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Published: August 10th 2007
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Singapore Slings at Raffles
Gate crashing Ben and Natalie's honeymoon for the quintessential Singapore Slings at Raffles. We´ve just taken a four week hiatus from our 'backpacking' mode in Melbourne, mainly because Cath’s brother Andrew (aka Angus) was married to his lovely fiannce Leanne on Friday 30 March. Our time in Melbourne has been a great opportunity to not only enjoy the celebration and welcome Leanne to the family, but also to reacquaint ourselves with Melbourne, and catch up with family & friends after a gap of 2 years since our last visit.
Another wonderful benefit of our visit at this time is being able to welcome our new niece (Isabelle Ruby Daly) who arrived in the world in February 2007. Rob's Mum flew out to Melbourne to spend 2 weeks with Rob’s brother Shaun and Becca (both looking remarkably fresh and chirpy on no sleep) and we have been able to spend quite a bit of time with them all. Photo included - we think she’s very cute!! We also had the wonderful news that Harrison Michael Short (son of one of our slightly older nieces, Jenna) has joined the clan.
Before we arrived in Melbourne we had a whirlwind final few days in South East Asia, travelling from Siem Reip back to Bangkok for
Andrew and Leanne´s wedding (Melbourne)
The happy couple themselves. Leanne looked devine. Andrew scrubbed up OK! some last minute shopping (because we hadn´t been to enough markets on our travels...). Now that was an uncomfortable journey! Rumour has it that the road between Siem Reip and the border of Thailand has remained unpaved, despite being such a frequently travelled road, because the government is being paid to delay the upgrade so that the airlines don’t lose money. Lots of bumping through potholes whilst looking out at a fairly barren landscape... The journey from the border to Bangkok was in LUXURY though and there’s a picture of our bus for you (but mostly for Rob’s Mum who is a Winnie the Pooh fan).
After we’d spent too much money in Bangkok’s weekend market we flew down to Singapore again for another catch up with Lou and Craig (thank you for the bed!). We also had the chance to catch up with newleyweds Benny & Natalie and spent a lovely afternoon whiling away the hours drinking beer by the river, followed by blatant misuse of their hotel pool the next day. It was lovely to get the chance to catch up by gatecrashing their honeymoon...
Our visit to Melbourne was kicked off (after several days of
Andrew and Leanne´s wedding (Melbourne)
Us ´mincing´ for the camera. It was soooo nice to get out of the same four T shirts and pair of shorts we had worn in SE Asia relaxing with family) by our wedding bbq (wedding version 2.1) which we held in Norton's Park in Glen Waverley on the 24th of March. We’d arranged it to catch up with all those who were unable to make it to the UK celebrations due to cost, children, distance etc... The planning all went well, food was purchased, rsvp's received and although the forecast was for some occassional showers things were due to clear later in the afternoon.
Never believe the weather forecast. The bbq took place in a howling gale with more than occassional showers blasting under the bbq shelter at horizontal angles. Every blanket, raincoat and jumper available was brought into use, and Cath’s parents ended up outfitting half the guests with woolie jumpers (as the house was only 5 minutes away). A big thank you must go to those who braved the elements to attend, it really was lovely to see everyone, especially in such adverse conditions. Despite the weather we had a great time catching up with everyone and their news from the past 2 years. Cath’s parents did a brilliant job with the arrangements, setting up etc... and thanks also to those who helped clear
Isabelle Ruby (Melbourne)
Our new beautiful niece. With a mowhawk like that and her rasberry blowing ability (both ends), she has Daly blood through and through. up.
Family from the UK continued arriving after the bbq and we spent quite a bit of time taking various family members sightseeing - taking in the Vic Markets, Southbank and some of its restaurants, Crown casino, the botanical gardens, St Kilda, the beach at Brighton, and last but not least - Healsville sanctuary (without which a trip to Melbourne wouldn’t be complete...). Rob and I got just as much mileage out of the fuzzy animals at Healsville as our visitors did.
The following week found us at my brothers wedding, which was a wonderful day. He looked very handsome, and Leanne looked just beautiful in her dress. The ceremony must take the record for the fastest of all time, 15 minutes from bride in to bride out. No need to waste time on such things when there’s a wedding reception just round the corner! Food and wine flowed freely (and was great) and almost every guest was on the dancefloor once the music started. Rob acted as impromptu camera man for the day, as it’s just not a wedding without a video to look back on. The evening ended for us at about 12.30am, far too drunk
Shaun, Mum, Isabelle and Becka (Melbourne)
The happy family with Rob's mum (and Cath's mother in-law). and desperately in need of a taxi
We managed to catch up with most friends at least once during our visit and spent a lovely amount of time with both sides of the family, just relaxing and re-acquainting. The rest of our time was taken up with the arranging of ‘stuff’ - sorting out our shipping from the UK, organising a storage unit, planning the next leg of our journey (South America!!), starting to learn Spanish, and catching up on our travel blogs (oops).
STOP PRESS: Geek-boy Rob has pushed the blog a step further along the superhighway of interactivity with Google Maps.
Click here for an interactive map of our route Next stop South America!!
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