Just when you thought Hamish Blake and Zoe’s darling bub couldn’t be any sweeter!
The beauty icon revealed that her son watches so much British television that he now speaks with a slight accent.
“I think he watches too much Peppa Pig because he’s got a bit of a British accent now,” she laughed telling the Today show.
Watch her talk about the cutie in the player below! Post continues…
Loading the player...
The hot mama visited the breakfast talk show to chat about her latest venture, a new book called Amazinger Face.
It was there that host Karl Stefanovic asked about Zoe’s hubby and radio funnyman, Hamish Blake.
“He’s a great Dad! He’s really engaged,” she quipped.
“And I think once they’re older, once they’re able to be a bit more rough-and-tumble and they’re not a tiny baby, I think the Dads come in a bit more.”
Lisa Wilkinson observed that clearly the 35-year-old has a lot on her plate.
Sonny Donald Blake was born on Mother’s Day, 2014.
And he is seriously one adorable bubba!
Not missing a beat, she responded, “You’re the same though Lis, we’re busy ladies, we get it done somehow. I have help, I have early starts, late nights, you’ve just got to fit it in somehow.”
Zoe, not only a mum and author, runs her successful skincare company, Go To.
We’d imagine post-work cuddles with Sonny AND Hamish would be a pretty swell thing to come home to!
Watch Sonny Blake be ridiculously adorable in the player below! Post continues…
Easily the most popular international destination among Australian skiiers, Whistler Blackcomb is a European-style resort nestled at the foot of some of the world’s best ski terrain.
After hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, prices at the resort remained competitive compared to those over the border in the US Rockies. And thanks to Canada and Australia’s near-parity exchange rate, it has remained a popular family holiday destination ever since.
Offering a whopping 2833 hectares of ski terrain on two mountains connected by the Peak-to-Peak gondola, Whistler’s retail, restaurant and recreation facilities are legendary.
Winter wonderland option 2: Chill out on a polar cruise
Where to go: Antarctic Peninsular
A pristine world of sculpted ice populated with penguins doesn’t do Antarctica justice. Its ethereal beauty is the next best thing to visiting another planet and the Lemaire Channel, also known as “Iceberg Alley”, is like arriving at a gallery on the other side of the galaxy, where ice sculptures the size of battleships are on display.
On a good day, when the prevailing winds – ominously named the “screaming sixties” – are still, the world is white with a thousand shades of blue. As the mercury hits 4°C, the air is snowdrift quiet.
Until, that is, we arrive at a Gentoo penguin colony on Cuverville Island on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, where there’s an overwhelming chorus of honking.
A pod of humpback whales breaks the ocean’s glacial stillness and a giant leopard seal with what looks like a satisfied smile on his face dozes on a blood-soaked ice floe next to the remains of his penguin dinner.
Six days have passed since the ship left the Argentine port of Ushuaia and we’ve visited several islands, two research stations, a post office and a pub, but it’s the landscape and wildlife that keeps everyone enthralled.
An Antarctic cruise is more than a ship sailing over an ocean – it’s a wildlife safari through a pristine continent twice the size of Australia, as yet unspoilt by development.
Getting your travel essentials
Where to go: Australia Post, the one-stop travel shop
• You can exchange foreign cash with no commission at your local Post Office
• Have photographs taken for your passport and visa applications
• You can even get Travel Insurance and a travel card:
LOAD & GO TRAVEL CARD: Enables you to load up to five currencies at locked-in rates. It works like a debit card. Buy it at your local Post Office and use it anywhere that takes Visa and at international ATMs.
LOAD & GO CHINA: Access Chinese Yuan and Australian Dollars easily with this prepaid card which uses UnionPay, China’s most accepted card network. It’s free to load and reload currency, plus you can lock in the exchange rate before you go.
MULTI-CURRENCY CASH PASSPORT: Gives you access to 10 currencies and is accepted at 35.9 million MasterCard retailers or online, plus ATMs around the world.
Keep in touch whilst overseas
Where to go: Australia Post, the one-stop travel shop
Big phone bills clocked up overseas can cast a shadow on any holiday. Remember the time a family member had to talk to a friend on the other side of world, or your best friend rang you up for a chat and forgot to tell you your provider would be charging you for a big slice of the call?
Those days are now behind you. All you need is an Australia Post Prepaid TravelSIM®+. This allows you to keep in touch with your loved ones and remain in control of your phone bill.
Make calls, send texts and access the internet wherever you are in the world – data, calls and text from $0.25 in UK, Europe, New Zealand and USA. Now that makes good travel sense!
Sponsored by Australia Post. To discover more great travel products or to find your local Post Office, visit auspost.com.au.
An 82-year-old widowed grandmother loves her Castle Hill home so much that she knocked back $26 million to sell it.
Ruth has lived in it for more than five decades, and according to developers, her five-bedroom property on 2,500sqm block of land is prime real estate.
She said that no matter how much money is thrown at her, she won’t take it as her home holds so many memories and sentimental value.
Ruth has six children, all of whom grew up there.
She told Daily Mail: “We’re in a society where everyone just thinks about money. And I’m not into money. It’s awful to think about it. People would ask “what job do you do” and I think you should just like a person for who they are – I couldn’t care less for what they do or how much money they’ve got.”
Ruth at her home
The land, which was bought in 1961 by Ruth’s late husband and cost 12,000 pounds to build, has grabbed the attention of developers who wish to turn the block into units.
The property is across the road from a new train station and the Castle Hill shopping centre.
Homeowners in the neighbourhood have sold their houses to developers for millions of dollars, but Ruth won’t budge (despite her children telling her she’s crazy not to!).
She told Nine News: “I’m really not interested in how much they offer. I’m very happy here and I think that’s terribly important to be happy and content.”
Many Australians will go to the polls on July 2 believing the future of Medicare is at stake. In a sense it is – but not because of the government’s plans, now ditched under the heat of a campaign, to outsource IT functions.
The greater threats to our national public health system lie in the increasing role of consumer co-payments and the power of vested interests that stifle policy innovation in health.
Mediscare campaign
The Labor Party is heading into the election with its Medicare banner hoisted high. Labor promises that it alone can “save Medicare” from the incremental privatisation that higher co-payments and increased outsourcing may herald.
But while Labor’s claims about the need to defend universal health care from creeping co-payments are genuine and important, it is hard to accept the party’s recent claim that the Liberals’ interest in outsourcing claims and payment services for Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is an existential threat to Medicare.
While any changes would need to be handled carefully, in reality our antiquated system needs to be modernised in the most cost-effective way possible.
The public, though, is wary about how that modernisation occurs. An Essential Report poll conducted in February asked about the public’s attitude to outsourcing:
“It has been suggested that the government may outsource the administration and payment of Medicare, pharmaceutical and aged care benefits to the private sector. Would you approve or disapprove of this?”
Public attitude to outsourcing of government payment systems, including Medicare, to the private sector
The answer was clear – the public opposes outsourcing but its opposition probably reflects the government’s failure to sell the idea rather than a settled view.
Privatising service delivery has been ruled out
The “Mediscare” campaign appears to have been effective, irrespective of its substance. Prime Minister Turnbull has now emphatically ruled out any outsourcing of Medicare services, stating that:
“I am making a solemn commitment, an unequivocal commitment that every element of Medicare’s services will continue to be delivered by government. Full stop.”
Of course, Turnbull may forget this commitment soon after July 2. The dishonouring of pre-election commitments is a proud tradition on both sides of the aisle. Julia Gillard famously reneged on her vow to never introduce a carbon tax. Tony Abbott’s raft of broken election promises exceed the word limit for this article. Voters will have to decide whether they believe this prime minister will be different.
Turnbull’s words may later be claimed to provide wiggle room, as the original media release also announced that the proposal “does not include the face-to-face services provided by Medicare”.
Privatising funding is a greater threat
Outsourcing is only one form of privatisation, and nowhere near the most pernicious. While privatisation of service delivery is now off the table, greater privatisation of funding (that is, the share of health costs met by private insurance or patient co-payments) is still very much on the cards.
The Liberals remain committed to a A$5 increase in Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme co-payments – a zombie policy that has been stuck in the Senate since 2014.
Although the Coalition has given up on legislating its A$7 GP co-payment, its Medicare rebate freeze is effectively designed to sneak it in through the back door. The freeze means that until 2020, doctors will be paid the same as they were in 2014. With a growing gap between income and costs, they will eventually pass the difference on to their patients.
Both policies, which Labor opposes, will have a real impact on the integrity of the public health system.
The underlying promise of Medicare is universal access to health services irrespective of a person’s age, illness or bank balance. While outsourcing IT systems or service provision may not affect this promise, the same is not true of co-payments.
Australia already has a very high level of out-of-pocket costs. Raising them further will have an immediate effect on the ability of people on a low-income to access the care they need.
As skipped GP visits lead to an increasing number of avoidable hospital admissions, costs will rise rather than fall for the health system.
Medicare needs evidence-based reform
Medicare is vital to Australia’s social policy fabric. But in order to survive, it needs to be modernised, not preserved in aspic.
Over the past year, substantive ideas to increase the quality and sustainability of Medicare services have repeatedly gone down in flames. Poorly designed policies are being retained for the benefit of private providers, not patients.
Opportunities for improved sustainability and service delivery have been put on the back burner because of fears of political campaigns by owners of pharmacies and other providers.
Meanwhile, government backdowns have led to share price rallies, as we saw when Pathology Australia struck a deal with the government to abandon its Don’t Kill Bulk Bill campaign.
We need to remember that every dollar of health expenditure is a dollar of some provider’s income.
The long-term solution to Medicare sustainability lies not in higher co-payments but in substantive reform. This includes investing in cost-effective prevention and in a better designed primary care system.
After a US couple’s love story was posted to New York Times, their wedding announcement has gone viral after being called ‘obnoxious’ and ‘insufferable’.
The profile about Nathaniel Peters, 30, and Barbara Jane Sloan, 31, was published on the website and has since been shared hundreds of times by people ripping on it.
Peters is the great grandson of Maria and George Von Trapp, who inspired the Von Trapp family in the The Sound of Music, and the article includes some bizarre quotes from him about his partner.
The story includes the quote: “Eventually, Ms. Sloan said, the two were spending so much time together that she asked him: ‘Is this fair? We are not too close, right?’
He said: ‘No, we are just two pilgrims along the way, traveling together for a while.”’
The two met a mutual friend’s wedding four years ago, and Peters proposed over a picnic in 2014.
Peters would always sing to himself, usually opera, climb trees and analyse medieval texts,
Peters described his new wife to the New York Times as having an “introverted loveliness about her.”
And when he was asked how he’d describe himself, he chose the word “heady”.
He said: “On the one hand, we are people who enjoy lots of books and investigating particular questions having to do with the human existence, or God, or the nature of beauty. But at least three of us are capable of cooking dinner to Taylor Swift and enjoying that, too.”
When talking about their wedding, he described the 15 different pieces of music performed as “Joyful, rich, lush. Lush like a forest, not like an alcoholic.”
We’ll let you decide whether the whole thing is pretentious or not, but their own happiness is what matters in the end!
Newsflash: just because you have kids, it doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice having a stylish home. Though in a sea of toys, it can sometimes feel that way! The trick is to strike the right balance between form and function so that your home and its contents look beautiful, but serve a purpose. Here are six solutions for creating a fashionable interior, whilst keeping the children in mind.
Stylish storage
Any parent knows that controlling clutter is a full-time job, but with the right storage, you’ll be able to keep your place clean and chic. Soft felt or knitted baskets are life-changing. Affordable and on-trend, kids can keep their toys in one, whilst you can store throws, magazines or iPads in others. Wall hooks are also both pretty and practical and why not consider using your space vertically? Opt for floor-to-ceiling storage with built-in bookcases where you can keep priceless possessions out of the way of little fingers!
Family-friendly flooring
Designed to be both water- and scratch-resistant, laminate flooring will see your family through years of tears and tantrums without showing much wear and tear. Easier to clean than carpet and less slippery than wood, you can get timber-effect laminate that looks just as good as the real deal. If your budget is bigger, you might want to consider vinyl-grade tiles, polished concrete or cork floors, too. Don’t stress if your DIY skills aren’t up to scratch, you can pay a professional to lay them for you.
Washable wears
Fancy formulations mean white walls aren’t on the banned list for parents. Stain-resistant paint will give your walls extra protection from grubby hands and flying food – all you have to do is wipe away any marks with a damp cloth. Pre-empt the inevitable spills and stains to your sofa with removable covers that you can take off and wash at home in the machine. Parents – 1, Children – 0.
Open plan living
Open plan living is ideal for families. It increases space, improves natural light and makes your family feel more connected. Plus, it makes supervising kids a whole lot easier as you won’t constantly be following them from room to room to make sure they’re not getting into mischief! Consider expanding windows or moving the kitchen to look out over your garden, too. This way you can keep an eye on the kids whilst you cook or sit down for a tea. Obviously a reno like this is a big investment so get multiple quotes from qualified and licensed builders for the structural work.
Kids’ artwork
Add a personal streak to your home if you’ve got a little Picasso on your hands. Instead of pinning children’s artwork on the fridge, get creative. Hang some clipboards on the wall and rotate the mini masterpieces, get a favourite piece blown up into a big canvas print, buy a multi-frame set and create a gallery wall or get a tradie to make you a Pinterest-worthy wood and wire art display shelf.
Multipurpose centrepiece
Instead of a sharp-edged coffee table, opt for an ottoman. They come in a range of shapes, sizes and materials to suit your space and style and they’re super versatile. Most come with storage space inside where you can stash toys if you have impromptu visitors. They also have a flat surface so you can balance books and remotes on them, plus they make the best foot stool after a long, tiring day.
Brought to you by hipages, the easiest way to find and hire a tradie.
Being a big sis suits Ivy! "Ivy Mae has just met her little sister for the first time. Big kisses #bigsister," the cricket pro mused.
Life’s tough when you’re a parent, just ask David Warner!
The cricket vice captain was left wondering, “Is this what happens when you have two kids?” after he was left on his lonesome in bed as his wife Candice tended to their little ones.
David was left on his own as his wife tended to their kids.
David took to Instagram on Monday night to share a cute photo of himself with his wife as they snuggled up in bed.
“Blue,tanned!! Do we care!! I am very serious I want to go to bed,” the 29-year-old joked, referring to his stern gaze in the photo.
The cricketer was enjoying some quiet time with his wife just moments before.
But the couple’s quiet time together didn’t last long, with the sportsman following up with another post of himself in bed alone.
Snapping a shirtless selfie, David wrote, “Is this what happens when you have two kids… @candywarner1 gone missing!!”
No doubt the family of four are taking time settling back into Sydney life after returning from their trip to the Caribbean last week, where David was playing in the tri-series.
Watch David’s adorable “workout” session with his daughter below. Post continues.
Loading the player...
Although he was also working, David made sure to enjoy the perks of the job as he spent time in Barbados with his wife and daughters, Ivy Mae and Indi Rae.
Sharing a sweet snap of David and his youngest bub Indi Rae soaking up some rays at the beach, Candice wrote, “Indi can’t believe it’s our last day in Beautiful Barbados, but all good things must come to an end.”
The 29-year-old looked stoked to spend time with his youngest bub, Indi Rae.
It’s been a rough year for Aussie icon Kerri-Anne, who’s been by the side of her beloved husband John since he suffered a life-threatening spinal cord injury in March this year.
Now, for the first time since the shock accident, KAK has left her husband’s side for a work-related trip to New Orleans.
In a series of Instagram snaps, the blonde beauty shared moments of trip from take-off to landing.
Beginning with an arty black-and-white shot in which she sits inside a plane on the tarmac, looking longingly over towards Sydney’s suburbs, she writes, “Already missing John as I fly off but he is working hard in rehab and is in fabulous hands at the Prince of Wales Hospital.”
After days of radio silence, the TV host shared another snap – this time from inside the superdome that housed thousands of Americans after the devastation that was Hurricane Katrina.
The blonde beauty, although missing her one and only, appeared in good spirits.
Finally, after the fun of her working holiday, the 62-year-old headed home filled with the excitement and anticipation of seeing her husband, who she married in 1984.
In what could perhaps be the most positive look into John’s recovery so far, we can see big smiles from both the 75-year-old and his precious pooch, Digger.
The best pals sit happily together, taking in the winter sun from the Royal North Shore Hospital situated north of Sydney’s city.
John pictured enjoying the winter sun with his loyal pup Digger.
“When you arrive back from a @sundaynighton7 New Orleans story and get to visit these two,” KAK captioned alongside the uplifting pic.
And it seems that fans too couldn’t be happier to see such wonderful progress!
“How heartwarming and just bloody fantastic to see John and Digger looking happy,” one user commented while another wrote, “So glad you’re out & about with your mate beside you John. Best wishes to you both.”
Watch Kerri-Anne chat to John in the player below. Post continues after the video.
Loading the player...
Earlier this year, a tragic fall from a balcony ledge left John with fractures in his C3 and C4 vertebrae. As a result, he was diagnosed an incomplete quadriplegic.
Although he is still unable to walk, immense progress Kerri-Anne refers to as “minor miracles” have indeed been made.
Recalling the moment his resuscitation tube was removed, she said to Women’s Weekly, “It was the most profound sense of relief I have ever felt.”
“That was the moment when I felt he’d really come back to me.”
“It is a battle. But I want him back so bad… I want him, to actually be as happy and have the creativity that he’s always loved and enjoyed.”
.png?resize=380%2C285)
