Howzat?!

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Christmas is fast approaching and with the temperatures rising each day, it really doesn't feel like mid-December (well, compared to what it would be like in the UK!)! The weather has been beautiful at times over the last couple of weeks and we are set for a scorching hot Christmas Day in Melbourne. Ellie's mum, Judith, is due in Melbourne tomorrow to join in with our celebrations so we are both looking forward to that. Judith is due to spend three weeks or so in Australia (mainly Melbourne and possibly a trip to Sydney), so hopefully we can explore a lot of the City and what it has to offer with her. We haven't planned much yet, apart from spending some of Christmas Day on the beach after lunch at Judith and Ellie's friend's house, so I will update you with our adventures after the festive period has passed...





So, what have we been up to since the last post?





Ellie and I have explored a bit more of St Kilda and a couple of weeks ago we braved a very cold and windy Sunday to walk up St Kilda Pier, have a brief walk along the beach and visit Luna Park (a huge, old-fashioned amusement park next to St Kilda beach). Unfortunately, due to the high-volume of screaming kids high on candy-floss, we didn't stick around to go on any rides in Luna Park itself but we did manage to take some token tourist photos and off we went. Also, on Sundays, St Kilda Market takes place along the beach esplanade and although arts and crafts based (which are awkward to take back on a flight home), we had a walk amongst the different tents and decided against buying huge watercolour pictures of St Kilda Beach and the Pier. Now that we are fully in an Aussie Summer, I am sure we will visit the beach again soon (hopefully on Chrismas Day if it doesn't rain) and with it is only five minutes away from where we are living, we have no excuses really.





Last weekend Ellie and I celebrated our four year anniversary of being together and went for an Italian meal in the evening at a restaurant called 'E-Lounge'. It is meant to be one of the best Italian restaurants in Melbourne and was recommended to us (not personally) by a chef on Masterchef Australia (he's so important that I can't remember his name). Anyway, the food was fabulous and it was a fantastic way to celebrate our anniversary in Australia. Apart from the meal in the evening, we didn't do too much during the day (we are keeping our purse strings tight for New Zealand next year) but we did manage to experience THE BEST hot-chocolate we've ever had at a place called 'Chocolait' in the afternoon. The chocolate was all home-made and 'crafted' to perfection (I should obviously do PR for them) and they had such an amazing range of hot-chocolates and different coffees from all over the world. I went for the dark chocolate jaffa hot chocolate and Ellie went for the traditional milk chocolate..um..hot chocolate. Was all very tasty indeed but also very filling!





Apart from our exploration of St Kilda and our anniversary, we have both been working our socks off and will also be doing so over the festive period. We are both still extremely busy at our respective places and have both also been invited AND had our Christmas parties with our companies. Ellie followed in her Granddad's footsteps and had a game of lawn-bowls followed by drinks after and I went for a meal, ten-pin bowling and also had a party the next evening after work (the meal/ten-pin bowling was a payroll team party and the party after work was a company party!).





Finally, yesterday, Ellie and I went to the 20Twenty cricket at the MCG to see the Melbourne Stars vs. Sydney Thunder. Despite the Melbourne Stars losing in an extremely tight match and witnessing some big sixes from both teams, we managed to see some cricket greats in David Hussey, Chris Gayle, Cameron White and the one and only...SHANE WARNE! Warnie didn't manage to get any one out (he bowled two overs and was hit for six twice) but it was fantastic to see a true cricket legend in action. Liz Hurley was also in attendance (she did the coin flip at the beginning) but it was brilliant to get a feel of what a hero Warnie is to Australian cricket fans. Throughout the match there were chants of 'Warnie! Warnie!' and even bigger cheers when he finally stepped up to the crease, shook off his burnt hand injury (he had burnt his hand in the build up to the match (cooking bacon, of course) and was a doubt to play) to bowl a couple of overs. Despite him not getting anyone out, it doesn't matter too much because we can now say that we saw Shane Warne bowl at the MCG!





Anyway, the next time I will get a chance to update the blog will probably be in the New Year so for those of you who read the blog, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and you will hear from us soon! All the best, Matt and Ellie xx.

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