Holiday Snaps

Snaffled the camera from Plumbing Boy so here a a few holiday snaps. We were staying with PB's best mate Mr D in their family holiday home. Mr D has been having family holidays there since he was 5 ish. PB used to holiday up there in his teens with Mr D.

The new deck. It was replaced & doubled in size prior to Christmas. It was brilliant! They've also had a couple of tree's lopped so you can see the ocean.

New outdoor setting.

The "Wombat" lounging on the day bed.

The new bird feeder. Used to be up the other end of the deck. Mr D's dad used to hand feed the Kookaburra's raw mince meat placed on his tongue (gross) when he was alive. The Sulfur Crested Cockatoo's have moved in already, there were 6 at once one morning. The parrots are slowly returning. I saw a Kookaburra in one of the tree's but they haven't yet embraced the new deck.

Me at dinner at the golf club, taken by Tess. See my new hair? Red Stripes go orange in sea water!

View out the window at the golf club. And yes, some of them did have the kanga for dinner. I stuck with the parma.

Tess ready for her first motorbike lesson.

In the middle of the lesson. She did really well & didn't stall the bike once, however the lesson ended in tears when she dropped the bike as she came to a stop, not managing to get a foot to the ground & hold the bike up. I've dropped it myself doing the same thing. It is bloody heavy. It was funny watching PB chase her around as her steering was a little all over the joint. She does 6 hours of gymnastics a week so has a really strong core & excellent balance - she did far better than any of Mr D's kids or Mrs D or myself. She didn't have another go though. Maybe next year.

Finally, the roller coaster at Magic Mountain. I think I rode it 8 times straight. PB said it was really lame. I've not been on too many coasters, but it certainly wasn't the Lethal Weapon ride!

February is for Fitness

Or my lack there of!

Feeling like a bit of a lump & 3kgs over my magic number where I'm supposed to pull my head in & focus on good eating & exercise! How the hell did that happen.

Anyhoo. Started a Feb is for Fitness campaign last Monday with the view to exercise everyday & cut out the booze Sunday to Thursday (read wine with dinner).

Monday 1st: tready 45 mins, push ups, abs, stretches
Tuesday 2nd: Body Balance Class
Wednesday 3rd: THT class (I am still recovering!)

Then it went down hill. I was supposed to go to Pump Thursday night, but was very sore from the night before & my parents were visiting from the country. And I then had a beer with dinner.

Friday night we had a social club function for work (movies & dinner) which I'd planned to walk to & from (30 mins); but Mum & Dad's flight was delayed so was taking them to the airport as the movie started. Did manage to go & see something else, but no time to walk.

Saturday I was just slack. I went to Geelong to visit Grandma (94) who had been accepted into another nursing home (she hates the one she's in); then they reneged as they thought she was a full paying customer & wants another 100K on top of her original deposit. The family decided they don't have the funds for that so she is back on the waiting list. The place she is in is quite nice & clean, but the staff's attention to detail leaves a lot to be desired. Grandma's other complaint is the lack of food! She's a hearty eater & cant cope with the smaller portions. Mum said Grandma took the news better than she did, but worried she'd crash on the weekend hence my visit as she & her sister (Grandma's closest kids & regular visitors) are in Perth this week.


After listening to Grandma's woes (lack of food, sore nose, sore toe) & helping her remember stuff, I went to visit my friend D who recently found me. We were both a bit nervous, but the magic was still there & we were able to talk & laugh & reminisce without any awkwardness at all. I got to her place around 3.30pm & 5 minutes later, or so it seemed it was 6.45pm & time to get home! We're already planning another catch up with a sleep over involved :0) I grinned all the way home.

Um - back to fitness.

Sunday 7th - 35 minute tready walk with 3 x 3- 4 minute runs. Push ups, Abs, Stretches. Trying to ease back into running without breaking either my foot or knee. Both were good afterwards & Ok today. Wine with dinner. I just had to finish the bottle I'd started Saturday otherwise in this weather it have gone off!!!!

Exercise 4/7
No Booze week nights 3/7

There is room for improvement!

Right now I am yet again procrastinating about going to my fave boxing class because I just feel too unfit. What a tool I am. JUST DO IT. Well. I think I've run out of time this week, but definitely next week :p

PS Ute - sorry about the lack of pic's. PB seems to have swallowed the camera. Plus the friends who we went with, the Mum is extremely anti having their family pic's on the net, hence having to delete a few FB albums!

I'm Baackk

Yup. I'm back from a week on the coast. Weather wasn't bad. Got myself a bit of a tan & No sunburn :0)

Wont bore you with a long rambling post about spending a week with a 6 year old boy & 10, 12 & 14 year old girls. They all know how to braid hair now bar the boy.

I went on the roller coaster 8 times in a row at Magic Mountain & got a big fat headache for my effort: the 10 & 14 y/o's were both scaredy so had to go on a few times with them. It was pretty lame, but the 12 year old & i got in trouble for letting go of the bar & waving our hands in the air as we coasted down (just like they do in the movies!). Bah.

Went scuba diving once. The water was very very cold. We were befriended by a purple wrass who wanted snacks. He was almost head butting us. Very funny.

We watched stingray's come in at dusk from the jetty looking for food. The 10 year old was terrified & stopped jumping in the water. The 12 year old paddled on the shore line with them. I was too cold to get in the water & watched them from above. The biggest one probably spanned almost a metre. Very Very cool to watch.

Saw Bran Nue Dae - the PG rating was a questionable. I think the 10 & 12 year old could have done without watching it. It was very funny though & I'd like to see it again so I can laugh more instead of being mortified about my niece & god daughter seeing stuff that's not really appropriate for them.

Flight up was uneventful. The 7 hour drive home was long. I've done 10 loads of washing since I've been back - my house feels like washing land!

K. Time to pack up & get outta here. February is for fitness & I'm going to the gym.

Later..................

Shadow

Sorry for my absence of late. While every other bastard has been on annual leave I've been getting down & dirty with plumbing van cleaning, tooling & stock taking. My finger nails were already cactus from the acrylics I had installed for the wedding (which I since uninstalled) & having my hands elbow deep in dirt & grime has not been helping. Dems the breaks though.

We had plumbing boy's 15 year old niece stay for a week. I had a permanent shadow. How do you people with Kids do it??? I guess you have time to get used to it. She's a lovely lovely girl & worked hard (paid office work) all week, but having to constantly answer questions etc was a bit challenging. She wasn't interested in going to watch a movie or just read her book when she could be hanging out with us: she saved that for when we were sleeping! I guess I should take it as a compliment.

That was shadow number 1. Shadows 2 & 3 weren't so pleasant. The same 15 year old opened up to me about some of the stuff that has been happening in her life, 3 hours & half a box of tissues later we were all cried & talked out. I cant really change her situation for her. Neither can she. But she is the responsible one in her family & at such a young age has had to bare so much stuff that shouldn't have even entered her head. She is also a wise old soul & considers much, again, stuff I wouldn't have thought about at such a young age. I hope I reinforced enough that we are there for her & that no matter what happens in her life or ours: there is space for her with us physically & emotionally.

Shadow number 3: a good friend's dad was diagnosed with cancer between Christmas & New Years. Its a 10 hour drive for this friend to come home to see her Dad & she has 2 young kids. She packed them up & headed down to see him straight away. He was given 6 months to live. He decided not to go down the road of Chemo, believing he'd had a good life & wanted to go on his own terms. He passed away Monday. I'm glad he didn't have a long drawn out passing. But, needless to say it's been a shock for my friend who called in tears Monday night.

Doom & Gloom asides, I'm off on holidays on Saturday. Heading up the NSW coast to Merimbula for a week. We are staying with PB's best mate & family, who have been there since before Christmas. PB left this morning (drove up) & I am flying up on the weekend with my niece Tess. It will be nice to get away after the madness that is December/January in plumbing land.

I've been back to the gym too - Sunday was my first time since I buggered my knee. I've done plenty of walking & labouring at work, just no structured exercise. Sunday I fast walked on the tready for 45 mins then did an hour of free weights followed by a bit of core stuff. Last night I did a body balance class, tonight I am planning on THT class. Thursday I'm out for a much needed colour (& cut). Friday Tess arrives.

Will do a fair bit of walking in Merimbula, PB & I usually walk the 5 kms into Pambula for coffee every morning with which ever kid(s) is awake (& walk back) while their parents sleep in. We enjoy the time with the kids, the coffee & the fresh air.

Saw Avatar - LOVE LOVE LOVED IT! Saw the Lovely Bones, still not sure on that one. Have read more Vampire books (courtesy of my shadow) as there is nada on the box at the moment.

Anyhoo. I've wasted far too much time today - was on hold to our fave telco for 45 mins sorting out phone plans; followed by senis sorting out yellow pages payments, & a plethora of other BORING shite i'd put off til my office assistant came back from annual leave.

K. have a good week & I'll be back in a week or so.........

Lost & Found

Ute (hi Ute!) did an interesting series of posts recently on best friends or friendship stages she’s had so far in her life (as did Slyde - hi Slyde!). It got me thinking at the time about my own friendships. I’ve had a few intense friendships that I believe were only supposed to be short lived, but I’m also lucky enough to have some long term ones as well.

I went to a very small primary school of 42 kids in total. Our grade had 7 kids, 4 girls & 3 boys. I always felt a bit on the outer with the girls: the other 3 girls were quite good friends & lived closer together. The boys all lived within 2kms of me & I saw more of them socially & sportwise than the girls (I wasn't really sporty, but my parents played tennis with their parents).

My sister (18 months younger) had a best friend who lived next door (a couple of paddocks away) & we’d often all play together, but again I was on the outer. When we played ABBA, I had to be one of the boys as they were blond & red haired therefore perfect to play the girls.

Even when we played super hero’s I was aquaman (don't ask me why!). I know my sister was always wonderwoman, can’t remember who her friend played! BTW their friendship has survived despite some challenges recently & have remained good friends for 35 years now.

I was probably better friends with our family church friends in primary school, but most of them went to primary school in town.

When I went to high school, it was me & the boys to one town; the other girls all went to another town. I went from 42 kids to 365. I was naive & year 7 was quite scary to me.

Then I hooked up with D. She was brave, fearless, smoked & knew how to speak to boys. By year 8 we were inseparable & remained besties till she left.

I won a diligence award in year 7; when I failed to do the same in year 8, I was wild with my Mum because she arranged for me to be moved into a different class to get me away from the bad influence known as “D”.

I remember fighting so hard with my Ma. I can see now she was trying to protect me, but I can also see I was right with many of my arguments. Mum can be just as prejudice now. Her issue then was D had a single mum who smoked! I don’t think Mum has the capacity to knowingly be friends with someone who smokes, she just loathes it! Most people who know this & are somewhat friendly with her hide it from her. She’d be mortified if she knew just how many people have the wool pulled over her eyes!

Back to the story. I mean D even joined our local church & got herself some religion, but still, I had to fight tooth & nail with Mum to keep D as a friend. Mum did (& still does) revere peeps with some religion - therefore I could not see her problem with D. She just didn't like her.

Midway through year 11, D left for full time work & moved 30kms into Warrnambool. She had a boyfriend who was older & I guess we gradually lost contact as she went deeper into him & I gearing into year 12 study. Neither of us were licensed to drive & had to rely on our families for transport which didn’t help.

I finished year 12 & moved to Melbourne (one of 2 from our class of 18; wasn't friends with the other). I was sent (got into on my natural charm!) to a Baptist youth hostel in the eastern suburbs. 21 girls in 1 building, 21 guys in the other, never the twain shall meet. I was the only chick who drank & the only smoker for the 1st 12 months. Needless to say I hung out a lot more with the guys that the girls.

Don’t get me wrong, they were all lovely people, I just didn’t have a great deal in common, or perhaps wasn’t “goody” enough to maintain a friendship with any of them, although we shared 3 to a room 2 years running! I guess I wasn’t interested in pursuing that particular side of life…..most of the girls just wanted to get married & breed & become leaders back at home in their church communities. I wanted to go to the pub.

Mid way through my 2nd year at the Baptist hostel, a girl I did year 12 with called me. She’d just moved up to Melbourne to start a TAFE course & had called my parents for my number. I was shocked, she was one of the cool kids & we weren’t friends at school. We didn’t dislike each other, just had never hung together.

I went out that night with T & we have been best friends ever since. She was living in a convent in East Melbourne for the first 2 months, then moved into a house also in East Melbourne & I moved in with her at the end of the uni year as Mum & Dad had paid by board up until then.

T & I went out bucket loads, saw a lot of bands, kissed a lot of boys. One night we met a guy Matt who played in a band & saw him a fair bit out & about. Neither of us were interested in Matt in THAT way, but he was fairly interested in both of us. Unfortunately he forgot to tell us he had a girlfriend. We found out about her in the following weeks. By this time I’d left uni altogether & was working for well know Mexican restaurant chain & received a frantic call from T late one arvo saying hurry up & come home Matt’s girlfriend has called & she’s coming over to visit & wants to talk to both of us! Don’t leave me alone with her!!!

It was a week night so I think I got home around 10pm to find the pair of them roaring drunk on the cask K had bought with her. It appeared K had more in common with us than Matt & ended the relationship not long after & T, K & I all moved in together. T went back to uni at 22 completely immersing herself in her degree, then lived interstate for 5 years for work after that. K headed overseas around then too & I was quite lonely during that period (almost 10 years).

Although I was living with Plumbing Boy by then, it wasn’t the same as having my girlfriends. I would have been lost without my sister during this time & I am lucky to count her as one of my closest friends (as is now my darling cousin Jax whom I’ve had the pleasure of watching grow from a child into a smart, generous & caring young lady).

I am very lucky to have such beautiful friends in T & K for over 20 years now. While K has spent probably the last 16 overseas we still try to holiday together when we can & are still so close that she surprised me by coming out from Hong Kong just for the weekend, for my hens night in October. T lives a couple of suburbs away & while we are both busy with our work lives & only see each other every month or so, we are only a phone call away, as is K & we would all drop everything for each other should the need arise.

But. I’ve often wondered what happened to D. I’ve googled her, looked on FB & the schools type friend finder every 6 months or so for the past couple of years. Imagine my surprise last week when she FB’d me!!!!

She has a married name & I dropped the O out of my name, so it took her a while to find me, but did via someone else! I am so excited! She has 3 kids (one is 18) & has survived some very challenging times, but sounds like herself. Better yet, she’s just down the road in Geelong. She too has looked for me off & on over the years.

It’s early days yet, but we are hoping to get together soon & see each other face to face. I know that life will have changed both of us, but I hope we can have a meaningful friendship. I know I struggle sometimes keeping in contact with the family & friends I do have already. PB discourages me from making too many new friends – he believes it is better to cultivate the friends you already have, i.e. quality over quantity. I can see where he is coming from, but – you’ve just got to be open to new friendships, otherwise you might miss out on making some awesome friends. I wouldn't be here otherwise :0)

Lucky for me, D’s was just lost.

The Wedding, Part 4

Ceremony & Reception.

Jax’s brother J had been entertaining our guests on guitar, we gave him the signal & he wound up his tune & our god daughters started up their wedding march, S (12) on Keyboard & vocals & M (14) on Viola. S had done an arrangement to include a viola solo, so the tune went for quite a while (6 minutes?).

It is You (I have loved)

There is something that I see
In the way you look at me
There's a smile, there's a truth in your eyes
But an unexpected way
On this unexpected day
Could it mean this is where I belong
It is you I have loved all along

It's no more mystery
It is finally clear to me
You're the home my heart searched for so long
And it is you I have loved all along

There were times I ran to hide
Afraid to show the other side
Alone in the night without you
But now I know just who you are
And I know you hold my heart
Finally this is where I belong
It is you I have loved all along

It's no more mystery
It is finally clear to me
You're the home my heart searched for so long
And it is you I have loved all along

Over and over I'm filled with emotionYour love, it rushes through my veins
And I am filled With the sweetest devotio
As I, I look into your perfect face
It's no more mystery
It is finally clear to me
You're the home my heart searched for so long
And it is you I have loved
It is you I have loved
It is you I have loved all along

The ceremony was on the board walk in front of the surf club & luckily we had quite a bit of decking we could use as the aisle. Tess, who’d been quite nervous the day before decided she was fine to walk first as she could see Mum & Dad waiting for her at the half way mark & a lot of the guest were out of view from where we started. Next walked Sis & Jax together, & finally T & K a step only in front of me.

Originally I wanted all 5 of us (me, sis, Jax T & K) to walk together in a line, no-one before, no-one behind, more a sign of unity & friendship, but it looked a bit stupid & there wasn’t enough space. When we got to Mum & Dad I hugged Sis, T & K in turn while Tess then continued on followed by Jax, then Mum & Dad linked arms on either side of me & walked me the rest of the way to PB (Fi, T & K followed behind).

The celebrant did the giving away – the variety of me not being property to be bought or sold though, & do I come of my own free will & do I come with my families blessing who accompany me today. Next was a bit of a welcome about us & our relationship.

My Sis then read this:
“Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet. That would mean that security is out of the question. The words "make" and "stay" become inappropriate. My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free.”


Jax read this:
Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore
Let thy love play upon my voice and rest on my silence.
Let it pass through my heart into all my movements.
Let thy love like stars shine in the darkness of my sleep and dawn in my awakening.
Let it burn in the flame of my desires.
And flow in all current of my own love.
Let me carry thy love in my life as a harp does its music, and give it back to thee at last with my life.

***at this point Paul returned with the video camera!!!! Sis got the vow’s on tape.

Then the formal stuff the celebrant has to say by law, the asking & of course the vows:

I call upon the persons present to witness that I PB, take you CM be my lawful wedded husband. Well, you finally got me Cat, my eternal mate, generous, always considering others before yourself. Thank you for your patience in our journey together as I can be a schmuck at times. You are my greatest supporter no matter how tough the going gets. I will always support you with the same love & strength you have shown me unconditionally. You are kind hearted & you always loved & cared for me not matter what. We have laughed, cried & smiled together throughout our journey through good & hard times. You are always (well, most of the time except when you are watching reality television) interested in what I have to say & do. I cannot imagine my life without you in it. Today, I want to make a promise to you & to myself, in front of our friends & family, present & passed, to love, honor, protect, care & respect you for the rest of my life.

*** of course at the reality television line & I threw my head back & laughed; as did the guests. PB was holding on to me so tightly he cut of the blood circulation in my fingers. I thought I’d be the one who would cry my way through my vows, but surprisingly I didn’t. I did tear up while PB read his vows; he was quite choked up too.

PB, my soul mate, my best friend. You are honest, brave & wise. You are kind hearted & you always love me, no matter what. You make me smile, you stick up for me, you take care of me and you are always (well, most of the time) interested in what I have to say and do. I cannot imagine my life without you in it. Today, I want to make a promise to you and to myself, in front of our friends and family, to love and honor, protect and respect you for the rest of my life.

*** I kind of felt my vows were a bit short in the end. I didn’t think PB would want something too long, so tried to keep it simple for him. He’d had mine to use as a guide, but I had no idea what he was going to say.

Pronounced Husband & Wife! J played John Lee Hookers “Mr Lucky” while we signed our marriage certificate & I quietly slipped on my wedding bands Jax had been wearing (to look after them for the afternoon). Dad did an amazing blessing. I don’t have it in writing yet & must get it from him. My parents are quite religious & while we wanted a non religious ceremony I though having Dad do a blessing would allow them to share their faith in some way. Dad basically said that he hoped our guests would go home with the peace & love in their hearts that PB & I had shared with them today.

Then we had J fire up his guitar playing Stevie Ray Vaughan’s "Mary Had a Little Lamb" as the recessional, as our guests followed us to the other end of the board walk while Peta raced up to the balcony of the surf club to take a group shot.

We did a few family photos on the balcony upstairs & then got down to the business of dinner. The food was fabulous. We had a bit of a Mediterranean BBQ Theme:

Starters:
#Vegetarian mixed Bruschetta
#Antipasto Plates

Mains:
#Charcoal Grilled/BBQ'd Portugese style whole butterflyed chicken
#Charcoal Grilled Greek Lamb
#Charcoal Grilled Beef garlic & red wine marinade

Sides:
#Garlic & Parsley Roasted Kipfler spuds
#Garlic & rosemary roasted pumpkin
#Panzanella Salad
#Potato salad (traditional style)
#Deb's "warming salad"

Desert
#Vahlrona Chocolate Tart
#Lemon & Lime Tart with syllabub
#Pavlova with mixed berries

To be honest, I really didn’t eat a lot. The champagne was good though! I tried to get around & chat to everyone before the band fired up as I knew I would be on the dance floor then! Our band was AWESOME! Richard learned the Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil" for us. We hadn’t really planned on having a bridal waltz, but had joked about this song with Richard. He played a couple of tunes (I'd already started dancing, but PB was still chatting), then Richard basically announced that it was about time the bride & groom had a dance & fired up Sympathy.

Of course we both just had to dance. At least half our guests joined us. We continued to dance the night away. The Kids went home around 10.30pm during which we managed to do the speeches. Again totally unscripted & simple. Best man welcomed us & did a toast to the bridesmaid/flowergirl. I did most of the thank you’s then PB added on a few. We’ve since watched to footage my sister took & were really happy with the speeches despite lack of writing anything down. Although we did forget to formally thank Tess & G & I felt really bad especially about Tess; but I’ve since given a thankyou gift & card & same for G.

What party is complete without a physical accident? Usually if someone is going to hurt themselves or fall down it’s me. I’d kicked my shoes off first dance & most of the girls did the same & were all dancing in bare feet. K had a black toenail already from another incident & someone trod on the same toe, tearing most of it off. Blood everywhere! Dad did an emergency run to the hospital with K accompanied by T. They were back within 30 minutes, toe disinfected & bandaged, tetanus shot issued. Luckily she was numb with champers so didn’t feel much.

Finally we boarded the bus for the trip home. I instructed my cousins to grab any opened bottles of wine on the tables (as we’d paid for them). The bus driver was lovely & let us stop off at the all night service station for supplies. J played us an acoustic rendition of Killing in the Name of on the way home, completely priceless. We all sung to our hearts content. Not sure if Jules has recovered from the language yet, but it was pretty funny.

We finally made it home & partied on in to the wee hours of the morn. I think I crawled into my bed around 6am. That was how we’d planned it & didn’t worry about that first romantic night together! That was to happen in Port Douglas. Alas no luck then either.

I don’t think I’d change much. There were a few minor details I should have done myself & a few things I shouldn’t have worried about in the first place, but we had such a good time!!!!! So many laughs!! We didn’t stop smiling once we were finally together. I don’t recall having a tired face (champers is good!). We did ourselves proud. We made our commitment formal & had a fabulous meal & sensational party to celebrate with our friends & family.

And if you’ve read this far, well done! I know there is a lot of detail, but I wanted to capture it all for when the memory starts to fade & my brain goes a bit dim. I like to be able to read back over & remember all the little bits & pieces. So, thank you for indulging me.

The Wedding, Part 3

The Photography:

Before she’d come to photograph us girls getting ready, Peta had been to photograph the boys & had left them instructions as to where & when to meet us. Our destination was Granny’s Grave, a local surf beach named in memory of the first white woman born in Warrnambool. Her grave is in the sand dunes overlooking this particular beach. We were originally going to have photo’s taken at the middle island beach, but as the day was warm & that was the best beach for kids, there would have been a million kiddlets all running about. Not so conducive to private photography.

We jumped out of the limo & wandered down the pathway to granny’s grave which was where the boys were waiting at the look out. PB was suitably impressed with his bridal wench & said I looked a bit of all right! We kicked off our shoes & Peta took heaps of photos on the beach – smooching, snuggling, walking hand in hand, from in front, from behind. We even did the O what a feeling shot in the Toyota advert. By now we were quite windblown & my hair was a bit all over the place.

Next stop was Flag Staff Hill. We’d negotiated entry (at a price) to have photo’s taken on the old boats, however on arrival, the other bridal party (who was having their ceremony & reception on site) were having their photos taken so we weren’t allowed inside. We were allowed in the “free” area & took some photos with the light house & in front of a blue stone cottage. Peta had bought a CD player & played “Leave your hat on” asking us to all dance & get a little down & sexay! Was pretty funny. I don’t actually like many of the photos taken at this site, but there are a couple of priceless ones – Dave doing his Michael Jackson impersonation; & a group one with T & K on either end with 1 foot kicked up.

Finally it was time for the boys to head to the ceremony location & help the musicians set up. At this point PB says to me, “has K got her blackberry”? Yes I say, why? “I need my vows”. What! I say, didn’t you email them the celebrant???? He’d written them that morning between 9 & 11am (I'd written mine a month ago & given them to him to copy off). “Yes, but I need to print the out”. Why I ask, “I haven’t learned them yet”. Bless him. I thought he was just a bit nervous about the ceremony. You don’t have to learn them you goose, the celebrant will read each line out & you repeat it after her! She explained this at the practice!!! “Oh” he says. “I guess as usual I wasn’t listening”. The flood of relief on his face was pretty funny.

The boys depart & we jump back into the limo & head for Thunder Point, another spot overlooking the ocean, but with limestone cliffs. We did shots first of Tess then Tess Jax & I popping out of the sun roof of the limo. Then we clambered down the rocks. This location has some brilliant shots of me with my dress billowing out in the wind. While we were there, 6 prime movers rocked up so Peta asked if we could take a photo in front of one of the trucks. No worries they say. I even have a picture with two of the younger truck drivers in their blue singlets, work boots & stubbie shorts.

Time to head to the ceremony. All of us have hair everywhere. None of us packed hair spray! Quick ring around & best mans wife has some in her car at the venue. Our limo driver’s ears picked up & suggested we pop in to his place as it is on the way & he’s pretty sure his wife has hair spray. What a gem that man was! Was great because we could all use the loo too. One of Pauls kids took K for a guided tour around the house & we even met the family cat.

Back into the limo & we are 5 minutes away. One last chug of champers & we exit the limo for the last time, thanking Paul profusely for all his help. Sis all of a sudden realises she’s left her video camera back at Thunder Point – she’d been filming the day & had put it down when she we required to clamber the rocks to get a photo with me. Oh Noes! Paul offers to go back for it. Bless him – he was a legend.

Quick application of lippie & we were ready to go. Time to get HITCHED!