My trip back home!

I’m now officially Aunty Lisa!! Let me introduce you to my niece, Erin-

Erin was born at the end of June and is a real cutie-pie as you can see!

I recently travelled back to the UK (Aug-Sep) to see family and friends. It was great to see you all. I spent a week in London staying with Treena and Andrew in Dulwich, who very kindly put me up (and quite probably put up with me!). I managed to catch up with lots of friends, especially at the Tate which was great. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see everyone and I’m sorry about that.
From London, I went back to Doncaster to stay with mum, dad and brother Jon (the proud new dad of Erin). I had a great time catching up with all the family and some old friends that I’ve not seen in a while.

Mum and dad had a party while I was there – jointly celebrating them leaving and dad’s 60th birthday. Here they are cutting their cake! They’re retiring early to Tenerife (they have actually now moved and loving every minute). My brother Jon has bought the family home and as I said, a proud and doting new dad. So there’s been a lot of change! Congratulations all round!!

Here are photos of my cousins' children.

Abbie is five soon and loves pink! She's also going to have a baby brother or sister in around 6/7 months time! Congratulations to mum Rachael and dad Andy - you must be over the moon!

Fin has the cheekiest smile and often likes to run around naked! Luckily I managed to take this before he stripped off! He's also a keen golfer and Sarah and Tony are very proud parents!

While I was there the England v Australia cricket match was happening. It was a bit of a dilemma for me – I didn’t know who to support! Denaby (my home village) has it’s own cricket field and we went along to watch a bit on a lazy Saturday tea-time. It wasn't a terribly exciting game, but the gin & tonic helped!!

Coogee

On Sunday we decided to chill and go to the beach (as we’d had such an energetic week)!! We went to Coogee, which is a nice relaxed beach and has good walks along the cliff. We didn’t do any walking, it is a day of rest after all! It was actually quite windy on the top of the cliff so not as pleasant as reading and listening to iPod on the beach. Oh, and watching the Mynah birds taking a bath – that was fun!!

Lower Blue Mountains

We decided to go into the Blue Mountains for a spot of tree hugging. Sometimes we really have an urge to get out into proper wilderness and it doesn’t come much wilder than this landscape. However, having to return the same day required a plan, as it's a fair drive out (something we don’t normally do)!

We wanted to visit Normal Lindsay’s gallery again. This is the artist featured in the film ‘Sirens’ (played by Sam Neil). It’s not hard to feel the romance of the place. My only criticism is that I wish they had some decent books or catalogues to buy!!

After the gallery, we headed for Hazelbrook and a walk along Bedford Creek. We’d bought a guide book of walks in the mountains. Considering the time constraints, this looked like an easy enough walk and not too long.

The book said there was a dirt track leading to a car park, where you then join the walking track. I think Australia has a different definition of dirt track to the rest of the world. Luckily we’d just bought Henry who has a higher under-carriage than most cars. I wasn’t prepared for the track we met – it was very definitely off road with great variations in the level of the surface. I had just expertly manoeuvred down a very steep and rocky section, when a rather ordinary car just powered up the same slope scraping the whole bottom of the car, which didn’t seem to bother them!

Anyway, we took our walk along the creek, peeking at various waterfalls there. It’s a very peaceful place and because it isn’t too strenuous a walk, you’re able to enjoy it properly.

Up north!

On Tuesday, we decided to go up to the northern beaches. The sun was playing hide and seek, so we thought we’d do some more walking. Our first stop though was Avalon for brekkie and to see Bee in her shop. We love Avalon and have very fond memories from our first visit to Australia in 2002 when we stayed with Bee and Phil.

From there, we went up to Palm Beach and Barrenjoey Head. It’s a rocky peninsula with a lighthouse at the end. There are two ways to climb up to the lighthouse – the very steep way (that smugglers supposedly used) and the easier but longer route. We decided to take the smugglers route (we had a time limit on the parking ticket!). There are beautiful views as you’d expect from the top and you can see all around the Head.

Royal National Park

Dean's got this week off, and we have our new wheels, so we're off exploring!!
Our first trip was to the Royal National Park, about an hour south of Sydney. It’s quite a large park and goes right up to the coast, with lovely peaceful inlets and also wild and rugged cliffs.

The weather was again glorious! We took all our gear as usual (picnic, beach towels, cameras). There are several walks in the Park and we chose the one that takes you along the coast to a little inlet. It’s a lovely easy walk in and out of scrub and along some weather beaten and eroded rocks.

The inlet is quite secluded and sheltered. We camped down on some rocks above the water and ate our sarnies watching the sea. The tracks down to the inlet seemed easy enough to follow, but going back we had a different perspective. I had been on a previous visit with my friend Charlotte and we managed to lose the track back. So I was prepared when Dean wanted to go in the wrong direction!! I was determined it wasn’t going to happen again.

I am going fast, honest!

Dean's new wheels! 

My new wheels! 

Our new wheels!

Today, on another gloriously sunny winter's day, we decided to go to Manly - on a mission! We rose early (well early for us, especially on a Saturday) and went to our new favourite coffee haunt, Le Petite Tart for brekkie to give us a boost. Then we caught the ferry to the beach. The particular destination was Manlyblades, where we'd seen some hot wheels just waiting for the right owners to come along! Dean bought a skateboard, or to be more specific, a cruiseboard. And I bought some Rollerblades, the original in-line skates. I have wanted some of these since I was about 12. I'd mastered the art of normal roller skating (those with a wheel on each corner) and saw some cool dude dash past me wearing in-line skates, the new craze! Don't ask me why I didn't get any before now. I suppose I was pretending to grow up, but at last it's caught up with me. I think ultimately I'm not allowed to grow up until I've conquered in-line skating. So, I succumbed! And Dean didn't need much encouragement to join me in this attempt at denying our true ages!
I did try to show some wisdom, by hiring some skates for an hour, just to make sure I still felt the craze. I was a bit unsteady to start with, but by the end of the hour, I was doing fine and soon felt my skills from ice-skating showing through. I was made to wear all the protective gear - very fetching, but I didn't fall!! We returned to the shop (me, much more red-faced than an hour ago) and spent about another hour trying on and choosing the right one/s.
The irony is that as we were nearing our house at the end of the day with new purchases 'under-arm', I slipped on some kind of perfectly round (ball-bearing-like) seed the size of a chestnut and promptly landed on my arse. I put out my wrist, as you do, which received an almighty wallop from the tarmac (now all bruised and tender). I'm not sure if that's an omen or not. I've been dying to put my skates on, but I'm erring on the side of caution until my hand feels better!

On A Side Note

With all this absolutely gorgeous weather there is one down side! In 2 weeks we are taking a weekend trip down to Thredbo, one of Australia's snow boarding resorts. Only, there is no snow! Bugger! It's a 4 hour drive away, so we're looking forward to having an extended snow board season that is only a short drive away. Last year was apparently the best snow for about 15 years.....looks like it's a little slow this year.
Every day for the next 2 weeks we'll be watching the weather reports and praying for snow in the mountains and also that winter in the city remains as beautiful as always.

not much snow yet! 

The Queen's Birthday

This weekend is a bank holiday weekend! Yay! And all thanks to the Queen. Well not exactly! Apparently the original holiday was for the king, but seeing as he's dead it's now officially the Queen's birthday bank holiday! But not in Western Australia for some reason.

Saturday
Wandered down into the city today after a great brekkie of French toast with maple syrup washed down with a large mug of flat white! All set for the day!
Weekends are usually spent doing our photography assignments as it tends to give us the most freetime to take lots of photos. This weeks assignment is particularly difficult, having to take a series of photos from the viewpoint of a giant. a dog, an 80 year old man, etc.
So it was dodging in and out of coffee shops around the rocks, for lots of inspiration....oh and cake too!!

We went over to the Dendy cinema by the quays in the shadow of the opera house. Dendy's a great arthouse cinemas and we'd heard of a Chinese film called 2046, so we booked tickets to return later with Ben and Em.
Not sure it was a good idea! It was a very challenging film. It went on for about 40 mins too long and it had already reached a stage where I thought it had resolved itself and was preparing my bum to vacate the seat, when a new stroy element was introduced and on it went. Ben was able to catch up on some sleep! Sydney Film Festival is on for the next 2 weeks and there's a few films that takes my fancy......so maybe have better luck with those.

Sunday
Got up early in the morning to get down to Rushcutters Bay for 9AM. Sailing seems to be the watch word for amazing weather and today was no exception. After yesterdays little blip with a short spell of much needed rain, this morning was absolutley fabulous. Winter here never ceases to amaze me and I think it was a miserable 23 degrees!! So it was on with the sun tan lotion, and off for 3 hours of sailing around the harbour.
There was a few bouts of bugger all wind, so floating around Sydney harbour taking in the fantastic city sights and the never tiring opera house was the focus of the day. Gigg was my instructor yet again. The very eccentric Swiss (that great sailing nation!!) instructor with a need for speed. The lesson generally sways between him trying to lean the boat over as far as it will go in the water while catching the best possible wind or, if that's not entertaining enough, it's a case of cutting through all the winter series races and dodging in and out of the path of oncoming sail boats!! Certainly makes an interesting morning of sailing when Gigg's onboard.

So after sailing it was a case of back to the house to start preparations for Gav, Jean, Aladar and Debbie to come round for a night of food, wine (and lots of it) and snowboarding stories! In fact it ended up being too much wine as the next morning proved!

Monday
Yes!! woke up with a great hangover. Lisa, who very rarely suffers from the effects of booze, also was a bit worse for wear this morning. That fine Australian wine!
So it was down to Bronte for some fresh air and to catch up with the Team Bondi Posse. Another great winter's day but not as nice as yesterday.

beautiful winter sun 

a leisurely morning sail 

winter series racing 

just by the bridge 

opera house by boat 

Sparky and the FA Cup!!!

Saturday Night.
Being what seems like a million miles away from the English footy season, or 'soccer' as it is known over here, I caught wind of the Cup final on the day it was happening! When I say day, I actually mean that kick off was at 12 midnight!
Should I stay up and try to catch it live? Questions, questions!
In the end I found myself nearing 12 and thought well why not, thinking of Andy back home nervously waiting to see Arsenal give his team a football lesson! ;o)
The first half came and went with as much excitement as watching a game of chess unfold with no player willing to take any risks! So I decided to turn in, knowing that some how I would change the luck of the game and there would be a 20 goal fest as soon as I turned it off!
Sunday Morning.
Ben and Em very kindly agreed to drive us to the quarantine station to come back with a well travelled pussy cat! Ben told me the news that the cup final had resulted in a 0-0 draw through full time and extra time, only to be resolved by a penalty shoot out which ended in a 5-4 score line. That would have meant me not actually going to bed that night, confirming I made the right decision to turn it off!
Hard luck Andy! Next year maybe! :o)
So.....we drove to the quarantine station which seemed to take no time at all and before we knew it we had a cat in a box in the back seat, heading back to Glebe. He took the journey well and sat there taking it all in. To be honest he's a well seasoned traveller by now so another car journey means nothing in light of his recent adventure! We let him out of the box and he spent the first ten minutes wondering around from room to room, checking out his new abode just to make sure we had made a good decision about the house and that it met with his approval. He gave a thumbs up the only way he could by non stop purring and giving us the mohican (hairs on his back standing up, which means he's excited) for the next few hours.
Looks like the early signs are good and he's more than happy to be here. With Sparky home, our puzzle is now complete and he's a fully fledged aussie feline!

a well travelled feline

at last....peace and quiet!