2009 was our first full year living back in Brisbane, Australia and it was a wonderful year on the whole but was tainted with some heartache.

The following lists the important events close to our hearts for 2009:-

Love life:-

There have been many joyous occasions this year with the coming together of loved ones through marriage or engagement.

• Stacey and Wes – were married in Tasmania, Port Arthur on the beach in March.
• Jason and Susan – were married down at Salt resort, Kingscliffe in March.
• Justine and Tim – got engaged. Who saw that coming? I thought Tim would hold out for a few more years. Looking forward to their wedding this year.
• Micah and Sarah – also got engaged. It’s a wonderful feeling to see two lovely people find their soul mates.
• Matt (DJ Puu) and Emily – another wonderful couple to get engaged.

Michelle and I also were thrilled (and scared) to find out that we were going to have a baby in September. However, nature took its course and we were devastated to find out that we lost our little Digby. He will forever remain in our hearts.

Destinations:-

• Spent Valentines Day weekend up at Marcoola and dined at one of Maroochydoors finest restaurants – Sizzler.
• We did a week long road trip around Tasmania with Gerrod and Kristy and Mel and Ben. We had the most awesome fun. Thanks Wes and Stacey for getting married down there :)
• We spent a lovely weekend at Salt Resort, Kingscliffe for Jason and Susan’s wedding also with Gerrod and Kristy and Nick Zeeb.
• Our first Easter back in Australia was spent chasing down my nephew Jet in Toowoomba as he opened each Easter egg like it was a Christmas present.
• Who better to go experience the outdoors than with some South African friends? We went camping on Stradbroke Island with the Venters and had a great (albeit wet) time.
• Katandra farm stay – relived my 30th birthday with a reunion event one year on. We stayed in a great house in the country, with lots of bushwalking and playing with farm animals.
• Airlie Beach and Whitsundays – It seems we can’t go more than about 6 months before we need to have another week long break. It was absolutely fantastic to relax in paradise.
• My sister celebrated buying her first home with a house warming in freezing Toowoomba in July.
• The Steel family congregated up at Maleny for weekend of fresh air.
• Every now and then you just need to get away from it all. We spent a night down at Surfers Paradise doing so. Was great to have Michelle and Me time.
• It’s good to have friends who like relaxing away up the coast and have the contacts necessary to make it happen. Thanks Lou and Steve for our weekends up at Golden Beach.
• Faced with a dilemma – Britney and Pearl Jam concerts on the same night in Brisbane, I took the creative route and booked tickets to see PJ in Melbourne. Our first trip down there with no obligations. Just fun and catchups with great friends.
• To finish off the year Michelle and I hired an awesome apartment on right on Golden Beach for the Xmas/New Years break.

Visitors:-
Every year, the ex-pats just can’t help but keep coming back to visit. This year we caught up with some old favourites and met some new partners.

• Stacey and Wes Bramley
• Kirstin and Roland
• John Bettiol
• Dave Chappell and Piero
• Gerrod and Kristy Thomas
• Cynthia and Gez
• Matt and Emily
• Karl, Sybille and Anton

How we earnt money:-

Both Michelle and I have continued working in the jobs we started last year.

I’m still at Dingu Blue and had a fabulous year preparing, training, and building the beginnings of a new product. I’m super excited about the coming year and can’t wait to see some real progress.

Where we lived:-

We spent a good portion of this year planning and making improvements to the yard of our Aspley home. We love our little home and enjoy coming home to it after a hard days work.

You can check out some photos of our landscaping efforts here.

New babies:-

5 years ago there wouldn’t have been a “New Babies” category but now it seems you couldn’t even go a month without one of our friends bringing a new little bundle of joy into the world.

• Cooper Arhanic – Jen and Tony’s first child.
• Ethan Homes – Paul and Michelle’s first child.
• Amelia Hunt – Geraldine and Ben’s third child.
• Thor Donnachie – Stuart and Celeste’s first child.
• Lily Wilson – Karla and Brian’s 3rd little girl (Karla and Brian are our ex-neighbours)
• Eliza Cullerton – Suzy and David’s first child.
• Chase Randall – Damian and Hayley’s second child.

Musicals/Concerts/Entertainment:-

The older I get the less I seem to spend splashing about in the arts & culture scene.

• Pearl Jam – best PJ concert I’ve ever seen. Definitely worth the expense to fly down to Melbourne
• Britney Spears – worst Britney concert I’ve ever seen. Won’t go back (but I still love her)
• Powderfinger and Custard – saw these guys at the Queensland 150th birthday celebration at Riverstage. Was ok.
• Pink – you’d be hard pressed to witness a better live experience – ever. Pink rocks.

Other highlights/lowlights:-

• Complete the Brisbane to Gold Coast bike ride for the 2nd year in a row.
• Won $350 on the Melbourne Cup. Sahweet! Bought a PS3 slim.
• Completed a first aid course (and have promptly forgot everything I learned). Please don’t come to me in need of life saving.
• It was another fantastic year celebrating friends 30th birthdays.
• We finally grew up and bought an adult sized car – we love our Subie.
• 2009 was the year of Twitter – I tried it. Decided it isn’t for me and re-focused my efforts into facebook to the expense of this wonderful blog.
• I Got one hell of a speeding fine on the moped. Something I thought was impossible but it turns out the effect of gravity on downward inclines plays a significant part in velocity.
• Dabbled in the geocache treasure hunt community after Gerrod raved about it so much. It was fun finding our first cache at Portside.
• Jammed on the drums and percussion at a party at Ian and Mel’s house. It so fun playing with random friends after a few beers.
• Experienced Oktober fest with work mates – Brisbane style. It was pretty lame but great to socialize with the work mates.
• Conquored Brisbane’s worst hill on the pushy.
• Enjoyed the fourth installment of the Terminator series.

My apologies if I’ve left off an important event, occasion, or story. It’s just a genuine mistake and not a deliberate snub.

Happy 2010 everyone!

PS> In writing this article I’ve realised how slack I’ve become with updating my blog. There are some occasions where I couldn’t link to the relevant story. So another New Years resolution to add to my list is to update the blog more regularly. Hold me to it people!