Abi is 14

This girl has just had her fourteenth birthday and what an amazing young person she is growing into ...... 

.. the absolute BEST horse owner/ jumper we know - living her best life with Sammy, and the rest of the family right behind her, supporting her passion .......

She's a natural born teacher, a great martial artist, a bit of a rev head (like her Dad), making great progress at school now she's in year nine, and did I mention she's an absolute character as well??

How to sum up all that in one birthday card?

I made her fave batch of cupcakes for the occasion....

.... and we had a great dinner out at "Italian and Sons" last night - where Abi proved her true carnivore worth!

... and dessert afterwards at Goodberry's Belconnen (Abi's choice of course).

We're so lucky to have known this girl for the last 14 years. Happy birthday Abi girl!

And a postscript to those celebrations:

Sammy scored well with Abi's birthday too - new noise cancelling ear bonnets, a new saddle blanket and a new leather halter too - all very fancy ready for the next show! 

He's even got a new fly mask too, extra hard for horses to remove it is said (we'll see). Abi and Sammy tried out all the new birthday gear yesterday afternoon out at Freshford. Sammy seemed to like everything!

Girls with their horses + a grazing kangaroo in the background.

Tugun

Being invited to David and Ro's wedding on the Gold Coast gave us the opportunity to stay at Tugun Beach for the first time. Tugun is around 5klm north of Kirra where we've stayed on previous visits and a much quieter area than the buzzy Kirra - Coolangatta area.  

David and Ro booked us into a beautiful big unit facing out to the Pacific Ocean. This is the view that greeted us the afternoon we arrived. 

The weather turned more unstable by the third day of our visit but the outlook from our unit was always pretty amazing no matter how many clouds in the sky or how much rain was falling.

We went for a long beach walk on our first morning  after we arrived with David and Ro and David's sister and partner.

The coastal path on the other hand extends all the way from Currumbin to Kirra and it gets a lot of use too (including from us on this visit).

We walked to Currumbin Creek a few times along the beach. Its a great learn to surf spot for the young ones in the protected surf break leading into the creek inlet.

We had a couple of swims off the beach outside our unit. The water temperature was perfect as far as I was concerned (27oC!) but the seas got rougher as the more unstable weather blew in.

We enjoyed our stay in Tugun so much, even aside from all the wedding celebrations and excitement, that we have booked another 5 night stay later in the year (end of April!).

For the record, other notable events during our trip to Tugun for David and Ro's wedding were - getting my first gel nail mani-pedi (along with Ro) at Angel Care Nails in Burleigh.....

....... and recording this image of Lake George on our drive back to Canberra on Wednesday afternoon, showing the extent of recent water loss in the "lake". At this rate it will be disappearing altogether in a matter of months. The lake filled to its most recent high level by December 2021 after a 20 year dry patch. Looks like we may be heading for another notable dry lake phase again.....

David and Ro's wedding

Friends and family from all over Australia gathered at the Gold Coast last weekend to celebrate the long awaited wedding of our dear friends David and Ro. Their timing was perfect - the wedding took place on Valentine's Day - so David will never be able to forget their anniversary in future!

It was a small gathering of friends and extended family - only 35 in total invited guests. We were lucky to be part of this special group - along with David's old friends Rosalie and Paul who live in Tasmania now. Our designated job was to get David "to the church on time".

In this case we had to get him to nearby Bilinga Beach for the ocean side ceremony. The weather was really uncertain on the day of the wedding and Ro had to make the call an hour or so before things were due to get underway. With still threatening skies she made the right call and everything was ready - truly a spectacular setting and no rain imminent (fingers crossed).

Everyone looked so happy to be a part of this love match.

David and his daughter Thea............

...... and his son Rhys and Clare.

.... and Rosalie took some great action shots of us - getting carried away by all the love in the air........

Ro made a stunning entrance on to the beach with daughter Claira .....

And things got under way. First there was a heartfelt Welcome to Country, the soulful sounds of the didgeridoo by the ocean and an original song performed in language by a girl from the local Aboriginal community... just beautiful.

Ro's brother John is a registered marriage celebrant and he conducted David and Ro's very informal yet heartfelt and loving ceremony. John is a gentle giant of a man and had a way of expressing a lot with just a few well chosen words.

Husband and wife now!!

Windswept but carried away in a tide of love - all 35 of us were there to witness all this happiness.

We didn't have to walk far to the party afterwards - at the local Bilinga Beach Surf Lifesaving Club.

David and Ro led the dancing after dinner with their astoundingly good, and sexy, interpretation (choreographed) of Leonard Cohen's "I'm Your Man". You can imagine the cheers and whistles this act brought on.

We all danced for hours afterwards to a great playlist of familiar old bangers and more current songs for the younger guests. I danced so hard I felt very overworked when I woke up the next morning.

A recovery bar-b-que for around 50 people was planned for the day after, but once again the stormy weather intervened and plans had to be changed. David and Ro had around 10 of the units booked in our Pacific Surf resort at Tugun, quite a few of them adjoining each other on the same floor. A drinks station was set up in the wide common corridor - food was set out in two of the units and guests wandered in and out throughout the afternoon. It all worked out so well.

My job was to decorate the cake. Ro had made 3 layers of fruit cake to cater to all the various dietary needs and my icing had to be similarly dietary aware too. A lot of Valentine's Day flowers were used in the creation of this wedding cake extravaganza!

John made speech and Ro did the honours cutting the cake, and we all toasted the health and future happiness of this amazing pair.

It was a wonderful wedding celebration - just perfect for this pair of adventurers, very much grounded in love and family and absolute certainty about facing whatever life throws at them together in the years ahead. We felt so lucky to be able to share this time with them.

A milestone birthday

The month of February started with a milestone birthday for our friend Jurgen. Jennie and Wayne hosted a celebratory dinner out at their Murrumbateman property in honour of the occasion.

This is the view from their back garden - mostly all their land too. It looked particularly beautiful on this mild summer evening.

Jennie cooked a fabulous meal - oysters and fillet steaks with all the trimmings and Judy made her much loved birthday lemon cake (with citrus icing) for dessert.

The occasion warranted a heartfelt speech from Judy in appreciation of this gentle, practical man and all he does to support her and the other members of the family.

The last few months have been full of unexpected challenges for this family, and Jurgen and Judy have faced them together with their usual strength and constancy. The months ahead will continue to throw up many more challenges too, with the Rosedale rebuild getting underway in earnest. Jurgen is just the man you need in your corner in times like these.  

Happy birthday Jurgen - and here's to many more busy, challenging and wonderful times ahead!