Australia Holiday - Day 2 (The Proposal!)

OK, so I figured I owed it to all of you to fill you in on how this all actually went down. Once I set it up, I'll let Kate do the rest.

I've been planning this for some time. I mean, Kate is a very speacial woman, and I wanted this to be a very special event. So I had a couple conditions: 1) it had to be beautiful and memorable, 2) it needed to be recorded so it could be shared with family and friends, 3) it needed to be at a convenient time so we could call home (not as easy as it sounds)

We do live on the other side of the planet. So I got the idea to get the proposal on video.

Great idea!!! but how do I get cameras close enought to do this without Kate getting VERY suspicious?

Well, I figured I'd use Kate's long-time dream to be the "travel channel chick" to my advantage. I got the idea to find a film crew who was (or would pretend to be) doing a tourism show on Sydney, and use that for my "stage."

So after calling a lot of different wedding videographers, I came across Caroline and Howard from All About You Videos (there's a free plug for them). Caroline was a huge help, and I think she was as excited about the proposal as I was. I told her some spots that I thought fit the bill as far as scenery (I may have even simulated them to get a perspective), and they helped choose what was logistically feasible and good with the lighting.

I decided on Lady MacQuarie's Point in the Royal Botanical gardens with a beatiful backdrop of the harbour, opera house, and bridge, and we coordinated on a story scheduled for the morning of Saturday, August 1st. (Late afternoon back home...)

Thankfully, Kate was exhausted from the trip down on Friday, and we went to bed early the night before. Well she was asleep... I had a million things going through my head, so I went out in the hall to go over what I was going to say.

The morning of, we awoke to a beautidul morning and a clear view of the harbour from our window at the hotel. After breakfast I asked if we could go walk off breakfast in the botanical gardens. "I hear they have great views in the morning light." I'm so cheesy...

So Kate and I walked through the Botanical Gardens, stopping here and there to take pictures. The air was cool and sharp, and there was not a cloud in the sky. When we got to the end of a sea-side walkway we could see a camera crew talking to another couple. By this point I was so nervous I was talking but barely making sense.

I eventually stuttered out that this was a good spot and we should take some pictures. After I got a shot of Kate in front of the Harbour, the camera crew came up to us. They told Kate and me that they were from the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) and were interviewing tourists for a show. They wanted to know if we would do a short interview. Kate said yes.

So they put a microphone on me and had us walk over, sat us down, and had us talk about our experiences in Sydney.

Kate talked about the zoo, and I talked about what I really like about Sydney, that I could share it with the woman I love... (queue the romantic music)

There was a lot more, but we got it all on tape, and by the time we left Australia, Caroline and Howard had edited the footage into a wonderful DVD that we now have.

The DVD video is too big to put up here, but here is the same story in pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kateandadam09/AustraliaHoliday09Day2#

PS... she said yes ;)

Australia Holiday 09 - Day 1

Sydney is a breathtakingly beautiful city, and we're so glad it was part of a very speacial part of our lives.

So yes, this trip was full of surprises, but it was also just a wonderful break from the hussle and bussle of work. Kate and I thought we'd make mini-blogs about each day of our trip so it isn't too much to soak in.

We arrived in Sydney on Friday morning (July 31st, 2009) and checked in at the Holiday Inn (Old Sydney). I swear, if you ever go to Sydney, check this place out. the roof had beautiful views of the harbour, it was walking distance to everything, and we were right in the middle of historic Sydney where the first colonial settlers made their home.

After dropping off our bags and brushing our teeth on the roof, we wandered over to Sydney Harbour Bridge to have a look around from the Pylon Lookout. It is a cheaper alternative to the bridge-climb and you get to learn about how the bridge was built. You also get some spectacular views of the city!

Check out Kate's introduction to the city taken from up on the pylon lookout:




She had no idea what was coming the next day from the spot right over her shoulder! :)

Finally, we went to Taronga Zoo on the North Side of Sydney Harbour, and it was an amazing zoo. Definately worth the visit, but if you go, be sure to take the ferry and not a cab. You get better views, and it is 5 times cheaper!!!

Here are a few pics with our new zoo-friends: and there are more on this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/kateandadam09/AustraliaHoliday09Day1?feat=directlink

If you haven't heard...

Yes, we're engaged! Adam proposed on Saturday morning at the Botanical Gardens overlooking the Opera House and Bridge in Sydney Harbour. There literally was not a cloud in the sky. It was perfect =) He even managed to catch it on video by having a camera crew pretend they were making a documentary on tourism.

We're both really busy catching up with work but still floating on cloud 9 after our trip. Australia is a beautiful country and we'll be sure to post more later.

Love, The Gorskis (Hee hee - yeah I'm a little excited to marry this guy)