed ticket to career-long celebrity.

[MBK] Jody Dale…?

Jervis Bay

Last week we took Phil and JaNinja (over from NZ) on a couple of little trips in our new all terrain vehicle. We drove south, stopping at the Maori Village in Janalli for a feed and some welcome hospitality, for the road was long and dusty. The next morning we set off for the Royal National Park just outside Sydney and were greeted at Garie Beach by bwailing hot sunshine and a nice little skimboard wave to put in the memory bank. The Park is huge and the beach nearly deserted. It is a renowned surfing beach but lack of roof rack straps (where is a Dad when you need him) meant I couldn’t bring the yellow submarine. Picture is of our friends Annette and J and their family. Anyone in England got friends with cool tattoos? Thought not

Later in the week we went to Jervis Bay, 3hrs south of Sydney, and found crystal clear water on white, sandy beaches. No waves again but it is well nice. And there are kangaroos running around. We got a last minute apartment for a price, ate and drank and had a great time hanging out with our old friends. Here are some pictures from the week:

Post ribs fatty bumbas

Recyclers

Technical update & cousin’s baby news

Project Internet Millionaire has taken its next step and I am experimenting with some things that are supposed to let you register to receive either an email version of our blog posts, or at the very least a notification that some new shizzit is going down. If you’re an early adopter, click on the orange box opposite and bear with me during this crucial test phase pls.

In other news, Espea and Holly have had a little girl – for anyone that remembers Stace’s rugby leaving do in November, Espea is my cousin with the beard who resembles a better-looking Jack Black. He was the Lions’ player of the day and demonstrated his abilities at the post-match party by crushing a can of beer into his head, eating a skin-on kiwi fruit whole and heckling loudly and hilarioiusly during the speeches. It’s all on the video and is well funny. Congratulations to you both – ideal parents and couldn’t have happened to nicer people. Alexandra will probably (definitely) want to be signed up to the blog so get her an email address asap and consider our weekly words a welcome gift to her.

Mmmmmmmmmelbourne, Ben, Brooke, Jim & The Pumper

Have just got back to Sydney after spending a few more days in Melbourne, including the weekend during which Stace flew down and we lorded it up in a swanky hotel above the casino. The weather was excellente Ambassador and after a busy but interesting working week, it was good to get out at a reasonable time last Friday and catch an old Nottingham housemate, Jim, for what became the unofficial 10 year anniversary celebration of our starting university. Later that evening we were joined by another old mucker, Ben, and his girlfriend, who have been living in Melbourne for a year or so. I went to school and University with Ben and he is now well on his way to becoming a heart surgeon. What an interesting bloke, and his own heart is big as a house as we would find out the next day when he picked us up from the hotel at 9am (got to get the free breakfast in first – all 5 courses) and drove us around for the entire day, showing off the city and surrounds he is rightly becoming a huge fan of. We skipped down to Bells Beach and recreated scenes from Point Break, albeit on land, stopped at a giant industrial estate full of surf shops ($5 Reef beanie? Yes please, four) and then drove along the start of the Great Ocean Road to Lorne.

Lorne is a very attractive little seaside village along similar lines to Rock and we had a quality fish lunch in a little restaurant perched on the edge of a pier, overlooking a shallow reef break. The G.O.R is one of the something modern-day wonders of the world I think and really was worth a visit, especially in the sunshine we had. Ben’s girlfriend was going back to England that evening for a month so it was extra kind of him to spend the day ferrying us about instead of making the most of his time with her.

On Sunday, Stace’s friend Brooke took up driving duties as Ben went diving (selfish) and our first stop is pictured below. Unfortunately I think Harold was out practising his tuba but you could still feel the electric atmosphere of 20 years’ worth of quality drama…

Stace was so excited about seeing Brooke and we had had another great day. After Ramsay Street we spent the rest of the day shopping and had a very tasty lunch on the beach at St Kilda. Melbourne really does have some choice as places to eat and drink. Stace flew home on Sunday night and I ended up coming home early on Tues night instead of staying the whole week as originally planned. And in addition to seeing my Chocolate Princess I had another treat to look forward to – Pumper Purdie, our very own Junior Richard Branson (of Virgin Pickle fame) had arrived over the weekend to stay for a couple weeks. Oh yeah, and we finally bought a car!

Journey to work

I’ve been to Melbourne (call it Melbs) this week and had a meal at an italian joint called da noi in South Yarra. There is no menu so you give them $80 and tell them what you don’t like, then they tailor-make you a tasting menu of about five courses of quails, truffles and spaghetti. Good wine too. Here is a picture of me on my way to work this morning back in Sydney: