Last Valentine’s day my mum surprised us all by proposing to Darren. They planned to get married in 2009 which would be their 20th anniversary. We had many conversations about the wedding over Skype and I witnessed a renewed romantic spark in their relationship. They decided to have the wedding in my aunt and uncle, Lyn and Biddy’s, garden. They chose to make it a double wedding with my cousin Pip and her partner Geoff.

The wedding took place on the 14th of February 2009. It was a great celebration with lots of family and old friends. It was a very special day and many people commented on how good it was to get everyone together for a big celebration.

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This Australia day weekend we were busy working on our property up the mountain. Since our last visit Steve Hart (the local farmer) had been up and slashed the road for us. He said it only took him 15 minutes and would cost $15 – the best 15 bucks we’ve ever spent! We could actually walk up the road this time rather than crawling on our hands and knees. It was a rainy, misty weekend and we both had a great time getting in and doing some hard physical labour. It feels like another world up there. We even participated in the annual McKellar Range work day and had a BBQ with all the old-timers.

By far the best Christmas present we got this year was our planter from Mark’s parents. It is called a four layer stacking garden and is perfect for growing plants in small spaces. In our case we have filled it with herbs and tomatoes. As soon as we returned from holidays we went to Northey Street City Farm to pick up some organic seedlings. We bought two types of cherry tomatoes, italian parsley, mint, bush and sweet basil, thyme, aloe vera, citronella (to help control the mossies), lemon grass, chili and rosemary. When we were visiting my aunt we also picked up a few cuttings and seedlings from her abundant garden including tumeric and another variety of citronella. Continue reading…

This New Year’s Eve we decided to get away from all the hustle and bustle. We picked up our friends Nat and Mike from Caloundra and drove into the sun to find a camping ground. We made our way to Boreen Point which has bushland camping on the shore of the largest lake on the Noosa River – Lake Cootharaba. We stayed at Elanda Point camp grounds which is lovely and shady and has its own resident kangaroos. The campsite has great amenities, but my big complaint is that in spite of their location in a beautiful natural area they do not recycle. At times like Christmas and NYE tonnes of waste are created and sadly, it was all sent to landfill.

The weather was absolutely scorching and unfortunately there was no relief to be found in shallow lake Cootharaba, which felt like a hot bath. Continue reading…

We had an amazing Australian Christmas this year. We were spoiled by Keith and Micky who had arranged a very special celebration at their home in Bangalow, NSW. They have an amazing home and are great hosts so it was a treat to be invited to theirs for Christmas. Bangalow also has a great street party on Christmas Eve with a samba marching band and all! After a welcome cocktail (cosmo of course) we headed down to join the festivities and had a delicious dinner at Ate. On Christmas day there were a few sore heads but nothing that couldn’t be soothed by Mickey’s delicious Eggs Benedict. After a rest we all piled into the car to Broken Head for a picnic (a scrumptious smoked chicken and mango salad with champagne) and a swim. All in all a very memorable first Australian Christmas for Mark and I. Thanks boys!

After Christmas we went up to Dad’s property in the McKellar Range. The property hasn’t been lived on for fifteen years so it was a feat to make it up to the house. The land is completely overgrown and the driveway is not drivable. Continue reading…

Since our last update we have been enjoying making our new home more green and trying out some of the great environmental initiatives here in Brisbane. Although we don’t have a backyard we just couldn’t bear throwing our scraps in the rubbish bin any longer so we have gone ahead and bought a Bokashi bin. A Bokashi bin is like a compost bin except that instead of decomposing your waste it ferments it using anaerobic bacteria. This is great for flats because it doesn’t smell. The QLD government is currently offering a 50% rebate for these bins along with a $200 rebate on water efficient appliances, so we have applied for both of these (we bought a water-efficient washer last month). So now with our recycling and our compost bins we will produce very little landfill waste. Through its fermentation process, the Bokashi bin also creates a great liquid plant food which we will use to get our herb garden up and running. We are hoping to give the solid waste it creates to a local farmer who we have been put in touch with through Food Connect. Continue reading…

It has been a stressful couple of weeks, but we have finally moved into our flat and I am now gainfully employed! It took a lot of energy to get here, but we did it. I wish someone would have told me the amount of pressure moving and getting set up puts on you. To anyone who is thinking of moving cities or countries: be healthy and strong because your body will need it. Unfortunately, I haven’t been so lucky. After six gleeful years living without a doctor in the UK I have been to the doctor twice in the six weeks I’ve been back in Australia. I’ve had the flu, cracked a rib, put my back out, got a rash and lost weight!

Putting the dramas and injuries aside, we are both loving Brisbane and the surrounding areas. Continue reading…

The words “I can’t believe we are moving to a city neither of us know” were the first to come out of my mouth as we flew into Brisbane. All of a sudden I felt very nervous and disorganized. “Where are we going to live… where am I going to work?”. Reality is a funny thing. I had been so busy dreaming about our move but didn’t actually have a concrete plan. Thankfully everything came together for us at the last minute. Michelle was a saving grace and offered us a room for our first few nights, and Nat’s uncle rented us his flat in Morningside until we found our own place (into which we have yet to move…).

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We flew into Sydney as the sun was rising and the city looked spectacular – the harbour was sparkling and the icons were all on show. I couldn’t help but feel a bit choked up. We had a quick stopover in Sydney for my best friend Beth’s wedding. Unfortunately, the holiday was over for Mark: back to work (in internet cafes!); but we did sneak in a few nice Sydney things. We had sushi (several times) and a picnic in the botanical gardens on a picture perfect day with Nat and Mike. Since arriving in Australia we’ve had catch up after catch up with old friends. It has been so exciting to see everyone and people have been so accommodating and helpful to us. Continue reading…