afnan-murray.com

After traversing London, briefly touching down in Singapore, and about 20 hours or more we landed in Perth on the afternoon of Friday the 29^th of September to begin our two week break. We spent eight nights in Perth staying with the family fondly referred to as the “Maccas” or Ian and Marion McPharlin. We couldn’t have asked for more hospitable hosts! The days running up to the wedding of Kal and Luke were spent having fun, eating heartily, hanging out with friends and family, and generally having a good laugh.

The guys would teach Luke a lesson in golfing among other things that I (Vince) cannot repeat on his Stag or as the Aussies say, Bucks night. The lessons learned by his bride to be were somewhat less controversial. Nevertheless it was all in the spirit of the occasion. We also ventured off the coast to visit Penguin, Seal and Rottnest islands. The purpose of seeing the first to is fairly self-explanatory, the latter is just a great place to go biking and lay on the beach and we had a good day for it too!

The days passed be at speed and suddenly the wedding was upon us. The girls gathered to have their hair and make-up done, while the lads feasted on breakfast by the river and played a bit of a basketball. How different wedding days are for the respective spouses-to-be!

The wedding itself was a grand occasion, held in the grounds of Cottesloe Civic Centre, which is perhaps more scenic than the name portrays. Kalinz descended a sort of stone terrace to meet her knight in shining armour and duly took the crowd’s breath away. It was Kal’s day after all, and that’s just the way she wanted it. A beautiful ceremony was followed by a reception that included some good steak, some touching words, a good number of laughs and even a couple of Kazakhstanis, not to mention plenty of dancing, though perhaps less Irooni than some quarters would have preferred. The newlyweds then disappeared over the horizon of the aforementioned terrace like something out of a movie and headed for their honeymoon destination in the Maldives.

The Afnan-Murrays, not to be outdone, headed for their own “honeymoon” hotspot the next day. Getting hitched at the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa, doesn’t afford one the best chance of a glamorous post-nuptial getaway. So for us going to Broome in north-western Australia was our four and a half year belated honeymoon holiday, and we deserved too, after all!

It was a relatively uneventful stay which was as we planned it, lots of lying by the pool, and swimming in the pool, following a bit more lying by the pool, and maybe a little eating by the pool. We did set aside one day to get off our lazy butts and headed for the much famed Aussie outback, where we’d visit the quite spectacular locations of Windjana Gorge, Tunnel Creek and the Prison Boab Tree. Ten hours in a tour truck wasn’t exactly a joyful experience, but it was definitely worth it to get a proper taste of a bit of Aussie culture, not something for which the country is exactly renowned (sorry guys, couldn’t resist).

Subject to some mild panic at Broome airport due to a flight delay we managed to make it back to London, via Perth and Singapore - squeezing in a quick wake up call to Ming! There’s so much more we could tell you about our time down under, but there’s no need for an essay…