Saturday 19th February
Today is the wedding. The reason that we have come all this way! There is going to be a picnic tomorrow on the beach so we went and bought some supplies for that. We also found some folding chairs which we will use at the picnic and when we are on our trip down the Great Ocean Road. After that they can go to Barney and Ingrid. We found a lovely vegetarian café which sells takeaway food as well so we had a great time choosing what we will eat there.
In our effort to keep everybody up and running we have been handing out our Echinacea, tea tree oil, flower remedies and vitamin C. We brought them to keep any bugs on the plane at bay. We did not realise we would be looking after others. So far so good everyone seems to be up and about with not too many coughs and splutters.
The wedding is going to be in Geelong. I had only heard of the school before. Barney helped and taught music there in his gap year so he still has some contacts there. The wedding will be at a National trust property close to the schools. I did not realise that Geelong is the second largest city in Victoria, it has an oil refinery and a smelter. The population is about 200,000.
In the afternoon we were able to send some time watching the world go by. From the veranda we could see the ships heading for harbour in the bay. We were giving a lift to Harry and Elaine, who were in the next door beach house. Elaine was doing a video so we left after she had filmed the bride in all her finery. We arrived at the wedding place and took several photographs. Thanks to Bill, I had a panama hat for the afternoon.
Bill and Sue |
Jenny & Mark |
Ingrid walked down the "aisle" of rose petals. Barney and Ingrid were married under a flowering gum tree.
Bridesmaids |
Barney and Rupert |
Ingrid and Colin |
For those who are interested in what people wore...
Colin and Margaret |
The Ellis family |
The Clues family |
Simon, Pete, Rupert, Ingrid, Barney, Sarah, Megan and Lizzie |
Then after a glass of Pimms (except for those of us who were driving ) and lots more photographs it was the drive back to Barwon Heads. I am getting to know this road a bit better now, having done it a few times.
When we got back to the beach house, I was in need of some Pimms, so it was a good job we had seen some when we came through the duty free. By the time the Pimms was made, there were quite a few people also looking for extra refreshment! There was only about an hour before we wandered down to the reception. We were being told that we had to be there on time or else….
The reason why then became apparent. As the reception was on a jetty, Barney and Ingrid arrived by boat. It was one of many lovely little touches on the day. There were all the usual speeches, but also one by the bride and one of the bridesmaids as well. As Barney is part of a musical family and studied music at university, he and his serenaders sang "I just Wanna Be Your Teddy Bear" as part of his speech.
Arriving at the reception |
Barney and "The Serenaders" |
Barney - I think she liked the song ;-) |
The happy couple left close to midnight accompanied by sparklers and the proceedings closed. A few of the night owls went off in search of more entertainment. At the Barwon Heads Hotel there was a band for the younger people. The rest of us went into the "pokey room" next door. This was a room full of one armed bandits and a bar in the corner. I stood around the bar with those not playing the machines. After a couple of drinks it was time to head for bed.
