Got your number!

People who know me well will know that back in the UK Lou and I would like to dress up and do something silly - usually in the name of charity (although not always!)  This hasn't happened in Australia......until now....for Movember!

Throughout November,  the men that grow Movember moustaches are known as Mo Bros.  They become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November and through their actions and words raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.

The women that get involved are known as Mo Sistas, and together with the Mo Bros, money is raised and (in Australia) is shared equally between programs targeting prostate cancer and male depression for research, education, support, and awareness.

I managed to convince a friend of mine, Diane, that it was a good idea to enter a 5km race for Movember.  Mo Bros run with their moustaches, and Mo Sistas wear a false moustache or draw one on.  To really get into the spirit of things, I persuaded Diane that we should go for the whole 118-118 costume!  And oh yes, we had made more effort than most!  It was a great run around Albert Park lake on the 25th November, and great fun!  Diane had never entered a run before and didn't think she'd run the whole thing - but she did and we came 116th out of 295 entrants!  Very proud of us!

And yes - there are photos to prove we did it.....

Beautiful Day at Phillip Island

Now that we have the car, we can make the most of sunny days and head off for a trip in the car.  Phillip Island is about 2 hours from where we live, and well worth the trip.

First stop, Cape Woolamai - to a beautiful surfer's beach, where there really is nothing but sand and surf!

Next stop - Cowes for lunch.  Cowes is a lovely little seaside town, so after lunch we walked to the end of the pier and then stopped by the beach for an ice cream.  I was just thinking how lovely it was, when Darren said that something had hit his back and he wasn't sure what it was.  When I looked, a seagull had pooped on his back - oh how I chuckled!!!  (He did too - after a fashion!).

Finally, on our way back, we stopped at the Koala Conservation Centre - the photos don't do them justice!

 

What a great day!

Australian Masters 2010

Yesterday we went to a sporting even that we haven't yet been to in Australia - the Australian Masters at the Victoria Golf Club.  All week, temperatures had been in the late twenties/early thirties, with beautiful sunny days, but following a storm the night before, we awoke to constant rain!  The forecast was for a month's rain in a day and 24 hour constant rain - marvellous!

Not to be deterred, Darren, Mark and I headed to the course - and Darren got to buy a new golf umbrella so he was chuffed!  The rain eased for a while - only to start again after lunch!  We perservered for quite a few hours, before calling it a day and heading  for a coffee to warm up!

Really good day though - the highlight for me being a freebie golf ball that doubled as a pair of binolulars!  So as you will see from these photos, the binoculars and Tiger Woods star, as he's the only golfer I really knew!  And the photos of Tiger aren't great, as obviously you can't take pictures when they're taking a shot!

 And we got to see a Kookaburra!

Mabel's 7th birthday

Being in Australia, we can't be with a lot of people that we'd like to be with on their birthday, however, being on the other side of the world, we are closer to my brother and family than we were in the UK.  So November 6th we were able to be with my niece, Mabel, for her 7th birthday.  With the unpredictable Melbourne weather ranging from 13 to 30 at the mo, we were very pleased to wake up on Mabel's birthday to glorious sunshine - perfect for her birthday bbq!  Beautiful weather and a beautiful birthday girl - obviously she is the star of these photos:

Thank you to the Perry's for a great day!

Darren's 2nd Oz Birthday!

For Darren's 2nd birthday, after Skyping with Darren's sister (lovely to speak to you!) we decided to go for a meal at our local Italian restaurant in Brighton - Il Caminetto.  Taking this photo I did wonder how many photos we have of each of us sat across a table in the same pose!

For Darren's birthday present I'd got us tickets to see the Four Nations rugy at AAMI Park - England v Australia.  And we got to see Brian McFadden play before the game!

Obviously on this occasion we were supporting England, and were therfore slightly outnumbered!

We had amazing seats - right on the try line - however we didn't get to see England win.  The ref must have been biased though as he let the Aussies have 3 very dodgy tries!

The first Tuesday of November is Melbourne Cup Day, and it's a Public Holiday in Victoria so we get the day off work - yay!!!  Now that we have a car, we decided to take it on it's first trip to the Mornington Peninsula - coffee at Arthur's Seat and then lunch at Rye Pier - lovely!