Mo-vember

Friends and family,Thank you for the generous outpouring of support for my Mo-vember campaign! In the first two weeks, I raised over $150. Although this is a great start, there is still much work to be done in this final week. Due to the large international presence on my project, the competition between Australia, US, Canada, Italy, Germany, etc has really intensified. I'm not far behind in the total tally, so please help me out! When considering your donation, think about the following:

Depression affects 1 in 6 men....most don't seek help. Untreated depression is a leading risk factor for suicide
Last year in Australia, 18,700 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 2,900 died of prostate cancer - equivalent to the number of women who will die from breast cancer annually

I know this money goes to Australian charities, but they need our US-grown generocity as well. I've attached another picture [sorry last week's didn't come through] so you can see the progress of my 'mo'. We really need to kick-it into high gear this week. Just before you sit down with friends and family for Thanksgiving dinner, remember to give thanks to Sean's mo. Many thanks for your support and best wishes for the upcoming holidays!

Sean

To donate to my Mo, click this link https://www.movember.com/au/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink&rego=2084737&country=au and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account.

P.S. 'Mo' refers to mustache and NOT mohawk. I know the spelling is funky, but this is Australia ;-)

The money raised by Movember helps raise awareness of men's health issues and is donated to two great causes - the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative. The PCFA and beyondblue will use the funds to fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and depression.

Baileys Explore the Bays, Bondi & Bronte

And the answer is... Sherry! Now what is the question? No Jeopardy in Australia, and no prizes for a correct answer - it's just more fun to start an entry this way. If you guessed, "Who's the first friend to visit us in Australia?", then you'd be right. Sherry and her mom were 'in town' to visit brother, Dan who is studying abroad in Surfer's Paradise. We met halfway in Sydney. Now your probably thinking, lucky guy, gets to do a semester abroad in Surfer's Paradise. Well, since Dan is in school in sunny San Diego and gave up the US summer to be in Australia's winter, I'm not sure if he made out so well. And he didn't even bring his surf board to Surfers Paradise! Nonetheless, the blog is about us and not Dan so we'll move on.

We met Sherry and the family in Sydney to show them around town. What they didn't know, is that we have not made it to all of the tourist destinations in and around Sydney either. Melissa's goal: get our group to Bondi to discover the most popular beach destination in Sydney.

The weekend started on Friday night with Melissa taking the White family to Darling Harbour for dinner and drinks. They ended up partying at a club – yeah, they went clubbing! Of course the boys wouldn’t leave Melissa and Sherry alone which meant they couldn’t catch up – but who goes to a club to talk?! With the group celebrated Dan’s 21st birthday, the drinks were flying. Although I was not there, I understand it was a good time and everyone looked well recovered when I met them for lunch on Saturday.

After lunch, we hopped on the Bondi Explorer which takes passengers by bus along Sydney Harbour by way of Woolloomooloo, Potts Point, Rose Bay, and Watson Bay. The girls were upto all sorts of antics [see left] and we were all trying to escape the flies. The Whites learned first-hand what its like to be completely bothered by the Aussie flies. I'm not sure if anyone swallowed one on purpose, but they were quite a nusaince when we grabbed a snack on the beach at Bondi.

Sunday, we said good-bye to Sherry and the family and met with Leela and Pete for brunch at Bronte Beach. You may remember a previous entry that described the beautiful Manly beach. We fell in love with Manly last year, introduced our families to its charm during their visits to 'Oz, and have already been back again to visit this summer. Well, Bronte is just as spectacular. Carved out of the rock and nestled in an ancient river bed, Bronte has it all: a small-town feel with local shops and cafes, a large grassy lawn with picnic benches and grilles, a sea-sides lap pool, and a beautiful white sand beach. Leela and Pete – Leela works at CEB with Melissa and is from the London office while her husband Pete is a ‘yank’ from California – frequent Bronte on the weekends and took the opportunity to show us around. Brunch was great, the views from the cliff walk were great, and even getting caught with Pete in the strong rip current was great!