Wedding Bells for Julia Redfern
I’m back to work from my wedding and honeymoon break and want to thank all my patients who wished Stewart and I good luck for the big day. We got married on Friday 7th June, with our ceremony at Star of the Sea Chapel in Gardenvale where I went to school, followed by our reception at Leonda on the Yarra in Hawthorn. Although it was a wet (and freezing) day, it cleared and the sun came out whenever we stopped for photos! Everything went really well, we had lots of fun and danced the night away. I would like to thank our florist Marni who also works at Bliss Flowers in Como Parade Parkdale, who was so helpful with our chapel flowers, and made us the most beautiful Calla Lily bouquet’s and button holes.
We left for our honeymoon the day after the wedding, starting in Daylesford for a couple of nights which was a nice and relaxing start. Then traveled across to the Grampians, where we stayed in our own gorgeous 1800’s blue stone cottage at The Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld. Our view was straight out to Mt Sturgeon which we walked up on the first day. Feeling inspired we climbed Mt Abrupt the second day, which was much steeper and definitely a challenge. It was a nice change to have no TV and no internet access, which makes you realise how much we rely on these to pass the time. A highlight of our stay in Dunkeld was the 10 course degustation at our hotel’s famous restaurant. It was an amazing experience, over about three to four hours (time to experience a range of ingredients, temperatures and textures) of special dishes such as dry aged jumbuck and flathead sashimi, broccoli and salted dandelion as just one of our main courses.
Our journey led us to Ballarat for the next weekend, where we had a couple of days of walks and rides around town and up Mt Buninyong. We also enjoyed great meals, a visit to the Art Gallery of Ballarat and a couple mornings of sleeping in. On our way to Bateman’s bay (our final destination) we stayed in Gippsland with a friend, and then in Mallacoota after a scary drive towards the NSW East coast through the mountains/rainforests in heavy rain and with trucks at high speeds…We were relieved to make it to my aunt and uncles’ holiday house in Batemans Bay finally for the rest of our last week away. Even in winter, the beaches are beautiful and the water is an amazing crystal clear blue. Stewart went fishing with my uncle one morning (while I went shopping in nearby town with my aunt), and thought he would be ok without taking sea sickness tablets, which unfortunately wasn’t the case. In such a small boat and rolling waves of up to two stories high it was too late by the time he realised he needed them…but they did bring home some nice fish which we cooked on the BBQ that night. Our journey home was a little more relaxing as we avoided the narrow winding roads over mountains, driving through Albury instead where we stopped for the night.
So it was straight back to work for Stewart and I, and nice to be home again in Melbourne. Thanks to my Osteo colleagues at Parkdale Osteo Clinic who did a great job looking after my patients while I was away. I’m looking forward to following up with those who haven’t been in for a follow up consultation yet, and am happy to review any exercise programs you currently are working on to maintain the benefits of your osteopathic care. I’m also back into teaching Clinical Pilates for further injury rehabilitation and stability/core strength for general fitness and health maintenance. This is at Inner Strength of Bayside at 254 Charman Rd Cheltenham, so if Pilates is something you have advised to consider or are interested in finding out more feel free to have a chat to me about how it can help.
Hope to see you soon!
Dr. Julia Redfern (Osteopath)