Got to love Australia Day .......

With only a week to go until Australia Day, celebrations were well underway. During the week we attended the Australia Day reception at Government House. This is a lovely evening where all the Australia Day ambassadors come together with many other community leaders, youth groups, members of the armed forces and lots of other normal people like us representing Australian companies for a night of glamour.

The event goes for about 3 hours with everyone gathering in the beautiful ballroom at Government House for drinks & Canapes before the official speeches start. The newest Governor of Victoria, Mr Chernov entertained us with an amusing speech and was then followed by a less than inspiring episode from our Premier, Ted Ballieu. Once finished you are free to wander the State Rooms, relax in the garden and generally just enjoy the beautiful grounds of Government House with more drinks and finger food constantly offered. We didn't need dinner after our visit! Just as we were leaving we met the Governor and he chatted and shook hands with us both. Our own little 'celebrity' moment. Other celeb's seen on the night were John Blackman, Father Bob, Jack Hogan, Dr Feelgood and Lisa Edwards. There were many other 'sightings' of people we recognised but too many to reel off here. All in all a fun night and a bit of a special occasion.

The next week Bill attended the Australia Post Legends lunch at the Convention Centre. I was unable to get time off work to join him and really missed not going. He enjoyed himself and this years Legends came from the world of Football. Eight champions, past & present, were chosen from the four codes of football. They were Ron Barassi AM & Gary Ablett representing AFL. John Raper MBE & Billy Slater showcasing Rugby League. David Campese AM & David Pocock were the giants of Rugby Union with Joe Marston MBE & Mark Schwarzer OAM recognised for their stellar careers in Soccer. Bill reported lunch itself was delicious and all in all an enjoyable event. Of course he missed me!

The following weekend the Harris family gathered at Maree's place for a bar-b-que to celebrate Jarrod's birthday. We had a great day and spent the afternoon relaxing under a tree in the backyard. Rem & Aaron cooked the wide variety of meats to perfection and the salads contributed by all were very tasty. It was good to see everyone and catch up again.

As Australia Day drew closer I started to notice some quirky posters at the tram stops along the way to work. Now all good self respecting Australians just love their Vegemite and it was one of their latest ads that had me snapping away for rhossietalk. Of course the sad fact is that Vegemite is no longer Australian owned but we can't let that small fact get in the way of it being 'the great Australian' spread. There were three posters around but it was this one that I thought was worth sharing here. Such a clever play on an old advertising slogan.

The other tram stop posters that caught my eye were very patriotic with the words of 'I am Australia' featuring. A little more difficult to capture with light shining behind but here it is anyway.

On the eve of Australia Day we met our friends, Grant & Jill, for dinner. The had come in from Adelaide for a couple days at the tennis and we caught up for a great night trying out a new restaurant along the river at Southgate. We met them in Chloe's bar at Young & Jackson's for a drink before crossing the river to find somewhere to eat. The place we chose, Il Primo Posto Italian Restaurant, has in fact been there for many years but has recently been refurbished along with all the other riverfront eateries. The food was delicious and our Honey Roasted Lamb just melted in the mouth. Grant's linguine & Bill's risotto also got rave reviews. We will certainly go back again to try some of their other dishes. We finished the night with a walk along the river to find some Gelato for desert and not long after that said our goodbyes. It was good to see them again and hope it won't be so long between visits next time.

We walked home to sort our self out for the next day's adventures. We were going bush again. I'll fill you in next time

so until then ...........