18/03/14 - 24/03/14 North curl curl
So the time has come to leave Noosa, as Jim mentioned, it's the start of our journey home really. We're heading back to Sydney to try and make the most of seeing Alex and Clemmie before we fly out to Singapore on the 27th. We will then spend three nights in Singapore here we will book tickets for a bus to take us to Kuala Lumpur (accidentally arriving on Grand Prix day there, no we didn't realise and no, we won't get tickets as the kids won't like it :( no more talk of it please... One day we'll go...) we'll stay in KL for three nights then fly to Phuket where we'll spend a week back at Baan puri where this trip started, after that there will be four very moody people in Worcester.
We were flying with Jetstar again from Brisbane which I was pretty chuffed with due to the huge levels of service we received last time we flew with them! although it turns out! when we flew with them from phuket on their Dreamliner it was only the third time it had flown and was a new plane on that route two days prior. Anyway, as we were waiting on board the announcement came in that you always dread "Sos, we're taking off without your bags, there's a problem with the baggage handlers!" Oh! We had to even check the pram in on this flight so we had nothing! The flight was not bad, Joey was pretty nuts and it was only a 1 1/2 hour flight, we have a 9er next week! When we got to Sydney and joined the dreaded queue at the back as everyone stampeded past us on the plane because having kids makes you slow, we found out it could be delivered or we could wait for 2 hours or so and it will be on the next flight in. We decided to wait as we were renting a car and Ellie's booster seat was on the flight and it would have been too much aggravation to rent an extra seat for a day, return it and claim the money back. We had $8 vouchers each for food (which we a bit sneakily claimed at two different counters so we had $16 and got ourselves a slap up meal deal from whsmiths! A large bag of m and ms were $7!) Our luggage came through as expected and we rented our budget car from some rude little git but, we were given an Avis car which was much smarter than our last Budget renter and the baby seat for Joey is new and clean! After what should have been a 14:30 landing and get to curl curl by 16:00 with a car full of groceries we got here at 18:00 empty handed but with luggage. It is just so nice to be back here, I feel a bit like if someone was narrating my life they'd say "....and, relax now" even Joey hasn't cried (he does tend to give it some at any occasion but really, that's down to us dragging him about, changing his routine and where he sleeps etc) he just seems to recognise where he is and smiled all evening. Jim took a quick walk to the shop and was essentially robbed by the shop keeper for some bread, butter, juice, jam and milk ($38) and got us a bottle of sparkling white, good and dry. Even though our luggage fairies weren't with us on this flight, it's great to be back and looking at our view and watching the surfers bob up and down.
The weather forecasts all said that the weather was going to be awful Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so when we woke up and it was sunny it was like a little yellow gift! We made the most of being outside, at the park and then to the beach waiting for the rain but nope... Then we did some shopping and risked another run to the park and nope... Brilliant, we had a nice sunny day. The next was the same (we have decided to discount the weather forecasts) we woke up, sunshine prevailed. Me and the kids after putting the sun cream armour on (I have to admit, I'm a bit over the sun cream smothering now, kind of looking forward to that stopping or, to purchasing some that's not like applying clay) me and the kids headed to the park to play, we had a really nice time. Al had taken the day off work so he came round at 12 and we headed to Manly for fish and chips by the sea. Ellie was so over excited she couldn't stop jabbering on and on! We took a walk up the beach and went and looked at the water dragons that live there and headed home for a bit of time on the beach. Poor Joey is struggling on the beach at the moment, we think the sea aggravates his cheeks so we tried putting ointment on his cheeks on top of his sun cream but it didn't really work. Maybe it's just hat the sea is freezing and he doesn't like sand in his eyes! Jim talked Al into running up and down curl curl beach, Ellie was devastated to be left behind but met them on their way back for a bit of a run. There were some huge clouds in the distance but we lucked out again. As we were watching tv that night there was some lightening in the distance but nothing came close to us.
Friday 21st, a small amount of rain had fallen through the night and the day was cloudy but it was a hot day still. Cloudy days only mean one thing, food court for lunch, whoop! I stuck to my salad guns ( :( ) and they all ate some really nice looking curries. We headed up the coast to some of the areas we haven't seen yet in the afternoon, Narabeen which was one of the areas we were supposed to be staying but got let down with a double booking and Nelson's Bay. Narabeen is a lovely beach but we're glad we got let down, we do love curly. Nelson's bay was lovely, and it has shade from a huge tree which is good to make a mental note of although I'm not sure how much of the day. We had a chat to a couple of ex pats who picked up on our accents, they were very lovely. They had recently done a 50km walk from palm beach to Mosman along the coast which they were telling us about, the one said it was great as she had 9 hours without her kids to chat to her friends! Jim did two lengths of the beach today (his feet are taking a bit of a pounding from it) and I took the kids down after he left so Ellie could do a bit of running with him once he was done. We had a nice little dip, a bit of a sandbank had formed so we were quite far out with the surf crashing about 5 meters ahead and to our right, down the beach we were level with the surfers, it was pretty cool. It was an exhausting day and an exhausting tea time and an exhausting bed time, I think everyone's getting a bit over tired, Ellie's a bit up and down like a yo yo, I think all the extra walking, running, swimming etc is taking it's toll bless her. I might try and get her to nap tomorrow, Joey didn't really get a nap today so unless we want double trouble tomorrow we'll have to be better organised. To give myself more energy I had a vodka and diet tonic which along with my salad for lunch left me space for three Caramelo Koalas! YUM! I need to find a vegetable addiction, I think Jim and I are going to get into smoothies when we get home...
Saturday 22nd and Fez came over ready to head out for the day at 11. We headed to the Newport Arms, Newport on the North Shore to meet Al and Clem and had a great lunch. We were out in the sunshine (well, the shade looking at the sunshine) and at the great views of the river. We then headed down to palm beach where Summer bay from Home and Away is based and we all had a nice chill out there. All of the boys and Ellie went and played in the sea, Clemmie and I had a chin wag and Joey just sat fiddling with bag straps bless him! It was a surprisingly relaxing afternoon and the beach is beautiful, what a treat! We said our goodbyes to Al (although fingers crossed we may just catch him Thursday morning before our flight) and headed back with Fez to North curl curl for bar b q, beer, vodka, wine, vodka, beer... We drank the house dry... Great day!
Sunday we soon booted Fez off the sofa and into bed in Ellie and Joey's room and had a slow start to the day in front of bananas in pyjamas and Sesame Street. Saying that, we were all ready and on our way to Manly to catch a boat into Sydney by ten. We walked around the botanical gardens which were lovely and perfect for Joey to roam around. They are huge and with loads of different themed areas... More tropical areas, beautiful, massive "shade trees" and a fern house. We grabbed some lunch at the Westfield centre in town and then went up the Sydney Tower which is at the top of the Westfield shopping Mall, it was great, 250 meters high and after a short 4d movie we were at the top looking over the whole of Sydney and out toward Manly and beyond you can just make out the tower from our apartment in curl curl. They had a small kids play area with building blocks so Ellie just wanted to go there, the view just didn't register. I don't think either if them could take in that they had gone in a lift and it had gone so high the view was like they were in a plane! That was a fairly long hot day by the time we had walked back to the ferry terminal and got the boat then drove back.
On the Monday the weather took a turn, we headed to ku ring gai chase national park which was wonderful and then back to the apartment where we took a last walk down to North Curl Curl beach as we leave tomorrow. The weather had been pretty bad and the waves were huge. A couple of young lads were struggling to get over the front waves let alone get out and surf! We've had a lovely time back here again, I will miss the apartment so so much, it's so light and you can just watch the Beach, waves and surfers bobbing up and down all day long.
Pictures
1 Ellie and Joey at the airport
2 Joey in his airport pram
3 at Manly beach with Al
4 best swing ever!
5 the home and away beach - Palm beach
6 girls ice cream
7 on the boat into Sydney centre
8 guy playing digereedoo at circular quay
9 - 12 Sydney tower
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