Melbourne, my love.

Finally - I've got my arse into gear. Here's the down low on my recent trip to Melbourne. Some highlights and photos.

Hmmm...Where to start? In the words of Sista Maria: "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start."

HEN'S NIGHT SATURDAY

I arrived in Melbourne at 6.30pm to a rainy Melbourne wearing a thermal top and a fleece (possibly a little bit overkill). The rain was unexpected, but a welcome surprise. After a lead weight nap and a few errands, I turned on Hen's night mode.

Stop 1: Lisa's Hen's Night @ Secret Garden of Dance, Camberwell.

What's going on here then?

After a laughter filled salsa, barn dance and an alternative version of musical chairs, I left the girls at Lisa hen's party to move on to my next hen's party.

Stop 2: Karen's Hen's night @ Imperial Hotel, Chapel St
Time for chatter, food & drink

The proud mother-in-laws-to-be: Moira & Ann

Mmm......Michelle, Marika & Mariela

The glamourous Daniella & Marika

Lovely ladies Renee, Mandy & Jasmine

Stop 3: Room 321, The Como, Chapel St
Change of venue to let the Three Minue Angels work their magic.

Karen, the gorgeous bride-to-be
Complete with glass of champagne, flashing sash
and tshirt displaying most unflattering photograph of Stuart

Next, an aerobics class... No, not really.
Sarah from Pole Divas (the sexy chick in the skin tight hot pink singlet and black leggings) came by and gave us a lesson in lap dancing. Surprisingly it was heaps of fun and all of the girls really got into learning how to strut their stuff!

To cap off the night, we headed back to the Imperial for some reminiscent clubbing. Hitting the dance floor with D, Tan & Kaz took me right back to Lemon Lime Vodkas at Redheads! They even played my favourite dance song for the moment: Put your hands up for Detroit. It was an awesome time! Huge kudos to Amanda and Jasmine for all of their hard work to make it a seamless and adventurous night despite the many hiccups.

GOURMET SUNDAY (aka Fat Sunday)

Sunday morning I caught up with the Pons in their new Doncaster residence. Absolutely love the house. And Jessica & Christopher, you are the most well mannered children ever! And thanks Brendan & Beatriz for the hugest and yummiest of breakfasts!

Christopher, Brendan, Daniella, Jessica & Gayle.

Next it was on to Plume to catch up with my family and see if I could fit any more food into my stomach. As it turns out, yes I could. Hard to go past Yong Tofu and Char Siu Bao's at Plume.

Then for dinner it was to Donovans, St Kilda, for Katherine's Birthday (apologies for lack of photos). I have always wanted to go to Donovans, as it has long been an icon on the Melbourne culinary scene, and I wasn't disappointed. Despite the fact that it seats 120 people, the dining area feels like the dining room of a friend's beach house. It's cosy, without being squashy. The meals, ranging from grilled prawns to fish to pasta to chicken pie were all delicious. And the service was amazing. We were quite blown away, when after ordering a peppermint tea and commenting that she should have ordered a chamomile tea to go with the honey, the waitress happily offered to exchange it for her. I would say that Katherine, Amy, Monica, Cheryl and I were all in agreement that Donovans definitely lived up to its reputation.

MORE CATCHUPS

AXA peoples catchup: Me, Lulu, Truc, Canny, Matt & (Anna)

Little Person's Catchup: Zoe (& Katherine)

Zoe again... she's so cute!

There were many more catchups and dancing sessions including Lebop at Ashburton, Timon visiting from Japan, the Brunswick gang at Thaila Thai (just as good as it ever was), Anna with the atrocious parking in Fitzroy, lunch with Tania and dayspa'ing with D. I won't list them all, but thanks to everyone for the brunches, lunches, dinners and making some time to catch up, it was a really lovely week.

Wedding #1

Lisa and Ben got married on Saturday 31st March at the Sacred Heart on Rathdowne St Carlton. With such a beautiful church and Lisa looking radiant in white, I had tears in my eyes even before she started walking down the aisle. The reception was a cocktail affair at the Mandalay in Northcote. The speeches were an absolute highlight. They were all so composed and heart felt, I think I cried through all of them... I hoped that my tear quota had been used up in preparation for the next day. A gorgeous venue, with way too much food and an awesome play list! It was difficult to leave.

Ben & Lisa's wedding dance
Photo c/- Susie (thanks Suse!)

Wedding #2

Karen & Stu were married on a glorious day at The Boulevard, Kew on April 1st. The ceremony was held outside in the sun. As beautiful as it was, with the sun shining on my back, I began to feel uncomfortably hot... but then I looked at the groomsmen and was thankful that all I was wearing was wearing only a dress. It was the perfect day though, from start to finish. Being lucky enough to be part of the bridal party, I was able to follow the couple around one their big day. Here are just some of the photos.

Jasmine gets her hair done by Jila who did such a wonderful job with all of us.

Amanda also gets glamourised before we head off to Myer for makeup at MAC.

Jasmine & Ann give Karen a helping hand with her dress.
Meanwhile Karen, already looking slendiferous,
has a celebratory champagne to ease the nerves.

Karen - elegant, stunning, beautiful!

A high five for moral support from nephew Xavier

The gorgeous and newly married Mr and Mrs Wales, Studley Park

The Johnston Family
Lara, Amanda, Xavier, Paul, Suzy (the dog), Stu, Karen, Phil & Ann

Three very green Bridesmaids: Me, Amanda, Jasmine

The handsome groomsmen take a few mintues out.
Andrew, Richard, Dave and Stu.

Happily married for a few hours now.
Karen & Stu outside the Rivoli.

Back at the reception, everyone joins in with the Scottish dancing.
With reels and doseedoing called, it kept us dancing until the end of the night.

Frank (on loan from Daniella) & I join the dancing.

A self portrait of sorts!
Not sure what is going on here.

What a big day!
Paul, Tania, Me & Daniella

AND THAT WAS IT! My trip to Melbourne... more or less! xoxox

Welcome Change of Pace

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all had a restful and safe Easter.

Sorry to those who have been checking for updates and photos. I promise they are not too far off, but it might still be a few days before I get my act together.

My trip to Melbourne was a whirlwind event, and it was so wonderful to catch up with so many people (Photos and commentary to come) and do so many fun things. Then on return, in fact, on the flight back, Gideon & I finally got our first visitors, in Geordie, Sophie and the Vogts.

I must say it is nice to be back in Darwin - I am really getting used to this slower pace of life! The fact that I'm now working for a Government Department might be a compounding factor -Heheh ;D Just last night we went for a run (to the casino and back), and then jumped into the pool to cool down - it was just delicious to float in the pool at 7.30 at night and stare at the stars in the clear skies above. I guess Darwin really is home now.

It has been both good and bad finally getting a job. Bad, well, because I have to actually spend a set number of hours at work every day! Good, because it's lovely to be earning money, meeting new people and getting the old cogs whirring again. My new job is as a Senior Project Officer for the Department of Health and Ageing, in the Health Strategies unit. The first day, last Wednesday, was boring as - I didn't have LAN access yet, and the didn't really seem to know quite what to do with me to begin with. Plus, I was coming down with a cold after having partied too hard in Melbourne then spending the Tuesday gallavanting around Darwin as a tourist (photos to come), so it was hard to concentrate. Thursday I took a sickie (how slack is that!). Then it was the Easter long weekend! Finally this week I have managed to string a couple of days of work together, so I'm starting to feel a bit more normal. Anyway, it's good to be back in the work force!

Anyway, just wanted to log in and let you know I haven't forgotten you! There will be a few long blog entries coming your way shortly, filled to the brim with photos and movie reviews!

Chao Chicas y Chicos!
Love g

Urgent Question

Is it just me, or is the dance and the accompanying music danced by Emma and Mr Knightly (Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam) in the movie Emma exactly the same as the dance and the accompanying music for the first time Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy dance together in the BBC version of Pride & Prejudice?

I was just watching Emma, but I don't have a copy of P&P here.

Quirky Darwin TV

TV is strange here.

There is no Channel 10 - we have already established that...

If you watch late night tv - as yours truly does sometimes - rather than those ads with writhing half naked women telling you to call them now, and phone/internet dating ads, you get a nice selection of religious messages. Did you guys get the one calling for people to attend a prayer conference in Sydney for the drought?

Then there is the liking for repeating things. There seems to be a habit of playing charity advertisements twice in a row - I've seen that happen at least three times. Particularly the Barnardos ads with Paul Mecurio in them.

Then a week or so ago, Channel 7 (I think it's Southern Cross), who has been showing some older episodes of NCIS, played the exact same episode they had shown the week before.

Then Top Gear (Fantastic show on SBS) has been showing episodes that were only on a few weeks before - but I'm not sure if that is the programming, or just the fact that Top Gear was doing best of shows which ended up being pretty much a repeat of a previous episode.

Gideon's home - so this is one very happy girl - although it's only for 3 days. At least I'm not the one stuck in Darwin this time!!

Only a few days time and I'll be in Melbourne to see all of your bright and happy faces! Looking forward to it. It's going to be a busy and exciting week!

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Movie Review
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Pan's Labyrinth: 3.75/5

Cast: Sergi Lopez (Dirty Pretty Things), Ivana Baquer
In a Nutshell: A very dark, serious and adult Alice In Wonderland

Brief Description: Set towards the end of World War II and after the end of the Spanish Civil war, a young girl, Ofelia, and her mother go to live with her tyrant stepfather, an officer in the army. Ofelia embarks on a quest in a fantastical world.

There is no disputing this is a quality movie. It has imagination and richness, accompanied by a harsh reality that you don't find in a lot of movies. The creatures in the fantasy world look amazing, and the characters in the "real life" story are brilliantly played by the cast. The way the two worlds run in tandem and intertwine is extremely clever. However, I think I enjoyed it maybe a little less than most. I found the reality extremely gruesome in bits - it wasn't necessarily gratuitous - just not to my taste. I am not sure why, but I just didn't get drawn into this movie as much as I thought I would.

*Sigh* - I'm In Love again

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!

Robbie Williams is in rehab and Take That are back in Australia doing a promo tour. Who would have thunk it? It has been a decade since the boys...ahem, men... split up. The youngest, Mark Owen is now 34 years old, and the oldest, Howard Donald is now 38 years old, and yet they are, for all intent and purposes, still a boy band.

After an afternoon of listening to their Australian radio interviews and watching clips and come back interviews on You Tube, I have to admit that this thirty year old is as infactuated as she was 1o years ago when she chased TT that from Melbourne Airport to their hotel.

Here's a link to their new filmclip for the song Shine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BuX0eTjJRk
It's a great song, I like it more than Patience (which incidently won best single at the Brit Awards this year), and the film clip is fun. I found it amusing that if you read the comments on YouTube under this footage, it is mostly from 11 to 13 year olds professing their love for the band and their favourite member! I'm not sure if that makes me feel ultra old or young.

Here's another link to a live version of the same song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X8RZmOCO7g
This one's funny for the dance moves. Watching thirty something guys doing really lame dance moves in synch is somewhat laughable. :D

But anyway, welcome back Take That! I've been waiting for 10 years, and it has been worth the wait!

Argghh.. Burning knees...

Ow.. hot, hot, hot, knees...

Must be the dencorub. After a Pump class and then 2-3 hours of Salsa followed by an hour of clubbing, in heels... well, not the Pump class, my knees are sore - definitely a sign I'm getting old. The feet are too, but that is more a factor of wearing heels that are too high and narrow. What I would do for my own little house elf that would massage my feet. Next best thing, a 3.30am swim. Only in Darwin.

Have a great weekend everyone! I know I will. I have two potential movie dates and there are only 4 more days to go. :)

Something to give you a laugh.

I locked myself out of the apartment this evening. Am I totally blonde?? Don't answer that.

That's the problem with those damned doors that you can lock by just pulling them shut. That, and the fact that your housemate is away. :p

Was on the way to the DVD shop ($1 Tuesdays - bargain!). Even remembered to grab the car key because I had misplaced my gate remote and wanted to check if it was in the car. Left my bunch of keys inside the apartment - really no use in there - with my Video card attached to them. Doh!

My kind neighbours let me use their phone and watch the Simpsons (on Foxtel) while waiting for the locksmith. When he finally arrived it took at least an hour to unlock the door, because he was unable to pick it, and ended up having to drill a hole through the lock in the handle (breaking a drill bit in the process), and then replace the cradle inside the handle. Oh what fun to be had on a Tuesday night! Who would have thought it?

On a happier note, rode out to Casurarina again today to catch Bobby (see review below). On the way home, some kind soul took the trouble of sticking their head out the car window and yelling at me "Ride on the footpath!!". That's not the first time either, I've been honked at least once on one of the few rides I've done here in Darwin. I was admittedly going quite slow, maybe only 25 kmph, but it was a 3 lane road that wasn't particularly busy. It's so rare that you see riders out on the roads here, you mostly see people riding on footpaths without helmets (it's legal), I guess cars don't quite know what to do around cyclists here.

Here's a highlight from the Oscars that I missed in my earlier write up. Thanks to my sister for pointing it out. It's probably bet best bit of the night! A little musical skit by Will Ferrell, Jack Black and John C Reilly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcsc6eu7Rk8

HERB GARDEN NEWS FLASH!
I do believe I now have at least one baby bud for each of the 7 herbs I planted! Yay!

Oh - and I did make it to the DVD shop in the end and rented 7 DVD's to keep me busy until next Tuesday! 3 x Enterprise discs (=12 episodes - get into them if you haven't seen any, they are sensational! Probably more so if you've seen any of the previous ST series), The Departed, John Tucker Must Die, She's the Man (What can I say, I am reliving my teen years) and 3 Weddings & a Funeral (after reading the article in this month's Empire, I thought it was worth checking out whether the hysteria when it first came out was worth it - I remember I hated it th first time I saw it).

Before I get into the review of Bobby, I thought I'd mention a few of trailers, posters, and up & coming movies.

About a month ago I saw the trailer for the new Transformers movie. Can't wait. I was such a fan of the Transformers back when I was a young kid getting up at 6 or 7am on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons! The trailer looks awesome.. although not sure if it will be for the kiddies, maybe it's aimed at us late 20's/early 30's people who were kids back then.

On a similar note, also saw a poster for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! I think the turtles are going to be computer animated this time round. AWwww... and those turtle suits were so realistic too.

One trailer that I've seen at every movie for the last month is Mr Bean Goes on Holiday. Is this for real?? I have to say that it potentially looks like the worst movie ever. I'm sure it won't be (there has been a pretty good precedence set by the likes of Freddy got Fingered, Basic Instinct 2 and Head over Heels!; )), but I really wish they would stop showing the trailer.

One final one - I can't wait to see Becoming Jane. This is one for the girlies. It's the story of Jane Austen, and the inspirations behind her books. It stars Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy (*sigh*, what a hot little stud muffin!). So far, early critical reviews have been good!

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Movie Review
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Bobby: 3.75/5

Cast: William H Macy (Fargo), Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct), Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins), Lindsay Lohan (Freaky Friday), Demi Moore (St Elmo's Fire), Emilio Estevez (St Elmo's Fire), Martin Sheen (West Wing), Ashton Kutcher (Mr Moore & Punk'd), Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs), Laurence Fishburne (Matrix), Freddy Rodriguez (6 Feet Under), Helen Hunt (Twister), Christian Slater (Heathers), Heather Graham (Boogie Nights), Joshua Jackson (Dawsons Creek).

In a nutshell: Very good job Mr Estevez, somewhat classier than Men At Work (although I did love that movie!)

Synopsis in brief: Follows the day in the life of 22 people who were at the Ambassador Hotel the day that Robert Kennedy was assassinated.

As it has been said in most reviews, this is a very Altmanesque effort. Personally, all respect to the man, but I have not really enjoyed the few Altman movies I have seen - too many characters, too much going on and a lack of focus. This is in that vein, and similarly I felt like there were so many interesting characters in the movie, but you never really go to know who they were and why they did what they did in the little screen time they had. I wanted to know more, but perhaps that is the beauty of it. As a result, around the middle of the movie, I found myself wondering where this was headed, even though I knew full well the result of the movie - its based on a true story after all. However, with cleverly interwoven authentic footage, the movie really hits the mark in the end. Powerful and moving.

Beehives and Honeypots

Here's a quirky detail I discovered the other day in my mini adventures around Darwin. The Supermarket - more like very large milkbar, down the road from here has some very random prices. Try on a can of Lite Spam for $5.73!?!

Was feeling a little down earlier in the night, coming home to an empty apartment that is not going to get any fuller in an hour of so is not a nice feeling. But what works like a charm to get one feeling better again?? Dancing of course! I almost didn't go, but am extremely glad that I did, am feeling 100 times better.

Tonight was the first weekly Friday night social salsa for the year. It's held at plush lounge with a dance floor/stage called the Beehive. The Beehive is actually a large room at the back of a venue called the Honey Pot, through which you have to walk to get to the Salsa. The Honey Pot is also a strip club. Very classy! Only in Darwin. Hey, at least maybe it encourages the guys to go dancing... or maybe the women too - whatever takes your fancy!

Ended up being a good night, had a few dances, talked to some people. And of course it was raining heavily on the way home, lucky it is only a couple of very short blocks away!

"Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" - Travis

He has been gone for about 12 hours, and wouldn't you know it, there were black clouds, thunder, lightening and pouring rain... just when it was time for me to go home. Not having the forethought to carry an umbrella, I braved the rain and got home in one big lump of wetness. And wouldn't you know it, the rain stopped about five minutes later!

They way home is where the heart is, and well, that seems to be true.

Hope all you lovely people down in Melbourne have a wonderful long weekend! Think of us up here slaving away... well, those people who actually have jobs!

xoxo g

It's always better when the sun shines

Hi Everyone!

Must apologise for my very sad and sombre blogs over the last week or so. Feeling much much better now!

Maybe it has something to do with the weather, or maybe it had something to do with Gideon being home for a whole 31 hours... Funny that since he came home the sun has been out - in a literal sense. Anyway, he disappeared again this morning for another 10 days. At least there were no tears this time, and ten days doesn't seem too bad. All in all, I'm in a very positive mood about everything at the moment, back to my usual self, almost :)

Wednesday night was a bit of a mixed night. I decided I was going to surprise Gideon and drive out to the airport to pick him up. So I hopped in the Mini, revved up the engine, and moved about 30cm before stalling the car and hearing a loud popping/snapping sound. After having a look at the car, I got back in to try again, hoping that I hadn't done something to the car! This time I managed to get out of the gate before stalling! Then finally I was on my way, be it in only in first gear! Started to do a lap around the block, actually quite proud of my driving prowess, only to hear a recurring flapping sort of sound, as if there was something attached to the wheel that was hitting something everytime the wheel went around. Plus it was exaccerbated when I put my foot on the brake. I was totally convinced I had broken the mini.

Finally Gideon got home - it was so wonderful to see him. And this time, despite the long wait at Sydney Airport, he had made the flight home without getting vomited on by a little kid... that always bodes well for a good flight. :) With a very heavy heart I told him about the car, so he went down to check it out. After a bit of a drive, the sound went away, he thinks it may have been because of the humidity and the car being undriven for 11 days, the wheels had developed flat spots! So all seems to be good, and I'm looking forward to attempting to drive to dance class on Monday. :D

I have also been actually doing some work for the last couple of weeks which definitely does some good for the soul. Legal secretarial work for most of the two weeks, which while interesting in some respects, has been a little boring as well (JC, I don't know how you do it). There's one more career to cross off the list! Yesterday and today I have been on reception, and given it is a small firm I've had lots of time for e-mailing and now blogging!

Here's a flash update from my garden!
After replanting some seeds and keeping the garden beds inside, 3 of the 7 plants have been sprouting furiously! Seems bringing them inside was a good move. So far the basil seems to be a winner, closely followed by what I think is mint, and then possibly the blue flowers... I'm not sure because I didn't mark them. Hopefully they will continue to grow so that I can confirm!

Not much else to report, except that things are also gearing up for my flying visit to Melbourne. It's only two weeks away! I'm extremely excited to see all of you and do some dancing and celebrating!

love gayle


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MOVIE REVIEW
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The Illusionist: 3.5/5

Cast: Edward Norton (American History X), Paul Giamatti (Sideways), Jessica Biel (Blade III), Rufus Sewell (Dark City)

In a Nutshell: A great atmospheric character piece, not quite as impacting as The Prestige.

Brief Synopsis: Magician incurs the wrath of the Emperor's son who sets the Chief Inspector on him to shut down his show.

I was a little disappointed with Edward Norton, my favourite actor, in this movie. As the title role, he feels quite distant and unobtainable, possibly that was his intent, but it means a slight disconnection with the audience. The accent was a contributing factor, as it seemed to wibble wobble between American, British and possibly German or Italian - I couldn't tell. But I guess all of the actors struggled with the accent, not quite knowing where to pitch it. Biel and Sewell are ok, but it is Giamatti who makes the movie. As the police inspector doing the dirty work for the Crown Prince you would think that he would be a hateful man, but there is something subtle about him that is likeable and almost humourous. The movie is not quiet as intense or suspenseful as The Prestige, and you can sort of spot what is going to happen long before it happens, but there is a very nice mystical atmosphere about it, it is not in your face, and rather it beckons you to watch closely.