May 2006

After landing in Melborne we caught a taxi into St. Kilda and checked into our hotel. St. Kilda is a very pretty area that is situated by the beach. It’s very much like Subiaco in the sense that it as heaps of trendy cafes and clothing shops. I could get used to living in an environment like that… so close to the peaceful beach yet right in the middle of the hussle and bussle of the streets.

There’s heaps of ways to get around in Melbourne and the most popular would have to be the Trams. This old public transportation has been given a new lease of life with the introduction of modern Trams. After 100 years of operation, the difference between the old and the new Trams is very extreme but keeping in tradition they still use a bell *Dong* as a horn… even if it is electronic these days! :P. We spent most of the day checking out Melbourne city visiting everything from China Town to the major shopping malls like The Old GPO and Melbourne Central. Melbourne has so much character to it and everyone is so friendly…

Before leaving Perth I had made a booking at a restaurant called  Sails On The Bay for Wednesday night. It is a very romantic restaurant tucked away on the beach front at Brighton Beach. I got Tash to dress up and we had a very romantic dinner table waiting for us in the corner of the restaurant that was candle lit and right next to the window with ocean views. I must say the food and the service from the restaurant was immaculate! Tash looked absolutely stunning that night wearing her cocktail dress.

After dinner Tash and I were chatting away drinking hot chocolates… The conversation started to sway towards our relationship and our plans for the future…

While in a deep conversation I was fumbling with the pocket of my jacket trying to pull out the engagement ring. When I finally managed to pull it out (while trying to be discrete) my heart started to race and I got on one knee and proposed to Natashia in the restaurant. I believe her first words were “oh my god… get up!get up! get up!” I remained on one knee and proposed to her…

… The look on her face was priceless… and with that she said YES! So I opened up the box… took her hand and placed the ring on her finger… Since it was a week night there wasn’t too many people around so just to make Tash turn a shade of red I publicly announced our engagement and all of the patrons congratulated and applauded us.

To my beautiful fiance… I could not be a happier man knowing that you will be my wife… I’m looking forward to what the future holds for us…

After much thought, planning and plenty of suspense… finally the master plan was in place and ready to be executed. For those of you who didn’t know… Tash & I just got back from Melbourne. She was under the impression that we were on our way down south for the long weekend to house sit for a friend… Last Wednesday at the crack of dawn (or should I say before) I dragged Tash out of bed and told her that we had to get ready to go the the airport to pick up one of mom’s old highschool friends. Since Tash had no idea about the trip, I needed a back story to use as an excuse to get her to the airport at 5am! When we got to the airport I told mom to take her upstairs to meet the mystery guest and I “went to the toilet”… Secretly I checked us into the 6am flight to Melbourne. By this time Tash had a sneeky suspicion that something was happening. Being a travel agent she knew that no domestic flights arrive until 8:30am and here we were waiting in the airport at 5am. Being the cheeky person that she was she interrogated mom about the mystery guest just to find some flaws in the story… I don’t think I’ve seen a bigger sigh of relief on my mom’s face when I showed up with the boarding passes and the interrogation ended.

The reason for choosing Melbourne for the trip was that Tash has been wanting to see The Lion King ever since it opened for show in Sydney. After a year there they moved to Melbourne and their final show in Australia was on the 4th of June. In January I checked for availability of tickets and they were sold out 5 months in advance! Knowing how much she wanted to see the show I had to source tickets from our good friends at Ebay… The demand for tickets was so high that some of the auctions were selling RRP $99 tickets for $450 each!!!!

So there we were in the Perth domestic airport boarding passes in hand and then I show Tash the tickets for The Lion King… the look on her face was priceless…

2 months of suspense after organising it… and finally some relief because all was going to plan…

 

STOMP: (stômp)
v. stomped, stomp·ing, stomps 

v. intr.

– To tread or trample heavily or violently.

What is the first thing you think about when you heard the word STOMP? Well according the the oxford dictionary explanation above you’d think that this show would be a bunch of brutish males jumping up and down on a stage banging things and making a loud noise…

WRONG….! well… sort of in a way… but there’s more to it…

STOMP is a movement, of bodies, objects, sounds – even abstract ideas. But what makes it so appealing is that the cast uses everyday objects, but in non-traditional ways. Everything from a broom to a zippo lighter and a kitchen sink is used to make a series of sounds that collectively build up into a drumming fiasco. Every scene has a bit of comedy to keep the crowd entertained and best of all there was plenty of crowd interaction. There’s no speech, no dialogue, not even a plot. These guys can belt out a mean rhythm with just about any object and boy can they move! Most of these guys incorporate breakdance / gymnastic / capoeira and martial arts moves into all the scenes.

Once you’ve seen the show it makes you wonder… man…doing choirs at their house must be so fun!

I definitely give it ten toes up… I mean down… *STOMP*