As a nurse, Claire works the late evening shift quite often and comes home late just about ready to hit the hay. On a September night, one nervous Sunny surprised Claire upon her arrival from a busy night at the clinic right at the brink of midnight. Although they had been talking about marriage for a while, it was no less surprising, romantic, exciting and emotional when Sunny got down on one knee and asked her to spend the rest of her life with him.
This love story began far away in the Australian outback when a free-spirited Canadian backpacker met an intelligent, down-to-earth British boy during a weekend getaway with mutual friends in Airlie Beach. What started off with Gillian daring Chris to climb up a coconut tree, which he apparently didn’t do a great job of, soon blossomed into something they both didn’t expect.
It was during their annual winter getaway in Cuba that it happened. Chris and Kaylea took an 11 day trip away from Canada’s dreaded cold to enjoy their favourite beach spots in Cayo Santa Maria. During one of their swims, Chris brought Kaylea over to the edge of the beach where the crystal blue waters merged into the white sparkling sand and wrote into the sand ‘Will you marry me?’ Simple. Sweet. And a complete surprise to Kaylea who had no clue that he would propose during their time away together!
She had a hunch that he was going to propose soon. Chris had spent a day farming with Gillian's dad, which was the first clue that something was going on. He also told her to go out and get her nails done for fun. Light bulb moment much? So, when Chris and Gillian went out for one of their hikes, a pastime they enjoy together, it was the perfect moment to ask Gillian to be his life companion. There were laughs, a downpour of rain and lots of happy memories that day.
Cape Town is a special city. A Dutch colonial outpost for trade with Asia, settlers brought slaves from modern day Indonesia in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was subsequently controlled by the British bringing a wave of Indian migration. These communities mixed with the Africans indigenous to the Cape and with people of European settler ancestry. The result is a vivid mix of race, culture and religion.
One of the main highlights was visiting the small neighbourhood of Bo-Kaap. Home to the ‘Cape-Malay’ community – it’s a small Muslim community dating back to early 1800s and comprises a mix of Indonesian, Indian and other ethnic communities settled in Cape Town by European settlers. Small tightly backed houses like the streets with each house proudly painted in bright colours.
