please let us marry

Australia’s National Day of Action for Same-Sex Marriage is 1 August 2009, which is tomorrow! Read more about the issue of Same-Sex Marriage in Australia here and here.

Per the Equal Love website: “the National Day of Action has traditionally been the anniversary of the federal government’s same-sex marriage ban. But this year it will be two weeks earlier – to coincide with the Australian Labor Party’s triennial national conference.

Party heavyweights will gather from July 30th to August 1st in Sydney at the Convention and Exhibition Centre to revise the party’s national platform so that it is “a modern, up-to-date document”.

This is an ideal opportunity for the Equal Love Campaign to pressure the governing party to change its outdated and discriminatory policy on same-sex marriage.

It is unlikely that the federal government will support marriage equality so long as the Labor Party platform clearly rejects it. This is why the national conference is so important.

By focusing attention on this triennial event, Equal Love demonstrators will see how their voices can directly make a difference. Our protests will have a more visible and immediate purpose. In addition, there will be plenty of opportunities for media coverage.”

However, as the ABC reports, “the move to push the issue at the party's national conference has hit a major stumbling block: the Prime Minister.

"We went to the last election being very clear-cut about our position on marriage, under the Marriage Act, being between a man and a woman," Mr Rudd said.”

I agree with Equal Love’s statement that: "the federal government, by opposing same-sex marriage, is effectively sanctioning homophobia".

There are protests happening in all Australia's capital cities, read the list here. Please join in the demonstrations! Help to gain marriage equality!

The info for Brisbane is as follows:

DATE: Saturday 1 August, 2009, 1.00pm

VENUE: Queens Park

CONTACT: Jessica Payne, jessicapayne86@hotmail.com

You will see us there for sure :-)

If you're unable to attend a demonstration, why not write to the government?

Australian Marriage Equality has some general ideas for topics to include in an email or letter. The statement that seems to resonate with me the most is:

The right to marry gives greater social and legal security to your family. Denying this to some families while giving it to others creates insecurity within society and weakens the fundamental Australian values of equality and belonging.

Kelly and Sam on their blog, The Muriels, have written a similar call to arms. However, they also include a list of the email addresses of all Australian Labor Party Conference Delegates for your easy reference.

Take action peeps!

An interesting point before I finish…

Equal Love notes: “Some people believe same-sex couples should ask for civil unions instead of same-sex marriage. But the Equal Love campaign firmly believes that there is no substitute for equality in marriage...

If Australia establishes a national civil union scheme instead of removing marriage discrimination, we will be entrenching the second-class status of same-sex couples, opening them up to greater discrimination, and defying a global trend towards full legal and social equality.”

We are entitled to full citizenship, to equality, to respect. We are entitled to celebrate our love for our partner, just as our straight counterparts are. Marriage is a basic human right.

I wonder how Mr Rudd would feel if he couldn’t be married?

Shan

PS. Remember that marriage in Australia is a civil institution, not a religious one.

shananananackroyd

July 31: Today we, again, spent 2 hours in traffic in order to get to work. Gah!

But guess what?! I only have one more week of work left (and Zanne has even less cos she finishes on Wednesday), which means very soon we won't have to sit through this terrible drive every day - or ever again really - wooooooot! July 30: My replacement has, well, replaced me at work. Seriously, she has taken over my desk, moved my stuff to a cardboard box. It was all very impolite if you ask me. I'm currently moving between Officers' offices in order to have somewhere to sit.

Today I've spent a bit of time in one Officer's office in particular. I work at a Union and peeps here love politics. This Officer appears to love our government so much that she has a massive poster of our Prime Minister next to her computer. I've been staring at Kevin Rudd all day and it's weird. What's weird-er (which is not a real word, I know) is the comic that she has pinned to her wall which calls K-Rudd "the thinking woman's crumpet". Ew! Really??

Shan

dear mr president

July 29: Here are pics from our day in Sydney. As mentioned here, the United States changed their travel visa requirements in January and, because we have a connecting flight in LA and then plan to spend more than 90 days somewhere in North America, we've had to go through the process of applying for a 5 year B1/B2 visa. It has been a long, costly and frustrating process. We both feel that the whole thing is unnecessary - why can't we be eligible for the Visa Waiver Program?? We will be in LA for all of 5 hours!!

Our day in Sydney sucked. The Consulate was total bs. Zanne has written a very long blog about our day, however we won't be posting it until after we receive our passports back (just in case). We don't know whether our visa has been approved - we weren't allowed to ask questions of the Consulate peeps - however I don't see why we'd be rejected. In any case, we won't know for sure until we receive our returned passports, hopefully with visas inside.

We were both full of rants on this day. In particular, I was all worked up about writing a stern letter to President Obama. However, a few days after the event, I think we've both realised that we'll just have to get over it, try to forget our attitude and frustration over this whole thing, and just be grateful when the visas come through...

July 28: We stayed overnight at Zanne's family's home in order to catch our Sydney flight from the Gold Coast (Zanne's Mum very kindly delivered us to the airport at 5.30am the next morning).

3 of Zanne's nephews were home as well - aren't they the cutest? Little Jimmy's hair is super curly now, just like his brother Koen.

July 27: Zanne's Mum took this photo of Zanne's super pregnant sister, Sally.

Sally and Brandt's first baby, a little girl, is due Saturday 8 August. She will be the first grand-daughter for the family. We can't wait to meet her!

Shan

tramps like us, baby we were born to run

July 26: Today was my Stepdad's birthday. Lunch at a local country pub was followed by a family dinner of birthday nachos.

Happy birthday to Ned!

PS. There are pics here of little Noah celebrating his Grandad's birthday. Noah enjoys "helping" now - helping to cook, to eat our dinner, to dry dishes, to put candles in the birthday cake, etc. Note Noah's first black eye! He fell into his Mum's bed frame, poor chook. July 25: We attended a wonderful lunch today at Dame Sybil Von Thorndike's home. Dame Sybil is a 70 year drag queen named Laurie. Zanne became acquainted with Laurie and his partner of 30 years, Wayne, during her organising of the inaugral Queens Birthday Community Awards. The Community Awards were borne out of the Queens Ball, an annual Brisbane Ball established almost 50 years ago by Laurie and Wayne.

We were invited to lunch, along with Martin and Gary and another lesbian couple, Carol and Annie. Carol was the lead singer of local band Railroad Gin in the 70s - my Mum was impressed by this! Laurie and Wayne have a wonderful home, complete with two chandeliers, and were perfect hosts. Considering we were seedy from our night out though, it was a bit of a struggle to keep up, especially when we were handed a margherita almost immediately upon arrival!

We particularly enjoyed the conversation during lunch... The other guests were a generation or two older than Zanne and I and recounted tales of the "old" days (only 30ish years ago) when homosexuality was underground - the Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen days, the days of police informants and poofter bashers - stuff that, thankfully, we have no experience of. And I'm so grateful for that.

So what has a picture of a cat got to do with any of this? Nothing. But our camera died after taking this picture of Zanne's workmate's (Dave) cat this morning.

PS. Thank you to Dave for letting us stay the night!

July 24: Zanne's workplace had a picnic in the park this Friday afternoon, which quickly became a very drunken and fun night out. Here are various pics of everyone in various poses and states of soberness. Such fun peeps!

Shan

the pineapple head it spins and it spins

July 23: Dinner with the Pride Committee.

We had such fun at Martin and Gary's place - great company, great food, great home, great art and antiques, great rainbow chandelier!

I left dinner wishing I was as cool as a gay man.

July 22: We received another gift from my parents for our baby - a super cute Bonds onesie.

As I said here (after our first baby gift), I'M NOT PREGNANT! However, my parents would prefer us to have babies than leave the country, and apparently they like to be blatantly obvious about it... Fair enough I suppose. But we are indeed moving to Canada, super cute onesie or not. Sorry Mum.

Here is Zanne with the only "baby" we can currently dress in the onesie - a borrowed teddy bear. My Stepdad Ned joined in the shenanigans with his "mini me", Shrek.

Things just got weird eh?

Shan

less than a month

It is Friday 24 July today - this time next month we will be in Vancouver! Oh boy, if only the days could pass faster. This week I've been distracted by thoughts of new creative projects, new community projects, a new career, new excursions and fun ways to pass the time - but all of that is on hold for now. We're still here, and we have to finish up our jobs, and save last minute cash-ola, and continue putting our various paperworks and documents in order, and pack our belongings and, and, and... I'm just keen to start the next part of our life is all. I'm so excited for the first day we wake up in Vancouver...

In other news, Zanne's replacement started last Monday and the handover is well underway. My replacement begins next Monday. My job really isn't very difficult so I'm not sure how I'm going to stretch the training thing out to two weeks. I fear my last week might involve a lot of sitting around. Luckily I am a master in the art of time suckage.

Enjoy your weekend, peeps.

Shan

an ode to Champ

The day has arrived for us to sell our car, Champ. This was the first car I ever got to choose. It was the first time I was earning enough money to get something I really wanted and not just whatever fit my budget. From the moment I saw Champ, I knew this was the car for me. I loved the blue, I loved the grey racing stripes. I loved that the car felt a lot bigger on the inside than it looked and I loved that I could run around all week in it on only 1 tank of petrol.

I've owned Champ since before I met Shan so he's been there through our whole relationship - from the first morning I drove Shan home to now when he drives us safely to and from work everyday. Champ has been an awesome car for us and if it weren't for the move, I think it would be the car we'd keep until it stopped running. I know it's just a car, but it's the car we've had through every adventure, every big step of our relationship so far and we've always had so much fun and so many great conversations in it. I really will be sad to see him go.

Here's Champ attempting a jumping shot with Shan, Kylie and myself during a trip to Noosa. That day he got us to our destination after a river crossing on a barge and a drive down a long dirt road. He's so fruity!

All packed and ready to go on our first summer holiday. Champ carried all our camping gear for the whole week away. On our trip to the Bunya Mountains, Champ stopped on the side of the dirt road to look at giant cacti. Even when it's freezing outside, Champ always ran fine. Such a trooper!This was my fault, not yours Champ. And all the times we hung out with Noah. Noah loves Champ too. We always not-so-secretly loved seeing Noah's little seat in the back.

I hope we find a new home for him that will love him as much as we have.

overexerted himself moonwalking on the treadmill

July 21: I have recently been spending quite a lot of time messing about with the Paint program (while not working at work). I just came across this image I had saved on my memory stick. We used it in a facebook event we created for our last drunken Brisbane night out.

Here is my 4 year old head on the body of some kid I found in google images :-)

PS. My 4 year old self looks pretty much exactly the same as my current self - it's weird!

July 20: I often wish for jumper cables (I am not a morning person)

Shan

recent conversations (the short versions)

Convo # 1

I was on the train recently after work. I sat next to a guy who immediately said: "Hey, you work at the 3 Mobile store right?". I said no, he must be thinking of someone else.

Because he seemed embarassed about mistaking me for someone else, because I only have three stops to travel on the train and because I'm too polite, I entered into chit chat with him... right up until:

Dude: "What are you up to tonight?"

Me: "I'm meeting my girlfriend then we're catching up with friends for dinner"

Dude: "What do you mean "girlfriend"? Are you gay?"

Me: "Yep"

Dude: "Oh man, this is impossible - you're an angel! Are you telling me you've never been with a man?!"

Me: "What??! Well, have you ever been with a man?"

Dude: "Me? No way, this is impossible - I would rather die!"

Me: "Same here"

Dude: "So..."

Me: "Dude, these are really personal questions"

Dude: "Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend"

This conversation caused me all kinds of upset, for obvious reasons. Such inappropriate questions! And on a crowded, peak-hour train no less! And I was upset with myself for being so polite. I could have said I was straight I suppose... but every part of me resists that idea. I'm ok with being gay (and grateful and proud!), even if w*nkers on the train are not. But it still p*ssed me off, and I was cranky all evening.

Convo # 2

The other night we were asked whether, when we decide to start a family, we'll do it the natural way and have sex with a man. WTF??

Convo # 3

Lastly, a positive conversation...

My stepdad is a diesel mechanic, he's a real bloke. He rides a motorbike, shaves his head and has full sleeve tattoos (he might look scary but he wouldn't hurt a fly!). Him and his workmates were in the lunchroom recently and some of the guys were choosing a channel to watch on the tv. They came across Ellen's talkshow and one guy called out that he "didn't want to watch that lezzo b*tch".

My stepdad, Nev, in front of everyone, confronted the guy: "have you got a problem with lesbians?"

The guy: "Yeah, and I hate when they rub it in your face"

Nev: "My daughters are lesbians, and if you've got a problem with them, you've got a problem with me"

The guy: (backpeddling) "Oh, I'm sorry mate, I didn't mean anything by it. Sorry Nev"

The guy also privately apologised to Nev later in the day.

This story makes me smile. I can just imagine Nev, this big bloke, proudly saying "have you got a problem with lesbians?". He didn't have to say anything to the guy of course, he could have let it go. But he did say something, and that's awesome. Imagine standing up to a bloke in front of a room full of other blokes and defending Ellen and all lesbians everywhere - so cool! Maybe that guy will think twice before he announces his homophobia in the future (and for better reasons than fearing confrontation with my scary-looking Stepdad).

PS. Note that Nev said "my daughters" - aw!

Shan

the calendar of to do

We have less than 5 weeks now until we relocate to Vancouver. It's so exciting! After all the saving and paperwork, I can't wait to stop making plans and start actioning them!

We've been super duper productive these past couple of weeks and have managed to cross off a lot of things on our to do list. And even though I've sent Zanne a list of tasks every day for two weeks she still loves me - phew!

Here are a few of the things we've organised recently:

Canadian visas x 2 = $380

US visa, including:

Application fee $170.30 x 2 = $340.60

Phone calls 12 x 2 = $24

Interview fee 14 x 2 = $28

Flights to Sydney = $234 (We managed to get cheap flights - awesome! We're going to Sydney and back on the same day, Wednesday 29 July. Fingers crossed our visas are approved following our 15 minute appointments(!))

Flight Los Angeles to Vancouver - $385 on Alaska Air (Air Canada was going to charge us $660 - so glad we shopped around!)

Travel insurance for 2 months $507.60

Wheel alignment $55

Car service $186 (We were ready to put the car up for sale following the car service - until yesterday when we somehow got a massive crack in the windscreen! We'll have to get it replaced this week now)

Tattoo - done (all 9 hours of it!)

Zanne's root canal - done (6 fillings to go)

Engagement party - organised

Visits with Grandparents - done

Optometrist - done

Now that all of the big things are organised and paid for we can do some last minute saving. We will receive our tax returns this week, which will pay off our credit cards as well as replace the monies we've outlaid for the above - nice one! Now we just have to sell the car and we'll be debt free and ready to rock n roll Canadian style :-)

Shan

Noah is my homeboy

July 19: I made us some earrings (plugs) today. Our tattooist Tim gave us a hot tip about fimo clay. Fimo is really easy to use - you mold it, then cook it in the oven for 30 minutes.
I'm a big dork when it comes to creative projects and I had so much fun today. I can't wait to make more rad plugs! July 18: We simply adore Saturdays with our nephew Noah.
My brother and sister-in-law work on Saturdays so we're lucky to have days like this one where we have breakfast at the beach and collect sea shells and sing and giggle and kick the ball and collect sticks and wash the car.
We are going to miss Noah terribly when we leave Brisbane - so much that Zanne is talking about making us "Noah is my homeboy" tees!

Shan

sailor jerry

By the by, do you like our new blog background?

Some time ago I drew up some old school sailor jerry tattoos and Zanne scanned and uploaded them to photobucket. We had to mess about with the image's size for a while before we were able to apply it to our blog, and, unfortunately, now there seems to be different shades of white on our page... In any case, I think it looks pretty radical.

Shan

not enough to kill me… but I’m feeling it now, and I feel anxious…

July 17: In celebration of my workmate's birthday I made her a Camembert Cake... Every Friday Rebecca and I have our own little morning tea together and, because we're both cheese fiends, we usually have cheese and crackers. Thus a Camembert Cake.

July 16: My masterpiece is (finally) complete!

Here are photos from my third and last tattoo session. It was a small session, only an hour, for touch-ups and the last bit of shading. Unfortunately said last bit of shading was up near my armpit and hurt like needles and knives! Not to worry, it's all done now and I LOVE IT!

Thank you to our tattooist, Tim of All Star Tattoo. Tim, it was so funny every time you giggled when I was squirming in pain. Not ;-)

July 15: Zanne's boss resigned on the same day as her - what are the chances?! Wednesday was T-Bomb's last day. Here are some photos taken at her farewell at Cloudland.

We were well on our way home before the debauchery began... Apparently T-Bomb vomited out of her nose the next day - tequila shots argh!!

PS. T-Bomb is the one with the long, dark hair

Shan

got a garden of songs where i grow all my thoughts

July 14: There is a suburb in Brisbane called "Toowong". This is a photo of a restaurant in Toowong - its name is clearly a politically incorrect play on words. Very tongue in cheek, very funny!

July 13: The first garden I've ever managed to grow - how exciting! Apparently the trick is to choose plants that need no care at all...

Shan

uncle suze is not well

July 12: Images from Zanne's Nanny's house.

I love that our grandparents have a lot of the same trinkets and furniture in their homes - my grandparents have similar fridge magnets and coasters to the ones Nanny has.

Check out the cute family photos at the bottom left here, do you see Zanne the Cub Scout? Aw!

July 11: The morning after...

Zanne woke at 5am to drive to the Gold Coast (approx 1.5 hours) to catch a flight to Sydney with her Dad for a visit with her Nanny. By all accounts she wasn't feeling well, poor chook.

Zanne and her Dad are on the left here and waaaay on the right is the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

A whole weekend without my love and I was lost :-(

July 10: Zanne's spontaneous big night.

A celebration with workmates + dinner with friends + a brief visit to the Curvy 6 exhibition + a tour of The Wickham + 2 bottles of wine = drunky mcdrunk = sick on the side of the road. Oh dear!

Shan

the pumpkin update

So you may have been wondering what we did with all the pumpkins we brought home from Bundaberg? Well it turns out they were much more sought after than we thought and we ended up with only one left for us here at home.

We took one around to Shan's brother's house and little Noah was there. He didn't really know what to make of it so he kinda touched it with his foot.

Then he sat down and played with the end for a while.

Then he realised it was awesome fun to push it really fast across the bench.

But the most fun was definitely pretending we were cavemen and and the pumpkin was a club. He really liked that!

With nowhere to put 10 pumpkins at home we kept them in the car until we could deliver them. At work last week I mentioned I had pumpkins and suddenly everyone wanted one.

Here's Erika cradling her pumpkin baby. He has her eyes.

Not content to have just any ordinary pumpkin baby, Erika decides her pumpkin is actually Johnny Depp reincarnated.

Erika and Courtney with their pumpkin babies right before they leave for the day, ready to catch a crowded train home with their precious cargo.

Leigh and Elicia take good care of their pumpkin baby....

snug-as-a-pumpkin-in-a-blanket-in-a-basket

Unfortunately I didn't get photos of everyone with their pumpkins! But from those who did take them feedback has been positive. Several soups have been made and eaten and I know we've had it several times this week - roasted AND steamed. Thanks Grandad!

a big, fat "NO!"

As a result of recent changes to travel visa requirements of the United States (read my rant here), we have begun the process of applying for a B-2 visa. We have both now completed our Electronic Visa Application Forms; accordingly I'd like to share some of the ridiculous questions included in said application:

* Do you seek to engage in espionage, sabotage, export control violations, or any other illegal activity while in the United States?

* Do you seek to engage in terrorist activities while in the United States?

* Have you ever ordered, incited, committed, assisted or otherwise participated in genocide?

* Have you ever ordered, incited, committed, assisted or otherwise participated in torture?

* Have you ever ordered, incited, committed, assisted or otherwise participated in extrajudicial killings or political killings?

Etc, etc.

Of course I answered a big, fat "NO!" to these questions, but, seriously, wouldn't everyone answer "no"? If a person has committed, say, genocide, is it likely that honesty is in their moral code? Further, that a "yes" answer to any of these questions would likely result in a rejected application seems a reasonable and simple conclusion to draw... It just seems silly is all, not the activities in question, but the questions themselves.

I'm not gonna get over this US visa situation anytime soon. Just warnin'.

Shan

a trio of zanne

July 9: We arrived home tonight to a gift from my parents for our future possible baby girl - a pink gumboot money box in which they intend to deposit a gold coin during every week of my pregnancy and at the end of it all buy our baby girl her first pair of converse. Aww!

No, you haven't gone mad - I'M NOT PREGNANT.

My parents simply:

a) want more grandchildren and b) don't want us to leave.

God help us if we come home to an appointment made at the local clinic or something.

July 8: Remember we recently had our eyes tested by Andy the Fierce Optometrist?

Here's Zanne and her new glasses (the camera died before I could photograph mine).

Glasses are hooooooot!

July 7: Using knitting needles the un-intended way.

Zanne has begun stretching her ears, blood and all.

Shan

just call me shakespeare

To contrast my previous raving-mad blog, I thought I'd post a sonnet that I've had to write for an almost-due piece of assessment:

Brisbane, Australia

I’m Aussie, from Brisbane to be exact.
It’s not as big as Melbourne or Sydney –
some call it a big country town in fact –
but Brisbane is just right, if you ask me.
If you visit here I can recommend:
a cheap Fat Boys breakfast (on sale all day),
picnics at New Farm, near the river’s bend,
and The Beat, for dancing the night away.
Other local treats worth giving a go
must include Tim Tams, toast with Vegemite,
a glass of cold milk half full of Milo
and an icy beer on a humid night.
The summertime heat might cause me to whine,
but I sure do love this city of mine.

i can't think of a quirky title cos i'm too cranky

46 days before we fly from our current home, Brisbane, to our new home, Vancouver, it has been brought to our attention that the United States has again changed their travel visa requirements.

“As of January 12, 2009, a valid ESTA approval is required for all Visa Waiver Program (VWP) to travel to the United States. The Department of Homeland Security, Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is a free, automated system used to determine the eligibility of visitors to travel to the United States under the VWP... The VWP enables nationals of certain countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa” (read more here).

Well, we’re simply catching a connecting flight in Los Angeles so we’ll be eligible under the VWP right? WRONG!

Apparently now time spent in Canada, Mexico and adjacent islands counts towards the maximum of 90 days stay allowed under the VWP. Accordingly we need to apply for a B-1/B-2 visa which requires the following of us:

1. Submit digital photo and Electronic Visa Application Form (print confirmation).

2. Take said confirmation to Australia Post and pay application fee and insurance fee.

3. Make appointment with US Consular Office and pay appointment fee.

4. After receiving confirmation of our appointment we will then have to book a flight to Sydney – why? Because the US Consular Office serving the State of Queensland is actually in Sydney, New South Wales. Zanne called the information line (at the cost of $3.00 per minute) to query how in the world this could be, and she received the answer: “that’s just the way it is”.

So how much will this cost us (in Australian dollars)?? Let’s see:

Application fee and insurance fee: $216.80 x 2 = $433.60
Appointment fee: $14.00
Flights for the two of us: approx. $400.00
Total: $847.60

In comparison, our Working Holiday Visa for Canada, the country in which we intend to live, required that we each simply submit an online application and pay an application fee of $190.00 - total $380.00.

How crazy is this whole thing?!

So, the bottom line is, even though we won't be living in the US, we still need to get a stupid effing, expensive visa from them and “that’s just the way it is”.

Yours crankily,

Shan

PS. When you visit France you don't need to obtain a visa for every country in Europe, just sayin'...

queen and fagg

During our recent Australian adventure we came across the intersection of Queen and Fagg Streets in Bundaberg - funny!

We would have taken a photograph of the street signs if we weren't with my grandparents, in any case here's the proof:

Shan

three little birds

July 6: Lesson:
When you start wanting children so much that: you make excuses to visit the baby section in Target, you begin literally dreaming of them, you toy with the idea of not going to Canada and instead buying a house with a backyard, you wonder whether your baby might be as cute as the one over there in the pram, etc -
don’t visit your too-sweet-for-words nephew who does things like fall asleep while listening to music on Zanne’s mobile phone.
July 5: Day 2 of our Australian AdventureJuly 4: Day 1 of our Australian Adventure

July 3: The cast of 25 Down, a fabulous play written by Zanne's friend and former housemate, Richard Jordan.

July 2: our winter of discount tents - ha!

Shan

This weekend, we visited Australia

This weekend, Shan and I drove more than 300km to visit Shan's grandparents who live in a little town called South Kolan, which is about 20 minutes west of Bundaberg in QLD. Shan had told me about the dirt roads and the endless sugarcane farms so we were well prepared heading into the 4 hour drive north. Although long, the drive took us into the country and when we found ourselves on a red dirt road surrounded by sugarcane and not another car in sight we felt like we were visiting the real Australia - the Australia you see in movies.

We only got lost twice, which is better than most people we're told, and we found ourselves in South Kolan in the mid-afternoon. We checked into the local hotel-motel (after only giving a name and number to book days before - no credit card number?!). The motel was clean and tidy and the staff at the hotel were really friendly.

We drove the few km's to Shan's grandparents house. As we got out of the car we heard a motorbike and turned to see Shan's Uncle Ricky taking off into the paddock. Then their red cattle dog Peg came and greeted us - seriously, this was SO Australian! Grandma, Grandad, Ricky and Shirley (and currently Ricky and Shirley's daughter Holly), all live together in a three-bedroom house on 50acres of land. Ricky told me they've spent the last couple of years clearing the area around the house so the cows (they have 8) can roam. They also built another dam. It's all sounded so industrious I was jealous.

For dinner, the family took us to a little pub called the Bucca Hotel where we ate the biggest meal we'd ever had. It was so delicious I couldn't stop eating and wound up with stomach pains for a good hour afterwards. The pub was so country we asked before taking photos of nearly everything - Shan will put these up later.

On Sunday, Shan I went to the house again and her Grandma had made us pikelets for breakfast (awesome!) and then her grandad told us he had pumpkins for us to take home. I was thinking- yeah, cool, a couple of pumpkins would be good. A couple turned out to be 30, all stacked together at the end of the verandah and inside the trailer underneath. At our insistance, Grandad took us to his pumpkin patch down near the dam. At seeing how many pumpkins he'd grown from the seeds of just one pumpkin, I yelled out to Shan that we were moving to the country to become pumpkin farmers - what we couldn't eat, we'd sell! Grandad then told us all about the cows - which ones were for breeding, which ones were for eating, the two that belonged to himself and grandma. He's so proud of their little piece of land and you can tell he wouldn't be anywhere else.

We spend so much time in the city, working on a computer in jobs we like, but that arent really going to change the world, being on the farm and seeing how proud they were with everything they've grown, I realised how hard yet fulfilling being a farmer would really be. They achieve so much on a daily basis that they don't find themselves forever wondering what else they could be doing with their lives because they're already doing so much.

Grandad and Grandma took us into town to visit more of Shan's family for lunch, before we began our long journey home. We spent most of the time daydreaming about the day we can own a little hobby farm where we can take the kids on weekends and they can garden and raise lambs, and we can plant fruit trees that will grow as they do. We even stopped in a little town called Childers and looked in the window of the local real estate, just to see. The daydreams were so good by the time we came home I think we were both kinda considering staying in Brisbane and getting straight into seeing this little dream come true...

A google map of our weekend trip - 309km - a bit over 4 hours each way.

On our first dirt road, next to a cane field.

Peg, the cattle dog. She's super friendly and was trying to shake my hand.

The house on the farm, the sun setting and the moon rising.

Inside the Bucca Hotel.

A hearty country meal with the family.

Shanny with breakfast. She really was that exicted.

When we were inside having breakfast we noticed Grandad just standing on the porch looking out at the property. He stood there for a good ten minutes just looking.

Grandad and his pumpkins - seriously cool.

Checking out the pumpkin patch. Apparently they like to be buried in ground that had been burnt and is covered in ash. I asked Grandad why, he said 'they just like it'. Fair enough.

While Grandad and I trampled through the pumpkin patch, Shan took photos of flowers. cute!

Shan and Grandad walking back to the house.Ready to go with our pumpkins and mandarins.Grandad explains the cows.

Their letter box is the one at the back. It's 1km from their front door.

Kristen, this pose is for you - long grass and lone tree :)

Shan and her gramps as we said goodbye and parted ways - us heading to Childers, them to South Kolan.