Tone & Trace come and play!

Yeayyyy! It's been great having Tony and Tracy over to stay. They're not new to Australia or Sydney, but we still managed to show them some new sights!
We went up to Barrenjoey Lighthouse on the Northern Beaches and had a lovely picnic on the rocks at the top.
Dean took Tone fishing at Bradley's Head and they both got squeamish when a fish had the nerve to get caught on Tone's hook!!!





























Tone & Trace had met Phil on their previous trip down under, so we took them over to see Phil and Bianca in their new house in the Blue Mountains - called Treetops - so beautiful! And of course, we took them to the Three Sisters and did a 6 hour walk - the usual stuff...!
Oh, and the obligatory trip to the Hunter Valley for a well earned piss-up!!

Au revoire

Well, the day finally had to arrive for mum and dad to leave us and I had been dreading it. To take our minds off it, we carried on regardless, taking them to another sight! As if sharing my mood, the day was a bit overcast.
We took them to The Gap, a fantastic view from the top of the cliffs that are the eastern-most point of the South Head. The view was still spectacular!

We returned home for some lunch – a good English fry-up!! Then it was a case of gathering the last of their belongings and trying to stuff them in the suitcases! It was panic stations for about 20 minutes when they couldn’t find their passports, but of course they turned up!
The drive to the airport wasn’t very enjoyable and went quicker than expected as the roads were completely empty. I think the majority of people leave the city over Christmas. There’s no point in dragging this out longer than necessary – it was very painful to say goodbye, much worse than when I left them in England.
We’d spent almost every minute with mum and dad and our time was packed with such enjoyable moments, visiting loads of our favourite places. We had such an absolutely brilliant holiday with mum and dad. Thank you so much!!

Mum and Dad arrive in Sydney!!!

Well, excited or what!!?? Mum and Dad (or Linda and Chris to everyone else, apart from brother Jon!) arrived this morning!
We got up in plenty of time, safe in the thought that getting through customs takes an age. Then we checked the arrivals on the website and realised they’d landed ½ hour early!! So panic stations and off to the airport! Those early morning landings are manic at the airport – they all seem to come in at the same time. We had been waiting about 15 minutes when Dean decided to look outside, and what do you know – they were waiting there! It took away all that anticipation I had been building up for that initial tearful reunion that you see all families go through (and that I usually join in on, ‘cause I’m a sentimental old bugger). I feel cheated!! But then I soon forgot that, as excitement took over again. They were feeling obviously tired, but holding up well. We whisked them straight off to the Opera House for that usual baptism of the sights for new arrivals! Then back home for a quick freshen up before taking them to Glebe Market down the road. We hadn’t planned anything too hectic on their first day. A spot of lunch at our favourite café, lounging around, then to Darling Harbour for a drink in the evening. It wasn’t long before they needed their bed!

The next three and a bit weeks were jammed packed, but I’ll try not to go into too much detail otherwise you’ll be here reading for a year! I’ll just try to pick out the highlights from the main trips and sights. Most of the photos we've used here were taken by mum and dad, by the way!!