Christmas 2006

It was great to get to spend time with my family this Christmas. Christmas was low key this year with excess baggage a major factor. There is nothing quite like mummy’s cooking and the annual crayfish, although mental note to self. Never pose waist down with my little sister, stop eating period (I have been home a month now and don’t think I have stopped eating!!) and never let my sister wear my high heels, she towers over me!!

For Christmas all three of us got the got-to-have when you travel abroad Kiwi tops and I got the new Singstar Legends which I had to test out. Even roped my mum into having a sing!

oh and how good does my hair look!

Toni

3 December till now

Me and Katie
3 December I headed down to Napier on a bus - stupid bloody hire car company opening at 3pm on a Sunday!!!! for my sisters last ballet recital she was Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins (i am secretly glad its the last for a while, cause while its fun to see her dance, not so much to see the others!!!).

On 9 December my baby sister turned 18, so although it felt like minus 2 degrees outside we hit the night clubs in Napier and danced till 2pm in the morning, haven't made that effort for a while!

An aside for the above events and catching up with Sunshine (Hey!) i have been pretty much preparing my family for the big move. We are selling pretty much everything and i have been designated to posting and patrolling the trade me accounts and organising things coming and going and that is why i haven't had time to update my site.

19 days and counting till we leave Napier!!

Toni

2 December 2006

2 December 2006

On 2 December it was time to head back down to Hamilton and have a singstar party at Kim and Quentins and with singstar legends just coming out we decided to test it out. We had a great night and was great to catch up with everyone . I think the version of Shannon Noel that was sung that night was the best ever!!! Don’t think anyone got a video of it, but got some good videos and will stick them on when I next visit a broadband computer because dial up sucks!!!!!

Me and Kim being models - we could so do this professionally we just choose not too!

See gallery for more pictures

Toni

And then onto Auckland

27 November - 1 December 2006

After the wedding I spent another couple of days in Hamilton and then headed up to Auckland to see Zac off at the airport and to spend a couple of days with Debra and even managed to catch up with Louise.

On 30 November, Tobi has his work do at http://www.spookers.co.nz/. I managed to score a date with Sean (one of Tobi's work mates, thanks for having me) and had a great night. Spookers is a "haunted" attraction in an old mental hospital in Auckland. The attractions we did were the haunted house and the 3d maze. It was great fun and me and Debra we highly entertaining, according to some, because we got shit scarred at every turn. Go to these links, and change images to 30 per page, and have a look.

http://www.emilylane.co.nz/index.php?category=gallery/Spookers/30-11-06&start=270&lightbox=

http://www.emilylane.co.nz/index.php?category=gallery/Spookers/30-11-06&start=240

On Friday night, Tobi decided to have a end of Movember party where everyone (was supposed) to dress up with moustaches.

Debra went as Magnum PI, I went as a rock star, Cameron as a dirty old man and Tobi as speedo cop!

Toni

Alies and Bryce's big day

25 November 2006

Today was the day. Alie and Bryce were getting married. The date that had been on my calendar for months and the reason i returned to New Zealand had finally come around. I got to see all my friends and to dress up in my pretty dress (that i can never wear in Australia), oh and to go to the wedding.

It was a lovely wedding and a great night, i had sooo much fun and was able to dance the night away in my flat shoes (how short do i look!). I could not not fit my camera in my bag so have to get pictures from someone else but have managed to get a couple of pictures to put on.

Congratulations and can't wait to see the official album - hope you get it before i go home - cause i didn't even see the cake!

Toni

Potato and BBQ

24 November 2006
As some of you might know, i have been hankering to come back to New Zealand to have a baked potato from the potato place in Garden Place. They do the best savory mince and cheese potato i have ever tasted and managed to feed that craving whilst having lunch with Tania and Julie on Friday. Yum (don't tell anyone, but i had one on Monday as well!!) Doesn't look good, but sure is tasty.


That night I headed to Blair and Rebecca's for a catch up with some friends and a great kiwi bbq (inside) as the weather wasn't in our favour. But the meat was good and the NZ mussels great and the real chocolate moose pudding fantastic! Had an early night as were all hoping for sunny weather on Saturday for the wedding.

Toni

Home Sweet Home ...

I am home and have had my potato!

I returned to Hamilton yesterday after a three hour flight and a crying baby for 3/4's of it, but made it safe and sound with my bottles of duty free and mega toblerones (spelling!?)

Its weird coming home, it feel like I never left, but in fact life does go on for everyone else and I kinda feel out of the loop. So just trying to catch up and fit back into my groove. I always think of home as being great and wonderful, which it is mostly, but neglected to remember that its the bad things like it cold over here, today it was sunny, rainy, windy and cold, almost four seasons in one day.

Anyway am signing off and will let you know how the wedding is tomorrow.

Toni

Thats the plan Stan

Well I found myself recently in a sticky situation. I was finding it hard to get a flatmate, work was getting unbearable and I was quick running out of money. Then my mother suggested “why don’t you come home for a while?” and I thought, wow that’s actually a good idea. I can help them pack, do some casual work and hang out with Katie

So I quit my job, last day next Wednesday, yahh!!!!!!

My only problem is that I haven’t rented my house out yet, but the real estate agent is onto it and I hope to have it rent out soon.

So I will be back as planned early (12am) on Friday 24 November 2006. I am planning on staying around Hamilton/Auckland area until 2 or 3 December and then I will head down to Napier for a while and then probably after xmas to Gis for a few days and then back to Hamilton for new years and then back to the Gold Coast in January 2007 some time!

Am so excited – see you all in just over a week!!

Especially for Daniel

Hi Daniel

This post is especially for you. I know how much you like home and away and i trust that you follow the link every week to find out what has been happening but i wasn't sure if you know that you can actually go onto their website and get this week in pictures http://seven.com.au/homeandaway/pictures_this-week.
So theres the link for you!

I have also completed a quiz online at bebo for anyone who is bored check it out
http://www.bebo.com/Quizzes.jsp?MemberId=915143035

Toni

My hair

For the last 15 years I have been unhappy my my frizzy, thick, curly, fluffy hair. It is just unmanagable and I have even been called a bouff head (you know who you are and yes you have scarred me for life). So I vowed that as soon as I moved to Australia I would change my life and spending more time and money on my hair fell into that catergory.

I found a great hairdressers who have always done a good job (see 1, 2, 3) and the best invention in the world the Wet 2 Straight hair straightner (thank you!).

So on Saturday I decided to go and get my hair done and as soon as i walked into the hairdressers I got a bad vibe and then I found out it was under new managment. Shit! I decided that I would still get it done and decided to get a cut, colour and foils. After three hours my hair was done but it wasn't exactly how I planned, the cut and colour was good but the foils. They were the worst foils I had ever seen, they are uneven, the colour has merged, it looks like I have regrowth, one side looks like I DIYed my own streak AND my sister told me it was called a bitch stripe! I don't want a bitch stripe

So I called them back and said I was really upset and I will keep you posted on my progress.

Toni

The other side ...

On Saturday Nic and Dustin came over for a few drinks. Last weekend I was telling them that the only game that I have on my playstation was singstar. Dustin said "but you don't tell poeple that though" and I am like " Yes, I am proud of the fact!". So on Saturday we cranked it out and they are totally converted. Take back that mocking! So we sung until our throats hurt and had a good laugh. Unbenowen to them, I videoed some of efforts and have posted them in my Photo Gallery. Check it out!!

Toni

Blog worthy moment

Well for sometime I have been unhappy with the National Bank. There atms machines are always down and I couldn't do inter bank banking. So I vowed as soon as I had recovered from my broken leg I would go and get a new bank account with a new bank. I was debating between Heritage Building Society and ANZ Bank, purely because I could design my own card. So because Heritage had no banking fees I decided to go with them.

Look at my two awesome cards that I will have shorlty. My new visa totally outways my visa mini in coolness

Toni

The Weekend

This was the weekend of Nicky's interview with Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. On Friday night we went through preparations for the all important interview as it would mean she would finally move down to the Gold Coast, Yah! She said it went really well and fingers crossed she will get it. They called her on Tuesday and told her its between her and another girl and would be “very beneficial” if she came down this weekend for another interview.

I asked whether she could bring koala's home and she said yes (well, she would be able to bring home animals that she would have to nurse, but wouldn't that be so cool)!

On Saturday night we decided to head over to Dustin and Nic's house to catch up as they had just moved to the Gold Coast. We managed to navigate our way there with our umbrella as it was spitting and I didn’t want to get my nicely straightened hair wet (NB – I really recommend the wet 2 straight hair straighter, it does a salon job). We didn’t make it there in time for spa but had a great night catching up with a few wines.

.

Also put a few pictures in the gallery.

Toni

Its that time of the year again

Hot weather, summer storms and cockroaches!
I have seen two already, fortunately they were pretty small and one was dying (looks like the pest control spray stuff they sprayed is still working) which is a bonus.

Toni

ps. It was Peter! Who would have thought :)

Well everyone, including myself, has been somewhat slack lately with updating there sites, so even though don’t really have much to say about my life, thought I would update any avid fans of the haps on Home and Away.

Where do I start:-

This week Robbie has been found GUILTY of killing his grandfather (you will remember that he turned off his life support machine), lucky for Robbie though his sentence was only that he had to pay $6,000.00 worth of court costs!

Tasha received a letter from Josie and plane tickets in the mail. Tasha and Robbie have decided to start a new chapter in their life and move to Boston with Ella to live with Josie. If only it was that easy to just go and live in America.

So this is Tasha’s last week of home and away ever – sob, sob.


Jack and Martha

The last couple of weeks, Jack and Martha’s marriage has been on the rocks. Martha thinks that Jack is not taking the marriage seriously and that until he does they are trialling separation.

Macca is back and Cassie decided that he has turned over a new leaf and was cheating on Rick with Macca while Rick was away. She wanted to tell him but wanted to wait until he got back, you can imagine that Rick was not impressed when he caught Macca and Cassie on the couch, when he was going to surprise Cassie.

Belle and Drew
Well these two lovebirds have been quite active in the last couple of weeks, that is until Drew decides he had feelings for Amanda. So he breaks up with Belle and pursues Amanda who doesn’t turn him away. Belle is really angry and wants to find out who the other girl is. Amanda finally breaks up with Drew, well because Belle would totally freak when she found out that her mother was sleeping with her boyfriend.

Matilda and what’s his face
Can’t remember that guys name, but it’s the guy that she meets in the retreat, who she starts going out with. Well it turns out that guy was in fact gay and so didn’t really work out.

So Matilda and Lucas tyr and get back together but that also doesn’t feel right. So in the future don’t be surprised if Lucas hooks up with Belle and Matilda hooks up with Rick.

And last but not least – in Home and Aways 18 year history the story line next week is going to be the best ever. The TV week magazine has indicated that it might be one of the following:

Flynn comes back
Sally has been dreaming the past couple of months and wakes up and Flynn is still alive

Peter comes back
I totally don’t think so, as if, he doesn’t have a liver

Zoe comes back
Well this could be a possibility but she has already come back once.

Hayley comes back
This could be possible to. But as she is in every magazine following round her husband I don’t see where she would have the time to film scene’s for home and away.

Kirsty and Kane come back
Now this could be a possibility.
Tasha mentioned Kane and Kirsty’s name the other day.
Sam Atwell (who plays Kane) has been hanging around the home and away set lately watching the “directing”.
Tasha and Robbie are leaving.
Saw Kirsty on an ad the other day, as to suggest she is in Australia.


Anyways that just a little update for you.

Toni

Where is a nurse when you need one

I am out of hospital now, thankfully plastic pillows and chick pea casserole don’t make for an enjoyable stay, and am at home now, alone I might add, who thought it would be that hard to find a flatmate!

I am also now in charge of my own wound care, a nurse came around yesterday morning and showed me what I needed to do, ew, fortunately for me its not too grose and I don’t have any stitches, but as I repeat where is a nurse when I really need one!!!

Am on the road to recovery and will only be a few more months before I am skating it up again! (ha, not sure I will ever ice skate again, its not worth the hassle). I might even be able to work properly when i come back.

Hope you all have a good weekend, drop me a line.

Toni

Tommorow is D-Day

Tomorrow is the day that I have been waiting for, for 10 weeks!!! The day in which I can finally start getting back to a normal life. Tomorrow I go and get that big screw out of my ankle and then i should be able to start getting back into walking. I can't tell you how excited I am!!!! Wish me luck.


Toni

PS- I am looking for a flatmate, so anyone who wants to move over or knows anymore moving over, let me know!!! I am in desperate need. Who would of thought that it would be so hard!

I'm coming home

The flights are all booked. I will be in Hamilton on 24 November and will be leaving again on 2 December. Am looking forward to catching up with everyone and am getting very excited. My boss has given me off longer that I expected which means that I can go down and see my family as well and help them pack and sell everything for the big move in January.

I have also booked my christmas flight, which one way, was more expensive that the my flight in November return. So I will be back in New Zealand on 23 December and probally around Hamilton for New Years.

Let me know what you are doing, as would love to see everyone!!

Toni

Nicky coming to visit

Nicky had the weekend off and decided to come down to the coast to visit from Noosa.

After tripping over uneven carpet in my house and face planting into the wall (fortunantely not injuring my sore leg but leaving a lump on my head, knee, toe and arm) we headed for dinner at Bojangles in Broadbeach (see September 2005 post). It was pouring down in the Gold Coast (good for the dams) but not so good for someone on crutches I carefully navigated my way down the stairs and was breathing a sigh of relief that I had made it when my crutches slipped from under me and I fell backwards onto the wet cobblestones, when Nicky finally stopped laughing at me (apparently it was funny that I fell over twice that day) she pulled me up (Debra and Nicky have been snickering about it all weekend) we headed to the casino where it ate our money! Bring back the craps I say!

On Saturday we decided to head to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. I am sure the girls were trying to kill me, they decided it would be a good idea for them to each have an ice cream in one hand and then one handle each on my wheel chair up a windy hill! We saw lots of koalas and had pictures with a snake.

For dinner we decided to dress up in our fancy dresses and head to our favourite seafood restaurant in Surfers Paradise. We were all class in our dresses eating seafood with our fingers and cloth napkins!

Sunday was our one year in Australia. It totally doesn't fell like one year ago we were sitting in Hamilton Airport saying goodbye to our friends, delayed with the fog, sick with colds and hives and eating chicken smoked in old boot! Fortunatley our holiday got better after day one! So today we decided to head out and go whale watching and boy did we totally choose the right boat to get onto! We had the three cutest boat boys to look at we didn't even care about the whales!! We saw a few dolphins and a few whales but mostly wished that we were heading back to shore as Debra and myself we feeling a bit sick. Debra tells me that if the boys weren't so cute on the boat she would have barfed overboard!

More pictures in my gallery

Toni

Highlights, Lowlights and Undecided

Highlights

- receiving a Wasgij puzzle from Pam! I was totally addicted to it and it took me three days to complete. It was a welcome distraction. Thanks Pam :)

- Receiving my late birthday present from Kim! Season One of Gilmore Girls, Bar of Whitakes super dark chocolate and a totally appropriate card!

- Finding out that my family is moving over to Australia and hopefully bringing my cat!

- Finally getting my plaster off! I still have to stay off (put no more than 50% of my body weight on it) for another three weeks and after that finally get that big screw out and start getting on with my life.

-Getting a real letter in the mail.



Lowlights

- Debra moving back to New Zealand and me having to find a new flatmate.

- Having to sell most of my stuff in New Zealand.

- Our cat mitten having to find a new home because she is too old to move to Australia

- Still not being able to walk.

- A girl at work breaking her arm



Undecided

The Outback Spectacular

I am not sure if I can really give a true criticism of the outback spectacular as I had just had my plaster off and was a bit tired. It was fun to dress up in the hats and the show had audience participation which I enjoyed and pav for dessert. But I didn't think the show was as good as it could have been, like they had camels but they only had a like a minute camel race and that was it.

I have put some pictures in the photo gallery as well and you will see that I have added a new site to my links - welcome Jason and Juliet to the world of blog! :)

Toni

Steve Irwin

I do have other news to post.

But was a bit shocked to hear this, this afternoon.

THE fatal stingray attack on Steve Irwin may have occurred because the animal was startled or frightened, an expert said today.Victoria Brims, a marine life expert from Oceanworld in Sydney, said the stingray that killed Irwin was most likely provoked. "I am aware he was filming a documentary and his documentaries are usually very hands on. I can only assume that he had some kind of hands on or close contact with the animal who like us when we get afraid defended itself," Ms Brims said. Brims also said that for a sting to result in death the person involved had to be stung close to the heart and also have a reaction to the sting. "For the most part people get stung on the foot when they accidentally tread on a ray and this can be no worse than a bacterial infection," Ms Brims said. "Their barbs are very strong and release poison if touched. It must have got him right near the heart but the barb would not have gone through his chest." There was an accident of this kind two years ago in Coogee but the man involved was treated by medics at the scene and survived the incident. Brims said she had always dreamed of meeting Irwin. "He can be a bit quirky at times but he loved his work," she said. "It is a sad day and I am sure everyone around the world will hear of his death."

Bored

As I have been somewhat incapicitated for the last few weeks, I can't say that anything interesting has happend. I have been at home watching tv, dvd's and playing sims and then if I am not at home I am at work, working. I can tell you I am getting bored out of my brains and am looking forward to 31 August 2006, when I go back to the doctors and get my fate.

I have however seen a few movies that I might share my opinions of.

Pirates of the Caribeen

I thought this movie was quite good. How can you say its bad with Orlando and Jonny as the main characters. It was dumb though how it didn't really have an ending, you got no closure. Will look out for the sequel.

3/5

The Lake House

A romantic love story with Sandra and Keanu. Its wasn't as good as i expected it to be. A little sad. Don't think to much about how it would work or else you won't get into it.

2.5/5

You, me and Dupree

Owen Wilson just cracks me up. Fantastic I thought. Laugh out loud and can't breath hilarious. Need I say more!

4.5/5

Brokeback Mountain

Oh my god!! So totally don't recommend it. I am still having nightmares. Gives me the creeps. I can tell you I certainly look at Health Ledger differently now!

-2.5/5

As my life is really boring at the moment, please keep me entertained with all your emails, pictures and guestbook entries.

Oh, I have also updated my photo gallery if you want to have a squiz.

Have a good weekend.

Toni

Graphic Images!

On Friday I went back to the doctors to find out my fate. After snipping the cast open and taking the bandage off (I closed my eyes for that part) this is what I saw – ew but apparently it is healing well. The doctor then came by and showed me my x-rays, I have about eight screws that will stay permanently in my leg (unless they start irritating me and then they might get removed at a later stage) and that big screw. I have been told I will need another operation to have it taken out in about seven weeks. He also told me the bad news, I will have to be in plaster for another FIVE weeks, five weeks, do you know how long that is!!!!! Two weeks was bad enough. After five weeks they will take off my plaster and ease me back into walking again and two weeks after that will have to go back into surgery and have that big screw out. The upside to me having to still be in plaster is that I got a swanky pink cast!

The Netball

In March this year me and Debra had brought tickets to go and see New Zealand v Australia netball clash in Brisbane. I had especially been looking forward to this for the last four months and was really annoyed and upset that a couple of weeks out i hurt my ankle and might not have been able to go. After doing some research it was decided that i could still go and we would get tickets for the disabled area so that i could keep my foot elevated all night. We also decided to hire a wheel chair as that would be the most effective way of moving me around. Well it was a great night, we had definety improved our seating quality as we didn't have great seats and ended up right by the goal post . We had a huge banner which unfortunatley didn't make it on tv but am sure all the silver ferns saw it! and that is defiently what helped then win.

Toni

Dramas Dramas Dramas

Well its been a week since my last update and I can tell you that a lot has happened. Lets start my last Tuesday night. As per normal myself and Debra went to our ice skating lesson. We learnt how to do this cool bunny jump thing and practiced our lunges, as we were skating back to the barrier to do another jump my ankle gave way under me and i felt myself hit the ice. With angonising pain shooting up my leg I got assisted off the ice and sat down with frozen peas and my hot chocolate. As you can see from the picture my ankle was pretty fat. In the morning my ankle was still pretty fat and quite painful so i decided that trip to the doctors to ascertain if anything was broken was the best idea. So Debra bundled me up in the car and took me to the doctors, and then the doctor recommened getting an x-ray and then the x-ray people said that yes it in fact was broken. As you can see from the x-ray even a dummy can see that it is broken.

So off to the hospital to get a plaster, well that is what i thought, three hours later i was told that no a plaster was not what they were going to do, I needed to go to have an operation and I was admitted to hospital there and then and was told that i would get my operation tomorrow.

The next day i was on a Nil By Mouth (NBM) diet which meant no eating or drinking at all. At about three o'clock i was getting pretty dehydrated, so in goes the canulater and the IV drip. At 5pm they came and advised me that my operation had been cancelled and that it was scheduled for tomorrow, which meant I get to have dinner but that also I was on NBM again.

So at about 1pm on Friday it was time to go. It was pretty scary and smelt pretty bad down in the operating theatre. I was drugged up and off to sleep i went. At about 4.45 i woke up and the surgery was over and i woke up dazed and confused. I was taken back to my room to sleep it off.
On Saturday I was told my the doctor that I would no be going home until at least Monday. Great, another two days in hospital! So I did my time and finally got admitted on Monday with strict instructions no weight on my foot, i must keep it elevated at all times and not work for two weeks, great! What am I going to do now.

I can tell you that while I didn't much like being in hospital (especially when coughing old lady coughed ALL night) but being at home is so much harder, you can't carry anything, its an effort to get up, my foot just aches when it hangs low at least when I sprained my ankles in the past after a couple of days you can at least put weight on it. Oh and the netball is this weekend, I can tell you i have been looking forward to this since March (when i brought the tickets) and I think I am going to have to hire a wheelchair and sit in the disabled zone as I need to keep my foot elevated! I can tell you the silver ferns better win, at least maybe I might get better seats!

As i only have dial up at home at the moment, can't put more pictures on but have more to come.

Toni

Random Events I thought I would share

Time Zone

Last Sunday after my ragie night in town, Debra and myself decided a nice hot breakfast would be in order and headed for surfers. After breakie Debra thought it might be a nice idea to go for a walk along the beach, I thought it might be a nice idea to go to Time Zone and have some fun, fun won over exercise and we headed upstairs to Time Zone. For $15.00 we got two hours of fun and even got prizes. We raced on horses, kayaks, jet skis and mountain bikes to earn enough points to get our rewards. Debra got a cool dolphin pen and I got some games. Included with our tickets were also dodgem rides, lazer zone and mini golf. We had great fun and the next morning we both woke up feeling like we had done a work out! Do you know how hard it is to be a jockey!!

Fisho's

On Sunday night Fisho's is the place to go. Now Debra and Me have been planning to go there for a while now. We tried on Easter Sunday but the place was to packed but we managed to get down a couple of weeks ago. I can tell you it was an experience. Most people, I would say, had been down there drinking since lunchtime and were all pretty cherry. It was just like walking into a night club at 11pm. There were people everyone, after a few drinks myself and Debra were dancing on the dance floor like it was the normal thing to do. Now can you tell me when as the last time, if ever, you have been dancing on the dance floor at 7pm in comfy shoes!! It was great fun and being home by 8.30pm I had plenty of time to sleep of the alcohol and be ready for work bright and early on Monday. So if you come to the coast remind me to take you there!

Dinner at Margarita's

We had our end of season netball dinner at Margarita's on Friday night. We had a lovely dinner of nacho's and frozen margarita's (frozen drinks are my thing now, I don't even like tequila but these tasted great) followed by a dance in Surfers Paradise. Now I am sure it was more smokier than ever in Surfers as Friday night was the last night before smokefree in pubs, clubs and restaurants came in yah. I had a relatively early night and got home about 11.30 but can tell you I don't advise, champagne, nachos, tequila, vodka, smoke and paint fumes (my roof had just been painted) as a good combination but fortunately in true Toni style felt fine by Saturday morning.

Some girls from my team

Disney on Ice

We have waited a while to see this and finally the day had arrived. We were going to see Disney on Ice It stated at 6.00pm so at 3.30pm we jumped on the train for Brisbane with instructions in hand on what trains we needed to get there. We had to stop off at a little station and transfer on to another train that would take us close to the entertainment centre. The train was to due to arrive at 4.43 at 4.50 I was like hmmm, we must of missed it, alright we will make it in time if we get the next train at 5.13, when it didnt come at 5.20 that is when I started to get a bit/lot annoyed. We went over to the train man and said "lookie here buddy where is the train it didn't come and we have to be there at 6.00pm (ok we didnt say it like that but wanted to) he was like oh, you should of got this one and we were like well um that one didnÂ’t come and he was like oh, um, well blah blah blah and starting fart arsing around looking at stuff and we were like stuff this and got onto a train for central and then caught another one that would take us to where we needed to go, so by the time we got to Disney on Ice we had already missed the first quarter including NEMO!!! So I was a bit upset but the show was still pretty good and we picked up some snazzy moves that we intend to try out on Tuesday night.

Singstar

I found out today that there is going to be a new singstar, Singstar Anthem, and it has some really cool songs on it. Am soo excited, I can see myself sing I will survive!!

Toni

Update

Work has finally quietened down for a moment and I have a chance to update my blog.

Now...let me try and remember what I have been doing lately.

Well a little while ago me and Debra went to the movies and saw The Break Up with Vince Vaughan and Jennifer Aniston. It was pretty funny and wasn't what you expected. I really liked it and gave it a 3.5/5. Also that week I splashed out and brought Singstar Rock, but I have to say I was somewhat disappointed. The songs were hard to sing and I'm not really a rock girl myself but its a little bit of a change.

On Satruday night a girl from work was turning the big 20 and she was having a party, so I got all dressed up and headed to her house. I was the oldest one at the party, not something i'm used to being the youngest out of all my firends, but had a great night and managed to give myself lung cancer - yah for no smoking in pubs and clubs finally being introduced this weekend.

There was a little singstar at the party, but no one was that into, i miss everyone at home!
The one in the purple is Laura it was her birthday.

On Sunday night Nicky came to stay, I am slowly convincing her to move to the Gold Coast. She has gone from Yamba in NSW to Sunshine Coast in QLD and now is moving to Brisbane QLD, about an hour away. So will be great to be able to go and visit and stay up there as that is where most of the big events and things are held. Speaking of big events, its Disney on Ice this weekend, am soo excited I think if we watch carefully we will be able to pick up some snazzy moves. Speaking of skating, I have some bad news, our recital has been cancelled :( apparently the coordinator can't do it this year, so its not going to happen. I was looking forward to having a fantastic new outfit!

The final bit of news that I have this week is that we had our netball final on Monday night. Unfortunaltey we didn't win, we lost by two goals, but we came away with an engraved glass and a bottle of champayne (which was better than a winners towel!)

Since that is all my news for now, better get back to work, have put a few new pics in the photo gallery.

Oh and for all those home and away fans out there. I know that I have a link to the summary on my page but just thought I would do a mini update here as well.

Jack and Martha got married.

At their reception Zoe turned up and blew the barn up.

Peter died and Jack have a severed liver. Luckily Peter's liver was compadable with Jacks so Jack got Peters liver.

Rachel's mum also died.

Belle found out Amanda was her mum.

Martha, Belle, Robbie, Kim and Kit all had bad burns and were being flown by helicpoter to a hospital in the city. But the helicopter crased and they can't find them.

Toni

Its been a while

Work is still really busy, which means so have I. So unfortunantley have been unable to update my site until now, when I have come into work on Saturday to update my site and do actual work. Now anyone who knows me, knows that I don’t work overtime or on Saturdays but here I am. What have I turned into!!!!

The last couple of weeks have been quite busy also with things other than work.

Netball

The two weekends after we came back from Sydney, I had netball carnivals. Now what we didn’t realise was the first one was a rep carnival and well to say the least we lost every game by more points than I would care to divulge. The second one wasn’t so bad but maybe we would have been better in a lower grade. Despite losing all our games in those carnivals, we were in the semi-finals for our Monday night league. The team we were playing was the top team and most times we had lost to them by at least 20 points (including when they only had six players). Well this time, think it was all the practice against hard teams, we only lost by one point, but the annoying thing was that before the buzzer went we were standing under our goal post ready to shoot!!! Anyone was a good effort and if we win our game on Monday night against the winner of 3 and 4 in the ladder we will play them again and hopefully win.

Vodafone

Well unfortunately, I think Vodafone is onto me. The last two weeks I wasn’t able to free text from my New Zealand sim card. It was good while it lasted but just letting everyone know, I won’t be putting it on the weekends anymore.

Ice Skating

Guess what????? We are going to be in a ice skating recital. How exciting!!! He asked us on Tuesday night if we wanted to do it and we started practising our moves. I am the centre of the pinwheel J It’s in November and am going to get a girl from work to tape it. So when I come back for Christmas I can show everyone!

Police

Now I think since I have been in Australia in the last few months I have had more run-ins (that’s not really the right word, I ain’t no crim) that I ever had in New Zealand.

A couple of weeks ago me and a couple of the girls at work we were well working and some abusive ex-husband of an ex-client called up and stared saying “give me the money that you have in your trust account, if you don’t I am going to take out whoever is at reception”. Well I soon hung up on that physco and yelled at the girls to lock the doors and get the dogs inside. I can tell you we were huddling in the corner and the older ladies came back. Fortunately he didn’t turn up, but we went down and make a complaint with the police station, just incase he did decide to turn up. Pretty scary though, but not as scary as the latest incident.

On Sunday night just gone (11 June 2006) I sitting in my bean bag watching Dawson’s Creek (a girl at work has the whole box set of seasons 1-5) and I though I heard some noises. I muted the tv but decided it was just “the wind”. At about 12.30 I decided to go to bed (we had a pub holiday the next day) when I heard some talking outside my window. We are pretty close to the neighbours house and decided to put it down to that. I turned off my light and headed to bed, but decided to just peak under my window to see what was else there. I nearly shit myself when I saw a MAN outside my window. My heart started racing and I started to get scared. I was peaking for about, what seemed like hours, a couple of minutes and then they started to walk down the back of the other houses. Now anyone who has been to our house will know that we live in a block of units and only have one door. So there is no reason for anyone to be behind our block of units, especially at 12.30 on Sunday night. I army rolled, my curtains aren’t that great, and stood in my doorway contemplating whether I should wake Debra or not. I decided to go for one last peak to make sure they were still there and when I peaked this time I could not see them only there shadow on the fence. I decided that I would wake Debra. I ran into her room and said “Debra there is someone at my window”. She gave me her phone and said call 111. I said ok (FYI- Australian emergency is 000) and whispered to the person our situation. They said ok and they will send someone over. Me and Debra lied in her room for an hour and a half, gasping at every noise we heard to scared to move, until the police arrived. They searched and couldn’t find anyone. I call tell you I didn’t sleep very well that night and still can’t. Pretty scary.

That brown fence stops people from coming around the back

Gap I was peering under

Anyway, its time to go have been here for three hours and have other things to do. I haven't proof read the above so hope its makes some sense!

Haven't had many enteries in to my guest book so let me knows what going on!

Toni

Photos

Just wanted to let you know I have put some photo's in the photo gallery and even a movie. I am having trouble viewing the movie but think it might just be my computer.


Toni

Sydney

I hope everyone appreciates reading my blog because today I have come into work 45 minutes early just to update . As work is soo busy at the moment haven't had time to do it.

Sydney - Day 1 - 13 May 2006

Having selected an early flight to Sydney myself and Debra were up and about at 4am waiting for the transfer man to come and pick us and take us away on our adventure. Arriving at Pam's house at 8.30 in the morning we lugged our, lets just say Heavy, suitcases up one and a half flights of stairs and managed to wake them all up and I think some of the neighbours!

Once everyone was awake and showered Pam, Kev, Debra and Myself headed down to Circular Quay for some snaps with the standard tourist spots.

Thats me in a the circle of light!

That night we headed for the rugby and cheered on the Hurricanes with a bunch of kiwis and triumphed in the end with a win!

Day 2 - 14 May 2006

Today Hayley took us on an adventure to Bondi Junction and Bondi markets. We read in a Sydney tourist book that some times stars can go down to the markets and we were keeping our eyes pealed. Unfortunately we didn't see anyone but we did however find a shop that selled orange chocolate chip ice land and went down to the beach to eat it.

Bondi Beach

Day 3 and 4 - 15 -16 May

Today me and Debra headed to the Blue Mountains.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best and we had to walk around most of the days in our blue poncho's. This is me in my blue poncho and this is the view that we saw!

Apparently there are waterfalls behind me.

Now we thought that we would take a leisurely stroll of ten minutes to see the Cascades instead it ended up to be about an hour walk in the wet, cold and miserable weather through the bush on paths that we muddy and down metal steps. I can tell you we were both pretty happy when we made it to Scenic World and took the steepest railway in the world back up to the top!

http://www.scenicworld.com.au/attractions_railway.asp

As we couldn't really see much at scenic world, what else was there to do but go to the chocolate shop where we enjoyed a real hot chocolate and may have brought a few fancy chocolates!!

The next day we thought we would try our luck back up at scenic world. Unfortunately is was still foggy and we went on the scenic skyway

http://www.scenicworld.com.au/attractions_skyway.asp

Half the ride you could see stuff the other half was just fog

You can see in this picture the building we where heading to.

Deciding we had been beaten by the fog, we decided not to go to see the three sisters rock formation and decided on horse riding instead, Debra was a little reluctant, but we had a great time and could harldy walk the next day.

Day 5 - Wednesday 17 May

Today was sent shopping in Paramatta Westfield and had lunch with Pam. Westfield didn't really do it for me and I came away with only a new pair of boots.

That night we went out for a yummy dinner at 5o's where meals are $5.00 what a bargain!

Day 6 - Thursday 18 May

Today was the day I was most excited about, going to Palm Beach where they film Home and Away. After 2 hours in the bus and one stop to far we finally made it to the "Surf Club"



Unfortunately after hanging around for a couple of hours we never saw any stars or anyone filming :(


Day 7 - Friday 19 May

Friday was spent lazing around the house recovering from the last couple of action packed days. Friday night we went to luna park for unlimited rides. Unfortunately for us, neither of us could stomach many of them and came out feeling a tad sick. I can spend a home day a dream world but a couple of rides at luna park and I was done.




Day 8 - Saturday 20 May

On Wednesday night Kevin suggested that we had a shop-a-thon and what girl can resist this temptation! So on Saturday us four girls let our legs do the walking, credit cards do the talking and off we went. After getting a little lost on the way to the Sketchers outlet shop we eventually made it out of there were four pairs of fantastic shoes. After Sketchers we proceeded to an outlet mall somewhere, where the shopping continued.

That night we had some cocktails at home and then headed into town to go to the Ice Bar. We had a fantastic time in there and had a over excited employee taking heaps of snaps. It was heaps and I recommend it. They have one in Auckland.

http://www.minus5.co.nz/sydney.asp

See Pam’s photos for more pictures of us

http://nothamilton.bravehost.com//captured.htm


Day 9 – Sunday 21 May

Home Time

Today we got up late and had brunch down in Coogee and then sat at home and watched a movie. A great way to spend a Sunday after an exhausting wee!

What a great holiday. Thank you Pam, Hayley and Kev for your hospitality.

Toni