Firstly apologies in the lag since the last post – a lot has happened over the last few weeks but hopefully, we’ll both be able to update this more regularly now that things have become a little bit more settled.
From hearing about the girl’s shenanigans on the hens night, the boys went into the Bucks Show with some pressure on our shoulders. Although honestly, I was never in doubt that we would all be able to last the night. We started the series of events with a Vietnamese roll to line our stomachs and then headed over to The Joiners at 2 pm in the afternoon (a bar close to the city that Andrew occasionally works at and is owned and run by some friends). From this point onwards I’m not sure how much information I can divulge in but we all wore our favourite sports jerseys, played a fair few sports drinking games, enjoyed some hilarious karaoke sessions, visited numerous bars and yes the rumours are true…someone actually ended up breaking their leg! Thankfully it wasn’t Andrew or any of the Groomsmen, so the night continued and to say we outdid the girls was an understatement, rocking up at home at 5am (Andrew and Gem’s dad included!) after an E-P-I-C night out.
Proud to say the day after we all felt surprisingly fresh and so we headed out to Harbour Town outlet village (aka. Bargain city!) for a spot of lunch and some shopping. We soon moved on to Glenelg to catch some sun and beach time, and even managed to kick the footy (Aussie rules) around for a bit. The night markets were on which hosted some local produce, we grabbed some fish and chips and walked along the seafront where we caught a spectacular sunset and ended the evening with a drink in The Moseley which we (the boys) struggled to get down.
And before we knew it, it was the week of the wedding! The 6 day countdown had officially begun to the big day! Andrew and Lana were finally on holiday and we could spend some quality time with them. They had a lot of final wedding prep to do though so on the Monday me and Gem decided to head into the city and run some errands. Gem needed to pick up her bridesmaid shoes after needing to get them adjusted from a shoe repairer and we had a bank appointment to set up some accounts for us to use while we are over here. We also got our Australian sim cards set up through Vodafone after O2 messing us around with terminating our UK contracts (that’s another story that I could probably write a dissertation on – but i’m not wasting another breath on them). A long but productive day in the city to say the least!
Over the next few days we managed some quality beach time down at Grange – one of which me and Gem decided to walk to the beach which is over 4km away in the middle of the day. By the time we got to the beach I felt like I had already been in the sea as I was that sweaty! Walking in 37 degree heat was not our smartest idea! Gem’s parents joined us after they sensibly caught the local train and enjoyed a Guava and Apple fruit juice at Grange Jetty Cafe which was the perfect refresher. Another hot evening was then spent down at Brighton beach with Paul, Rita and the gang to enjoy a nice dinner watching yet another amazing sunset. The beaches here in Adelaide really are stunning – hence why we go so much
Thursday afternoon saw the rehearsal for the wedding ceremony down at The Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron, a perfect location looking out to the harbour with hundreds of yachts. Everything seemed to go well, you could tell everyone was getting really excited and even Halle walked down the aisle perfectly with her Page boy Taylor. We finished up with a celebratory pre-wedding dinner at The Sailmaster and a few beers.
Friday came around so fast and before we knew it, it was the eve of the wedding! The girls headed out that morning to get their spray tans – they came back looking like they had just had a two week vacation in the Bahamas! After joking around with us saying it was meant to get even darker, they soon reassured us that the majority of their tan would come off in the shower, and thankfully it did!
Later that afternoon the girls headed out to spend the night at The Seawall Apartments down at Glenelg and Andrew put on a BBQ at home for us boys and later headed down to the local pub call The Seaton for some beers and pokies – Andrew’s ideal last night as a bachelor. We managed to get a $60 Syndicate up to $250 but ended up getting a few rounds and risking it on a dog called “Makin Changes” which to this day me and Paul have no idea where that dog ran, came or even finished. We can back and played some legendary balderdash where Paul managed to get the first bits of his best man speech written and Dan ordered some pizzas which disappeared fairly quickly.
The 4th of March had arrived, the day of “The Murray Wedding 2017”.
Up at 8am Andrew seemed pretty relaxed, Andrew’s groomsman Dan was chilling out whilst Paul was finishing up some last minute speech prep. The photographer and videographer came at around 11am, the boys threw on their wedding attire and we all picked at a delicious platter of cold meats and cheeses.
It was 1.30pm and we saw them off in an awesome blue VW Kombi van which they managed to hire from a friend’s neighbour. (Apparently it was always Lana’s dream to have one at her wedding). I could already start to get the feeling that this was going to be an unforgettable day, not just for the bride and groom, but everyone that was privileged enough to attend such a special occasion.
I then drove me, Phil and Debbie down to the ceremony not long after the boys and made our way to the Yacht Squadron (Andrew had put me on his car insurance the day before).
There was a live singer called Ash Gale on his guitar (worth googling him – he’s pretty awesome!), flowers everywhere, and we were welcomed with a cold beer on this very hot summers day. In true fashion the bride was 20 minutes late (I was later told Lana needed to stop for a toilet break on their drive down and ended up queuing in some public toilets nearby!). It didn’t feel too long before Ash was singing ‘Set in Stone’ by Guy Sebastian and Halle, Taylor and Rita started walking down the aisle. Gem followed close behind, then Maid of honour Danielle, and then the blushing bride who looked absolutely beautiful. Andrew’s face was a picture and you could start to see everyone else beginning to well up. It was the perfect scene and everyone took their seats to watch the couple say their vows which they had wrote for each other.
We headed to the reception around 4ish when the bridal party all went off in the Kombi for some photos at the beach. The reception was held at The Palais, which was like a huge bistro/pub that overlooked the sea at Semaphore beach – the perfect setting to celebrate the newly married couple. Everything about the evening, the boho decorations, the food, drink, music, dancing, family, friends and speeches were all unforgettable – and thankfully everything was videoed which we can’t wait to watch back namely for the mannequin challenge and Paul’s hilarious best man speech which he had only started writing whilst playing Balderdash the night before!
We saw the couple off at midnight as they headed to their wedding suite in the same seawall apartments the girls stayed in the previous night. But the night went into the early hours of the morning for a few of us which ended with me Gem and Paul going down to the beach for a paddle. If I could go back and recreate any day so far since we’ve been here it would be that day. It was never in doubt that this would be the wedding of the year, and it didn’t disappoint!
No honeymoon booked as of yet for the newlyweds, but they are talking about taking a trip of a lifetime to the Amalfi Coast in Italy this August, with a stop in the UK for a quick catch up with the rest of the English family and finishing off with a relaxing few weeks in Bali. Looks like Gem and I will be house sitting for a while which works out perfectly as our friends Matt and Sophie will be paying us a visit at that time – we can’t wait to take them to a few of our favourite places so far!
Anyway back to the post wedding update – The day after the wedding we drove down to Glenelg feeling a tad ropey from the night before to catch up with “The Murrays” and the rest of the wedding party for a BBQ. They also got a chance to watch back a video we had put together from friends and family from afar that unfortunately was glitchy on the night of the wedding (If you haven’t seen it and want to have a look – let us know and Gem will be able to send it to you).
The rest of that week saw the last few days for Debbie and Phil which we definitely made the most of by heading down to Victor Harbour and staying in a gorgeous apartment overlooking the sea. Me, Gem, Andrew and Phil attempted a game of beach volleyball which was fun and then that evening we spent some quality time playing more board games – Acknowledging Brilliance in Travel Agents. The following day we headed over to explore Granite Island. It’s such a shame to hear that there used to be penguins living freely on the island but they got so mistreated by the public they had to relocate into an enclosure. We then drove through McClaren vale for some lunch and wine tasting. This is where I discovered the most amazing Muscat from the Scarpantoni winery – one for sure that I will buy again at some point.
Later that afternoon on our way back home we stopped at Port Noarlunga – another stunning beach location for a quick dip in the sea, again the weather not letting us down! The evening ended with a trip to NNQ which is a local Vietnamese restaurant which probably has to be my favourite meal since we arrived here.
9th March – Debbie and Phil’s final day and was spent at Adelaide Zoo where we managed to see a rare sighting of one of the Panda’s, as well as many of the rare and exotic other animals and birds that are on display. We said our goodbyes to Phil and Debbie at the airport that evening, but pleased to say they had a very pleasant and safe journey home
It felt pretty strange without Gem’s parents here, but it didn’t take us too long to move all of our stuff into the spare room and make ourselves at home as we were currently camping on Halle’s Nursery floor, on a very comfy mattress mind!
That Friday after we said our goodbyes, we met up with Paul and Georgie at the Royal Croquet Club down by the Adelaide Oval – a venue that is part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival. After a few bevvies and some Indian street food we ended up at a rooftop bar called 2KW that overlooks the city and under strict instruction from Andrew, we got the 11:57 train home.
We spent the weekend relaxing after a busy few weeks – we took another trip to harbour town picking up even more bargains – one of which a Basketball for me and Gemma to shoot some hoops. The Monday after was a public holiday so we managed to get down to the Fringe and watch a $6 show which was headed up by a Canadian woman who couldn’t stop dropping the C bomb.
Tuesday hit us and so did reality – it was Job search time in and around babysitting Halle. After applying for a few jobs online and not really getting anywhere we decided to make a concerted effort to head into the city that week and try and get ourselves in front of some job agencies including Entree and Randstad. Fingers crossed we will start earning some dollar soon…
Tom.