The Blue Room

The Blue Room

Mr & Mrs Shrimpton welcome you aboard the Blue Room......

This fantastic vessel was the venue for the reception, a five hour cruise around Sydney Harbour including a three course meal.  We boarded the Blue Room at 6pm from the private wharf at the Opera House to be greeted with two decks of the finest hospitality.  Downstairs were tables set out for the meal and an area set aside as a dance floor, upstairs was a bar and informal seating area, half of which was covered to offer some protection from the sun:

We were encouraged to go upstairs to the bar area for welcoming drinks where we could study the table plan.  The tables were all named after the bays surrounding the harbour and were covered with scattered pink and white crystals.

After setting sail out into the harbour we followed the shoreline in and out of various bays at a leisurely pace until we arrived at a sheltered cove which is home to the Taronga Zoo.  It was in this sheltered cove that we stayed for the delicious three course meal and speeches.  The meal was wonderful, with a way of serving that is unfamiliar to anyone from the UK.  There are always two choices, that is two starters, two mains - one of these is fish based and the other is meat based.  The plates are put down alternately around the table and guests swap plates with a neighbour if both are agreed.  Sounds strange but in practice works really well. 

The starters were:

Glazed Pork Belly with Honey, Five Spice, Soy and Queen Scallop

Symphony of Sydney Seafood which includes Steamed Ocean Trout, Carpaccio of Smoked Salmon, King Prawn and Mesculin Salad

Both starters were excellent and followed by the first round of speeches.  Announcements were made by our MC for the evening, a close friend of Tim's who goes by the extremely trustworthy name of Lee, however this Lee was also taking bets on the length of the best man's speech!  First to speak was the father of the groom, whose story of a young Tim suitably embarrassed but cannot be repeated here.  For details please see a guest....

Second speech was from a very proud father of the bride, who I know had been thinking about his speech for many weeks.  He had it all prepared, written out and practised - no doubt under the watchful eye of an equally proud mother of the bride.  When it came to standing in front of people the speech was put back into pocket and a truly heartfelt tribute to his beautiful daughter followed - interrupted only by the fuse blowing on the PA system.....despite this setback the speech was delivered with confidence and feeling and I'm sure that I saw tears in a few places......

Next came Tim's speech, kind responses to the words of wisdom offered by both fathers, thanks for everyone involved especially the bridesmaids and complimentary words of love for his wife.

By now the sun was setting on a fabulous day, the main course was served in the fading light and was delicious:

Beef Fillet, Asparagus and Kumera with Irish Whiskey and Pepper Cream

Barramundi Fillet with Prawn and Avocado Salsa Infused Dressing

Mixed Leaf Salad and Chat Potatoes

After the main course it was the turn of the best man to speak.  John had not been allowed to bet on the length of his own speech for obvious reasons but the air of anticipation was rising as he stood up and everyone looked longingly at the pot of over $300......

John's speech was legendary, stories of Tim's antics throughout their years of friendship both entertained us and also disappointed each of us as our time passed with no sense of John drawing to a close.  The final time was a little over seven minutes and the pot was won by Kay's one-time house mate Alex who very kindly donated the winnings to Kay and Tim for their honeymoon at the end of the month.

It was time for Kay and Tim to cut the cake, and I apologise that I cannot remember what the cake was although I will find out and add to this blog.  What I can tell you is that it was not the fruit cake with sponge layer that is traditional in the UK.



Once the cake was cut the Blue Room set sail into the harbour once more and continued to follow the shoreline in and out of secluded bays and coves, under the Harbour Bridge, through Darling Harbour on it's way back towards the Opera House wharf.  Cake consumed along with a selection of Australian Cheese with Lavosh it was time to get to the dance floor.  As is traditional the bride and groom took to the floor for their first dance and the usual scrum for photographs followed......

The rest of the evening was spent by many on the dance floor and a great time was had by all involved.

The Blue Room docked at the Opera House just after 11pm and it was time to leave this wonderful vessel behind.  Most descended on the Opera Bar to keep the party going, a great place to experience on the lower concourse of the Opera House.  It was well past midnight when I left and there are rumours of some not getting in until 6.30am - they shall remain nameless.....

The night was over, but for Kay her life as Mrs Shrimpton has begun.  Another chapter in her wonderful life has opened....

I'd like to thank Kay and Tim for the great memories that the 12th November 2010 has brought to so many people.  I'm sure that whether you were here or not you will join me in wishing them a long, happy and healthy life together and I hope that my ramblings have helped to describe Kay and Tim's special day.

Handbags and Gladrags....

I can't believe it.  I've come all the way to Sydney and ended up the day today shopping for handbags with my reluctant dad and panic stricken mum....but more of that later.

I spent Wednesday wandering and waiting.  My sister had told me that she needed to come into the city to get a few things and that she would give me a call when she was on her way about 9am.  So there I was, up early and ready (this was the waiting bit).  Kay rang just after 11am to say that she was just leaving home and that I should walk down to Myer, the department store where I could hire this elusive suit.  I got there, looked around all 6 floors and organised the hire of my suit before Kay arrived.......

We then looked at children's books and toys before Kay announced that one of her jobs was to get her eyebrows done - not very exciting, so I arranged to meet her for lunch after this.  Lunch was in a food court underneath the department store where we ate from Hokka Hokka, a great Chinese food place.  Kay's next job was to find some nail varnish (this was the wandering bit), so I left her to it and walked down through the city to Circular Quay, the ferry port, cruise terminal and home of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.  I mooched around the quayside for almost 2 hours, taking photos of the sights and trying to be artistic:

After a couple of hours I decide to go and have a play on the ferries, for those that haven't been to Sydney, the ferries are a fantastic way of getting around and I could spend most of the day moving between ferries and returning back to Circular Quay.......There was a serious side to the ferry adventure, I needed to go round to Darling Harbour and find the restaurant for Wednesday night and also to find the way to walk back to my apartment from there after the meal.  The restaurant was found with considerable ease, mainly because when you get off the ferry George's Mediterranean is the first place that you come to.  Restaurant found I headed for my apartment, a short walk of about 10 minutes.  Restaurant found I headed there for the meeting time of 7pm, to find that I was the first there,,,,The meal was nice but the company was better, there were 23 of us in total including both sets of parents, bridesmaids, ushers, best man, bride and groom and the rest were just odd friends and hangers-on (myself included)!



Both sets of proud parents

Thursday came and will now be known as handbag day.  My mum and dad had arranged to come to my apartment, from where we could go and find mum a new handbag and also pick up my suit.  The story of the handbag goes like this.  Mum brought her handbag and shoes, carefully chosen from home and when she got to Kay's house she realised that in the picture of my brother's wedding (hanging on sister's wall), the same shoes and handbag were in situ......

Apparently to wear the same shoes and handbag is somehow worse than committing genocide so new ones had to be bought immediately.  Luckily enough they stopped off in a shoe shop just outside the train station on their way to me and found the perfect pair of shoes - which created handbag hell for the next few hours trying to find a matching handbag.  I lost count after the 789,145th handbag shop but eventually one was found that was of a decent match and price.  We also went back to the department store where we found this creature made from Lego:

After handbags at dawn, and all afternoon we headed across to Manly (where mum and dad are staying) on the ferry for a barbecue on their balcony.  However on the way we got slightly distracted by a bar called The Four Pines, where I was ordered to sit down as my drink was coming.....I was presented with a wooden rack containing 5 different glasses of 5 different beers.  This was the taster rack and as the bar brewed it's own beers they did this so that the customer could choose the beer that they liked best.  A great idea for micro breweries to take on and cheap enough too as each glass was only a small sampler glass....



Taster racks at The Four Pines

 The barbecue was great, excellent steak and sausages with salad and couscous and after a very pleasant evening I headed back to the city via ferry and train to my apartment.  I tried to take some nighttime photos and a video of the city from the water, some of which worked, most of which didn't.  One day I will learn how to take proper photos and maybe even invest in a proper camera that you have to think about before just pressing a button!

Anyway, I have stayed up late in order to speak to Luke, Harry and Claire after school and it's now approaching 3am as I've also been writing this for you.  I have a wedding to go to in about 12 hours, where I must simultaneously shoot video and take still photos so I had better get some sleep.  I'll leave you with a couple of the night time shots of the Opera House.  Next time I write will be to tell you about a wedding......




John Utzon's finest





Sydney, hello again

Sydney, hello again

Well, I've arrived in Australia. Flight was a little bit delayed last night due to the fact that the fuel gauge wasn't working......

Arrived at about 9pm here to be met by my sister, mum and dad at Sydney airport. A short drive into town brought us to my home for the next 9 days, the Medina Grand on Kent Street. It is a large building and I am on the 12th floor in my one bedroomed apartment which is really nice. I have a fully fitted kitchen, lounge area, seperate bedroom and bathroom with washing machine and tumble dryer. The picture is taken from my front door looking across towards the balcony.

I spent my time last night leisurely unpacking and generally getting sorted, before going out just after midnight to find a shop, surprisingly easy as there's one on the next corner which is open 24hours. Stocked up my cupboards with what is basically breakfast and snacky food.

I spoke to my wife on Skype and decided that I would stay up late and speak to my Luke and Harry as well, so at 2.30am I saw them all. Missing them loads but it was good to see and speak to them all. Harry seemed to still recognise me and was babbling away to the screen, Luke was more interested in what was on television behind him and my wife was as gorgeous as ever.

Anyway, it's Wednesday now and my current plans involve going to hunt down a suit for the wedding which is on Friday, going for a meal tonight with the rest of the wedding party at somewhere called George's Mediterranean in Darling Harbour. Other than that my days are my own, will be doing a lot of wandering about exploring Sydney.

At the top of this post is a picture taken from my balcony of the Sydney Tower in the low cloud and I will leave you with another view taken from the same balcony.....