It's a Beautiful Day!

After five days of intense production and preparations,  the Etihad Stadium was ready for the biggest rock show to visit Melbourne yet. More than 60,000 fans crammed into the Docklands venue for the beginning of the Australian leg of the enormous U2 360 tour.  A 250-man crew ensured that the enormous ''claw'' stage rose above the stadium's roof.  The claw itself stands 30.53 metres high (with the pylon, it's 51.8 metres) and is a sight to behold.

Now, you see the stage in the middle, and then a circular walk-way around it?  We managed to get in the bit between the stage  and the walkway!  There were turnstiles to the side of the walkway, and all it took was to ask and we were allowed in!!  And we managed to meet Emma in there too!  The 'inner circle' holds somewhere between 1500-2000 people so we were incredibly lucky to have been able to get in there!  Once we were in there, we had to have our necks stamped to be able to get back in!  And it was amazing!  It's really difficult to describe just how good it was - it was like being at a gig and a fairground all in one!  The band members walked across moving bridges over our heads to the walkways, so one minute they were in front of you, the next they were above you and the next behind you!

The pictures do not even begin to capture the night, but they're pretty good!

Jay-Z opened the show

Adam Clayton

The Edge

Bono

Larry Mullen Jnr

What time is it in the world?

Extended video screen in the middle of the stage

Setlist:

1. Return Of The Stingray Guitar
2. Beautiful Day / Blackbird (snippet)
3. New Year's Day
4. Get On Your Boots
5. Magnificent
6. Mysterious Ways
7. Elevation
8. Until The End Of The World
9. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Movin' On Up (snippet)
10. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of (dedicated to Michael Hutchence)
11. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
12. In A Little While
13. Miss Sarajevo
14. City Of Blinding Lights
15. Vertigo / Rockaway Beach (snippet)
16. Funky Town (snippet) / I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight / Relax (snippet) / Two Tribes (snippet)
17. Sunday Bloody Sunday
18. Scarlet
19. Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
encore(s):
20. One / I'll Stand By You (snippet)
21. Amazing Grace (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name
22. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
23. With Or Without You
24. Moment of Surrender

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!