Writer Charlotte Ward charts her travels and reveals all about the highs and lows of her new life Down Under. As well as her regular blog on iVillage.co.uk, you can follow Charlotte on Twitter and also catch her at www.charlotteward.net
On the road and a surprise wedding
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After a month blighted by homesickness it was with some relief that the melancholy began to lift and I was able to get back to feeling happy again.
A week before Christmas I jumped on a plane to Brisbane and headed up the East coast to visit family in Noosa and Bundaberg.
Back in the UK, taking long trips in my car was always a guilty pleasure. I love the undisturbed thinking time and the freedom of flying along the open road. So after three months getting myself around on foot and via public transport it was brilliant to borrow my friend Katie’s car and set off on the Bruce Highway.
A two-hour drive from Brisbane took me up the Sunshine Coast to Noosa where I caught up with my Uncle Danny and Aunty Judy who I like to think of as my surrogate Aussie parents and who greeted me with their typical affection. I spent the afternoon hanging out with them on the quaint Cove Beach in Noosa and then headed out for dinner along Noosa’s Main Beach. On the way back we passed a sign highlighting the temperature as 25 degrees at 9pm at night.
'Take a photo of that and send it to your dad,' my uncle said with a sly grin. 'He was complaining on Skype this morning how cold it is in the UK.'
The next morning bidding Danny and Judy goodbye I set off once more for a 260km drive to Bundaberg. I took my time taking in gorgeous countryside scenery of bush and farmland, leafy shades of green and yellow highlighted in the blazing Queensland sunshine.
Arriving at my Uncle Bernie’s home in Bundaberg I pulled a dress out my bag and quickly got ready for my cousin Kristy’s engagement party.
Heading there 40 minutes later I found Kristy looking absolutely stunning in a beautiful rainbow maxi dress complete with false lashes.
The venue, the garden of their friends’ rustic beach house was decorated beautifully with a plush gazebo, candles and flowers everywhere and a backdrop of fairy lights twinkling across the side of the garden.
'Gosh, they really go to town with engagement parties in Australia,' I thought to myself.
The drinks flowed and Kristy and her equally gorgeous fiancé Matt circulated. Then they stood on the deck outside the beach house to address their guests.
'We are so thrilled you could all come,' they said. 'And actually seeing as you’re here we thought we’d get married today. So we’re just going to head inside to get ready and we’ll be back in ten minutes!'
True to their word Matt soon reappeared looking all dapper, the two best men and bridesmaids assembled and then Kristy made her entrance looking simply beautiful in a chic floor length gown. As she smiled on the arm of my Uncle Bernie he looked like he might burst with pride.
It was all very moving.
We all tucked into treats rustled up by Matt’s mum and then spent the evening sat in the garden listening to Matt and his equally talented best men playing live music together. I suspect my own alcohol-fuelled karaoke version of Zombie by the Cranberries in a bad Irish accent at 3am may have lowered the tone but thankfully most people had gone home by then.
A few years ago I ghost-wrote the memoirs of wedding planner Tamryn Kirby detailing the increasing number of bridezillas and diva strops she encountered on a weekly basis as couples attempted to upstage their friends and pull off more and more lavish weddings.
It struck me that as spouses-to-be get carried away with showcasing the most glitzy bash they can (or can’t afford) for their hordes of guests complete with celeb style extravagances, grand entrances and perfectly choreographed first dances they sometimes lose sight of the real meaning behind the day – the commitment of a lifetime of love and dedication together. As Tamryn herself says the most touching weddings are often the understated, simple, heartfelt ones.
And Kristy and Matt’s low key but lovely wedding certainly proved that.
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