AFL Grand Final and the Perth Royal Show

:( Oh well, you have to lose one to win one!

It was an exciting morning followed by a sorrowful afternoon in Fremantle on Grand Final day last Saturday.





We got to Freo at 8am and prepared our tummies for some early morning drinking with a delicious breakfast from Moore and Moore.





Fremantle was extremely purple on Saturday, and by 9:30am the cafe strip was already crowded with people setting up to watch the game in 3h on the big screens set up around the streets. After stopping off at the TAB (no wins) we decided to wait in line for half an hour and make the most of the 7am liquor licence at the Sail and Anchor.



We found a good spot upstairs and stayed there for the whole game. We thought we might go outside to soak up the atmosphere at half time, but things weren't looking great by then.



It was a sad train trip home :( But at least we weren't hung over for the Royal Show!

Yesterday we braved the rain and went to the Perth Royal show. It rained on and off all day (so my traditional rainbow makeup was very apt!) and we decided to leave before the fireworks, but we definitely made the most of the show and had a great day.



Our first stop was an outdoor show by Natural Wings Trapeze, a very beautiful performance in less than ideal weather conditions. Static trapeze looks like heaps of fun, it looks like a lot of the tricks would translate between trapeze and pole.



The dog pavilion was really fun, this year was hounds (including daschunds!) and a random dog that Andrew noticed looked like Kurt Cobain.



The pigeon and poultry pavilion did not disappoint, it's one of my favourite pavilions at the show! From the constant crowing of the roosters to the pigeons with balls on their face it's definitely an eggsperience!

We spent quite a bit of time in the pavilions due to the rain, but in my opinion they're the best part of the show anyway. After learning about where our meet comes from and getting our eyes massaged (and noses broken, seriously this thing was like ahh that's nice don't st... OH GOD MY NOSE) we went and patted some baby animals, stopping to watch some very intense wood chopping.









Andrew's highlight was the sheep dog demonstrations, dogs are amazing! There were a couple of dogs that demonstrated herding sheep, one dog demonstrated herding ducks, and then there was a 3 month old puppy that had all the skills of a sheep dog but hadn't even started training! Apparently a lot of it is instinct, wanting to bring prey towards the pack leader (the dogs owner). The puppy was adorable.

Also a steam engine and a blacksmith:

The cakes were really pretty as always. I've got the forms and next year I want to get Mina to enter some of her baked stuff (not in the decorated category though).



This year we only went on one ride; the Python Loop (a roller coaster with one loop). It was still a really fun ride but after Port Aventura it's really hard not to be a roller coaster snob!

We left the show with a whole bunch of delicious things which made our second dinner (my first dinner was curly fries, you can't go to the show and not get these!). Yay curly fries!!!





One more day left of the long weekend :)

GO FREO!!!

I'm still recovering from Saturday's preliminary grand final! After Freo's deafening win we headed into Fremantle with pretty much the whole of the reset of Western Australia to celebrate. I've never seen so many people in the streets of Fremantle city!

This Saturday we'll be going to Fremantle to watch the final, I think the atmosphere will be incredible. I am so happy that I got work off Saturday morning (thanks Cara!) so that I won't miss the start.

GOOO FREOOOO!!!

Cat Cupcake Tuesdays on Catsparella

Stephanie Harwin of the very cute Catsparella blog recently contact me about using my RSPCA Cat n Mouse cupcakes for her Cat Cupcake Tuesdays post.

Thanks Stephanie! Love your blog, even though I am more of a bunny girl myself :)

Cupcake Day for the RSPCA at Immersive

Today was the 2013 Cupcake day for the RSPCA!

Thank you to everyone at Immersive for donating over $250 to an amazing cause while enjoying some delicious animal cupcakes.

So I know the cupcakes are over, but if you'd like to donate anyway you still can!

Cupcake day for the RSPCA 2013

It's that time of year again and I am proud to say I will be baking for the bunnies on Monday 19th August 2013, Cupcake Day for the RSPCA.

You can donate to this worthy cause online:
https://cupcakeday-wa2013.everydayhero.com/au/jess-manea

Any amount large or tiny will go towards the RSPCA, caring for all creatures great and small.

Also, George:

Back home!

Arriving back to reality has been a bit surreal. Perth welcomed us back with amazingly cool weather, which made up for the pile of bills waiting for us at home. After sleeping for 16 hours we're feeling less than refreshed, but we both still have one day left to recover until we go back to work. Well, I'm back to Pole Fever tomorrow night but that's a welcome remedy to the 2kg of cheese and chocolate I gained on the trip.

Also, we're still alive despite the final destination-ish set of train crashes that seems to have followed us through Europe. We just found out today that there was a train crash yesterday in Switzerland on the way to Lausanne, where we were staying and catching lots of trains to/from, a day after we left. This follows a train crash in Paris on the 12th of July (the day we left), and a train crash in Madrid on the 24th of July (a week after we left). I knew wearing a strapless dress in a Russian Orthodox church was a bad idea!

I love travelling, but it makes you appreciate what you have at home. Missed you Perth!

Now also in the eyes of Godinski

It was a beautiful, somber, and incinerator hot service yesterday at Yvonne and Stefan's religious ceremony at a Russian Orthodox church in Vevey.

Yvonne looked stunning, Stefan looked very handsome, and all the guests looked hot in both senses in their formal wear. I got emotional seeing Yvonne walk in looking perfect in her wedding dress - my eyes cried tears and every single other part of my body cried sweat. The boys were so well behaved, we were really proud!



The reception was so much fun! The Swiss and the Aussies had who-can-be-the-loudest competitions, and I think the aussie aussie aussie, oi oi oi definitely held it's own. We ate and danced until 3am and have been recovering all day today.





After a big sleep in today and a much needed berocca we went and had a goodbye ice cream with Simona, Chad and the boys and then headed into Geneva for a quick visit of the Jet.





We're about to head out to dinner with the newly weds and then we're off home tomorrow!

Yvonne and Stefan are Married!

Congratulations Yvonne and Stefan! Today was the civil ceremony in Neuchatel and tomorrow is the church do with the big wedding dress and hopefully less pig heads than today.

Barcelona to Switzerland - Lausanne, Gruyere/Broc and Bern

Gaudi is amazing! Sagrada Familia was such an incredible building. I wouldn't say it was beautiful (with the construction work it kind of looked like a cooked chicken with those paper frill things on it's drumsticks), but it was incredibly impressive. Inside it looked like an alien spaceship, with the colours from the stained glass windows making awesome light shows on the walls and ground. My favourite part was reading about how Gaudi was obsessed with patterns and shapes in nature, you can really see it in his designs around Barcelona.







We're now in Switzerland, Lausanne, staying with Yvonne and Stefan having a great time. We spent our first day looking around Lausanne's old town and going to the "beach" at Lake Geneva where we were so obviously tourists because we could not for the live of us stand on the pebbles in the water.





Yesterday we took a really fun day trip to Gruyere and Broc to see the Cailler chocolate factory. Gruyere is one of my favourite places I've ever been. It's incredibly beautiful both naturally and the town itself, and even though there are tourists everywhere it seems unspoiled by tourism like some of the other places we've been.

After taking a look at the cheese banks of Maison Gruyere, we hiked up the mountain to the Gruyere medieval town and spent some time looking around the pebbled streets and taking in the views. We stopped for a moitie moitie fondu lunch with a double cream and framboise dessert at one of the many restaurants with panoramic views. I love the idea of fondu (and raclette for the same reason) - I know it's a traditional part Swiss cuisine but it really seems like a kid came up with it! It's like what I would ask for dinner when I was 7, it's so cool to have an excuse to eat it as an adult!





Next we visited the ridiculously out of place HR Giger museum (the guy who did the art for the Alien movies) and I think we're still recovering from the experience. I'm a massive fan of the Alien movies (I used to watch them with my dad when I was little when other little girls were watching the little mermaid) so I was really looking forward to it, but I wasn't prepared for the... theme of most of his work. He was an extremely talented psychopath who was obsessed with aliens and penises. I've never seen so many penis/vagina pictures in my life! It's like he had the brain of a teenage boy, but because he was talented all his pictures of weird alien sex was extremely graphic and detailed. There were no pictures allowed but I just had to take one of this piece; honestly... penises and vaginas everywhere! There was even a bunch of paintings of women with boobs with vaginas for nipples, what the fuck HR.



We took a much needed sit down at the Alien Cafe to recover.



Yesterday afternoon we visited the Cailler chocolate factory where we ate our years allowance of chocolate. The whole town of Broc smelt like chocolate!



Today we visited Bern to see the bears which I now know are NOT a lie, and also to drink beer and eat pretzels and sausages and apfel strudel. The bears were so cool! They were really active, swimming around and having play fights. I was so excited when they were actually there, all this time I've thought it was a massive conspiracy. Lunch and beer at the Altes Tramdepot brewery was awesome, the sausage was the best sausage ever!

Yvonne and Stefan get married tomorrow!

Valencia - Port Aventura - Barcelona

It's been a couple of days! Currently in Barcelona, we just got back from a very touristy walk down La Ramblas. After sitting down at a tourist trap that had patatas bravas described as french fries we escaped and managed to find a cute place to have a delicious tapas dinner and sangria off the main track. But my god it's been a stinking hot day, we barely made it off the metro in solid state. Literally stinking by the way, walking down La Ramblas was like a tapas of smells, eww! 

After returning the car today we went to the beach, again very touristy. Although it was a bit crowded and noisy to relax, we were amused by the constant calls of "MOJIITOOOO, mojito, CERVESA, COLD DRINK CERVESSSAAA" from the many purveyors of drinks. At one point we were wondering why one of the mojito men dropped his stash, ripped his shirt off and bolted in a random direction, and then we noticed that there was a police man patrolling the area. It was amazing how quickly the mojito men dispersed and blended into the beach goers! Their shoes were a dead give away though. In 5mins they were back but with a much more discrete "mojitoooo" call. In conclusion, our beaches are better. And maybe I'm a spoiled Australian but I strongly believe that the beach should be relaxing, and the water should be condom free. 

Looking back a couple of days, dinner on the beach in Valencia at La Pepica was delicious! The beach was beautiful and on the walk down we managed to see some of the F1 track.

After Valencia we headed off to the amazing Port Aventura theme park. It was an incredible couple of days, I can't talk it up enough. We spent the first day at the Costa Caribe aquatic park which had a heap of water slides similar to Adventure World in Perth, with the exception of two massive slides, one of which is the tallest free fall water slide in Europe. You can just see it in the background of the picture below (which was taken the second day after a few roller coaster rides, thus the hair). It was incredibly high, and very fun! We did it twice, definitely worth the wait in line. Just a tip if you're going, you need to wear clothes to be allowed into the water park. We actually got turned away at the gates by an attendant with a disgusted look on her face when we first tried to get in with just our bathers on! 

That first night we went into the Port Aventura main park to watch a bizarre fire themed show and also go on the massive drop ride. I consider myself to be pretty brave on rides; I never get motion sick and I never get scared... in Perth, at the Royal Show. This was something else, and it took a bit of convincing to get me to go on it. Definitely worth it though, it was the most intense ride in my opinion! The acceleration was a massive shock.

We spent the whole second day at the park doing the many crazy rides and watching the sometimes bizarre / sometimes awesome shows. It was my first time on a proper roller coaster, and Port Aventura definitely has a great selection of them. The first one we went on (the Furious Baco) was a launch roller coaster, which started off by accelerating forward faster than I've ever felt anything accelerate. The Shambalha is the tallest roller coaster in Europe, another ride that I needed a lot of time to prepare for. The climb to the top was terrifying, and the fall over the edge was so steep that you couldn't see the track below you. The climb was the scariest part but after that it was really fun, not scary at all!

We saw a few shows, but my favourite by far was the Bubble show. This guy is a hero! This was a whole new take on bubbles. He was making bubbles with different gasses, one which was flammable (he would set the bubble on fire), and he had this whole big pond that he was making gigantic bubbles in with what looked like a stiff skipping rope. Amazing!

If you're every planning to go to Port Aventura (and I think you should), the one thing you must must do is get the express pass, which lets you go to the front of the line (or wait in a much much shorter line with other express pass holders) of all the main rides, once for each ride. You can then pay a little bit extra to have front-row access to the three biggest roller coasters. Both of these options seriously made our time there awesome, and possible. Otherwise it would have been an exercise of waiting in lines, and it would have taken away the fun of the ride itself.

 

Tomorrow we're off to do some site seeing in Barcelona, we're counting on you Sagrada Familiar!