Today was Melbourne Cup day and we had a little party planned. Xenia, Stu and I spent the morning cooking lunch and making a cake for afters and then Emma turned up at around 12 dressed as if she was actually going to the races. First thing she said was "well I'm glad you guys made the effort!" We all laughed hysterically and told her that she had definitely won prize for the best outfit, we called it the 'Fashions in Fairfield' award. Too funny. For the rest ...

Well, that was a bit of luck! Looks like I made the right decision in holding off. Fair Work Australia ruled Qantas had to start operating again at 2am and flights were going to be leaving from lunch time pending approval from CASA to fly. So I got to the airport at 9am and up to the Qantas desk at about 9.30am it was completely deserted apart from me and 4 others, plus the channel 7 and 9 news crews! I walked up to the desk and told the lady I was due to be ...

So Qantas has been grounded - great. I'm meant to fly out tomorrow and it's still grounded! I can't get hold of anyone on the telephone and the internet is no use either. I've been talking with Bob & Penny about what options I have; country train, bus, hire a car, fly with another airline, but at the moment I'm reluctant to see what the outcome of the Fair Work Australia meeting will bring - I reckon they could all be back at work by tomorrow morning so no...

Ok, so I might have lied about the no more early morning's thing. Up and out by 7am this morning to go for breakfast with Lee and Milena before she went to work. As we walked through the Cross we saw council workers sweeping, washing and cleaning the streets and Lee said they do it every morning; one person sweeps up all the crap, another one power washes the pavements, and then another one comes in a road sweeper to pick it all up. Amazing and well organise b...

Wowzer ok, so now I know why I felt queasy yesterday - little bit too much sun for Muddy Pony! I woke up this morning at 6am (Lee and Milena get up early to go for coffee and breakfast before work) and walked into the bathroom to discover some of the worst sunburn I have ever had, so much so, that my nose was actually weeping - it really wasn't pretty and looked really bad. When Lee saw it, he said he thought he'd noticed it last night but that it didn't look a...