Australia 19/02 -22/02/25

Wednesday 19th was not looking too bad but I had seen that come 2pm the heavens would open and even thunder and lightening was expected. Of course no one believed me, I packed Joey's pram rain cover to a one man chorus of "that bloody rain cover is in the way" anyway, we did a panic shop around warringah mall looking for small Ellie birthday presents without her noticing, a quick pit stop at the food hall (I went sumo salad for third time running, my will power against the evil burger is truly amazing! I'm a bit scared I haven't weighed myself since leaving, it's a daily activity at home and I've drank an awful lot of lager and wine rather than my usual gin and slim) and then some more panic shopping, including a fabulous lady at k mart who reminded me of someone that my old company would hate but customers would love, having to tow the corporate line I would publicly disapprove but it's people like this lady that take you back to a company, I was telling her that I was trying to hide from Ellie and but her things so she triple bagged the gifts (companies hate the cost of that), one wasn't priced so she chucked it through knowing I was in a rush , for free (it was just a small wind up toy) and then advised me that the birthday card I was purchasing was $9 did I still want it?!! Fantastic customer service if you ask me. We went out to a torrential downpour (bit smug re rain cover) and waited for a taxi for about thirty minutes, we had a mad Iranian guy who didn't know how to fix the childseat (law over here to carry them for kids up to 3 or 4) so I go soaked trying to fix it in but couldn't figure it, he came to my side shouting "you're soaking, oh my god!" "Of bloody course I am!!!" Was the response, it was all in banter though, he was a good natured guy who told me in the end to sit next to him and hold him in! Jim had a sneaky run down the beach while Ellie watched some tv, came back, showered then took her down to play inthe boogie board in the rain!

Next day, Thursday 20th we were off to the zoo! Joey's starting to walk around loads now, it really freaks me out, I was warming his milk in the microwave first thing, he always go mental once he knows it's imminent, but he stomped / wobbled across the kitchen, shouting at me to basically make it faster, it's so funny! We got ourselves together, Jim (being northern) made us a packed lunch and we headed to the bus stop, bus to manly (ran late), ferry (missed it due to late bus) to circular quay, then ferry to the zoo. It was a lovely zoo, funny; Jim and I both though specifically it was better than Barcelona, in the appearance of animal care that it, much bigger spaces. It is on a hill (as is bloody everything here) and the only issue was the signage wasn't very clear. We went and watched the bird show which to be honest, I was thinking "yaaaaawwwwwn" but it was great, with a lovely view over Sydney harbour, this was until Ellie decided she needed the loo, so I left Jim there with Joey who loves to watch birds inthe sky, he points them out and as soon as he hears an airplane he's searching for it, we got back just in time for the birds to do a last flyover. Craig Taylor, save your pennies, you'll love it! Everyone's favourites are as follows... Jim's, Tasmanian Devil as he hasn't seen one before, Ellie's was elephant "because they're really good" Joey's the bird show and mine was the lions, the male bared his teeth and growled at the lioness as he wanted to lie where she was, she just kind of moved an inch (ha, bloody men!) they also had a baby chimp which was very cute.

Friday 21st I started off super healthy. Jim was up early as were the kids so I went for a 7 o'clock run, followed by boiled eggs, I felt great! It was meant to be our beach day but we ended up walking to Dee Why to look at the beach, have lunch and play at the park. Unfortunately we had fish and chips for lunch, but the walk there and back was crazy hilly so we walked it off. Joey loved the park and climbed in and around everything. We haven't got him any shoes for his massive size 6 feet yet so he would wander out into the sunshine and scream as his little feet would burn! Over here they recommend to leave it a month after he starts regularly walking before hard sole shoes, the soft soles are up to $50 so might try and leave it and keep him in the shade. When we got back we thought we would have a nice afternoon on the beach but didn't really get there until 3 ish, within 15 minutes Joey was inconsolable and Ellie insisted she was cold and wanted to go home! So we were home and showered by 4 twiddling our thumbs. Not fancying a walk back down the hill to the bottle shop we decided to try the vodka Clemmy brought over. Three sips in, it was fair to say I felt tipsy, we carried on the afternoon / evening, Jim poured us a second drink, walked into see me with half a bottle of vodka left and said "I think I know what the problem is!!" Jim and his bloomin massive drink portions! Anyway, for the first time in a few nights, I slept pretty soundly!

Ellie woke up at 6:30 ... Again... It is great to look out at the beach at that time of day, there are loads of surfers out already. Today we needed to get a big shop done for the birthday festivities, again, do it under Ellie's nose without her noticing. I was gutted as since we've got here we've seen a particularly nasty pink cake she'd fallen in love with at Woolworths supermarket so we specifically went there to pick it up and do the shop there and it wasn't there, I'm really gutted! I picked her up a boring cake and some candles, banners, balloons, straws and a few other party bits, I just hope she has a lovely couple of days.