Australia 7/02 - 12/02

Our first day was quiet, we were all up by 10, managed to leave the house by 4:30 for a quick trip on bus to the shops!! That evening the neighbours from their compound (what the neighbours refer to as the three houses) came round for a bar b q. Suzie and Nick with Lilly and twins Tommy and Katy and Herman and Louise with Rico. They were all lovely, a real tight knit group that do this a lot, the adults tend to eat and drink on the balcony of one house and the kids at the other, all three gardens have gates into each other's and the end garden at Louise and Herman's has a pool everyone is always in.

The kids all fell in love with Ellie and Joey, it was lovely, they all played until about 10:30 at night, all of it centred around Ellie! She had the best night! Considering the next youngest were Tommy and Katy at 9 they were amazing,  she lapped it up!

The Saturday Alex and Clem took us via ferry from circular quay right amongst the opera house, Sydney bridge and the museum of contemporary art (where they get married next February!) to Watson's Bay for a bit of beach time and lunch. Randomly, our friend Fez is here working at the same time so he met us there and had a very tasty fish and chips and a few beers, followed by a bit of park time, Ice creams then the journey home.  The kids from next door all came and called for ellie to come out and play (!) so off she went (followed by her clingy mother) and played frisby on the pavement of this very quiet neighborhood. She went next door to play while Jim made her tea and we were invited to the house on the end for Mexican. This sounded lovely but we were conscious of all of ellie's late nights and it was already nearly 8 so we declined only to discover five minutes later when we went to get ellie from next door to come in for tea, she had gone with all the kids for Mexican!!! Another late night then... But what a great day.

After going out for a fantastic "smashed avocado and feta on toast breakfast" on picnic blankets at the park for breakfast, Ellie and Joey had a mega sleep, the kids from next door were over again the next day and lovely Lilly painted all of ellie's nails different colors. We finally met Clemmie's brother and sister in law and their kids, saskia and jasper who are the same age as ellie and Joey. We had a fantastic bar b q, great beef filet, great salads and some vino... 

Monday / moving day was here. It brought back memories of a couple of summers ago, packing, only to unpack three hours later, I hate it! We had to wait until after two until we could move in so by the time we were up, packed, Joey had taken relevant naps, lunch was eaten and a bit of hanging around, it was two. (highlight, discovering the super cool rechargeable Dyson vacuum - dork!) We struggled to call the taxi company for about half an hour so Jim headed off to flag one leaving me to try to make the call which I did and booked one. We managed to get Jim back to the house for a taxi to appear in the next minute or so and then a minute or so later, another one... In all the fuss, I hadn't realised Jim had spoken to one who was going to maybe head over depending on his job, so that one pulled up first, we started to load, the actual one booked appeared and we all have a big old argument in the middle of Al and Clemmie's Road (SORRY!) the booked guy was so angry (understandabley) but so rude and refused to listen, grrrrrr, it just made for a great start to the move. The new place is in Tamarama, niceviews, good size, shit weather, shit mood. (had a bottle of wine with Jim and fixed the mood! Looking forward to looking about the local beaches tomorrow!) 

Day two into going solo in Sydney without family and we took a bus down to Bondi junction and looked around the very fancy Westfield shopping centre (mums in Sydney really do it properly, the day seems to be spent looking awesome with perfect Hair, great clothes, slim and whilst not shopping in expensive shops, they're eating bran muffins and drinking green juices) we walked around feeling scruffy, snacking on MacDonalds before we did a good shop (biscuits and meat...) in the afternoon we headed along the costal walk (Bondi to coogee, 6km) from Tamarama to Bondi. This was no mean feat, in the morning it had been cloudy and pretty cool but walking to Bondi the clouds cleared and it got hot, quickly! So along the very stunning path we went, up and down various steps, in the heat. But when we finally got there, passed the Bondi Icebergs club (named due to year round swimming) and their ocean water pools, the view its of the wonderful beach, it's so organised and well managed which gives you a lovely long clean beach with no p**s heads and no smokers. We stopped at the south end had a bit of a paddle, rest and kickabout (didn't get there till 16:30 ish) then walked home, carrying ellie (they're sleeping better as going to bed a bit earlier but all the walking and playing is wearing her out). We had steak bar b q for tea (obvs)

Wednesday we woke up and no one could pull themselves together, including Joey who I ended up taking for a walk in his pram to settle him. I took him up to Bondi Rd to get some provisions, 2 cans of coke, 1 small choc milk, 2 litre orange juice, 3 bread rolls and 2 x 2 litre bottles of milk $25!!!!!!! (just an Fyi) anyway, once everyone had pulled themselves together after lunch we headed past Tamarama along the coastal path to Bronte beach. At the far end it has a swimming pool which is tidal and cleans itself as the Pacific goes in and out, and a "rock pool" for kids which it's essentially beach with a load of rocks around preventing the waves getting at it. About 20-30 meters in diameter and goes just advice waist height. We headed there and sitting in the beautifully clean sand, in and out of the pool, it was lovely. We had a great afternoon there. I walked joey back (the hills back to the apartment are redunculous) and Ellie and Jim took the 150 steps. Of course, we had a bar b q - yum!! Can't believe we've been here a week tomorrow!

Pictures...

1 Jim, Ellie, uncle Alex by Sydney bridge

2 Ellie and I on the ferry to Watson's Bay

3Opera house and Bridge

4 the brothers at lunch at the Beach Club

5 Joey at the park

6 Ellie playing in the sea with Jim and Fez

7 fez,ellie and Alex on the way back from Watsons bay

8 Joey, Jim and the opera House 

9 Ellie and her "holiday friends" Lilly to ellie's right and Katy to her left.

10 icebergs club at Bondi

11Jim and kids at Bondi

12 Ellie and I looking over Tamarama

13 in the "rockpool" at Bronte

14 Joey and I watching a paraglider he'd pointed out that the rest of us had missed! 

15 map of local area