The Honeymoon

After Matt & Kay's wedding we were lucky to spend the start of their honeymoon with them!!! This was a really nice house right on the beach in Florida! It was great to spend time with our friends from uni who we hadn't seen for 3 years! The sunsets were amazing and reminded us of home in Australia.

Matt, Jeff, baby Joe, Ben, Downy

Matt & Kay's Wedding

The trip to the US began with Matt & Kay's wedding on NYE in Panama City, Florida. It was a big event with over 300 people attending. The groomsmen included Downy, Ben and Jeff and they looked smashing in their tails. It was an evening wedding followed by a big party with an amazing selection of food and drinks. The night finished back at the good old Days Inn - a quality motel in Panama city.

Below: Corinne, Lauren, Jeff, Matt, Kay, Downy, Liv, Ben

Jeff, Lauren and little Joe (with a special wedding outfit)

Groomsmen - very spunky in those suits

The Isle of Wight

One of the cute villages on the island where there are many thatched roofs.

Working - surgery with Gillian and Sam, about to do a pyometra surgery

Rotten English fish and chips - we have tried so many of the so called famous fish and chips in the UK, these were probably the worst but they are all terrible. Basically a mush of greasy half cooked batter with something inside that somehow resembles fish. We are looking forward to fish and chips back home in Port Fairy

Christmas 2007 in Ingatestone

We spent Christmas at Fiona and Shannon's place in Ingatestone, Essex. It is a cute little village and they have a lovely flat. The cooking began at 10am and after a marathon of preparation we sat down to a wonderful Christmas dinner at about 3pm! Anthony was chief turkey baster. On Boxing day we went walking in Hylands park - a really big public park with an old mansion in the middle.

Lovely English Christmas weather - we didn't leave the house on xmas day, it rained all day.

Fiona as head chef

The much anticipated Pheasant

Tonight I roasted the pheasant I was given by some good clients. Typically they are roasted, and wrapped with bacon.

The finished product, a little tough and dry, but very flavoursome

Liv refused to let me make gravy out of the inside bits.

Osborne House

Next we were off to Osborne House, the summer residence of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. It was designed by Prince Albert and based on italian villas. Queen Victoria died there in 1901, surrounded by her 73 collies, she was a bit of a weird one that Victoria.

Quarr Abbey

On the weekend, we managed to drag ourselves outside, in between storms to see some of the the local sites on the Isle of Wight. First stop was Quarr Abbey, a former Cistertian monastery. The monks still live and work here and all the grounds are open the public.

Pigs getting fat for Christmas...Mmmm

The new abbey

The only sunshine we've seen for a month