Yadda Yadda Yadda

On Saturday I went to yet another wedding! The wonderful Suzie & Ryan got married. Yay for them! So you know what this means? MORE PHOTOS!!!! That's right. Sorry for anyone who now has to wait 10 minutes for my blog to load! Here is Suzie & her dad walking down the isle.






This is Soldier (aka Aaron) and his lovely woman Jen. Aren't they cute? They even managed to accidentally colour co-ordinate! Awwww!!!












Aren't Mr. & Mrs. Dboy a cute couple? I can't wait to see how cute mini dboy will be!









The signing of the register! It's all official and legal now! No going back...











Isn't Glenn hot in his suit? Looking sharp Glenn!














Ok, over to the reception. This is dboy & myself.










Alex & Ben C. Aren't they hot? Everyone just looked so pretty!









I caught the bouquet (That's the second one this year!)! Whoo!!! Now if I could only find someone to marry me...









This is Suzie & her sister Carolyn. There was a band of whoever wanted to play, playing for the second reception (yes there were two receptions). They sounded amazing together, as they always do!



Another part of the band, here is Glenn on bass and Kate on guitar. I think there were 3 or 4 guitarists.




Then after the reception a few of us headed over to a housewarming not too far away. Lots of fun! This is Alex at the front, Kathryn at the back and me there too.





There seem to be many, many photos of us 3 girls...









Some may say too many...









Alex & Ben T. Ben seemed to want to bite everyone that night. I think he may be a vampire.








Sepia Ben, not biting anyone for once.











This one is (from left to right) Jenny, Erin & Ingi.






Well that's it for this blog. Hope you're not too overwhelmed by photos, I just had such a fantastic day on Saturday, and wanted to share it with you!

Well uni started again today. I think I'm going to really enjoy myself this semester. I have a lighter workload, and I think I'm going to enjoy all my subjects. Yay! I'm only at uni 1 and a half days this semester. WHoo!!! HOpefully I can pick up some more work now. I might be getting a job wtih AAMI insurance, taking calls and processing claims. It's not that exciting, but it's flexible hours and I need the money. Anyway, have to get to a class, just thought I'd say that uni is back and going well!

And NEW PHOTO!!!

Before I start, I now have a DeviantArt gallery Here!



I took photos of signs I thought were hilarious or relevant to us, or just plain strange. Here we go:


They aren't subtle are they? This is a brand name up there.


Just for Bowen. The first time I saw something like this a few years ago I couldn't stop laughing!














I assume these guys have some tourism issues. Hey guys! Come visit our town! We care more about our cows that you!














These next couple are for you Futurama fans!













I know it should have 2 p's, but it's close!
















Once again, their subtlety astounds me...



Look how famous you are in Australia Cap! You have a creek, a bridge and a restaurant all dedicated to you!













The cap isn't the only famous person up there. Like most of us bloggers, everyone is in love with Wire up here. He has his own gully!











Also for Wire.



For the wonderful Emma! A ville just for her! :)















Once again... some serious tourism issues. What are these people thinking?!
















A very specific speed sign on the Gold Coast. What the?!















The public toilets in Lismore. DODGY!!!

Well, prepare for the thousands of photos that I will inflict on you over the next week or so. Just a few today to get a taste of what's to come! This is Sabine & I at the Bangalow markets on Sunday. Oh how I love shopping! And even more so at markets!!!


This is a photo of Ian & Dot who we stayed with. I have never stayed with more lovely people who made us feel so totally welcome and comfortable in their home. They were just amazing people!


Here is the Nimbin Hemp Embassy with the Hemp bar attatched next door. That's right, it's basically a marijuana advocacy centre. They openly smoke dope and offer it around to everyone, although that's what the whole town is like, not just this place. We got offered cookies and just plain marijuana every day.




Me having a drink in the Nimbin pub. Shhhh Wire.









Sabine having a good giggle!











And another photo of us. Yes, I tried to get a bit artsy with some of my photos, please bear with me...

I'm back and tired. Just wanted to say I was back. Two long days... It was just over 10 hours from Nimbin to Dubbo yesterday, then about 9 hours from Dubbo to Melbourne today. Then I had to take Sabine home and she lives over the other side of Melbourne, then I had to go run my small group, just made it there by 7:30pm, got home at about 9:30pm. I'm tired. More later...

Well I head back home tomorrow morning. It's almost over! It'll take 2 full days to get back, so I should arrive home on Tuesday evening.

I've been having a great time since I posted last. I did my last radio show today. I think it went pretty well, I got good feedback anyway. And Mum, I taped it for you. I got a phone call of great thanks from the station manager at the end of my show, so that was nice. After my show Sabine & I headed off to the Bangalow markets (up near Byron), and they were awesome! We got some really great stuff! I love markets! Then we came back to have dinner with Ian & Dot and thank them for all their wonderful hospitality. They are such amazing people and have made us feel so welcome in their home. We gave them a new teapot and some wine as a thank you gift. They are big tea drinkers and had an old teapot, so we got them a nice new one with an inbuilt infuser. It's great!

Back to what I've been up to, on Friday we headed back into Byron Bay which was ok, but it rained for a lot of the day, so we didn't go to the beach. Although we did go for a lovely walk on a beach (Tallow beach) a bit further down the coast on the way up which was nice. We hung out in Byron for the day and night, did lots of shopping, ate more icecream, and saw a great reggae band at a fun pub we found. Lots of fun!

On Saturday we lazed around a bit and went to an art gallery and a cafe. It was lovely with great views of the mountains. Then we spent the evening in Nimbin, but there weren't many people around because of Splendour (Splendour in the Grass is a yearly music festival in Byron Bay for those of you who have no idea what Spelndour is) and apparently there was a party on in Nimbin too, but we still had a nice time.

So tomorrow we leave and resume normal life in Melbourne. If anything I do can ever be called normal! :) Until I return, tschuess!

Not long to go now. We head back to Melbourne on Monday. I can't believe I've been away for 2 and a half weeks already. It feels so much shorter! When did I write last? Monday? Ok, on Tuesday we were planning on having a lazy day coz the forecast was for rain, but it was a stunning day (stupid weather man*), so we headed down to Byron Bay. It was absolutely beautiful! We walked through some shops, then had lunch on the beach. We spent ages just hanging around in the sun and wading in the water before heading back through the shops and up to the lighthouse. The view was really lovely and we even got some glimpses of whales in the area splashing about! Once again, I took a thousand photos! So prepare for the onslaught when I get home. After that we wandered back into town and had dinner on the beach, then icecream as we wandered around to see if there was any live music happening. There wasn't, so we headed home. We're going back to Byron Bay tomorrow, so that's exciting! It's such a wonderful place!

Yesterday we just hung around at home, I read my book, watched bad daytime tv and made jewelry. I have given up on 'Sophie's World' and have picked up 'Emma' by Jane Austin. I'm loving it! Such a great book! We made some hemp jewelry too. I taught Sabine how to do macrame. I made 2 necklaces, and she made a bracelet and a necklace. Great girly fun!

This afternoon we're going to head back into Nimbin, should be a good afternoon, that is if the rain goes away. There has been light showers on and off this morning. 'Til later...


*the weather man here on channel 10 is Tim Bailey and MAN is he annoying!!!

Things have been good since we got back to Nimbin. My show on Sunday morning went really well! So much better than last week. I was really happy with the way it went. I even had a couple of people ring up the station and tell me how much they liked my show! That was really encouraging. I didn't expect anyone to do that! And sorry Mum, I forgot to tape it again. It's the last thing I'm thinking about at 6am on a Sunday! I'll try to remember next week!

After my show I headed off to the local church where I played the piano for them, because they don't actually have a piano player, so they have pre-recorded music they sing to each week. I hit a few bad notes (seeing as I didn't really get to practice), but they seemed to appreciate it anyway. Then after church we went to the Nimbin markets. They were much smaller than I expected, and I didn't buy anything! Impressed?! You should be! After that, Sabine & I went over to the Sphinx Rock Cafe to see some music, but the lady had car trouble and didn't get there, so no music. :(

Today we slept in and lazed around, then headed off to the Candle Factory again, coz Sabine wanted to see it. Yes, I did buy more candles... Then we went and wandered around Nimbin. Then sat in the pub for a while. A guy introduced himself to us, so we went over to hang out with him and his friends, thought we'd get to know some people. We'd only been there for a minute or two before they got into a pub brawl and were thrown out. So that was interesting. There were glasses broken, tables pushed over and punches everywhere. Don't fret Mum, we're fine. They kept apologising to us because we were ladies. Interesting... We had an interesting introduction to Nimbin local life. The guy who we'd met had just finished telling us all about how they all look out for one another and that we'd be safe with them. HAHA!!!

On Friday we're going to head over to Byron Bay, no idea what we'll do tomorrow yet. I've been doing a bit of reading. I read 'The Da Vinci Code' last week. What a brilliant book! I couldn't put it down! I'm now reading 'Sophie's World', but I'm not that imrpessed with it. Not sure I'll keep reading it.

I'm still loving my holiday. I'm glad Sabine is here, it's nice to have some more company. There was such beautiful weather today! But it's going to be showery for the next few days unfortunately. Bye for now!

Well I arrived back in NSW today. I've spent the last 4 days up on the Gold Coast and it's been great! I got to see Penny (who I studied with in Tassie) who I haven't seen in about 18 months, so it was awesome to catch up with her! Sabine flew in on Wed night, so now I have more company up here which is wonderful! I spent Wed with Penny and she showed me around the GC.

The weather had been picture perfect, up until Thurs. It must be Sabine's fault. She bought the Melbourne weather with her! It's been cloudy and rainy since she got here, so all my bragging about the great weather makes me look like a liar really... But it hasn't been that cold, just not sunny. Thurs had sunny periods, but it rained yesterday and all today.

On Thurs, Sabine & I went into Surfers Paradise to go shopping and hang at the beach, that was really great. We rode the monorail at the casino too, which was not nearly as exciting as I remember it being!

Then on Fri we went to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary! It was lots of fun, we got to see some really interesting things, and we got to hold a snake, a baby crocodile, and feed kangaroos. I have so many photos to show you when I get back! After Currumbin we headed back into Surfers for dinner at an Irish Pub, then off to the Restaurant at the end of the universe (those hitchhikers fans will know what I mean)! It was the coolest place ever! They even served pan galactic gargle blasters!!!!!!! I wanted to buy one, but it was almost $40, so I didn't. :( But I did have a cocktail called '6 million pink flying saucers'. It had a glowing red neon cube and dry ice and a flashing glass! Sooo awesome! This place is so much fun! If you're ever in surfers you have to go! Then we headed off to a couple fo pubs to see some bands, then headed home to bed like old grandmas at about 11pm.

Mum & Dad, you're not going to believe this, but by 9pm these days I'm stuffed and just want to go to bed. I've become a granny! What's going on?!!!

Anyway, I'm back at Ian & Dot's now and I'm off to do my show again bright and early tomorrow morning. Until next time, bai bai!

Today was great! I had to get up at 6:15 which was not so great, but Dot & I drove Rikki & Rob (Just for you Wire) to the airport on the Gold Coast for a 9:40am flight (They are off to Melbourne for 2 weeks). So today I went to Queensland! It was beautiful and oh so warm!

After dropping them off at the airport Dot & I went shopping in Surfer's paradise after walking along some of the beaches in Coolangatta. It was stunning! I have lots of photos to show you! After shopping we went and had lunch in a little town by the beach then went to a tea farm! I'm sure you all know by now how obsessed I am with tea, so this was very exciting! I got to see how they make tea and I bought some yummy tea and they gave us all a sample pack. Yummy... Then we stopped off in Mulwillinbuh on the way home and now I'm back in Nimbin in the visitors' centre and it's about to close. What a lovely day! So pretty and warm. I'm having such a wonderful holiday! I can't believe I left home a week ago now. Time has gone quickly.

I leave for the Gold Coast tomorrow morning (I'll be there until Sat) so I'm not sure I'll get to blog again until next week, but I'll try. Once again, love to you all!

Hi again! I ducked into the visitors' centre again this afternoon to give you another update. I'm still having a really fantastic time. The weather is amazing. Feels almost like summer! Perfect blue, sunny skies everyday! I can see all you Melbourne people green with envy from here! The people I'm staying with are so lovely, they really make me feel at home! I took a tour of their property on Saturday, they have 40 acres. They have their own orchards and everything! Mmmm... fresh fruit... Mango... Passionfruit... Mmmmm...

On Saturday I checked out the candle making factory and a local art gallery. Everything around here is so picturesque. I couldn't resist buying candles! But I didn't buy any art, just a cup of mango tea. Mmmmm....

Then on Sunday I did my first radio show. It went really well, apart from the fact that I had to get up at 5:45am to do it (and those of you who know me know that I am definitely NOT a morning person!). Are you impressed Mum & Dad? I actually got up that early! It's a 3 hour show, and I filled it with music, some pre-recorded talking spots and just rambled on myself about whatever came to mind. I think it went quite well. Took me an hour or so to get back into the swing of things, but I enjoyed it.

Then after my show I headed off to one of the local markets. It's really big and there was so many exciting things! Unfortunately I hadn't drawn out any money so I had hardly any on me and couldn't buy much, but that may be a good thing! Then I headed off to another cafe to see an acoustic act. He was quite good! I sat in the sun on the grass and listened to some great music. Then I started talking to a real hippy. Not like me, a try-hard hippy. Anyway, we had this amazing discussion for about an hour and a half about spirituality and God. It was facinating.

I've met some really interesting people and seen some great things. There aren't many social norms up here, so people just do whatever they feel like. It can be because they're stoned (that's rather common), but there is no social judgement. If they tried to behave like this in Melbourne they'd get some pretty strange looks! I got a video of this guy dancing badly to a band at the market, and no one cared that he was up in the middle of nowhere looking weird. It's all quite different to the city, but I expected that.

I spoke to this really really stoned/drunk guy at the local pub the other night. He introduced himself to me, his name was Shane, but he was so out of it that he couldn't even keep his eyes open and he slurred really slow. He ended up being thrown out and the police came in, then I saw him walk across the road to the park and pick up a bottle and drink whatever was in it. Some people here live a really sad existence. They seem to have nothing to live for. Not everyone is like this of course, but it's not a rare sight. People are smashed and they get money to get more smahsed. It's an awful cycle.

People here are very spiritual, but they have a much broader understanding of God than I do. God is in everything as well as in us, as well as being an overarching presence. It's bizaare the way I hear some of them talk about it. It's rather contradictory and they can't see it.

I went into Lismore (nearby bigger town) this morning and did some shopping, just checked out what was around. Considering I'm used to Melbourne shopping, it was pretty dodgy, but was nice to see what one of the other towns looks like. It has beautiful surrounding areas. That's where Glen (the blogger and my theology lecturer) lived for a while.

Anyway, I am really enjoying myself. I head up to the Gold Coast on Wed, and I'll be there til Sat. Sabine flies into the GC on Wed night and we'll stay with my friend Penny (who I know from Tassie who lives on the GC now) for a few days. Should be great! Love to you all!

Hey guys! I've ducked into the local information centre where they have the internet. $1.50 for 15 minutes isn't too bad. I arrived here last night (Thursday) after staying in Dubbo along the way at a motel. Not a bad place either I might add. All I did was sleep and watch some tv though, so not much to say. And the guy who ran the motel kept calling me Ma'am! DON'T CALL ME MA'AM!!! I am only 24! I was about ready to kill him! Now I know how you feel DCMM! Seriously, it was so annoying! After every sentence he'd put the word ma'am on the end. Argh! And why is it that country folk feel the need to give me really annoying nicknames like love, darling and sweetheart? It's kinda creepy...

Despite all that I'm having a great time. Dot & Ian (the people i'm staying with) are really lovely. I have a great nice comfy warm double bed to sleep in on a 40 acre farm. And they make the best tea! Mmmmm... tea... It's so beautiful out here, and the weather is great! It's nice and sunny today, probably in the low 20's, the sun is delightful.

It took an hour and a half after getting to Nimbin before someone offered me drugs. That's impressive! I guess I was with Rob, Rikki, Ian & Dot so they didn't offer it to us all coz they know the other guys don't take drugs. BUt when it was just Rikki & I wandering around the shops I got offered drugs. What a crack up! No pun intended...

No Mum. I didn't buy drugs. :)

I checked out the radio station this morning and everyone there seems quite nice. It's run out of an old school building. I start my show this Sunday morning. I'm lookign forward to it! I've taken lots of photos of my trip and the town, but I can't load them on here, you might have to wait til I get back to Melbourne to see photos. I'll see how I go.

So I'm 1700km north of Melbourne and having a great time so far. Rob & Rikki took me around today and showed me where everything is. It's a beautiful place, I'll go into the social side of stuff more later.

Love to you all, looks like I'll get to blog every couple of days after all!

Well I'm off now. I have 2 days of 800km per day ahead of me. I think I'm going to be rather tired by the time I get to Nimbin. I guess I'll blog when I can, until then, love to you all and goodbye!

Tomorrow is the day I head off to Nimbin! Yay! I'll probably stay overnight in Dubbo, which is about halfway. I'm really looking forward to it! I hope I get to meet lots of new people, see lots of great music and experience part of the country I haven't spent much time in. I love our country!

And I'm still in love with Jamie Cullum



I guess I'd better get back to the packing...

Synergy has moved over to My Space! We can now be found at:

http://myspace.com/synergybandsynergy

There you can listen to us, look at pictures, comment, see our upcoming gigs etc. Drop on by!

I leave for Nimbin this week. So my blogging may slow down. I'm not sure how often I'll get to jump on the net, we'll have to see. I'm really looking forward to going somewhere different! It's going to be great. I haven't been on a holiday for so many years that wasn't to either Melbourne or Tassie. I want to see some different places and meet new people. I'm also going to catch up wtih some friends of mine who live on the Gold Coast. I can't wait! I studied with them in Tassie, haven't seen them for about a year now. Whoo! HOLIDAYS ARE AWESOME!

Unfortunately Sabine isn't driving up with me on Wednesday anymore. She can't go away this week, so she's going to fly up next week and I'll pick her up from the airport. That means I'll have a week on my own. I hope that'll be ok.

Kathryn & I went shopping and did what normal people do on a Saturday afternoon. We bought coathangers, drank boost juice and tried on masks in K-Mart. Lots of fun! Yay for Darth Vader! The mask was kinda awful to wear actually, nto enough breathing space, you can't wear it for too long!


Awww! kathryn looking all excited about her coathangers and juice! And giant sticky tape of course.







Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na BATMAN!!!









I have no idea who this dude is, just wanted to try on every mask I could find.