Mornington Peninsula

In true 100mph fashion we decided to give the tennis a rest and get out of Melbourne in an effort to show Paul and Lorna (both new to Australia) some wildlife and some countryside. We hired a car from a company who employed a crazy girl from LA

(here is the car)



and we splashed out the extra $10 to get a sat nav because there was somewhere we needed to go in Melbourne before we headed south that a Sat Nav would take us straight to - one of the best known Australian streets for people in the UK - Pin Oak Court.

Don't recognise it? Perhaps you will recognise it from the photos.




Yep, you guessed it - home of Harold, Madge, Mrs Mangel and Helen Daniels (not forgetting Bouncer) - Ramsay Street.

I must admit when I suggested the trip (Katie and I had been there before) I thought that Lorna and Paul wouldn't really enjoy it but they both loved it! (as you can see from the sheer excitement in the photos). In fairness, this street played a huge part in the teenage years of most people our age so it is quite something to finally stand there. (even the 2nd time) Paul was never a huge Neighbours fan but even he conceded that it was pretty cool to be standing where Kylie had once tread.

Once we had gotten over the excitement we reprogrammed the SatNav and headed for a beautiful part of Victoria - the Mornington Peninsula and in particular Phillip Island where we had some more beer and caught up with some of the local wildlife.

an unimpressed Koala (you shouldn't call him a bear by the way)


A Kookaburra





The main attraction down at Phillip Island though is the dusk penguin march - we weren't allowed to take any photos so here is a penguin photographed yesterday to give you an idea what we saw......



ok, so that's obviously not right so here is a photo I found on the net that gives you more of an idea - picture thousands of penguins running up the beach to go and meet their kids and regurgitate some smelly fish;



It was one heck of a trip and it was a quick one - just an overnight stay so we packed in an awful lot. It was back to Melbourne for our final night and there had been another surprise development in our plans. An old friend of mine who I last saw in 1996 had flown into Melbourne especially to say hi. Tanya now lives in Cairns and has two wee kids, she was asking for everyone back home and said she has such fond memories of her time in Glasgow - she really hasn't changed a bit.



So that as they say was that - our time in Melbourne was at an end. We all flew out the next day and the way things worked Paul actually flew into Wellington an hour before Katie and I got there. When we arrived we were all absolutely knackered and Paul and I only had two days to prepare for the ACDC concert (as part of the surprise Paul had also booked a concert ticket - I was already going!). So in true Brown brother style we went to the pub and came second in the pub quiz to a team of 16.

Some more Tennis action

I am not going to bore you with all of our tennis shots (we have many) so this will be the final tennis post - if you want to see all the tennis shots then go to www.flickr.com/katieandsteph88

For the rest of the time at the Open we spent most of our time soaking up the atmosphere, soaking up the beer and basically cramming in as much action as possible.

Notable tennis highlights were:

1) Seeing Andy Murray play a few times and getting our Scotland flag signed.
2) Queueing for 3 hours to get tickets to the Rod Laver to see Federer.
3) Seeing the William's sisters play doubles.
4) Recording a segment for Eurosport where we had to walk towards the camera and shout C'mon Murray. I am not sure if it was ever broadcast but Lorna's brother said he did see us in the crowd at one point.

Here are the final tennis pics







I almost forgot - Prince William turned up at the Federer game - I'll bet he didn't queue for 3 hours.



He seemed like a good laugh though and when someone n the crowd shouted "give us a wave" - he laughed and did indeed give a wave! Good lad.

Australian Open

Once we had checked into our hostel we then had to plan our strategy for getting some maximum tennis action and trying to see most of Murray's games.

Katie had already managed to secure some tickets from her colleagues which was great but we had to plan when to use them to fit in everything we wanted to do whilst in Melbourne. Primarily we planned to drink beer and watch tennis but we did have other things to do as well.

Off we went to the tennis then and it was spectacular, they put on quite a show in Melbourne and we were all blown away with how simple everything was. The way it worked out it made sense for Lorna to become a Member (there was a decent package available that Katie already had as a member) so we got some more tickets and access to the members lounge.

On the first day we got into the Hisense arena and there we got to see Del Potro, Roddick, Henin and Dementieva. 4 big stars done in day 1. Here are some shots.









It's hard to describe exactly what the atmosphere was like but it was all pretty laid back mixed with almost a football type of supporter - singing songs, waving flags and generally having a good time.

Melbourne

Hi everyone,

we are back online and I have an awful lot of catching up to do with this blog so here goes!

As you probably know by now I had the surprise of a lifetime when I arrived tired and disorientated in Melbourne - if you remember Katie and I were only two days away from not getting to go at all because my visa hadn't been approved.

As Katie and I made our way down to collect our luggage, Katie started to suddenly act all strange. She wanted to nip out and "see about the buses" and then she said, "You've got to turn round and take a look at this guy behind you" and I thought, well I can't be that obvious but finally I turned around and there he was, a grinning big brother standing there with his camera out to take an action shot. I believe my surprised look here surpasses my Taggart suprised look from back when I was a child (ok 18) acting prodigy. ;o)



And then of course I realised what was going on, and that Katie was in on the whole thing. Here she is with me looking very pleased with herself for an amzing covert operation successfully completed.



And here am I with Paul - who also looks very pleased with himself for collaborating with Katie on possible the greatest surprise since the time I woke up on Christmas day to open an empty eggbox that directed me to look behind the curtain and I found a flippin snooker table! That was a classic from my Mum, Dad and Santa.

Well done to Paul and Katie (and everyone else who knew! It's not been confirmed if Santa played a part in this one or not) What had promised to be an amazing trip had just turned into a sensational one (just the type that journalists like eh Paul?)



And so, to the tennis we went...............

We are offline

Hi folks - we have an awful lot to report on but our home internet is still not working since our move.

here's a brief summary of what we have been up to...

1) Moved house
2) Eventually had our visas processed
3) Travelled to Melbourne
4) My brother surprised me by turning up
5) Watched the Australian Open
6) Visited the Mornington Peninsula to see some penguins
7) Visited some Koala's
8) back to Welly with Paul and went to ACDC concert.

Much more info and photos to follow,

SB

Beach Volleyball in Wellington

Katie and I spent a bit of this afternoon in the Wellington sunshine watching a Pro Beach Volleyball tour - here are some photos from where we were sitting.

The Wellington wind makes for an interesting game!

recent photo i took of wellington

This is actually 5 photos stitched together using some special magic

SB

Christmas message

It's a bit late due to severe technical difficulties but I have finally worked some magic to bring you our Christmas message (not as well known as the Queen's) from Matai Bay in the North of New Zealand.

Hope you enjoy it

Meeting Eithne

Hi All,

Steph's updated you on what a great xmas and new year we had, but I thought I'd also add our day trip to Waiheke Island on 28th Dec when we went to visit mum's best friend from PE College - Eithne Stirling from Stirling! Not knowing what to expect, we took the ferry to Waiheke where Eithne picked us up and duly whisked around the island on a whistle stop tour of some of the world's best wineries and some beautiful beaches (mum, you may recognise the one in the photo as apparently this is where you, Eithne and Sandy moored the boat to gut some fish you'd caught only to be confronted by a few interesting sights on the beach :-) We then headed back to Eithne's gorgeous boutique B&B to drink bubbles and beer at 11.30am and have a fabulous lunch before she bundled us back onto the ferry. All in all, it was a lovely trip, so nice to meet Eithne and hear all about her and mum's escapades. We also met 12 year old snake that mum you may recognise too......

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all!

Here are some photos from our crazy New year with Iain and Lorna - the highlights were:

1) Free bubbly in the bar we went to

2) Iain and I attracting attention in our kilts

3) Talking rubbish to anyone who would listen

4) Dancing until 5am

I'm sure I will share some stories soon - I am sitting up just now watching the Rangers v Celtic game online on Al Jazeera 3 - who said these guys were bad guys? I just hope they don't interrupt the game for a live beheading or anything!