The Tuck's Ridge Wedding

And this is why everyone was in Melbourne for the New Year; Alison and Waling's wedding. Held at a Red Hill winery in the Mornington Peninsula, it was a charming, memorable occasion with surfer-dude guitarists (!), great views and roo meat on the barbie. And a great bunch of people, as you can tell from the picture. The only person who couldn't be bothered to look at the camera? That's Gary, who's too busy kissing his lovely new girlfriend Melissa.

Patsze in the Peninsula

We had the pleasure of Miss Jetsetter Teo's company for a few days, when she flew over for Alison and Waling's wedding after spending Christmas with her boyfriend Mark and family in South Africa. Here she is looking quite the samseng at the Arthur's Seat viewpoint, and then with Babes after a spot of cherry-picking. (The girls went nuts on the trees, and we were eating cherries for days.) Anyway, I think she made the most of her time here, and we hope to see her back in Melbourne again before too long. Mark, you're cordially invited too!

Makan at Montalto

Here we are at one of the Mornington Peninsula's best-known restaurants. The food was yummy, and so was the setting. Actually neither Babes nor I realised quite how nice the Peninsula was until now, with wineries and beaches in such close proximity. We shared a lovely farmhouse in Flinders with views of rolling pastures and the sea in the distance. I dare say we'll be spending quite a bit more time in the region...

New Year's Eve at the Beach Club

No, not the SPG hangout in KL, but the club at the Docklands. Which is where a lot of us gathered, due to the number of people in town for Alison and Waling's wedding. Just look at the number of lovely young women, especially that gorgeous one seated extreme right in the top picture. Sorry guys, she's married. All in all, not a bad place to welcome 2007, and the food was halfway decent too.

Oops, rewind to Christmas Eve!

Babes has 'gently' reminded me ("Buuuuuuuuubs, you didn't put it in the blooooooogggg...") that I left out the Christmas Eve banquet we hosted (which she did a heck of a lot of preparing for). Sorry, babes! Anyway, here's photographic evidence of an extravagant spread - the tail-end of it anyway - including grilled prawns, glazed ham, salads and antipastos. Thanks to Simone and parents, Jack and Mars, Gwen, Audra, Harris and Kate for celebrating our second Aussie Christmas with us!

Mars turns 28!

Happy Birthday Marlene! We enjoyed your birthday breakfast at one of our fave places, the cafe at Studley Park Boathouse. Thanks also, I think, to Erica for her stories about toilet experiences in China. I don't think this blog is the place to repeat any of those anecdotes though...
Mars chose a lovely summer's day to turn 28, so we walked off a bit of our brekkies with a (short) walk along the river. And in true Asian fashion, we made several stops right in the middle of the bike path to chat and gossip... our apologies to all the inconvenienced cyclists that morning!

Wei's Annual Christmas Degustation

So there we were yet again at Wei and Paul's place, celebrating Christmas with a massive gourmet banquet. Our contribution was this yumlicious, humongous glazed ham you see on the right. Babes had never done one before, and did very well. What did I do? The glazing! Many thanks to Wei and Paul once again for being such amazing, generous and gracious hosts. Here's to many more celebrations with great food, wine and company! And as you can see, gorgeous young ladies too...