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.

July 23 Part 3: Nick's mate Hayden

This will mean absolutely nothing to anyone outside of the country, but this is Nick with Hayden Quinn who should have won Masterchef Australia (but was dropped in the semi-finals for using too much salt!).  Doesn't sound exciting but Masterchef here is massive.  Its on TV 6 nights a week and has been running since we arrived - finals week is next week and we're looking forward to next April already!

July 23 Part 2: Emily's Pumpkin Lasagne

How weird is this - Nick, Gem, Daisy, Tom, Kath, Emily & Matt in Sydney!  Fantastic lasagne - it tasted as good as it looks.  Afterwards we headed off to Manly Wharf for a couple of beers to watch the first game of the Tri-nations (minus Daisy & Gem of course - daisy's getting into Aussie Rules and didn't fancy the rugby).

July 23: Return to Eveleigh

We went back to Eveleigh farmers market in Newtown this morning with Tom & Kath, only this time we remembered to bring some cash!  Bought big bags of apples and oranges, organic pork, lamb and duck eggs and plenty of shopping trolley envy for Gem!  Daisy met a new friend - we nearly ended up coming home with a puppy!
After the farmers market we went to a fantastic Thai cafe on Kings road for $6 pad thai, and then over to visit Matt & Emily for tea - photos to follow......

July 19: Daisy in the 'hood

Our House

By popular demand - some photos of our little apartment in Manly.
Daisy checking the mailbox outside the front door, the view from the North facing balcony, and some of the local wildlife!

July 9: Fish & Rocks

Took a walk around the Rocks this morning on our way to the Fish Market.  Although it was a bit nippy, and very windy, it was a beautiful winters day and the sun was strong and warm once you moved out of the breeze.  Managed to get some atmospheric shots of the bridge and the wharf buildings around Walsh Bay.  It took us a good hour to walk from the rocks to the Fish Market, which wasn't helped by having a grumpy baby to deal with.  The fish market was really busy but then it was Saturday lunchtime so we shouldn't have been surprised!  The market itself was really interesting but not quite what we'd expected.  We thought we'd see loads of guys in yellow oilskins dragging around huge polystyrene boxes of fish and ice, instead what we got was the fishy equivalent of Selfridges with massive glass cabinets displaying mountains of weird and wonderful seafood.  Everything from prawns to sushi grade tuna, huge red snapper, abalone and oysters.  We bought a bag full of prawns, squid, ling and Moreton Bay bugs to take home (photos tomorrow!) and then bought a tray of fish and chips and joined the masses sitting on the fake grass in the sun.  It was amazing but don't tell Daisy as she'd finally gone to sleep!

July 4: First day at nursery/work

While everyone in the US celebrated their independence today,  Gem & Daisy were commiserating their loss of independence, with Daisy starting nursery and Gem's first day in work.
It wasn't all bad - look what we found on circular quay this morning!  Surely it's not normal to be greeted from the ferry by a herd of camels?!  Daisy didn't seem to be too phased.  I wonder what she told the other kids at nursery?

Home-made Okonomiyaki!

June 24: Happy Birthday Daisy!

Thankyou everyone who sent Daisy such lovely birthday wishes!  She had a wonderful day full of fun and cakes - just like a birthday should be!