Update Melbourne

Date: 3 November 2011 06:40:41 GMT+10:00

Dear all,

As jetlag seems to have taken hold and I haven't written an update in a while, I thought I would bless you with another email.

So as you know from last time, despite my inconclusive test results, Simon and I agreed that our trip to Australia should go ahead anyway. Although we both would have loved to be cheersing our good health with a cold glass of sav blanc in the sunshine, it was still a great idea, still very much possible and still something we wanted. So we got our permissions from the powers that be, and did it anyway.

So to set the scene, I sit I here writing from Simon's sister's house in Flemington in Melbourne at 6am wrapped in blankets as my body is used to the 28 degree heat of queensland, rather than the 12 degrees less that Melbourne has to offer, when I step off that awfully long flight. It's not that its even that cold, especially compared to the temperature settling in London right now, but I guess its not what my body was expecting.

We have had a wonderful couple of days here and are due for a couple more, despite qantas' best efforts. The trip over was out of this world in parts and slap back into reality in others. So way out was bliss- we had ba lounge access so bubbles were called for. Coincidentally we were on the same plane as Cathy Payne, my big boss, who met me for bubbles while Simon explored the Virgin lounge with a colleague who coincidentally at heathrow at the same time but was venturing to another destination. Despite being offered every kind of meat and beer under the sun and free massages ie his heaven, we managed to get Simon back to the lounge long enough to realise our flight was on last call. Sprinting to the gate, our economy tickets were ripped up in front of us and replaced with 12e and 12f. We had been upgraded to business class!! The next 12 hours were a whirlwind of bubbles, flat beds and smoked salmon. Bliss. This however was not a chance encounter with heaven, but was a carefully planned plot by dad and his contacts and by the pilot brother of a good friend.

Landing in Singapore, we left Cathy to continue her leg to Sydney on BA while we were bound for Melbourne on Quantas. You know what's coming next! Queuing for transfers, we get a very weird message from dad which we don't understand, saying "You'll be fine... business class.... Don't get angry but cry a lot.... Play the cancer card...." All gobbledygook until we overheard a conversation between two fellow passengers. 30 minutes before we were due to land, qantas went on strike and we were to spend the next couple of days in singapore until told otherwise. I phoned Cathy to make sure she wasn't affected and within 20 minutes she had organised 2 seats on emirates leaving for melbourne 2 hours later. To add to it, our guardian angel also got us ba lounge access so we could spend our additional few hours having a shower and feeding up.

The next flight was a shock to the system after our cloud 9 journey prior but we were not complaining as at least our Australian adventure was continuing when so many others had had theirs cut short or delayed. Emirates were lovely and made sure our journey was as comfortable as possible including a flight attendant offering his vegetarian meal as in the palaver, we had forgotten to get me one.

So that brings us to melbourne. The past couple of days have been brilliant. Mark and Caroline have been very hospitable, taking us to the Melbourne cup races which was a blast. Simon and i agreed that we should share our winnings, which also means, luckily for me, that we share our losses so despite my continuous failures, Simon's successes meant we were up a tenner by the end of the day. Picture of caz, Simon and I attached. Although thankfully you can't see it, just before my flight, I thought it a good idea to use one of my multitude of vouchers and go for a fake tan. Having only had one at my sisters wedding 6 years prior, I am somewhat inept as to the workings of fake bake. So somewhere over Asia despite an obsessive compulsion to moisturise, my tan started to blotch. All over my legs. Not just in a "oh dear, look at the fake tan on that girl's legs" but "wow that girl has a horrific skin disorder, that looks painful." So immediately after this picture was taken, mark picked a lemon off the tree behind, heels were kicked off and I sprinted to the bathroom to scrub off the first four layers of skin. So i trotted off to the races with red rather than orange legs which was fine by me.  Those who saw me before i left will be very surprised by this as my tan looked so natural. See pic for proof!

So Melbourne has brought us many, many things. Trips down memory lane thanks to Mary Johnstone showing si and my childhood houses and school, including the house of a now- woman whom I used to bite as a child and used to be so scared of me she would cry when she saw me and scream to be put on the kitchen counter where my knashers couldn't get to her!, yummy home cooked food and lots of racing hats from the Browns and many a yummy restaurant and gorgeous accommodation thanks to caz and mark. I am meeting up with my "baby brother" who I used to bully into all my clothes when I was younger, for lunch today. I am getting the impression i was not a nice child!

So we depart this fair city on saturday for the sunshine coast to see the mcc side of the mccknights including my grandfather, cousin and aunt who have flown over especially to see si and I.

So as you will see medically I can offer you very little but to be honest, cancer is getting far to much publicity from me and I don't want to go too far and bore my captive audience. Now, where would that leave me? Alone with slightly orange skin in places, that's where!

I will keep you informed on my Aussie progress and hope that you are all fine and dandy.

Please let me know if you require anything Aus related and I will try my very hardest.

Lots of love and kisses
Em
Xxx

Sent from my iPhone