Tuesday 31 July 2012

Goodbye To Babysitting

Today we farewelled Malcolm's parents as they set of for their 6 week European extravaganza. The lucky sods get to visit the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Germany before hopping on a river cruise all the way to Amsterdam. They will then hop on a train towards Paris, where they'll spend one week to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary...together with Malcolm's sister, her family and her in-laws! A short stop in Abu Dhabi completes the journey and brings our babysitters back home.

We're surprising them with tickets to see Vivaldi's Four Seasons at the Saint Chapelle in Paris for their anniversary. Malcolm's sister has kindly agreed to pick up the tickets for us and present  it to them on the day of their anniversary. I hope they enjoy it!

The family made the  most of the sunny weekend to have lunch together and farewell the jet-setting  pair

Venue of choice

Elliot and his great grandfather

Horsing around with cousins

What better food to have by the water than fish and chips!

Sharing is the way to go. I shall not let go of that straw lest I miss out...

The older ones are a little more relaxed

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Thank You Lord For Our Daily Bread

Guess what? We are now baking our own bread! We thought we'd put our thermomix to work. So far so good. Three different types of bread with  no failures as yet. Woohoo! Let's see how long we last...

Multi-grain bread

Saturday 21 July 2012

Winning Ways

Our trivia team celebrated in style at Neil Perry's Rockpool. We had won close to $1000 in cash over the past 6 months and so decided to treat ourselves to a gourmet meal out.

Dining in the city without kids...woohoo!

The gorgeous interior

Photo of the date to commemorate the occasion!

A starter of truffle tart lined with spinach and fluffy omelette 

Could not go past the seafood

King prawns perfectly cooked on the  best tasting tortellini

And to finish off...lemon curd doughnuts with apple and vanilla ice-cream. Superb!

Saturday 14 July 2012

Coogee To Bondi

On this beautiful winter's day, a family decided to start getting fit for their European trip. What better way to do it than against the backdrop of Sydney's beautiful coastal scenery. We drank a glass of milk, swung by the local Vietnamese bakery for some cheese and bacon rolls, and then made our way down south towards Coogee.

The plan was to tackle the famed 6km section from Coogee to Bondi of the Eastern Beaches Coastal Walkway. We managed to find a free parking spot near Coogee. The children were bribed with ice-creams at the end of the walk if they make it through to Bondi. With threats, oops encouragement I mean, in place, the tribe set off!

We bought this book to get fit for WDW back in 2010!

My pack mule, still fresh and happy, carrying the snacks

The walk started off with a bang! The children were excited to find that the first Bay we encountered was named after Grandpa. The walkways hugged the coastline all the way to Bondi and our efforts were rewarded with one stunning view after another. We walked past Clovelly Beach, Bronte Beach, Tamarama Beach, and finally onto Bondi Beach, as fit and fabulous looking people jogged around us.

Our first glimpse Gordons Bay

Boats lined up along the shoreline

Grandpa's name is Gordon, he likes fishing and owns a boat so he must be a member of this club.

Gordons Bay

Very pretty mosaic steps leading from the path up towards the streets inland.

Finishing off morning tea!

Tom Caddy Point

The big open tidal pool of Clovelly Beach

Accessed by multiple stairs like this one

The view out towards the Ocean from the Beach itself

You can join the walk from many points. Stairs leading from the streets inland were everywhere.

Bowling with a view. Clovelly Bowling Club. Perhaps this is where we'll come barefoot bowling next time...

Grave with a view. Waverly Cemetery. Henry Lawson is buried in there somewhere.

Rest break....

Hmmm...that man should really be wearing a life vest!

The children leading the way and pointing our the sights

Filtered water stations dotted along the path

Bronte Beach

With its lovely rockpool for children and tidal pool

Go round another bend to be met by another beach, this time Tamarama Beach

Stunning views everywhere you look

Hang on kids...not far to go!

Great place for yoga. Wouldn't' want to overbalance!

We stopped at every single information point

It came in handy as the children then spotted little lizards everywhere!

Yay!!! Bondi Beach!

We made it intact!

But first, need to make it down those steep stairs

Free whale watching to boot. Action packed day!

The famous Bondi Iceberg Club


It was a relatively easy walk. Even though there were stairs, most were quite short and there were no severe inclines to go up or down. There were also many cafes and kiosks along the way to stop and rest, enjoy some caffeine or people watch. The children did very well. Our walk took about 2.5 hours and we only had mild whining. Spotting a whale close to Bondi Beach helped alot! As did the benches along the way where we had multiple stops. We decided to treat ourselves to some burgers and shakes for lunch and Bondi Beach! Malcolm then caught a cab back to Coogee to retrieve our car and pick up the rest of the family. Perhaps next time, we might walk the return journey...NOT!


Bondi Beach

Lunch with a view

The children's rewards!

Malcolm's humungous burger

This is a cheeseburger. One of the smaller burgers...

Cheese and bacon fries.