The Drive Thru - Australian Style !

I swear I only bought a slurpee Mum !

SLIP SLOP SLAP

'Slip-Slop-Slap' is the name for a health campaign in Australia exhorting people to "slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, and slap on a hat" when they go out into the sun in order to prevent skin cancer. It is probably Australia's most recognisable health message.

The campaign started in 1981 and its mascot is a seagull called Sid. Since this campaign was introduced along with advertisements and a jingle, the incidence of skin cancer in Australia has decreased.

The health campaign was extended in later years to encourage the use of sunglasses. That is, slip on a shirt, slop on the sunscreen, slap on a hat and wrap on some sunnies: "Slip, Slop, Slap, Wrap". By this stage however the skin cancer aware message of the campaign had successfully been absorbed into the Australian psyche and "slip, slop slap, wrap" was neither as memorable or as necessary as its precursor.

I was glad to see that there are warnings in the hotel information packs about the dangers of sun bathing. So often at the Coast you see these pale skinned pommies walking around with blistering red skin from "enjoying" the sun a little too much !

Not that I can talk, despite both parents having had literally thousands of skin cancers cut/burnt/frozen off over the years and a couple removed myself - I managed to get burnt myself a few years back....

It was possibly the stupidest thing I've ever done ! I was filming an interview on the beach and hadn't put ANY sunscreen on at all ! Half way through filming the sun came out and I just kept on filming. Needless to say that it was incredibly painful. My skin had been used to the UK weather for about 3 years at the time so it blistered quite badly & was all swollen and I had to sleep with wet towels on my arms and face. You can just about see my watch tan....never again people, never again....

CATCHING UP

I don't know how but I always seem to run out of time when I am back home...but it's nice to see some people only once a year and just pick up where you left off ! I had a lovely morning with Melissa & Paul & Lilly at the markets...

Just to prove what a small world Brisbane is - we ran into friends of our mutual friend Naomi !! And here they are....
The markets...
This is Cathy & Syl & Ash...

Stef...

It was also really nice to get back in touch with my old next door neighbour - Clare. I think it had been something like 13 years since we last saw each other !!

Play it again Isla...

It's amazing how you can entertain a 1 year old with some old plastic containers and some rice...
Play it again Isla...
Isla was fascinted with my new pink laptop - or actually it was more the really cool fish screensaver - we're all convinced she was saying "fish" but it sounded more like "Fsssssshhhh".

Aussie Marsupials In Action

For the Seafood Lovers Amongst You (not me)

Isla In Action

Isla and Kitty....

Isla and the grandparents...
Isla and Tash off to wedding...
Isla and Tash still off to the wedding...
Isla impressed with her own "nearly" walking skills...

A VERY SPOOKY FRIDAY THE 13th

I had an absolutely brilliant night whilst i was in Oz with my mates Kimmy, Alicia, Katy & Alethea - long story cut short - we all know each other so thought we'd hook up to do something a little different, and boy was it different !!

Seeing as it was Friday 13th we decided to go on a Ghost Tour of Toowong Cemetry which was not only rather scary, but also very informative !! I got really really freaked out at the end when we came across this chap...

He's a fellow McGregor so I thought I should go up close and say hello...

I would highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in that sort of thing - just remember to take your own torch !!!

A good old Aussie Headline

Undercover Parking

Odd Shop 1 - CHEAPIES

My Uncle Brian - posing...

An odd australian car

My Ozzie Front Garden

STAGE 5 WATER RESTRICTRICTIONS

One thing that really shocked me when I was in Brisbane was the affect of the drought. Everyone is talking about it, in fcat they don’t stop talking about it – the size of their water tanks, how much they’ve got left, ways they are saving water - discussing various ways to make it rain. One of my aunt’s neighbours even had the water police called in to investigate reports of illegal watering !!! Turned out the neighbour had enough water left in his tank, so he was allowed, but it just goes to show how seriously the locals are taking it...
Anyway - just so we can all do our bit over here in the UK - I thought I would add some water saving tips...

• Cut shower time to 4 minutes...
• Turn off the tap while brushing teeth (saves 8 litres)
• Wash vegetables and fruit in a basin rather than under running water (saves 15 litres)
• Turn off the tap when soaping hands (saves 6 litres)
• Shower instead of bath (install a water-efficient shower rose to halve the amount of water used with every shower) (87 litres)
• Install a pool cover (if you have a pool!!!) and you can save 100 litres...