Rosy (the younger twin) chose the 20th of October to be her wedding day in Newcastle. For reasons far too complicated to begin to explain, we decided to take a few extra days off. And we're glad we did.
We started by leaving Canberra early on the Thursday morning, so that we could stop at the Bowral Cheese Store to pick up a couple of tasty tidbits for the weekend. Suitably fortified, we proceeded up the highway and arrived there mid-afternoon, meeting Polly (Phil's mum) and some members of her family in the coffee shop beside the apartments where she gave us the keys that she'd picked up earlier.
Once settled in (and appreciating the spectacular views of the river) we ambled down the mall to buy some more provisions for the next few days. Then it was time to go to the airport to pick up Joy. The size of the aiport - or rather the number of cars in the parking lots - surprised us.
A ship, for all love!
Back we went to the apartment for a light dinner and some family gossip, looking up from time to time as a coal freighter made its way up or down the river (we counted more than twenty lying off the port waiting to come in).
We didn't do much on the Friday, just a little aimless shopping, a walk on the beach and a visit to Rosy and Phil to admire my new bike (a hand-me-down from Rosy). We made up for this inactivity at night when we dined as the guests of Phil's grandparents Peter and Polly (yes, it's confusing with three Peters and two Pollys in the family, but after a few years you start to work it out). Imagine thirty people from four families in a crowded and noisy Indian restaurant, and you get an idea of what it was like - fun. Apart from enjoying having all of our kids together (Geordie from South America, Honey and Lorien from London, Giselle and Michael from Canberra, and the locals Rosy and Phil) it was an opportunity to meet again the people from Phil's mob.
Geordie, Joy and Kerry at the Dinner
The Wedding Day might have been a hassle, but Rosy and Phil had organised it very well. I had a couple of minor tasks beforehand (supervising the placement of the flowers on the tables at the reception, making sure the cake arrived intact and delivering the gift for the celebrant) and I successfully completed around 66% of these.
The very happy couple
As for the ceremony and the reception, it went marvellously well. Rosy looked stunning, Phil was composed but emotional and everyone had a good time. David (Phil's Dad) and I gave inspirational and entertaining speeches (or so I'm told) and everything went without a hitch. I sensed Giselle taking notes for her wedding in 2010 (not that there's any competition between the two - oh no!)
Polly, Joy and Judith at the Wedding
The next day we relaxed, ferried some guests to the airport, and strolled around - listening to the Amway conference attendees doing something incomprehensible down in the park. That night, we went out to dinner with the members of the family still in town and had another good time.
On Monday, we'd arranged to have lunch with my mate Bill, who has a small winery in the Lower Hunter where he makes a couple of very agreable Shirazes. First, we went to Rothbury to check out the Sandalyn winery for a little wine and olive oil tasting, then on to the nearby grave of my great grandfather. Finally, we headed off to Bill's place for a long lunch, a wine or three and a sedate ride on his quad bike. After that, we stopped by Rosy & Phil's place for our last family meal of the weekend.
The next day was a bit of an anti-climax, but it gave us a breather after a few busy days. We dropped Joy at the airport, collected the bike, packed the car and drove home.
And if you really want to look at more photos of all of the weekend's festivities, Geordie has put them online at his Flickr page.