Tuesday, 23 October 2012
August 4: Hamilton Island day 1
Time for a holiday (at last!). We flew up to Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays right at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. We could just see the Airport and the main resort complex on the island as we were flying in and we were especially loving the colour of the water! After arriving we checked into our hotel and went for a walk along Catseye Beach, which was a stones throw from our front door. We're keeping our fingers crossed that the tide is going to come in at some point!
July 28: Little Big Shots
Today we visited the 'Little-Big-Shots' film festival at the Opera House. An hour of the best new short films for kids from all around the world. Daisy loved it.....almost as much as she loves her red hat!
Thursday, 27 September 2012
July 21: Little Kickers
Daisy at Little Kickers with her Saturday morning BF's Kiera and Dylan (Dylan is on the far right in the top picture).
July 11: Christchurch
Nick had an opportunity to visit Christchurch this week through work, and although it was a flying visit he had a day to wander around the city and take in the devastation caused by the earthquake. Its hard to describe what it feels like to walk around what was the centre of a thriving city about the same size as Cardiff, but with very few people, no cars, no businesses, and very few buildings left standing. The city centre is a military zone with restricted access, and they are still demolishing buildings which are unsafe or un-saveable.
The city has just opened a new earthquake museum which had some frightening film footage of the moment the big February '11 quake struck along with hours of recordings of police radio transmissions, and eye witness accounts from rescue teams and council staff. The city is still experiencing major aftershocks; over 10,000 since the first quake struck.
Despite all of the destruction there is still a positive atmosphere created by those who remain. Many businesses are popping up in temporary locations, and a new shopping complex has recently opened in a series of shipping containers. There is a new plan for a carbon-neutral city centre development and although it may take some time to re-build, Christchurch has an exciting future ahead.
Monday, 13 August 2012
June 24: Happy Birthday Daisy
HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY DAISY!
The day started with the opening ceremony (presents of course), which took most of the morning! As you can see Daisy loved all of her gifts, especially the sing-along-microphone & Woody.
Later in the day we went over to Wildlife World where Daisy got up close with kangaroos, koala's and a couple of reptiles, before heading over to Pyrmont to sample the best ice-cream in Sydney at Messina. We could have stayed there all afternoon sampling the various flavours but we had to leave some room for the amazing lego birthday cake. Thanks mama!
June 23: Australia v Wales
A great day out at the rugby for the last test of the Welsh Tour (and the first game at the Sydney Football Stadium for nearly 15 years). Great game, brilliant atmosphere and fantastic weather. Shame the result didn't go our way.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
June 15: Sydney from the sky
Nick took these photos on one of his regular flights to Lismore. The top photo shows the view of the whole harbour with the city in the foreground and Manly in the far left background. The bottom photo shows Seaforth and the Spit Bridge in the foreground, and Manly in the background.
The middle photo is obvious!
Saturday, 11 August 2012
June 09: Bronte to Tamarama
Today we walked around the coast from Bronte to Tamarama, two very picturesque smaller beaches in the Eastern suburbs between Bondi & Coogee. Although it was a bit cold, the weather was great - perfect for surfing, and riding the worlds smallest train!
June 02: Wet-n-wild
It was a horrible day today so we busied ourselves with a visit to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. We had a great afternoon wandering around the gallery, and managed to catch a couple of talks from the festival of photography which ends today.
Umbrellas and hoodies (and scarves?) were definitely the order of the day.
Thursday, 9 August 2012
May 19: Picasso Jnr?
We're obviously keen for Daisy to learn how to express herself artistically, but this is what happens when you give her a set of paint brushes and then turn your back for 5 minutes!
May 06: Birthday celebrations part 3
After our fantastic meal last night we had a bit of a slow start this morning. We took a walk up to North head with our scooters so that Daisy could practice her tricks - especially the one where she runs off without the scooter and lets Dada carry it for her!
Finally some birthday cake this afternoon - Happy Birthday Mama!!
May 05: Birthday celebrations part 2
This evening we went to The Bathers Pavillion at Balmoral, home of one of Sydney's most famous restaurants. As we don't get out much any more (we're not expecting any sympathy) we splashed out on the full works, a 9 course degustation menu with matching wines. The food was fantastic but our highlights were;
Kingfish sashimi with pepper crust, watermelon puree and daikon radish,
Pan fried snapper with sweetcorn puree,
Gypsland triple cream Brie with berry jam apple & pear crisp and Parmesan crumb,
Raspberry, white chocolate and pistachio millefuille with pistachio ice cream and raspberries,
After 4 hours we rolled home feeling happy, full and decidedly poorer.
It was worth every cent!
May 05: Birthday celebrations part 1
We missed the birthday celebrations yesterday (Nick was away for work) so the un-official start of Gem's birthday was postponed to Saturday morning. After Little Kickers we drove up to Avalon for breakfast at The Healthy Chef - fantastic home made baked beans and poached eggs with great coffee. Afterwards we tried to walk off a few calories by climbing around the haedland at Shelly Beach and spent a while watching the surfers around the Bower.
We had to make sure we were home on time as Gem and Nick were having a rare night out, and Daisy was staying in with Matt & Emily watching Monsters inc!
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