A Trip Down South

Towards the end of our visit to Perth, we took a trip to the area of Western Australia commonly known to the locals as “Down South”. This area covers most of the South West of WA and its a pretty popular holiday destination.

I never get tired of going down south, because there’s a huge variety of things to do

Beautiful Beaches

Image courtesy of www.westernaustralia.com

Gorgeous Forests

Image courtesy of www.australiassouthwest.com

Fantastic Wineries

Image courtesy of www.australiassouthwest.com

Delicious Food

Image courtesy of www.wisefood.com

I could so be a travel agent, don’t you think???

I also have soft spot for Dunsborough, since it’s where Rocky and I met, and 5 years later got married on this beach

Image courtesy of www.australiassouthwest.com

So, we started off with a few days with my parents’ in Bridgetown (a a few hours inland) before heading to the coast to go to an old friend’s wedding (the friend who introduced us 13 years ago, in fact). And we left the kids with Mum & Dad (and my brother and sister-in-law) for the night!!

It was the first night I’ve ever had apart from Chiq, and the first kid free night since January 2006 so I was both nervous and excited! I was a little bit worried about how they would go getting Chiq to sleep since I am still feeding her and I was a bit worried about how she (and I) would cope missing 2 feeds!

Nothing a few glasses of champagne won’t fix, though!! We had a great night and didn’t worry about the kids too much. We had pretty patchy mobile coverage which was probably a good thing.

The wedding was held in the grounds of a winery under some beautiful trees (I am a big fan of the outdoor wedding), the bride looked gorgeous, the groom was dashing, it was a fantastic night. So many of my oldest and closest friends are scattered around the country (and the world) and we only seem to get together for weddings these days, so it was really nice to catch up again. We spent the better part of the night reminiscing about old times and realising that next year will be 20 years since we all met (at schoolies week on Rottnest after Year 12, of all places) and plotting a 20 year reunion get-together!

Most of my photos have other people in them, so I won’t post them, but here’s a safe one

The view from the reception

I got glammed up for a change. I’d almost forgotten how to apply make-up! In a stroke of pure luck I discovered that my hairdresser of oh…about 15 years, who I have been following from salon to salon, has moved to Margaret River (about 15 minutes from the wedding venue) and I was able to get my hair done for the wedding. The result was so much better than doing it myself, trust me.

Actually this is not the greatest photo - originally our faces were much more shaded and I had to touch it up to make it viewable. (If only I knew how to photoshop double chins out!). I was excited that I got to wear my new Vera Wang dress though. Yes, I said Vera Wang!! Before you fall off your chair, let me tell you the story of my Vera Wang dress (I love saying that - my Vera Wang Dress!).

For the Aussies - you know how Stella McCartney (and other designers) did a line for Target? Well, Vera Wang now designs a range of affordable clothes for a department store in the States called Kohl’s. When we were there in September they were having a sale and I bought this dress for $60!!! I love it because it is so comfortable, and actually quite flattering (rare for a dress on me). The best bit - the front falls really softly from the empire line hiding a baby belly that I really shouldn’t still have!

The next morning we enjoyed a few blissful child free hours, when I remembered what it is like to wake up of my own accord, when my body was fully rested! Then we headed to the beach for fry-up breakfast to counter the effects of all that champagne the night before…

Our breakfast view

Mum & Dad brought the kids over to us at about midday, by which time I was ready to explode from missed feeds. I almost think we missed the kids more than they missed us.