Hi everyone,

I am back from my trip to Australia. I had a WONDERFUL time seeing friends and family, and Natasha and Dante’s wedding day was absolutely PERFECT! My poor body is a little confused by all the temperature changes but at least the central heating is on at home. My living room stays about 19 (66) degrees now, and I put away the thickest of the 4 quilts on my bed. For now, anyway.

Back to the wedding. Natasha was incredibly beautiful, the dress Mum made was perfect, and both bride and groom spent almost the whole day smiling and just being happy – which made everyone else happy.

Despite crazy hot weather in the two weeks before (38ish the day before the wedding!) the wedding day itself was perfect – hit 28.5 degrees at 11:30am (the start time) and stayed there until 4:30pm (when we finished packing up). How good is that?? There was also a lovely light breeze and then a flyover of three fighter jets.

Even the massive bridal party (16 bridesmaids, 16 groomsmen, 2 flowergirls and a ring bearer) was just perfect. In the open air setting, with so many guests in attendance (about 200?), it didn’t seem so crazy. The dresses looked lovely together, and the simple bouquets of sweet peas smelled so sweet! The jumping castle was lots of fun and the wedding cake was the cutest thing ever – a little bride and groom coming out of a cave, complete with helmets (the same colours as the real bride and groom’s actual caving helmets!)

On the way home I met a lovely lady on the bus to Sydney, then got upgraded to business class on Singapore Air – only as far as Singapore, but still pretty cool! It was a newer plane, too, so the business class seats folded into fully flat beds! Pretty awesome stuff :)

I’m writing some travel stories which I’ll post separately for those of you who want to know more about my crazy trip with the parents! I’ll attach some travel photos to those. Feel free to skip the stories and just look at the pictures (or ignore the emails completely) if it’s not your thing.

Anyway, that’s the news for now! Hope to hear from you all soon :)

love Tanya

I’ve been listening to:
Aqualung (“Memory Man” and “Still Life”)
Snow Patrol (“Eyes Open”)
Jimmy Eat World (“Bleed American”)

I’ve been watching:
Good News Week (yay for Aussie humour!)
West Wing (S5)
The Closer (whatever episodes from S4 I could get to load in China)