… for anyone who knows Alex and Mat. You may remember Alex flew out to Sydney to be with her boyfriend, Mat, last year, and before leaving decided that she would actually live there! Well, as she has now made a post on the good news herself, I no longer feel bad about relaying the news - they have got engaged 
She took advantage of a 29th February existing this year by proposing to him, and has he has his head screwed on, he said yes!
Check her Happy Announcement post for more details.
Now that Alex and Mat have a pick up truck down in Sydney, I wonder how they are securing the rear storage area. Although they make the vehicle look a little less stereotypically ‘ute’ like, tonneau covers can help to protect your tools against the elements, or deter opportunist thieves. Should you decide to go for a solid, or semi-rigid cover, you will often find they can be supplied in a colour scheme that will hopefully at least vaguely match your vehicles own paint job.
Will we be seeing a new post from Alex over in Australia any time soon? She has, as you may remember from previous posts here or over at her DryadMusings blog, moved over to be with the love of her life, Mat. From her facebook entries, it looks as though she has arrived in Sydney fine, and enjoyed Bondi beach.
Anyway, should she and her BF decide to go back packing around Oz a little, she may well look for hotels in gold coast. If so, she is in luck, as the site linked to has details on all sorts of deals available, ranging from the cheap and cheerful to luxurious accommodation for when their budget allows such splashing out. Who could blame them for wanting to check out the Gold Coast, with the adventurous activities available, theme parks (I’ll never forget taking Alex to the fair back in Cheltenham, though I imagine GC’s parks are a little on the grander scale of things ), and wondrous scenes and wildlife to spend hours soaking in.
Perhaps hotels in adelaide or perth hotels will be more appropriate though? With the fine wine and food on offer, good long hikes around the coastlines may be in order to burn off those extra calories, or a more sedate drive or camel ride through the outback. Finally, with Mat’s sporty and fit appearance, hotels in surfers paradise may be of more interest to the couple. Hopefully Alex will let us know a little bit about her new life soon, the best of luck to them both.
Alex has not yet updated her Dryad Musings blog, following her arrival in Sydney, Australia, but I have seen from her Facebook profile that all is well. When she came over to Kazakhstan 5 months ago, we setup her domain and blog hosting. I had not heard of a company called AQ Host at this point, as otherwise we may well have looked at their packages for wordpress hosting or Movable Type hosting as well. The actual details for each package seem more than reasonable, for example this blog (other than the MySQL limitation) could easily survive simply on their ’starter’ package, and should the site’s needs expand over time, you can easily upgrade to a better specced package.
Choosing the right blog host is definitely not something you want to make a rushed decision on, so even if you have no immediate plans to setup a blog or other site, check out the packages on offer today, so the next time you see a ’special’ offer from on of AQ’s competitors, you will know that the deal on offer probably does not stand up to well against the range on offer with AQ. (For example, if Alex had gone with just the starter package, she would now have an extra 49 POP accounts to play around with, rather than having to get me to delete the original one and create a newly named one).
It appears that the Australian off shoot of LastMinute.com (strangely enough, found at LastMinute.com.au !) has been bought up to the standard of the other 14 global LM sites, with a marked improvement in the ease of navigation, and with the whole booking process streamlined.
So, if you need last minute flights to Australia, be it Sydney, Wollongong, or Rockhampton, check the site, plug in your details, and see just how much you could save, when compared to high street travel agent prices.
Once you actually get to Australia, you will of course need to sort some last minute accommodation or last minute hotels, however, they do not need to be sorted too last minute, as once again the LastMinute site is able to assist you before you leave on your holiday.
For anyone considering a trip to Australia, the selection of destinations can be a little bewildering at times… I suppose it really comes down to what sort of attraction interests you the most. For example, if stunning architecture floats your boat, then Sydney has the world famous Opera House, as well as the Harbour Bridge to wow your senses. Although it is a primary tourist destination, it is still possible to find good prices for rooms in Sydney Hotels.
If heritage is more your thing, then a trip to Brisbane may be in order, as The Windmill is certainly worth a visit. A little confusingly named, as there are no sails visible, it turns out that during the (Northern hemisphere’s Western) settling of the area, which of course started off with convict ships. If these prisoners broke the rules, one of the punishments was to power the windmill by hand, to grind the corn. Although less popular, overall, with tourists, you can still find many luxurious Brisbane Hotels if you check the right site.
Finally, we move onto Melbourne, where those who enjoy a more multi cultural take on life will feel right at home. With more than a quarter of the city’s residents having been born abroad, you will find a good mix of cultures and traditions, all intertwined. If you want to stretch your holiday budget as far as possible, it makes sense to find online deals where Melbourne Hotels offer freebies, such as free breakfasts and use of gyms and saunas.
