Dinner time

Forsyth family dinner.

Paul recently had a work trip to Perth (nothing new), but I hadn't been to Perth since just before Easter. For all those that don't know, we live in Melbourne. This is about a four hour flight from Perth, where most of Paul's family is, and where he's from. We decided this was the time for me to tag along and see the family once more before the wedding.

Being a destination wedding it's tough for everyone to make the journey. Paul's sister Vanessa will be there with us on the big day. But the rest of the family can't make it. Mick (Paul's bro) and Krystal are expecting their first baby within weeks of the wedding, yay! 

Paul's Mum organised a family dinner for all of us to get together one last time before nuptials and newborns take over! We had good food, and even better company.

The girls.

The boys.

We're really creeping in on the big day now. 

The gift of giving

Aloha, just a quick note to all our lovely guests regarding gifts.

While Paul and I very much appreciate the thought, we absolutely do not expect any gifts.

Due to the geographical nature of our wedding, we do not have the capacity to coordinate travel with gifts back to Australia. Something as simple as a card is much appreciated.

Your presence is present enough for us.

In other news: 

We are now just a mere seven weeks out!

Two month countdown!

Aloha!

Just thought I'd drop a few lines for everyone with some wedding related goodness.

Aussie guests:
You will need to apply for an ESTA: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/
This is pretty straight forward. I'm sure most of you already hold one, or have previously.
If not though, please let Paul or I know. He's VERY used to filling out these applications :)

Car Rental:
The wedding itself is about an hour or more from the airport. We highly recommend renting a car, even if only for one day to get yourself to Lahaina. A cab will likely cost more than a rental. Some friends recommended using: www.discounthawaiicarrental.com as they are very friendly on the pocket book. There are plenty of other options as well. This just happens to be one we've heard good things about.

If you plan on driving up the mountain, be aware that it's quite a windy road. Once you arrive at the top, you have to reverse and turn around to get back down. This isn't a huge deal, however, just something to be aware of, if you have a huge rental car.

Luau:

Paul & I have made a reservation for thirty people for the Luau held at the Royal Lahaina on Thursday the 1st. The reservation is under my maiden name (Meaghan Smith-Bollum).

If you plan on joining & haven't let me know, please do! I'll add you to the reservation :)

http://www.mythsofmaui.com/

Golf:

Paul & some of the boys are hoping to get in nine holes of golf on Friday the 2nd. Most of the golf courses have some sort of dress code. It will likely end up being at: http://www.mauinuigolfclub.com/  But we will keep you posted if anything changes. Once again, if you want to join and haven't already let me know, tell Paul! The golf outing is his one wedding job! 

Ceremony/Reception:
The wedding is being held at the Royal Lahaina resort on Saturday October 3rd, at 4:30pm on the Villas Lawn.

The reception will follow in the Hale Piilani Room. There will be a three course plated dinner.

Brunch:

We are still sorting out details for a brunch to follow the wedding on Sunday the 4th. It looks like the restaurant at the Royal Lahaina closes at 10:30am. I don't know about you, but I plan on sleeping in at least a couple hours on Sunday. Stay tuned for more brunch details.

I have no doubt there's plenty of info I've forgotten about. I'm at the stage where I can't seem to retain information.

Please don't hesitate to reach out and ask if there's anything you don't already know. We are getting very excited, and feel so lucky to have all of you there with us on our special day.

Wedding activities!

Aloha to our wonderful friends and family attending the wedding in just a couple short months!

P and I have been discussing putting together some group related activities. We'd love for everyone attending the wedding to join. But there is absolutely no pressure either.

The Royal Lahaina (the place we'll be married at) hosts a very high rated Lu'au. We are planning on attending the Lu'au on Thursday 1st with as many as our guests care to join. I've heard very good things from people that have actually been to this particular Lu'au.

Lu'au info

We would also love for as many of our guests that care to join us for a breakfast the day after the wedding, again at the Royal Lahaina Resort. They offer buffet/menu dining.

Breakfast info

Please let us know if you'd like to join the fun, as I need to make reservations for both activities! Of course, there is no pressure at all! We realize this is also a vacation for everyone.

xoxo, Meaghan & Paul

Broome, mate.

For Easter weekend P and I took a trip to Broome. We had a one day layover in Perth. We were left with just enough time to see some family and friends. I haven't been to Perth in quite some time, so this was a nice overdue mini trip and catch up. 

On Good Friday we caught our second plane to Broome. We were greeted by our friends the Wilson's. Mr. & Mrs. Wilson are living/working at a school in a very remote area for the next couple years with their gorgeous kids. Fun fact: We met because Mr. & Mrs. W were married in Vegas. For their wedding and my 25th b-day the stars aligned and Mr. F and I were both in Vegas at the same time. The rest is history. P and I had hoped we'd make it up there to visit them before they came back to civilisation. Easter weekend was the perfect opportunity for us and them. I'm so glad we got to spend some quality time with them. 

Broome is hot, hot, hot during the dry season. Each day the temperature reached 37 degrees celsius or 100 degrees fahrenheit. Luckily, it was quite a dry heat. I don't think I could have coped with that temp and humidity. Each day we made it to the pool where the kids out swam me. They are 5 and 3, but are total bad asses in and out of the water. 

Broome tourism includes a few key elements: Camels, Pearls, Cable Beach, Staircase to the Moon, Dinosaur Tracks and Mangos. We ticked each of these items off the list.

We took a camel ride on Cable Beach with red sun camels. There are three time options to choose from: sunrise, afternoon, or sunset. The camels patiently waited for us on the beach. We took the afternoon ride. It was probably the hottest point of the day, but it was the only 30 minute option. As fun as it was I wasn't keen to sit on a camel for an hour. I really enjoyed myself, and as an American the camels intrigued me. Most Aussie's are pretty used to camels. P wasn't nearly as enthused as I was. But he admitted to having fun after it was finished. 

We managed to swim at Cable Beach twice. We also went there for a sunset after our camel ride. P and I estimated that just about 1 in 4 cars there were a four wheel drive. If your car is capable you drive it onto the beach while the tide is out and enjoy the sunset. The whole beach was lined with cars. We soon learned why everyone has a four wheel drive up there. Practically every other road is unsealed, so your car needs to be capable of driving in those conditions.

Here are the camels coming back from the sunset ride. 

Oscar and Dada looking at the camels (I think).

On our third day we swam here. The red dirt and crystal clear water felt as amazing as it looks. The water here is almost lukewarm as it's such a tropical climate. I've never been in the ocean with temperatures this warm.

We went to the Willie Creek Farm with Mrs. W on Easter. There we learned all about the pearling process and took a little boat tour around the farm. 

When the tide is high enough all this is under water.

Our view from the boat in the creek.

Beware of falling coconuts.

On our third night we caught the Staircase to the Moon. It only happens 24 times a year, and we got to see it twice. When the full moon rises over exposed mudflats and extremely low tide it creates an optical illusion of stairs reaching the moon. It was one of my favourite parts of our trip. 

See that spec in the sky behind us?

That's the blood moon on Easter.

We watched it again on our last night from our hotel. They put on a small event for it, and played aboriginal music as the moon rose. The music and atmosphere was a really nice touch on their part. 

I found a fallen coconut!

On our fourth day we started with a swim and then parted ways with the Wilsons. Our time together was short, but sweet. Mr. F & I stayed in Broome as they started their drive back home. We decided to get our tourist on. We went out for a coffee, and mulled over local attractions in and around town.

After coffee and a quick bite to eat we got a move on.

P won't openly admit it, but I think he has a little bit of Ross Gellar in him. He's mildly obsessed with dinosaurs. We decided if we had the time we better check out the dinosaur footprints in Broome. The drive there was short. Scaling the rocks to get to the footprints was the hard part. Of course we went late in the day when it was good and hot. 

This is the kid friendly version at the top of the rocks.

 It is an artificial imprint or cast of the real footprints below. 

It resembles Mars here, or what we might imagine Mars looks like.

Here's the real footprints, or what we thought were. We can't be sure we actually found them. After looking online I think we were fooled. But either way it was fun, and it was too hot to keep looking. 

On our last day we had most of the day to kill before our flight. We went to 12 mile bird park just out of town. Mr. F LOVES birds. He's confessed if he could be any animal he would be either a monkey or a bird. Whenever he sees a large bird in the sky he stops and looks up paralysed. The bird park was fun. They were all birds found in Australia, and two of them said "Hello" to us. That was the best part.

After the bird park we went to The Mango Place. P had been looking through a tourist book and decided to google them. They advertised vegetarian dishes, and I was fully on board. I had a vegetable curry and mango mojito. It was easily the best mojito I've ever had. P had a beef pie and mango wine. The wine too was absolutely amazing. 

After our lunch we still had several hours before our flight. We decided to take the time to write out a few post cards to some family.

I'm kicking myself for not getting photos of the kids, but I didn't want to be a paparazzi.  I also feel weary of posting photos of other people's children on the web (unless given permission). Anyways, that explains the lack of photos of the kiddies and Mr. & Mrs. W. 

All in all it was a fantastic trip. I would highly recommend Broome to anyone that enjoys the water and heat. The scenery is beautiful, and there is plenty to see.