Sunny Sunday Walks and Monday Hiding from the Rain....

Sunday was the day of the long walk and the big shopping expedition to get some presents for Claire and the boys.  However, a little unfinished business first - I said that I would find out about the wedding cake as I couldn't remember what it was, well I have.....

Orange and Poppy Seed

There, sorted that one out.....

Anyway, back to Sunday.  I started off from my apartment around about lunchtime - well I had been writing the wedding blog until about 3.30am!  I walked down York Street heading towards the Rocks area of Sydney on a hunt for a specific shop which we visited two and a half years ago when we were last here.  It was a fantastic shop which sold great baby clothes and other children's stuff that we couldn't buy from last time as we didn't have a baby, but now we do....

Trouble is I didn't know where the shop was or what it was called apart from it was in the Rocks somewhere.

Rocks Market

I got to the Rocks to discover it was Market Day and spent a good time browsing the stalls and looking for my elusive shop.  There were all sorts of things on sale, different crafts and hobbies on display and I managed to restrict myself to a purchase of 3 cards.  Still, I had spent over an hour and no sign of the shop....

A phone call from my sister who has lived in Sydney for 3 years now, who knew where the shop was last time we were here, was no help whatsoever.  She's not had baby clothes on her mind, just the wedding up to now.  While I was on the phone to Kay I looked down an alleyway and spotted what I had been looking for - well the little mall that I knew it was in.  The first thing that I saw down some stairs was a shop called Sticky, which is a shop that makes it's own random flavoured rock in front of the customer all day long.  Needless to say I bought some rock and moved on to Mini Me, the shop I had been searching for.  I spent a while choosing and then quite a bit of money on some clothes for Luke and Harry and then continued my wander.  The next store I came to was the jewellers that I bought Claire's opal from last time, should I buy her another - I certainly went into the jewellers but did I buy.......

I'm not telling, all I will say is that the next shop that I went into I found the perfect present for Claire, but I can't tell you what it is otherwise it won't be a surprise!!!  I was then at the corner of George Street, which goes all the way back up through the city to my apartment, past lots of boutiques and big name stores including the biggest Apple store that I have ever seen.

When I got back to my apartment I decide to go for a swim to soothe my aching legs mainly as I had been walking for six hours.  The swimming pool at the apartment building is great - firstly it is on the 9th floor and on one corner of the building the roof is cut away on this floor to allow sunlight in.  The second odd thing about this pool was only discovered when I got in - it is a salt water pool in the middle of a building.  Many pools are salt water in Australia as they build them adjoining beaches and around the coast but I didn't expect salt water on the 9th floor of an apartment in the city.....

I decided to go for a ferry ride in the evening, I had been invited over to Manly for a meal but managed to miss my ferry so ended up with Hungry Jacks (Burger King to you and me).  I still went over to Manly and met up with Kay, mum and dad for drinks before managing to catch the last ferry back to the city at 11.40pm.  The city lights are fantastic at night and my camera cannot really do the scene justice, however when up close I managed to get a couple of shots of it's most famous assets:

Sunday was spent and I got back to my apartment well after midnight, but I had to be up early in the morning, as I was going to visit Sydney Fish Market with mum and dad.  The market is fascinating, with fish from all over the world as well as locally caught.  I had never seen so many different types of crab all in one place but by far the most impressive sight was the swordfish that was being cut straight from the carcass which lay on a bed of ice.  The fish had it's head and tail removed but was still a good 6 feet long and about 18" in diameter, each steak had to be portioned into 3 or 4 to make them normal sized!!  The fish market was great and I'm glad we went, especially as it was pouring with rain - and our family friends had gone to climb the Harbour Bridge.....

Also at the Fish Market were various eateries and other shops, probably the most impressive was the immaculately stacked fresh produce in one store.  Being the sad person that I am I took lots of photos of displays of produce, I wonder if we can get Sainsbury's looking this good:

Anyway, that's it for now.  I have one full day left in Sydney and am really looking forward to being back at home and seeing my beautiful wife and boys - but first I'm off to the Koala Park.....

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.....

Opera to Koalas

After a slow start settling into Manly and getting the shopping done for our stay here we finally hit tourist mode on Monday and boarded the ferry into Sydney. Manly is a 30 minute ferry journey into the city centre and this is the view that greets Kay every morning when she travels to work. The ferry docks between the Opera House and the Bridge and then it is a short train journey to her office - all this (and back again) for £20 a week.


Our first stop, naturally, was the Opera House we walked to it, then around it and decided to go inside. This was a bit tricky as the 1956 design didn't really allow for access and we had to be escorted by staff to a lift in the area where sets were being made up for the Opera later in the week. Once inside we asked about performances but were told if Luke made the slightest noise we would be thrown out as Australians are very intolerant of children - best not bother then. We did book a tour, which was fantastic, and Luke managed to just about stay quiet for the hour. The Opera House looks amazing at any angle but close up takes on a whole new beauty. It has now been listed as a site of historical importance. We spent the rest of the day wandering around the quay to the Sydney bridge and back through the area called the Rocks - the first settlement in Sydney - before meeting Kay on her way home from work and catching the ferry back to Manly. If you ever get the chance to go and don't have children with you there are plenty of regular events you can go to experience the Opera House - I liked the look of High Tea where a singer will give you (and the 50 or so other guests) a private performance. Back at Kay's we had Kangaroo steak for tea!


Tuesday we decided to use the tickets that Kay bought us for Christmas and visited the Sydney Tower. Rather than catching the train we walked up the main shopping street. There is lots of shopping here - each train station, like our underground, is situated under a shopping mall. The Sydney Tower was no different and after searching in vain for a lift that worked we finally gave up and used the escalator for the pushchair. Luke has given up on walking and after losing him in a supermarket on Sunday for about 2 minutes we've given up caring about how much he's using the pushchair. The tour starts with OzTrek that takes you through the sights and sounds of Australia and ends in a virtual reality cinema - luckily Luke was too young for the moving seats so we got to sit in the stationary ones! The views from the tower were amazing and we could just about see Manly in the distance. We found it hard to pinpoint exactly what everything was but eventually worked out where the Olympic Stadium and Chinatown were. We could also see the afternoon rain clouds coming in and managed to get back down the tower before the rain really started. We then walked, in the rain, to Kay's office to meet her for dinner - we took her to Chinatown, which she hadn't been to before, a few blocks away. We were finally allowed to use the train (as I was dead on my feet) and ended up being very late back but it meant we saw the bridge and the Opera House lit up (and Luke saw the moon).

Wednesday we decided to have a day for Luke and used our tickets for the Aquarium and the Wildlife Park which are next to each other in Darling Harbour (two ferries away) - another place for shopping and eating. Luke spent most of the first crying because he wanted to go on the train and most of the second playing his Leapster and shouting Go! Go! Go! from the pushchair - I'm afraid all of our tempers were frayed. Lee and I loved it. The highlight was having a photo taken with a Koala - we weren't allowed to touch them but she did nearly fall on my head at one point. Because of the train issue we took the monorail from there into the city and then got the train back to the quay - only just making the ferry back to Manly.


Today we are probably going shopping and Friday is the day that Lee and Kay are going to climb the harbour bridge - I'm (luckily) looking after Luke.

'Red and Green should never be seen'

Today we are all very red (sun burnt) and we have a slight tinge of green (Avon factor 40 - mum did warn me). I think we'll be ditching the factor 40 - Lee and I currently look like we've been printing our own money as the dye in the cream has stuck to our hands, one bottle exploded in Luke's case on the way here and I'm unsure if it will come out of the clothes.

Today has been hotter and the resort is much the same as Bournemouth on a Bank Holiday - lots of extended families and groups of 12 men wandering around. We limited Luke to an hour in the pool after breakfast (all wearing t-shirts and a thick layer of green cream) and dragged him away kicking and screaming. We then decided to go to Underwater World which is just outside the hotel - the ticket includes a trip to Dolphin lagoon, wish we'd known that yesterday - we spent most of the time comparing it to the Deep in Hull (and the Deep came out tops) the difference being that here you can stick your hands in the tank and feed the fish (we didn't) and the rays. Then we came to the main highlight - a travelator that takes you through several tunnels under the tanks this lasted about 10 minutes (and was much better than the Deep) - I hope the video footage comes out. When we came out we couldn't move for people so decided against the bus across the island to the dolphin lagoon - it was probably a 30 min wait - and headed back to the hotel.

Luke promptly fell asleep - I hope he hasn't got sunstroke - so Lee and I treated ourselves to a hand and foot massage at the spa. We sat together and I think Lee got the short straw as his woman kept slapping and pummelling his legs. I think it should be compulsory for everyone after a long haul flight!

Suitably chilled we now feel up to the Krypton Factor challenge of repacking the cases with everything we've bought, ready for an early night and a 5am alarm call!

This time tomorrow we'll be in Sydney!