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Tags: Australia's frequent festivals, Books about moving to Australia, living Down Under, Living in Australia, Noosa Food and Wine Festival
Yes, firmly stuck at number 2 in the Amazon Bestseller chart for this week is….
…and I also managed to work out how to use ‘snippit’ to take the screenshot!
Is there any end to my talents…?
Tags: Amazon Bestseller, Books about relocating to Australia, Didgeridoos and Didgeridon'ts, hot tips for moving to Australia, moving down under, Vicky Gray
I’d just cracked my knuckles and sat down at my desk all ready to deliver a new post dedicated to Mother’s Day.. Yet as I started writing… something seemed strangely familiar…
I soon realised that I’d blogged about Mother’s day being in May in Australia about three years ago – so I went into my archives and retrieved it.
What I didn’t expect – was for me to burst out crying…
Of course, three years ago, I’d written about my own Mother not getting her Mother’s Day gift in March, due to me being in Oz and totally forgetting the whole March/May Uk/Oz thing…
However, the reason I started blubbering all over the keyboard, was because my mum died two years ago.
It made me remember how precious the moments we have with our Mothers are – and it’s for that reason that I’m going to re-post that blog…
… and I hope my Mum knows (wherever she is) that she was an inspiration to me and I love her very much.
Tags: Australian Celebrations, Australian Holidays, Best books for moving to Australia, Books about moving to Austrlia, Living in Australia, Mother's Day
Following on from last weeks post of “Australia has made me fat”… I was curious to watch a movie I had seen floating around at work, and then again in Woolies by the fruit and veg section – I saw this as a sign, so I popped into Blockbusters and sat down for an evenings viewing of “Fat, Sick and nearly Dead” – (light entertainment?)
It’s a true story about an overweight Aussie chap who had suffered with skin problems for many years, and wanted to get off medication and just become healthier… or he’d die – in a nutshell.
So he starts a whole new way of eating…. or actually not eating, just juicing.
Juicing only fruit and veg for 60 days – and the results were incredible!
So, out I rushed to Harvey Norman to get…. this!
Next I dropped into ‘the fruit factory’ to get this…..
So winter is here… and while the book sales continue to steadily plod along, my evening Zumba classes are starting to take a dive in numbers… so while the chilly season is upon us and people are reluctant to leave their cosy homes – I thought I should supplement my income in other ways…
… So I signed up for a focus group.
I’ve never really looked into focus groups before, so I had no idea what to expect when I turned up at Channel 7 last week – dressed in full ‘wow-factor’ regalia (make-up/hair done to meticulous standards) in the hope that one of their presenters had explosive diarrhea and an immediate replacement would have to be found.
But – as usual – this wasn’t to be the case.
I met with the other members of the focus group in a lobby, and it was clear that they were my elders by 35-40 years… and – to be totally blunt – probably not the most well kept individuals either.
We were summoned through to a conference room – so we slowly shuffled along in single file behind a Salvation Army regular with her Zimmer frame. I was thankful that she had this, as I was dangerously close to her and it acted as a barrier from me and her Weetbix stained pullover.
Half an hour into the discussion, a platter arrived with tiny delicate sandwiches wedged tightly together – and by this time, I was starting to feel peckish.
Obviously the hardened focus group regulars where ready for this delight and started tucking in immediately.
As the platter edged ever nearer to me, I was horrified to see a hand dive in for the second time – now it wasn’t so much the greed that made me gasp… but rather the fact that this chap had just cleared his back teeth with his index finger, and was fondling the sandwiches with this freshly-wetted finger – complete with excess chewed white bread on his knuckle.
Needless to say I waved the tray on when it got to me.
The rest of the hour passed quickly, and although I made a few comments on relevant topics, for the majority of the time, I really didn’t have a clue what anyone was talking about. Something about AFL…? Are the commercials breaks too long…? Should we have a special programme about local sport at the weekend..?
All these programmes are the sort that I fast-forward through on time-shift with my recordable DVD player – an item that none of the group had never heard of – but perhaps now will go and buy in the EOFYS?
Oh well, I came out of there $30 richer – yet starving…..
Have a great week.x.
Weird but wonderful
Now you might think I’m going slightly mad, ‘why on earth is she posting a blog on custard apples?’
Well…
When I first arrived in Oz, I hurridly wanted to go out and taste new Aussie foods… as I love trying new and odd stuff, even if it is only once… (Witchetty grubs…. never again….shiver)
So obviously the sound of a ‘custard apple’ was very appealing…. ‘oooh, an apple – that tastes of custard?’ Very Willy Wonker.
Tags: apple, Australian fruit, custard, Custard apple, unusual fruit
Is it just me - or is this just too weird..?
So, after enjoying a half-strength soy latte and a huge chocolate muffin (couldn’t decide to be healthy or not today) I said goodbye to my friends and headed off to the car park….
….I didn’t expect to trip over a super-long, hairy worm on the way….
On further inspection, it turned out to be about 300 caterpillars!
Tags: long hairy worm, processionary caterpillars, wattle trees.