pick one : jenny/jenga/jentle/jengi/itchy/jk

posturpedic

my back is sore. it has been for two days now, like this, and a couple of days before that less so sore. stupid hotel beds. so it's hard to stand, to sit, to drive, to anything except lie in bed. joy oh joy.

they're growing up

pineapple was on the basking platform!! it's like our little babies are taking their first steps!

long time ago now

just a couple of pics that my auntie ros took at the wedding

man and wife

a fun view of our cake!

ben and debs

mel and kaysey

grandma, grandpa and nat

you can see more photos, if you're keen, at the wedding announcer thing

teary

yesterday was hard. i cried a lot. i'm not even quite sure why, i just couldn't help myself.

i love my family very much. i love how supportive we are of each other. and how we can come together in good times and hard times and enjoy each others company, and pay the crap out of each other.

howie is definitely in the family now - my grandma spanked him three times on the bottom for being rude today!! very funny.

i will miss my grandpa. he was a tops man. really happy and gentle and resourceful. i'm glad he is with Jesus. and that he's no longer suffering. but i will miss him being a physical part of my life.

yes.

freeway

we're about to head up to old bar.

i don't much enjoy funerals. i guess calling it a thanksgiving service is slightly better?

bye bye grandpa.

grown up

we just hosted our first official BBQ lunch. now beforeyou feel ripped off for missing an invite, it was my mum, debs, grandma and grandpa. howie bbqed chicken kebabs, chicken breast and sausages. i made fruit salad (so yummy!), put bread in a bowl, and put prepackaged garden salad in a bowl. what a hostess!!

but it was good fun.

lachy paid his second visit to the HOF last night - he, howie and i watched our new chaser's war on everything DVD. so good.

sam and ben visited too before that - we ate mobile fone biscuits and looked at photos.

yay for visitors!

gut wrenching

argh. weagles vs swans next week. that doesn't do much good for my nerves!

but howie will be away at stump.

isn't it grand

go the swans!!

grand finalists once again. here's hoping for two in a row!!

cheer cheer the red and the white!!

thanks to dad for queueing up for a long while to get us the 12 tickets to tonights game.

gifts

wedding presents are fun things. thankyou peoples. although i'm more and more concerned about downsizing in a couple of years!

giggles

these are a few of the more amusing or perplexing photograph opportunities we took up

i was going to give a commentary of my photo chocies but i can't be bothered.

day 11

this was home time day. we checked out at 10am, and left our bags at the hotel and wandered around the city. we got some breakfast at maccas - naughty. we did a little shopping for the flight (mmm jatz). and my dad rang us about my grandpa dying. so that made the rest of the morning a little more solemn. we walked back along the shore of the swan river to our hotel and waited for our taxi to the airport.

i didn't take any photos for some reason!

our flight was 4 hours, and we were back in sydney, honeymoon over.

although there's still a bit of novelty moving into a new house - doesn't really feel like "my" home yet. mum and dad's still feels like home in a away - probably coz most of my stuff is still there :)

day 10

it was rottnest island day! we paid a nice $68 each to be picked up from our hotel and taken to hillary's wharf for a then 40minute fast ferries trip to the island. all the ferries to rottnest are at least $57 return. i guess they can charge that. and they do!

this establishs that sydney and perth and quite a way apart

we got to rottie and hired a tandem bike

and took ourselves around the island. it was very pretty and quite untouched really. man you get a sore bum though from them bikes.

we found quokkas at georgie bay settlement. such strange cute little creatures. two of them had a massive cat fight while we were drinking our cokes (diet for me) - they're pretty feral, but they are cute too. and strange little rat kangaroo crosses. this was the little bubba one we saw

we also rode around to the basin - the water was so beautiful looking

and to bathurst point lighthouse

We travelled a massive 14km today, but ended up with a final reading of 2043km. not bad from a 26km start 10 days before.

we finished up with Ben's diamonds - who we almost left in the car!

day 9

another glorious day to be waking up in perth - what a view from our room!

morning time was taken up going to harbour town, which is a kinda DFO but outdoors - howie got his new sunnies.

then we went in search of a westfield, because howie had wanted donut king our whole trip and we hadn't found one. so we drove out to cannington

and howie got his donuts

as we drove back to the city, we ticked over our 2000th kilometre - go cindy!!

we visited the swan bells

there are some big bells in there

then we had some lunch

and walked to kings park - bloody kings park with all its entries closed because of rockfalls. so we didn't really end up doing much once we got into the park, coz it was all closing!! but we did get a pic of the city of perth

another big day of 28km accompanied by

the remainder of cat empire
Ben Harper - Diamonds on the inside

day 8

today was the day we had to fit in a million things. everything fun was only open this sunday!! in the end we scrapped whiteman park with its trams and steam trains.

but we did make it to the maze out past joondalup. it had a big wooden maze thing - which was pretty fun although muddy, and then fun pine tree mazes.

then it was back into perth to catch the train (we have no idea if we did it legitimately with our tickets) to fremantle. we had some lunch at a cafe, and went to the markets. i forgot to take any photos that captured freo. but i did take a photo of the chairs at the cafe

we did a little more shopping - howie got a new didgeridoo - and then headed back to perth.

dinner was at the burswood casino, in the emporium (a fancy food court). they did good spaghetti! and i had my first experience of walking through a casino. not very uplifting places in my mind. we were also asked for ID.

today's adventures took us 106km in the morning and 8km at night, and musics were:

the remainder of Spin Doctors
Miles Davis - Disc A
Cat Empire - cities

day 7

steam train day!!

we headed back down to pemberton, and took the steam train (without any OH&S concerns) out to the lovely eastbrook sliding - ooooh pretty!

it was good fun though

then we started making our way back to perth. we stopped for lunch in bridgetown - pies and pasties - and continued on.

luckily before the rain hit, we snapped this photo of all cindy's little friends

yummy.

we did a nice 494km, listening to:

the remainder of john
REM - The best of
The Cat Empire - Two Shoes
Newsboys - The worship collection
Ben Harper - Live from Mars
Jack Johnson - Curious George
Spin Doctors - pocket full of kryptonite

i did need to buy a red bull (yuk) about an hour out from perth. long distance driving isn't really my thing.

changes

the exciting things about today are that it's the first day in 'our' house for me, with it being 'my' house; that i'm still not back at work!; that i get to watch the turtles in all their excited cuteness; that we'll probably go to westfield; that we get to move more of my stuff in; that it'll be nice and warm

the not so exciting things about today are that i have a doctors appointment in half an hour where cryosurgery makes a poopy return; still that my grandpa has passed away; that i have to unpack (i hate unpacking); that xander doesn't live here.

i'm in the midst of a lot of changes. and i'm going ok. it hasn't been too much of a massive adjustment yet. all these things going on.

my grandpa died this morning.

heading east

tis almost time to check out of the perth ambassador. so it is goodbye to free unlimited broadband. oh it's been good!

and a couple of hours til we say bye to perth. i'm glad we came here. it's been good fun. hoorah for western australia!

see you (whoever you may be) back in sunny sydney (so i read).

last night in perthies

the honeymoon is almost over.

that's sad. holidays are good fun.

day 6

weren't 100% sure what we were going to do this day. but in the end we went to ngilgi caves

it was hard taking pics in the cave - this was one of the less blurry

howie making his way out

didn't take much to get us back to busselton. howie makes for a good coke ad.

we did go swimming too.

the aftermath of howie chopping his toe off

again a little-er day, cindy covered 132km and played us:

the remainder of benny boy and his boys
Crowded House - the very best of
John Mayer - Room for squares

day 5

tram day! good old pemberton.

we started the day with a few games of boules. i think we ended up pretty even.

along the way to pemberton we stopped at mythic mazes. it wasn't too bad. a little new agey. but still fun getting lost inside maze (that would have been me, not howie)

our tram. number 4.

in amongst the wildflower commentary, and talk of marron from tram driver man, we stopped at some cascades. oooh aaah.

hoorah for sunsets over beaches, this time from peppy

this was a 315km day. and musicness was:

the remainder of third day
Bernard Fanning - Tea & Sympathy
Jamie Cullum - Catching tales
Diesel - Coathanger antennae
Ben Harper and Blind Boys of Alabama

day 4

today was the day we went on the tree top walk and came back via pemberton where howie climbed gloucester tree

we stopped in bridgetown as we drove forever to walpole. the town is named after a boat. so there is a boat in the park

this is howie on part of the tree top walk. it was pretty good

this is us inside the hollowed out trunk of a red tingle tree. there's lots of them about in south west WA

this is just one pic from howie's adventure up the tree. can you see me?

and i was very excited to make it back in time for sunset at bussleton. we love busselton

it was a big day driving. 626km! we listened to:

John Mayer Trio - Try
Michael Jackson - Dangerous
Diesel - Singled out
Robbie Williams - Live summer 2003
Third Day - offerings II

the wedding of fun?

doesn't this just encapsulate a wonderful day a week or so ago. no one is happy. not howie nor jenny, neither helen or josh, nor debbie or cathy, not ben or libby, not even priscilla. what a crap day!

i will get around to posting nice photos, i promise

day 3

we didn't travel too far from peppy this day. coz my back was really sore and driving was very painful.

this was the tops place we were staying at peppy - many many thanks to paul and wendy who are friends of jane and john

this is howie out the back - nice view

we drove off the busselton to experience the jetty

unfortunately there were no trains, nor the underwater observatory but it was a nice walk - about 4km all up!

eventually we headed back to peppy and took a walk along the beach

coz it's storm season still, it's very seaweedy - yuck! so not as pristine as perhaps west australian tourism would tell you! but still very nice

always good to see that my husband is consistent

but it was nice to have a fire each night in the house - howie got the house to 29 degrees one night - not a bad effort.

we only travelled 72kms this day. our musics were

the remainder of hootie
Jamie Cullum - Twentysomething
Bakenaked ladies - Disc one all their greatest hits

day 2

day two we were off to peppermint grove beach

this is our trusty vehicle cindy - who was very very new when we got our hands on her! only 26km old.

we drove via bunbury where we bought groceries for the week, and went to marlston hill for our first real view of the indian ocean!

when we got to peppermint grove beach, it was very windy

we travelled 222km and our musics for the day were:

The Waifs - A brief history of...
The Lads - Alive in concert
Hootie and the Blowfish - Cracked rear view

day 1

time for some photo posting. i've got a selection from each day that i'll be putting up. i'm not quite sure why i chose the photos i did but hey.

honeymoon starts from sunday in my books, coz saturday was still wedding day. and i don't have many photos of wedding day yet - so we'll have to wait for those!!

but onto day 1 of honeymoon!

i could put a photo of me and my husband, but instead i will post this - the disappointing start to the honeymoon - i meant to push the button for diet coke, but landed me a coke zero. boooo

this was cool during our flight - we went over another plane, or it went under us. lots of the cabin crew were excited about it - apparently it doesn't happen all that often? (although it probably does and our crew were all just newbies)

this is what howie posted about. its was all bells and whistles for the founding of perth!!

cha ching

we're going to the casino for dinner tonight.

you bet i'm connected

here we are back in perth. and the most exciting thing about being back is that our hotel room has free unlimited broadband for us. oh yeh.

other than that the hotel isn't all that exciting - we're on the 8th floor - and there was a bee in our room when we arrived. how does a bee get into a room with no open windows on the 8th floor?! i hope there isn't a hive in here. howie is allergic.

the weather has turned a little feral. but it gave cindy a good clean.

today was steam train day. yay for steam train!

it was kinda sad saying bye to south west WA. i much enjoyed being down there. we'll have to come back one day.

FREE BROADBAND!!!!!!!

oh, i'll be back :)

up WA

I was casually looking at our map of south west WA and noticed lots of places end in ‘up’ in WA - I actually had already noticed this while driving as well. So I thought I’d list all the places on the map we have that end in ‘up’ in no particular order:

Suburbs/Towns

Ongerup
Toompup
Munderup
Kebaringup
West Myrup
Mungerup
Amelup
Yomumup
Kamballup
Takalarup
Warriup
Mindijup
Nanarup
Carbarup
Woogenellup
Kokokup
Narrikup
Chorkerup
Marbellup
Porongurup
Takenup
Perillup
Nornalup
Doombarkup
Yeagerup
Tambellup
Pootenup
Mortagallup
Kendenup
Campup
Boycup
Mobrup
Chowerup
Mordalup
Yorup
Wilgarup
Palgarup
Balbarrup
Dingup
Manjimup
Nyamup
Qwinninup
Jalbarragup
Darradup
Peeralup
Kudardup
Yallingup
Meelup
Quindalup
Carbunup River
Willyabrup
Cowaramup
Yoongarillup
Wonnerup
Kirup
Tutunup
Nannup
Mullalyup
Balingup
Noggerup
Mumballup
Benjinup
Boyup Brook
Mayanup
Dinninup
Kulikup
Qualeup
Capercup
Muradup
Jingalup
Kojonup
Coorinyup
Pindellup
Punchmirup
Carlecatup
Carrolup
Peringillup
Kibbleup
Coyrecup
Badgebup
Ewlyamartup
Toolbrunup
Pallinup
Camballup
Gnowangerup
Coromup
Ongerup
Kuringup
Pingrup
Warup
Boyanup
Dardanup
Gwindinup
Burekup
Binningup
Myalup
Wokalup
Cookernup
Coodanup
Yunderup
North Dandalup
Dwellingup
Gidgegannup

Environmenty things

Quarderwardup lake
Pallinup river
Toolbrunup Peak
Moingup Sptrings
Waychinicup National Park
Torndirrup National Park
Porongurup National Park
Lake Kwornicup
Pardelup Hill
Owingup NR
Tordit-Curnup Lagoon
Lake Maringup
Coodamurrup beach
Mt Chudalup
Meerup river
Callcup Hill
Malimup Beach
Yeagarup Dunes
Milyunup Lake
Balicup Lake
Lake Carabundup
Big Poorrarecup Lagoon
Lake Poorrarecup
Unicup NR
Unicup Lake
Quindinup NR
Byenup Lagoon
Lake Quitjup
Beedelup National Park
Calgardup Cave
Kojonup Brook
Balgarup River
Chillicup Hills
Woorgubup Hill
Coyrecup lake
Chinocup Nature reserve
Lake Chinocup
Lake Pingrup
Yalgorup National Park
Lake Kabbamup
Marrinup State Forest
Neerabup national park

My personal favourite is Yomumup. Followed by Pootenup.

That’s a lot of places/names. None of them have an ‘s’ in them – correct me if I’m wrong.

bits and bobs

yesterday was good fun with the tram trip. i like pemberton. they have a local ANZ thing where you can get money out at the general store like an atm. but out of the cash register. ooh.

good thing howie is such a good boy - he cleaned cindy's windscreen last night - i couldn't see anything through all the bugs.

today we are kinda unplanned but kinda planned. i think we are going to check out ngili caves. yep.

good old busselton.

although i don't understand the WA way of lining up at maccas. it seems that you don't just stand in a line and thats it - regardless of how fast or slow your line moves. it seems that you line up. but if the other line moves faster - you step into that line when it's up to your turn dependant of when you set foot in the maccas. WA is the place to push in!

West Australians don't overwork their indicators in the car. But they are quite fond of their headlights - at all times of the day.

up in the air

today was the day of being in the tree tops. we made our way to the valley of the giants. is was a good three hours drive. once there we took a walk through the tree tops on this crazy walkway that is suspended from below - and boy did it sway. but it was way cool.

then we drove back through pemberton - where tomorrow we go on a tram ride, and on saturday on a steam train - and visited gloucestor tree. this tree has spikes in it like a ladder that go around the tree up to a 60m platform. howie did is no worries. i got about 10 metres up and wussed out. but i think that's allowed since i'm not all that excited about heights.

rumor has it that cindy may have topped 135km/h. but that's a rumor.

we finally got our sunset over the beach here at busselton. hopefully we get another one at our house one night.

we are still having heaps of fun.

but walpole is a hole. although they cooked me grilled fish.

sleepy though isn't it.

a little slice of internet

good old maccas.

we drove 222km from perth, in 'cindy', our little hyundai getz to peppermint grove beach - stopping in windy bunbury on the way.

the house we're staying in is lovely. nice and big, with a great view and a pot belly stove. although we haven't got to see sunset on the beaches yet. hopefully no clouds/rain tonight!!

cindy, as well as probably the wedding and plan trip, have given me a bad back. i don't think drivers seats in getz's are very ergonomically designed. in my mind it is not the 2005 small car of the year. but still a good little car to zip around in.

today is busselton and the almost 2km long jetty. shame for no train or underwater thingy.

the next few days will involve tree top walk, howie climbing gloucestor tree (too scary for me), tram trip, train trip and sitting around.

it's good stuff. yay for holidays!!

hopefully my back gbets better though. and our colds go away!! silly people getting sick for their honeymoon!!

honeymooning

well here we are in perth. i think it's 5pm here. and 7pm at home. quite confusing with the flight time and time zones etc.

in any case, we've already been told that perth is dead on a sunday night. woo!

but we have been given an upgrade here at the novatel langley - to an apartment. sure it's on the second floor and theres scaffolding out the window, but upgrade!!

cheer cheer

and to top of a great day, the swannies won!!! oh yeh! go boys!

married!

here we are

mr and mrs

and here with our beautiful friends, kostas and eleni

WE'RE MARRIED!!

the aisle looms

yeh so i'm getting married tomorrow.

i'm about to take a sleeping tablet, and sleep in my bed for the last time. how bizarre!

yep, it's true, i love howie.

dripping

well today we attempted to do the touristy thing and take kostas and eleni to see emus and kangaroos at kalkurri in kuringgai chase national park. kalkurri is open everyday except christmas day.

and today.

due to unforeseen circumstances.

we we made our own fun at bobbin head.

we went to apple tree bay

me and robert

the greek ones

and since we didn't see any native animals, we pretended to be koalas

it is plenty good that kostas and eleni are here. and it is plenty good that howie has a rex umbrella.

it was fun. although we got quite wet.

i want to count z's!

i don't know why but today has been very draining. i'm so tired. i guess busyness has caught up with me, and overtaken!! not quite sure when i'll be winning again - probably not til sunday!

rain is a funny thing. coz it's a thing. but i get mad at it. it's not it's fault that it's there!! i should be nice to the rain.

and in other less exciting news, our reception is now indoors. that makes me disappointed. coz i know how much better it could have been than what it will be. shame.

crash

i do enjoy lightning and thunder, as long as i'm inside. xander doesn't much enjoy it though. i don't think he'll ever be convinced that it's not that scary.

crowded

today has been good. although i woke up with a decent headache. got lots of work for the wedding done. damn little bits and pieces. they should just be done!

it is really very good having kostas and eleni here. we are playing with a keytar at the moment.

community dinner was crazy tonight. well done david. so many peoples!!

tomorrow is another bits and pieces day. not in the doing of little ones, but of going many places.

peddling

letter to the editor in yesterday's telegraph:

'I own a car. Could the Government please publish a list of all the car thieves in my area? My wife also owns a small business. Can the Government publish a list of all the local shoplifters.' Roy Hall, Macquarie Fields

it raises a good point.

free as a bird

hoorah for free internet at the airport. even if i don't really have much to say.

hoorah for kostas and eleni arriving tonight!! hope kostas' back doesn't die coz of the dodgy mattress he gets at our place.

crikey!

steve irwin has reportedly died. how strange. doesn't sound like the nicest way to go. feel sorry for his young family.

snoozey

damn tired. i should go to bed. today has been quite headachy. but yay for the swans. although their 4th place earns a subiaco final on saturday. so we don't get to go to the scg on our wedding night. shame.

a little bit of dutch heaven

i love taai taai! almost as much as stroopwafels.

whoops

i just forgot to say happy father's day to dad.

filth

i'm having an 'everything must be clean' moment. i don't understand how people can live in squalid conditions, when they have the means for not living that way. (it's ok, i'm not at all talking about howie for all those who must think that i am). perhaps it's very judgemental and awful of me, but i just don't understand.

orbitBIG

tonight was good. was good having some more laidback worship. the dude who led it is very good - matt johnston?? i love that song "consuming fire". the improv stuff was funny. some was a bit lame, but that happens. there's was plenty of laughing. the video thing was good too. quite well timed with getting married next week. i was brave and made a new friend. go me. and there were HEAPS of gappers. seriously. its awesome.

"stir it up in our hearts Lord, a passion for your name"

pinch and a punch

aah the first day of spring. it wasn't so bad walking outside at 6:56am.

my grandparents have been married for 55 years today. good job. and grandma is going pretty well after her hip replacement. she's a machine!

i am often sleepy these days. not sure if i'm getting less sleep but the days seem more tiring although not necessarily more full.