Happy Australia Day!

Hi everyone!

Happy Australia Day!

Australia Day, every 26th of January, celebrates everything it means to be Australian. On this day in 1788, the first fleet of convict ships arrived in Sydney Cove, New South Wales, from the UK, and so was known initially as "Foundation Day".

A lot of history has passed, and now all states and territories in Australia celebrate this day together. Australians have a lot to celebrate, in terms of the simple geographic variety and beauty they have been blessed with, as well as the culture of "mate-ship", their spirit of adventure and their relaxed attitude to life.

We went out for lunch and spent some time at the beach today. A very relaxed day indeed. I know a lot of Aussies were celebrating with sports, barbeque's and a drop or two of beer. There is even a concert at Elder Park tonight, to honour this national holiday, following a parade through the city.

Whatever you did today to celebrate Australia Day, I hope you had fun!

I can't wait til I am an Aussie! I have permanent residency, which is pretty close, but immigration law requires we live here for four years before we can apply for citizenship. So just two and a half years to go! Luckily, Australia also allows for dual citizenship, as does the UK, so I can also honour my roots when I take the step to becoming an Australian.

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The last few weeks have been busy ones, and I know I haven't posted often at all.

It was Sam's birthday a few days ago.

He was working on his birthday, so I arranged flowers to be delivered to his work. They're pretty!

We also went to Auge Restaurant to celebrate, which was lovely, but made me feel naughty.

I have been exercising and eating healthier in recent weeks, losing 6kg so far, which is a stone. I have done well, I think, but going to such restaurants can be dangerous for a waistline.

As I continue to lose weight I may put a weight loss tracker up on my blog, to help keep me honest and focused.

Going to restaurants like Auge, and Windy Point recently, is lovely, but eating such desserts as we had at Windy Point, pictured below, can only be done occasionally if I want to keep losing the kg's. But it's OK to indulge every so often, isn't it?

I have surprised myself at how well I have stuck to exercising. Walking around my suburb is easy exercise, and can be fun. Last night was interesting. I was out as a storm began to rumble in the distance. Houses were being back lit by the lightning. From one house I heard an excited baby calling out, " Da da da da, da da da...". Another smelt strongly of sweet curry. A family came out of their house as I walked past, saying goodbye to guests.

It was like getting little snapshots of other's lives.

I don't know about you, but I love walking at night and looking into people's lounge rooms. Not in a weird way, I think, but to see how other people live, what furniture they have, how they have decorated etc.

We have mixed up the walking by going to the beach, and even a local beauty spot where there is quite a steep hike involved. The change of scenery keeps it fresh for us.

I have also been using an exercise bike, home gym with weights, doing sit-ups and stomach crunches and various other exercises just to keep my body moving.

I had planned to incorporate swimming into my routine this week, but it has just been too hectic. I hope to start next week. Trying to find a time when Sam and I are both free to do these things is also tricky, and I find exercising less boring and less challenging when he is doing it with me.

I will try and post more regularly and let you guys know how I am getting on. I've had so many things I wanted to post about over the last few weeks, but making time has been really hard. I need some discipline people!

I hope you are all well.