While thirteen may be unlucky for some, 2013 was certainly lucky for these loved-up celebrities.
Whether they’ve popped the question or walked down the aisle, all these celebs had one thing in common. Glam!
This year there’s been spectacular Art Deco engagement rings, weddings in dreamy France, a proposal down under and even an engagement after only three months of dating.
Throw babies into the mix and it sure makes for a good year.
Take a look back at this year’s best proposals and Hollywood’s most glamorous weddings.
ENGAGED: It’s been a big year for Kimye; A baby and a baseball stadium proposal.
MARRIED: Curtis Stone married Lindsay Price in a private villa in Mallorca, Spain.
ENGAGED: The City’s Whitney Port and producer Tim Rosenman got engaged in Australia.
MARRIED: Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon renewed their vows at Disneyland.
ENGAGED: Teresa Palmer and director Mark Webber prep for a wedding and a baby.
MARRIED: Keira Knightley and James Righton had a small wedding ceremony in France.
ENGAGED: Romain Dauriac popped the question to Scarlett with a vintage Art Deco ring.
MARRIED: Jen Hawkins married her sweetheart Jake Wall at a lavish resort in Bali.
ENGAGED: A spring wedding may be on the cards for Pippa Middleton and Nico Jackson.
MARRIED: Halle Berry married Kylie Minogue’s ex Oliver Martinez in Vallery, France.
ENGAGED: William Tell dazzled reality star Lauren Conrad with a 2 carat diamond sparkler.
MARRIED: Avril Lavigne and Chad Kroeger’s wedding went for 3 days in a castle in France.
ENGAGED: Kaley Cuoco got engaged to Ryan Sweeting after dating for only three months.
Prince Harry has finally begun his Antarctic adventure, touching down at the starting line of his charity trek to the South Pole.
The gruelling race the Prince has spent weeks preparing for, including an overnight stay in a giant fridge, was delayed by 48 due to bad weather.
The Prince flew in to Cape Town on Sunday for the final stage of preparation.
Sky News reports the 29-year-old royal has arrived in the South Pole and along with his group of injured servicemen and women and two other competing teams, has been given the go-ahead to commence the 16-day trek.
Harry is patron of the Walking With The Wounded South Pole Allied Challenge, and will race more than 330km to the finish line to raise funds for military charities.
The Prince is well-prepared for the 16-day trek, having undergone special training with his team to equip himself for the gruelling conditions.
Once the group is acclimatised to the icy temperatures and altitude, they will commence the challenging race on November 29.
Gone are the days of a single income. Now, almost 60 per cent of couples with children have both parents in the workforce, compared to 40 per cent in the 1980s.
According to the new ‘Modern Family’ report by AMP and the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, more than half a million women now earn more than their partners – 140,000 more than 10 years ago.
Tasmania tops the list, with the number of female breadwinner households at 35 per cent, followed by NSW and Victoria at 26 per cent, Queensland at 24 per cent and South Australia at 22 per cent.
Western Australia has the lowest number of female breadwinner families at 18 per cent, due to the bigger pay packets often earned by men in the mining industry.
The report also found that families on lower incomes are more reliant on female breadwinners. Around 27 per cent of double-income families with low household earnings and 25 per cent of middle-income families have a female breadwinner.
Only 17 per cent of high income families have a female breadwinner.
According to the new research, women are also more likely to come to the rescue when times get tough. The number of female breadwinners rose across all income levels during the Global Financial Crisis, from 22 per cent to 24 per cent.
The number of families with women as the main earner decreases once children come into the picture. Around 52 per cent of female breadwinner households are couples without children, while almost 55 per cent of male breadwinner households are those with dependent children.
Despite the increase in the number of female breadwinner families, women are still earning less than men. Female breadwinner households currently bring in $2,375 in weekly earnings – around $100 less than male breadwinner households, which have an average weekly income of $2,480.
One of the main reasons that more women are taking responsibility for bringing home the bacon is to ease the burden of the rising cost of living. However as women carry bigger loads in the workforce it’s likely to become more challenging to maintain the work-life balance.
While women are very good at juggling many balls in the air at once, we do need to make sure our hard work is not in vain. By managing our money wisely, we can ensure the effort we put in now has long-term financial benefits. Financial stability is one of the most important things we can provide our families, yet when it comes to money issues many of us bury our heads in the sand and hope for the best.
It’s important we don’t just work hard, but work smart; and that starts with making sure our financial ducks are all in a row. All families should have a household budget and a strategy for paying off debt. It’s also essential to have adequate insurance, an emergency fund for life’s unexpected expenses and a savings plan for retirement. If you need help to get on track, don’t be afraid to visit a financial planner for advice. Regardless of your income or stage in life, they can help you get your finances on track and build wealth for the future.
Dianne Charman is an Authorised Representative of AMP Financial Planning Pty Ltd, ABN 89 051 208 327, AFS Licence No. 232706. Any advice given is general only and has not taken into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of this, before acting on any advice, you should consult a financial planner to consider how appropriate the advice is to your objectives, financial situation and needs.
A young man whose father stabbed his mother to death on a packed dance floor in Adelaide today speaks out against family violence to mark White Ribbon Day.
Arman Abrahimzadeh is a gentle, articulate and intelligent young man. His voice breaks as he recalls how his baby sister would hug their dead mother’s clothing after she was murdered by their father in front of 300 people at the Adelaide Convention Centre three years ago.
“[My younger sister] was 12 when it happened,” he says.
“She would grab pieces of mum’s clothing and cry herself to sleep. It broke my heart but that was her way of dealing with it.”
That Arman – chosen as an ambassador for White Ribbon’s campaign to end violence against women – has turned out so well is a testament to his personal strength and the influence of his mother Zahra.
Despite growing up suffering and witnessing regular violence at the hands of his domineering father, the 26-year-old will not allow himself to be become part of the cycle of abuse that is so often passed down generations.
“Violence was always there from my earliest memories,” he says.
“It was as normal as having a meal. Once when I was about five, we were sitting down as a family playing a board game. I lost, so had a childish moment and threw all the pieces into the air. My father grabbed me, hit me [repeatedly] and threw me against the wall a few times. He used to scare the hell out of me.”
His dad Ziallo, now serving a minimum 26-year jail term, terrorised Zahra, Arman and his two sisters with physical abuse using his hands, whips and belts, as well as verbal threats and financial control. He once threw his wife out of a window.
Zahra, who was 44 when she died, and her children left Ziallo four years ago after he threatened to kill them all and Arman had to wrestle his hand away from a kitchen knife.
“He was really furious,” Arman remembers. Despite a restraining order and repeated reports to police, Ziallo continued to make death threats and, chillingly, pledged to “make history” in revenge.
A respected pillar of the Persian community, whose job involved helping new immigrants settle in Australia, Ziallo attempted to use his cultural background as an excuse in court – a claim his son deems “pathetic”.
“You don’t have to follow certain role models in your life,” says Arman. “If I was to follow in my father’s footsteps, I would hate myself. If it’s not right, you are better off getting out and finding your own way.”
There are many stereotypes about domestic violence, with victims often portrayed as weak and downtrodden. But that’s not how Arman remembers his mum.
“My mum was loving, caring and kind,” says Arman.
“She was fun, she was brave and she had the patience of a saint and superhuman strength to deal with everything she went through.”
Despite the pressure of giving evidence at his father’s murder trial, sitting through his mother’s inquest, being in the headlines and dealing with his own grief, Arman is determined to use his ambassador role to blow the whistle on violence against women.
“Nothing is going to bring my mum back,” he says.
“But my family and I experienced violence first-hand so I know exactly how victims feel. I want to let them know there is help out there.”
You know his mother would be proud.
Monday November 25 is White Ribbon Day. To find out more or donate, go to whiteribbon.org.au.
The hiss of wet sand under tyres, the floating sensation as you cruise just along the water’s edge, the wonderful sense of isolation as miles of pristine Queensland beach stretch before you. Welcome to the lesser-known Noosa (or LNN) – a little-known place brought to you by the wonders of four-wheel driving.
The striking thing about a visit to the LNN is how nearby, yet how utterly different it is to its better-known counterpart. The bustle of Hastings Street with its winning mix of restaurants and boutiques may only be a short car-ferry ride away and three kilometres to the south, as the crow flies, but as you direct your 4WD onto the wide sands of the Noosa North Shore beach, part of the Great Sandy National Park, you feel like you are worlds away.
With two small kids, a wife and two parents-in-law as cargo, now seemed like an inopportune time to pop my beach-cruising cherry. But with the car’s differential locked in 4WD mode and the tyres suitably deflated, it turned out to be far less hairy than anticipated.
Much is made of Australia being an island and being blessed with the best beaches in the world. And any international traveller will know there’s not a country in the world that has beaches worth a grain of sand compared to our own. Even Bondi on a busy Saturday is a better beach experience than you’ll find anywhere else in the world.
Four wheel driving on Noosa’s north shore, offers a glimpse of a Noosa few see.
But nothing compares to pulling your 4WD into a shaded alcove on a 70-mile stretch of beach and pulling out a picnic for you and your family. Sun beating down overhead, a slight breeze playing in the maleleuca trees overhead, boogie board propped expectantly against a rear tyre and pristine waters just a stroll away. Heaven.
Of course, spectacular as a swim on a deserted Aussie beach is, no family holiday would be complete without a waterslide-equipped hotel resort.
Impromptu picnics on a deserted stretch of beach alongside the Great Sandy National Park north of Noosa.
Noosa Blue, atop the ridge that overlooks Noosa beach, boasts the perfect combination of tastefully-appointed accommodations and kid-friendly distractions.
It’s an immutable fact of parenting that you only need to give a five-and three-year-old a ten-metre stretch of waterslide and they are entertained for hours.
And, happily, rendered exhausted enough afterwards that they fall willingly into bed at an hour that leaves plenty of scope for a spot of Mummy and Daddy wine time, on the balcony, in blissful silence, overlooking a private pool.
And what visit to the Sunshine Coast with ankle-biters in tow would be complete without a pit-stop at Australia ‘crikey!’ Zoo?
Say what you will about the life, times and general deportment of the man they called the Crocodile Hunter (to many he was a hero, to others, his overwrought use of the Aussie vernacular was grating), but if part of his legacy is Australia Zoo, then it’s a credit to him.
The spirit of Steve Irwin is still very much present at the zoo. So too is evidence of his oft-stated aim to encourage everyday Australians to become amateur conservationists simply by exposing them to the wonders of our native wildlife.
You can’t turn around at Australia Zoo without having a koala, baby crocodile, snake or macaw proffered for a pat. You don’t so much stare at the animals through glass, as handle them, stroke them and have a picture taken manhandling them.
The staff – who, to a person, are friendly and genuinely enthusiastic about their jobs – seem all to have sipped from whatever perma-perky brew Steve himself used to drink. And all power to them. For underpinning their bounciness is a genuine conservationist zeal.
The school holidays are particularly well-catered. Parents are able to drop their kids at the zoo gates at opening time and leave them on-site for the day to take part in the junior zookeeper programmes: a day’s worth of fully-supervised activity in and around the zoo which includes sessions of feeding the animals and cleaning out their enclosures.
Together with the provision of free kids’ rides, the free wildlife display in the ‘Crocoseum’ – involving a troupe of incredibly well-trained native birds and a succession of equally well-trained crocs – plus the fact homemade picnic hampers are welcomed through the gates, and you have a zoo which couldn’t possibly be more family-friendly.
During our visit, we were invited into the tortoise enclosure, to meet, pat and feed the zoo’s lumbering pair of Aldabran tortoises, Igloo and Goliath. An amazing experience.
Crikey! Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast has perfected the uber-professional, child-friendly zoo experience.
And striking out beyond the zoo’s immaculately-maintained tropical gardens to the large stretch of “savannah” beyond, we took in the newly-opened African section, complete with rhino herd, zebras and giraffes. Crikey, indeed.
The Corbett Clan travelled the Sunshine Coast courtesy of Tourism Australia, and both navigated and recorded their adventures using a Nokia Lumia 625 handset.
Only on Fraser Island can the two concepts of “soft and rough” co-exist – and not, as it turns out, in an especially happy way.
That was the description given to the condition of the ‘roads’ on the world’s biggest sand island the weekend we visited.
There had been no rain for almost six months, leaving the single-lane, sandy goat-tracks that criss-cross Fraser Island almost impassable.
“Be careful out there,” a fellow early-morning coffee drinker had warned me earlier in the day as we sipped cappuccinos back at the Kingfisher Bay Resort. “There are a lot of people getting bogged.”
But with the bravado of the truly ignorant, I had set out anyway – two kids strapped into their child seats in the back and an equally clueless wife next to me in the passenger seat of our gleaming new 4WD hire car, fresh off the barge from the mainland.
The drive from the Kingfisher Bay Resort to Lake Mackenzie is only 14 kilometres. And if the photos of this little patch of paradise are any indication, it’s a journey well-worth making when visiting Fraser Island. But perhaps not when the roads are “soft and rough” and it’s the first time you’ve ever attempted proper, off-road four-wheel driving.
No more than five kilometres beyond the sublimely tarred roads servicing the Kingfisher Bay Resort, we were bogged. Wheels spinning hopelessly, children delighted, wife looking expectantly.
“You are on the Kingfisher Bay Resort to Lake Mackenzie road,” our spanking new Nokia Lumia phone handsets informed us. Fabulously accurate but spectacularly useless information, given our current predicament.
“You do know how to dig us out of a bog, don’t you,” asked my wife. “Of course,” I replied, desperately trying to recall the explicit instructions that had been painstakingly passed on to me in the Sunshine Coast Airport carpark the morning before by a kindly young man from Noosa 2 Fraser 4WD. “How hard can it be?”
Pretty bloody hard, as it turns out. I tried the shovel, the tracks, the letting down of the tyres. To no avail. Turns out all it took was a Bob and his mate, Noel. They pulled up on the track behind us, took one look at the hapless city-slicker flailing about in the sand in front of them, hopped down out of their truck and within minutes, had us back on our way.
That it took a pair of arthritic seventy-five year olds to dig me out of my predicament did wonders for my self-esteem. And the esteem with which both my wife and children regarded me.
“Just flog her!” yelled Bob over the scream of our engine as the wheels gripped the plastic tracks he had dug into the path of our tyres and catapulted us forward.
We never did get to Lake Mackenzie that day. Bogged vehicles all along the track (most commonly belonging to gormless urban-types like myself) meant the roads were blocked.
And after inching our way precariously towards the lake for another kilometre or so, and watching as my three-year-old’s child seat ricocheted across the back seat whilst negotiating pot-holes the size of a small canyon, it was decided we would return defeated: tail between our legs, back to the resort.
Not that the kids were the least bit concerned. The Kingfisher Bay Resort, located on the western coast of Fraser Island, is tailor-made for the perfect family holiday.
Whale watching on Hervey bay and swimming in the Kingfisher Bay Resort swimming pool.
As any parent of small children will attest – you could take your kids to Paris and put them up in the swankiest hotel in the world or you could take them to a local caravan park with a pool and the caravan park would come up trumps. It’s all about the pool.
From our comfortable family suite, with wide balconies looking across a lily-pad festooned lagoon to the ocean, the stroll to the pool took only three minutes. Two if you are small and prone to sprinting.
Heated, suitably shallow and populated with plenty of other chlorine-addled kids, the Kingfisher resort’s pool is the focal point for families looking to run their kids ragged.
Sprawling across several acres, and featuring a range of accommodation that blends beautifully with its rainforest surroundings, the resort can comfortably accommodate more than 700 guests – but the best bit is, it never feels crowded.
From the casual dining Sand Bar (think pizzas, steaks and pastas) to the fine-dining Sea Belle, top quality nosh at the resort is easy to come by – no mean feat given that everything needs to be trucked and shipped in every day.
As a base for exploring Fraser Island, the Kingfisher Bay Resort is unrivalled. In the evenings, a steady stream of 4WDs form a convoy back into the resort, disgorging passengers aglow with excitement, keen to share whatever rough-road adventure that have had that day.
Tours also leave daily from the resort – into the interior of the island (even, yes, to the fabled Lake Mackenzie), and beyond to the vast stretch of beach along the east coast, where a day can easily be spent wending your way past shipwrecks, stunning freshwater lakes, packs of dingoes and idyllic coastal scenery.
Of course, no visit to this part of the world would be complete without a whale watching excursion. And with humpback populations enjoying a resurgence and the wide, blue harbour of Hervey Bay a favoured haven for birthing cows between the months of May to October, business is brisk.
Our whale-watching expedition took place in the afternoon, and as we cruised out of Hervey Bay marina aboard the Quick Cat II, we passed a flotilla of similarly-packed whale-watching boats bringing the morning shift back to dry land.
So plentiful are the whales in this part of the world, the tour operators have become cocky enough to all-but guarantee whale sightings. And ours certainly didn’t disappoint.
The first time you see a whale’s fin break the surface, followed by the sight of its fluke-shaped tail rising lazily, majestically from the sea in front of you, it takes your breath away.
Camera phones start clicking, iPad videos of black specks in the distance are duly recorded. To then watch as a mother and infant sidle up to your boat, turn sideways as they pass to take you in, and then disappear into the depths is a thrill incomparable.
But to be within twenty metres of a calf as it bursts vertically up out of the water, breaching so close by that you feel the spray as it crashes back into the sea, is to truly know you are alive.
The squeals of delight from the kids, their wide-eyed looks of wonder – it’s worth the price of admission alone.
During four hours of whale-watching cruise (during which a more than passable lunch and afternoon tea were provided), we followed six or seven separate pods of whales – each more cheeky than the previous one.
The Nokia Lumia 625 phones, whose well-meaning GPS advice had proven superfluous on Fraser Island (through no fault of the device itself, it should be said), came into their own, capturing high-definition photo and video of our close encounters of the cetacean kind.
Wind-blown, sun-kissed and sated, we huddled together as a family for the trip back to Hervey Bay, staring at the horizon and reflecting on the marvel we had just witnessed.
The Corbett Clan travelled to Fraser Island and Hervey Bay courtesy of Tourism Australia and Nokia. Their ham-fisted attempts at wildlife photography were improved markedly by the new Nokia Lumia 625 handsets.
The new portrait of the Danish royal family by Thomas Kluges.
The canvas, painted by Thomas Kluges, features three generations of the Danish royal family including Mary, her husband Frederik and their four children.
Mary’s eldest Prince Christian is front and centre in the portrait, but the “spooky” way he and the other children have been painted has provoked widespread criticism.
“It’s a creepy gathering of demon-children, a possessed little girl and adults with vacant stares,” wrote the UK’s Daily Mail, likening the picture to an “Addams family holiday snap”.
Twitter users seem to feel the same way, with one person posting: “Is the Danish royal family starring in a sequel to The Omen?”
But art critic Dennis Dahlqvist has brushed off the criticism of the portrait, saying the “creepiness” wears off the longer you look at it.
“It is a bit creepy with the children, but that disappears when you have studied the image for a while,” Dennis told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
“It is an interesting image which is partly very photographic but which has borrowed light and colour from Dutch 17th century painting.”
Hugh Jackman posted about his cancer on Instagram.
The 45-year-old actor posted a picture of his bandaged nose on his Instagram account last night, saying he had gone to the doctor at his wife Deborra-Lee Furness’ urging.
“Deb said to get the mark on my nose checked,” he wrote. “Boy was she right!”
Hugh’s “mark” was reportedly a basal cell carcinoma that had to be removed immediately.
Although Hugh should now be cancer-free, he was shaken by his diagnosis and urged his fans to get any suspicious moles or lumps checked out.
“Please don’t be foolish like me,” he wrote. “Get yourself checked and USE sunscreen!”
For more information about sun safety or skin cancer, visit SunSmart.
Pippa Middleton showed off her famous figure last night, donning a daring sheer dress to attend a charity ball in London.
The sexy black Emilia Wickstead gown ensured all eyes were on Pippa, 30, and her dashing boyfriend Nico Jackson, 35, who looked dapper in a black velvet and satin tuxedo.
Pippa and Nico seemed loved-up at the event, doing nothing to dispel rumours they are preparing to announce their engagement.
Pippa’s Emilia Wickstead frock showed off her famous figure to perfection.
Pippa and Nico made a very attractive couple.
Pippa covered up with a black sequinned Project D jacket on the way into the event.
Pippa and Nico have been dating since the beginning of 2013.
Nico and Pippa put on a public display of affection at Wimbledon in July.
Pippa and Nico are reportedly planning a wedding in the Scottish Highlands.
Pippa looking sexy in a low-cut number in October 2011.
Pippa in a figure-hugging gown in October 2011.
Pippa is no stranger to daring fashion, donning this feathered number in September.
Pippa looked stunning at the Boodles Boxing Ball in September.
Hugh Jackman's instagram photo and Hugh out this week in New York.
Aussie actor Hugh Jackman has been treated for skin cancer after his wife Deborra-Lee Furness begged him to see a doctor about a growth on his nose.
The 45-year-old actor revealed the news on his Instagram account, saying: “Deb said to get the mark on my nose checked. Boy she was right!”
Hugh went on to urge fans to seek medical help if they were in a similar situation. “Please don’t be foolish like me. Get yourself checked! And USE sunscreen!”
Hugh posted the advice alongside a picture of his bandaged nose where the lump had been removed.
The actor didn’t reveal any other details about his condition.
Related video: Hugh Jackman Has Skin Cancer Spot Removed.
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