The Official Website of Lana & Andrew

Wedding

That's right, we tied the knot on 15th Sept! It was a wonderful day back near our home town of Maitland. The day turned out to be fantastic -  it was wonderful to have our friends and family share the day with us, and a little dancing into the night. We have put some photos here. Our honeymoon was tops too - recommended.

We have a few of the professional photos of the wedding by Daniel Danusa also. Thanks Daniel.

Wedding, birthdays and visits

I've just finished my six months of work, Andrew has an extra week to go (hehe!), and finally have some time to update you all on our activities for the past month or so.  We've had a great time, which started with a visit from Evan (on his way back to Glasgow to fly home), Andrew showed him the sights of Lancaster (including the essential stop for a beer at the Water Witch).  For the long weekend at the end of August we went camping in the Lickle Valley with Caroline and a bunch of her friends to celebrate her 30th b-day.  The camping spot was lovely and we had a fun-filled weekend, with lots of activities - walking, miniature steam trains, bike riding and sitting by the lake (watching Caroline's windsurfing lesson!). Next weekend, we has a visit from Mad & Dave (if you look at their blog, you'll see this is old news). Anyway the weather was against us, but we were determined to show them a bit of the Lakes, so we went for a drive in the pouring rain - "It was absolutely chucking it down!" - and did manage to see some pretty sights, my highlight was Skelwith Force (ie. a waterfall) - it was the right weather for waterfalls! We hope to see Mad & Dave back in Oz in Jan. (PS. Thanks Mad for helping me with my last minute dress shopping for Jody's wedding, you'll see from the photos I ended up getting something sorted!)

You'd think that would be enough, but we also managed to squeeze in a trip to Canada for Jody & Travis' wedding! It was excellent, the wedding was in the Rockies and it was just beautiful. We were really looked after by Jody's folks (Rae & Jim), and Jody & Trav too! There are heaps of photos, I hope I've included enough of the wedding, as I was under strict orders to take loads for all the girls and Mum, Dad & PC, back home who couldn't make it to the wedding!

But wait there is more, Andrew also achieved a milestone in his life on 19th September, by reaching the big three 'O'.  Luckily Rob, Dom & Shoni were able to come up to Lancaster to help him ease into becoming a tri-genarian. (We also got a text from Michael on the night of Andrew's birthday saying that Mary had just had twin girls!) Anyway, with just over a week left in Lancaster we happily gave away as many of our possessions to Rob & Shoni as possible and I'll be busy organising the next leg of our trip... France, Spain, Potugal and hopefully Morocco too.

Bagpipes et al that jazz

Well...

The summer is closing in. Our bbq invitations have started to dwindle. Yet we are in a festive mood still - as we are having quite a few visitors and are getting to know a few people about the town - and weve been to the world bagpipe championships!

Last weekend was spent in allegedly hostile Glasgow (which wanted nothing to do with its previous bad behavioural reputation). Ev from Melbourne 'rocked' during the battle of the bagpipe bands for the World Championship title - go the Australian Highlanders! Great to catch up with him, along with Mad and Dave, who being ex-locals showed us the sites and good restaurants (ahh).

Before all of that weve been busy pottering aboot. Last week we watched the local theatrical group put on a play in the park, as they do each year. Very nice to see a bit o theatre - Tom Sawyer. Makes a break from the antitheatre of bigbrother. We also tried a walk up in the Lakes around Derwent Water (of pencillian fame).

Also spent a lovely evening down on Lake Windemere with our new friends Caroline & John who have been rather welcoming to us during our time here. The illegal spin on their rather yellow boat during the night, breaking the local limit of 10 knots, was thrilling. Goes to show how tame we have become...vey nice camping by the lake.

Apart from that, a trip to Liverpool was had. We've also had visits from Claire and Rob on different occassions - alway good to see friendly faces.  We wandered with Rob to a music festival in nearby Leeds - Massive Attack were great. We helped (or did we?) fence at my boss' place up in the Lakes also. Not so successful at keepng the cattle in - but a good walk in the woodlands was had (along with the food afterwards).

Looking forward to the coming months - more visitors...more holidays (canada/france/spain/morocco?/china)...then home for Christmas. Yee haw. Hope everyone is well:)

More oz v brazil nostalgia below:

Rock

Errols great new songs are here! And here. But not here in Lancaster unfortunately. Looking forward to the album as a substitute though.

Soccer, its hot!

Trip to Munich for the Australia vs Brazil game was fabulous. Laid back place, cool 'everyone having fun' vibe, and some sport to boot. Was great to catch up with Rob, watch the game, and just enjoy ourselves in Munich.

Summer

Well, summer is here and it is wonderful to get outside. Lancaster is a picture at the moment, with the long sunny days perfect for sitting outside the pub by the canal, when you're not inside watching the World Cup. People are in a football frenzy at the moment - with the English white cross flag flying wherever you look (between houses, on cars, buses, along with being emblazoned every peice of clothing left on whilst not sunbathing).

We've been doing our fair share of travel - with a trip to Dundee to see Mad & Dave (including Puffin spotting on the Isle of May) - being the most recent adventure. Other things that weve done that were tops, but are detailed more in the photos include a walk over the local bay during low tide; a road trip to the West Coast of Ireland; North Wales; and a tour to Scotland over Easter.

I was also lucky enough to get back to Oz for a little while, and it was wonderful to see everyone. Rob and Anns wedding was great; and it was very good to spend time with my family.

We have had a bit of luck in that we were allocated last week some tickets for the Australia vs Brazil game next Sunday. Hence, a short trip to Germany is in order. I have a fair idea that will be a fun day....

A quick update

Well, its been a little while since we last updated, and a lot has happened. (Yet to get broadband, so typing direct from Lancaster Library). In brief the move to Lancaster has happened, and it is great up here. We've enjoyed a few walks in the Lakes District, Lana has been on a trip to Scotland, Ive been back to Oz briefly, weve been to Wales and Ireland, and had Laurie and Jane with us for the last week and a half.

Will update more soon, until then, see ya!

Lancaster here we come

Last blog before Lancaster. The boxes are packed, the fridge is defrosted, the hire car is ready to roll, and the broadband subscription is at an end for a while.  We have finally had confirmation that we exist after two weeks waiting on the referencing process, so moving in tomorrow. Very much looking forward to the smaller town sights and delights; of which we will write more of soon...

Lana's b-day & Paris

It was a couple of weeks ago now, but my birthday was good, we had a nice Thai dinner & chocolate cake, then went to Paris for the weekend! And also I found out that I got a job in Lancaster in the enviro field (so that's great). Since Paris we have been busy getting things organised for our move to Lancaster, we've found a flat, we both have jobs lined-up and I'll be heading up north next week, with Andrew to follow in a couple of weeks. Can't believe our 6 months in London is almost finished. We had a very good 'last weekend in London' day today - went to see a play called "embers" with Jeremy Irons then had some sushi.

We'll let you know how things are going once were settled in Lancaster. 

minibreak OR where is my beanie?

Last weekend we took a quick trip (minibreak) to have a look around Bath and Stonehenge. Bath was nice enough - Roman Baths, Georgian architecture and many rugby fans. The tour through Stonehenge and a few other places turned out to be interesting too - and a good getaway from the big smoke for a weekend.

Weve also been doing a bit of rambling (as if you didnt know) - with the Ramblers Association. Some day walks near London. Again, good to get out and about.

As for what's been going on this week, we headed to see Ben Lee last night. Among the really dumb songs, the singalongs, and the great songs we had a really good time. Very positive vibe man.