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It’s moist, sticky, irresistibly chocolaty, ridiculously easy to bake and is even yummier the next day!
August is the month where all those Christmas party conceptions come to bear. Nearly every day we seem to be celebrating the birthday of a family member or close friend. We don’t go much on gift giving excesses but we do like to celebrate these special days with food and more specifically Mum’s chocolate birthday cake. Read the rest of this entry »
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We’d booked a berth at the Hamilton Island marina thinking it might be interesting to see what the place had to offer. That was at the beginning of our trip. Since then we’d been at sea for 6 nights and had settled into this boaty existence so well that we were a little reluctant to head to land.
Honestly I wasn’t expecting much… some tacky resort aging badly after its hey day in the late 80’s, overpriced beach wear, ridiculously expensive souvenirs and glitzy hotels.
I was wrong. Read the rest of this entry »
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Yesterday was a big wake up call. We’d raced between islands, covered vast amounts of water, sailed on very high seas for 3 and 4 hours at a time. We broke the day up by taking the dinghy to the dazzling beaches of Whitehaven, climbed to the top of the lookout, quickly checked out the national park and sped back to the place where we’d beached the dinghy. We needed to hurry if we were to reach our destination before our scheduled arrival time of 4 pm. Then, with only minutes to spare before having to set sail again, disaster struck… Read the rest of this entry »
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Our friends Skip and Lulu were in the middle of their trip around Australia. Lulu had booked a charter yacht and invited us to join them. We’d arranged to meet up in Port Douglas, far North Queensland, at the very top of the country.
After 10 days lolling about on the beach, exposing ourselves to far too much alcohol, food and sun my husband and I were collected by Lulu and Skip to begin the next part of our holiday. We squeezed into their dust covered 4 wheel drive…they’d come up, thousands of kilometres, through the dry red centre of the continent (hence the dust) and were loaded up with enough gear to last the entire trip (ditto the ‘squeeze’). By nine that morning we set off on the 700 km journey down the east coast of Australia to our next destination, Airlie Beach, where we would board our yacht. Read the rest of this entry »
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The goal was to attempt to shed 10 kilo’s and get into a bikini for a holiday in 40 days time…and that was 39 days ago. Read the rest of this entry »
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What is Australia’s national dish? Many would say roast lamb. But things are changing! Read the rest of this entry »
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Broccoli or Bomboloni? Yesterday I felt really pissed off…two days running and I’ve gained almost half a kilo! Same rigid diet routine, same exercise regimen… WTF! I began to hate the scales and despise the chart. Why bother sticking to the rules when my body seemed to be sucking calories from the air. I felt really despondent and was almost tempted to throw the in towel and opt for that gorgeous big Italian Doughnut. Read the rest of this entry »
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It’s day 12 of the ‘FABULOUS in FORTY DAYS’ marathon and this morning the scales gave me the sweetest news…I’ve lost 5.3 kilograms (12 lbs)! Cheers and applause are going on in my head and, at half my goal weight, I feel a great sense of victory!
The photo above is what 5.3kg’s looks like and consists of much of the food no longer in my diet. Read the rest of this entry »
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I’d been avoiding the scales for a very long time and knew deep down things weren’t right… Read the rest of this entry »
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Kristin and I have been friends since our daughters were babies. The girls attended the same crèche. Kristin and I would often share an evening meal after a hectic day at work. She’d ring and say “I’ll pick up a roast chicken, you pick up the girls” We’d eat together and discuss which of the dramas of the day almost sent us over the edge….
Zoom forward a million years later and our lives have taken very different paths. Read the rest of this entry »
