Holiday from a holiday
Trip Start
Nov 24, 2005
1
14
25
Trip End
Nov 24, 2006
Melbourne,
Australia
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
Kate and Hamish´s wedding was being held over the Easter long weekend near a town called Airey´s Inlet on the Great Ocean road. Coincidentally Ben had arranged to have people stay at his Aunt´s house in Jan Juc (30 minutes down the road from Airey´s) for that very weekend to celebrate the Rip Curl Pro Surfing contest held annually at Bells Beach
01. Dad, Katie and Mum in Alexandra Headland
. Timing couldn´t have been more perfect. On Thursday Charles and I borrowed Ben´s car (cheers bro!!!hope you got those tires pumped up!!) and drove down to Jan Juc for a surf. We spent the night there and went for another surf the next morning. It was great! That Friday I left the boys and headed up to the site of the wedding to help set up. This special occasion was held up in the forest about 30 minutes drive from Airey´s Inlet. The site was equipped with dorm rooms and plenty of camping spots for those willing to brave the Victorian elements. It also had a huge hall/shed (were the reception was held) and a large kitchen area. As the ceremony was planned to be outdoors there was some nervousness going around as the storm clouds rolled in.
Friday was spent preparing the food and setting up the reception hall. In the end the hall looked fantastic and was decked out to seat around 150 guests with space for a dance floor and a stage with a DJ booth.
Saturday arrived and so did the rest of the guests. Last minute knots were tied and the fun was about to start. The ceremony began with the congregation making their way past the "Matrimonial Suite" (tent) in song with glasses of champagne in hand
02. Hamish and Kate arrive!!!!
. Then the bridesmaids (me included, yes...I was a bridesmaid. Now I´ve been a preist and a bridesmaid!) and the best man lead Kate and Hamish towards the Chapel. By this stage the sun had come out...it couldn´t have worked out better! Making their way through the congregation to the little Chapel, Kate and Hamish were married in a great ceremony that few people who attended will be able to forget.The reception was excellent with great food, fun speeches and no shortage of booze. Following dinner the DJ started up and the dance floor lit up with Kate and Hamish gettin´ down to Neil Young. In general a ripper,cracker and belter of a wedding was had! Congratulations Kate and Hamish. So stoked to have been there!!!
Following the wedding Kate and Himish were due to fly home to Maningirida, right up the top on the Northen Territory, but due to a rather large cyclone they were delayed getting home. The cyclone caused massive trees to topple onto their home basically destroying it. (Check out the photo they sent!!) Now, as I understand it, the clean up is in process!! Good luck guys!!! So sorry about your place and the things that were lost/destroyed. I´m just glad that you were getting married on the other side of the country when it all happened.
Anyway the next few days were spent hanging out with family and friends, squeezing in a surf or two before flying up to Sydney to meet Katie. We spent the weekend down on the South Coast with the gang, which was lovely, and then headed back to Sydney where we had a big dinner prepared by Dave and Bert (cheers guys!!!). The next morning Sam (Ryan´s bro) picked us up and dropped us at the airport which made life very easy!! Thanks a lot Sam!! Next thing we knew we´d arrived safely in Buenos Aires and were met by Ryan. Dropped off by one Gowland and picked up by another! Nice. News from Buenos Aires is not far off.
