August 20: Palm Beach

August 19: Saturday in Paddington

Saturday morning, and after breakfast at Bacino in Manly we took the ferry over to the city to explore Paddington.  We spent a few hours wandering around the shopping area and saturday market and Daisy & Ella had their photo taken outside the local optometrist!
Later on we visited the Barracks Museum which has some fun interactive displays including the original hammocks used by some of the first convicts when they arrived in Sydney.  Daisy looks very much at home - shame the same can't be said about Nick who is obviously a couple of inches taller than your average convict!

August 18: Daisy & Elllllla

It was a beautiful sunny day today so the girls spent the day on the beach soaking up the first of the spring sunshine.  Daisy still insisted on wearing her coat!?

August 14: Fishmarket

A trip to Sydney Fishmarket for sunday lunch, and a wide selection of fish, prawns & squid, washed down with a small mountain of chips.  The local fishing fleet is run by an Italian family called the Bagnato's, we couldn't resist trying to recreate the poster Jones Style.
It was a wet afternoon so after the fish market we called into the Maritime museum to see the fantastic exhibition about Captain Scott who like us, started his big adventure in Cardiff.  Thankfully times have changed a bit - Scott would have caught his own fish for lunch, but if we were doing the same we may all have gone hungry!

Living the dream

August 13: The Jones' hit Sydney

A visit to the Opera House and Botanic gardens today.  The jones girls on the steps of the opera house looking like a photo shoot for Vogue Australia!
Daisy took Hannah, Lara & Ella on a tour of the botanic gardens on the Choo Choo (that's its real name!).  Here she's pointing out some of the rare flora & fauna to be found on our little continent, however the others seem more interested in having their photo's taken for the blog.

August 11: Oceanworld

The rain came back today so everyone went to Oceanworld in Manly.  After seeing the exhibition in the main entrance Daisy decided that she is afraid of the big bad shark after all!

August 10: Spring Sun at Manly

It was a beautiful sunny day today so everyone trooped off to the beach.  Daisy & Ella made the most of the sunshine although we started to realise that we may be getting acclimatised - note Daisy's hoodie & hat compared to Ella's swimmers!

August 9: Visitors

Granny, Hannah, Lara and Ella arrived today for a 2 week visit. Gem and Daisy gave them a tour of the harbour on Stanley.

August 7: Sydney Sunset

This was the view from our balcony at around 5:30 this evening, looking West towards the City after heavy rain and a thunderstorm.

August 6: Rose Bay

We spent this afternoon over in Rose Bay with Tom & Kath.  Their new home is in a red brick art-deco apartment block sandwiched between playing fields and a golf course, about 10 minutes walk from the ferry terminal.  Rose bay is away from the normal tourist areas of Sydney so has a very relaxed feel.  There are lots of families in the area and plenty of space for kids to burn off energy.  Daisy loved playing ball in the park, and by the time we left she looked like she'd been dragged backwards through a hedge!  Emily & Matt came over later in the afternoon and Tom made food for us - a traditional Aussie winter dish of short ribs in asian stock - fantastic!  For some reason Daisy preferred washing up to eating - we've obviously trained her well.

July 31: Curl Curl

Gem had to work on Sunday so Nick & Daisy spent the afternoon on the beach at Curl Curl, which is about a half hour bus journey from Manly.  The beach is great, just that little bit out of the way so that it was still reasonably quiet even though it was over 20 degrees!  Notice that Daisy still has her hoodie on - she must be acclimatising!

July 30: Little Big Shots

We went to The Opera House today for the Little Big Shots Festival - essentially a film festival for kids.  The session for 2-5 year olds had 15 short films from all over the world and lasted an hour.  Daisy really enjoyed it, clapped at all the right times and even had a bit of a dance.  She hid behind the chair in front for a couple of the films which had dragons or dinosaurs - she's practicing for saturday night doctor who when she's a bit older.