Aunty Bev

Loving, Warmth... A couple of words to describe Aunty Bev, but the one word for me would be Caring. It didnt matter what the situation, if you walked into a room you always felt that she cared. You could feel the warmth and love radiating from this amazing person and always, yes always you could feel that she cared. Her smile, wow... need i say more! She was truly a beautiful soul. Unfortunately now we are without her (in body), but as i sit here writing a letter to Uncle Peter i seem to get that warmth around me. Its really unusual, yet calming.

I write these blogs to get out of me what i am feeling, and i for the days surrounding her funeral i felt i had lost a piece of me, an aching piece of my soul lost that i cant get back. It was heart breaking, I felt so down, so low and so terribly sad for the loss that was handed to me and my family. Such a significant person in our lives gone, not able to be replaced in anyway what so ever. But also not a soul that is suppose to be replaced, irreplaceable, thats the word i am looking for. She was now out of pain, and the family can start to heal from the loss that happened so long before she actually passed. Thats what we asked for, for Aunty Bev to be out of pain and free, and now she is, and this is a good thing. Why doesnt if feel good? I just dont understand it!!! This is a lost i find very hard to bear, did we ask for the right thing?

With faith i carry on, day to day, knowing what i asked for wasnt for me, but for Aunty Bev... she is free, i sure of it and smiling again. An Angel...

Watch out Dunedin - here come the Dodges!!!

Look out Dunedin!!! After a very nervous phone call they hung up and were about to get on the plane. First plane trip and i think both Tania and Sarah were a bit nervous. But they made it down here, no problems at all. I had so much planned for them, it was going to be great!!! The first day i took them out to have a look around the Octagon and check out what they wanted to do. And what are 3 ladies on the town suppose to do???

Yep we got our nails done. Tania kept her own nails and got an amazing design on them. Sarah and I went for the long nails option and yep they were long. We all looked great, even tho Tania had to pick everything up for us cause we couldnt with the lenght of our nails, ha ha ha ha...
Then all hell broke lose when Mike arrived home and the electric guitar was spotted in the corner, yee haa!!! The Rocking Dodges!!! I left them to it.Plugged into the effects board there were all sorts of versions of guitar boogie coming were from the lounge room.

We did so much, The Mad Scientist, Cadbury World, The Chinese Gardens, The Movies, Ladies Day out (make-up and lunch in the octagon), The Cadbury Crunchie Train, The Baldwin St Jaffa Race, Mr Green and Corneillis, Velvet Burger, Ice skating Disco, The Otago Muesum, the list goes on...But i think we cant go pass The Tri-nations Rugby, NZ Vs S.Africa, now that was fantastic. I wanted to take the girls to the All Blacks Roadshow at the Oval, where you can try "catching a high ball", "throwing the line out", "kicking for touch", "passing" and last but not least " scoring a try". They had a photo booth there where Mike decided he wanted to be winner of the Bledisloe Cup.

He's the man!!! Then not to be out done, Sarah got picked out of the crowd to go head to head with Brett Stevens from the Crusaders trying to score a try. And she kicked butt. She also got her photo taken with Buck Shelford (altho i had to explain who he was, ha ha ha)... It was a great day. She is still at the top of the leader-board on the All Blacks Roadshow web site.

Well you cant go to an All Black game at Carisbrook Dunedin without a banner, so outside we venture to make our Banner. What a ripper!!! We all had a go at writing on it, with pride... Then hello, before you know it, it was time to get ready for the game. The tatoo's came out, the Black supporters clothes went on and we were finally ready. We had front row seats, right under the posts, it was a sell out stadium, and the crowd was just wild. The girls loved it!!! I was so glad they did. It was a fantasic night, they loved it and Mike loved it too. He can now say he has been to his first All Blacks Rugby game. It was certainly a moment in time to remember.

Tania was in the spotlight this time, and this time for the whole of New Zealand to see. Yep, a close up of Tania, plastered across the t.v at the live broadcast of the rugby game. Fantastic!!!

Well it was a great week for all of us. And I loved it!!! I'm sure Dunedin didnt know what hit it.

7 Days in Oz Heaven

This was a well needed break i can tell you!!! Mike and I were totally past the cold Dunedin weather and looking forward to the beautiful weather of the Sunshine Coast, and it didn't disappoint. We left home at 11pm and drove thru the night to be at Christchurch Airport at 4 in the morning. The flight was good, but we circled for an hour before landing due to fog. Finally we made it to the hotel, it was lovely. Portobello By The Sea. Picked up our rental car and did some shopping then by 6pm i was bugger and flaked out in bed. Australia Zoo was our first stop and here we met up with Brett and Amanda, Ella and Macy. Gosh!, those girls are just so sweet. We all had lots of fun, my favourite was the Tiger Show.

And better not to forget this cute little fellow also. Lots to see, Koala's, Elephant's, Wombat's, Snake's, Crocodile's, Alligator's and not to forget the Kangaroo's. It was great. We all had a wonderful day.

In caloundra they have the Bulcock Street Markets, I bought a bikini, $113.00, and i like it. Came home and sunbathed straight away and even went for a swim. Mike took me to the Pineapple Plantation, they were closed but we walked into the feilds where they were growing. It was the first time i had seen how a pineapple grows, it was great.

Then we found the Billington Maze, you had to walk around and find 6 of the 7 dwarfs. Snow White had lost them. That was a bit of light hearted fun. They also had little maze's you had to figure out as well. Quite entertaining.

The next day was quite mixed, we started out heading to Aussie World, a small amusement park. Had a great game of mini golf (which i won), then headed for the adrenalin rides. Unfortunately it wasn't long before Mike was feeling sick, so we packed that in and went next door to the Ettamogah pub for some lunch, Yum Yum...

We were both feeling alot better after the lunch so we thought we would just drive around a little. We drove to Mooloolah, Palmwoods, Montville and eventually came to an Exclusive Hideaway. It is called "Secrets by the Lake". We were lucky enough to be shown through one of the cabins, and it is just georgous. They are all in the tree tops and very isolated, complete privacy. It certainly had the Wow... factor.

Mike had a big sleep in the next morning which meant i could have a lay in the sun and a bit of a swim, no rushing today. Then we did some kart racing in the afternoon. As usual i was the slowest. Mike waited for me on one lap, then decided that wasn't fun so took off leaving me in his dust, ha ha ha... We stopped at the Strawberry feilds on the way home and picked our own berries and had the most delicious strawberry icecream.

Eumundi Markets was next, then onto Noosa Heads, we had a lovely walk along the shoreline track then had a bit of lunch (gourmet burgers on the beach). Once we got home we both decided to do our own thing for a few hours, then i surprised Mike with Zone 3 Laserstrike and a Mexican Dinner. It was a lovely evening spent together. While walking back to the car, we got offered a scratchie, Mike won accomodation for 2 on a island just off Thailand. But to claim our prize we had to go and listen to a timeshare seller. We had nothing else to do, so the next day we headed to Mooloolaba Beach. We got ourselves a lovely massage. Feeling good, we went and listened to the seller, claimed Mike's prize and headed to the beach for awhile. It was great, swimming and relaxing at the beach in the middle of winter.

For our last meal, we went back to our favourite place, Viva, at the Caloundra RSL. They have fantastic meals.

Some photos of the lovely apartments we stayed in. I had the most wonderful time. Cant wait for the next time.

Portobello By The Sea is situated on Dicky's Beach, which is named after a shipwreck on the beach. This is a fantastic picture of it.