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.

Allons à Paris!

There is so much to see and do in Paris that it has been a great challenge trying to have a plan that the whole family can enjoy. So being the obsessive compulsive planner that I am, I pinned every single possible point of interest on google maps with the aim of grouping the attractions by location and then marking each one as "must-see" or "if time permits". One of the things that struck me during my research is how expensive everything is, especially accomodation! I finally found a loft apartment on the Rue Saint-Honoré that would hold all 5 of us for €170 per night. Fortunately for us, the apartment appears to be central to all the plotted attractions. With accomodation sorted and a rough itinerary in tow, I was able to move on to the next step...educating the children!

In an effort to make the most of our trip to Europe, we have started to "prime" the children with some pre-reading. I've always felt that a little background knowledge customised to the little ones goes a long way to help them appreciate what can be difficult for some adults! We had to extend the children's knowledge of France beyond Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Ratatouille! The only lingering legacy of our french au pair is the love for eating crepes. The first stop was book depository where I purchased a few classics, one for each of the children and one for us!

A pictorial journey for a little boy with a very short attention span...

Oh Miss Clavel!



Something a bit more challenging for a more advanced reader



Title says it all!



A book written with the help of 2 local mums with tips of what to do and where to eat. Let's hope its as good as it sounds!

 Then, it was off to the library where we borrowed children's versions of great classics like The Three Musketeers, The Hunchback of Notredame, as well as lonely planet's guide to Paris written for children. I was also delighted to find a trial of a book designed for children in Paris. Although we had missed the cut off dates, the organisers were kind enough to mail out spare copies that they had left. Elliot and Lara LOVED it. Last but not least, we bought bargain pocket french and italian dictionaries from Aldi.

So far so good. The older two are sprouting "bonjour", "si", "merci", "au revoir" and have asked if we will be visiting Musee d'Orsay and Centre Pompidou. I had originally planned to only visit the Louvre for fear of museum overload.

One destination down! Only a few more to go...

150 Days And Counting

In 150 days, we will boarding our plane to Paris to begin our 2012 European adventure. What started out as a trip to "let the children try skiing" and "visit Disneyland Paris" has turned into a 7 week journey involving multiple family members!

We managed to get flights at a great price flying into Paris and out of Rome for $1923 with Emirates. There has been some minor dramas along the way, such as Club Med changing its opening dates to one week later, but our itinerary has pretty much sorted itself out. Dreams of wild adventures to Lapland, Sound of Music pilgrimages in Austria, ancestral visits to the UK, and taking the children to see the weihnachtsmarkt in Germany will have to wait for another time as we made the decision to be sensible and travel in a smooth arc  in an effort to reduce precious travelling time. Unfortunately, we will also miss out on visiting Milan and Turin. Our time in Venice will also be cut short all because of Club Med...Have I already mentioned that Club Med changed dates on us?!?!?

This does mean however, that we will have a chance to see more of France. After our time in Paris, we will be spending one week in the south, visiting Carcassonne, the town that inspired a much-loved boardgame, and then driving west through Provence before making our way up north to the French Alps. There, we will

channel our inner ski bunnies for 6 days and enjoy a definite white Christmas before a drive to Geneva for our flight to Venice. We will be joined by Malcolm's parents to bring in 2013 when we will then make our way down south through Italy. At Florence, we will be joined by my parents, my brother, my cousin and my aunt! This equates to a happy minibus ride to Rome, a stop made necessary by our 12 night Holy Land cruise aboard the NCL Jade. We have the privilege of stopping at Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, and Israel before returning to Rome (Civitavecchia) for our flights home.

Let the countdown begin!

Girl In Black

What happens when Daddy has too much time on his hands....

Brave-ing The School Holidays

It was a rare occasion when Malcolm had a weekday off and all three children were at home. So we thought we'd celebrate the occasion by watching Disney/Pixar's Brave. I dosed myself up with cold and flu tablets as well as a cough suppressant, and headed for the cineams in fear of the crowds that would be there, and the terror of watching a movie with a noisy and restless Jonah. 

We scanned our online purchase receipt on our phone and headed for cinema 1

I needn't have worried. The Disney filled previews and ads had all three children captivated from the very beginning. We watched the movie with no disturbance right to the very end. Hallelujah! I enjoyed the movie. To be honest, it wasn't quite what I expected, but even I myself am not sure what I was expecting. It was nice to watch a movie set in Scotland, and the accents were great fun to listen to. And as much as I am a big fan of Disney's princes, it was great to have a plot which didn't involve one. The plot though, still seemed just a touch weak to me. Having said that, I still rate way above Snow White and The Huntsman...I struggled to stay awake during the movie due to the ingestion of medications so take my review with a pinch of salt. Who knows how accurately my senses were functioning?

My reward...churros!

We stopped by  Spanish Doughnuts next to the cinemas for some churros before heading home. Much to the children's delight, we found a package all the way from Wisconsin, USA. Heather had written them all letters and send them stickers. Much to our delight, or to be more accurate...Malcolm's delight, we found this outside our door. It was filled with all sorts of winter goodies that he had purchased online!

Winter goodies that Malcolm has purchased online!

Bite Me

I've decided that the only way to really keep this blog up is to attack it with bite sized chunks. I keep getting put off by having so many things to blog about that I don't blog any of it. Sad, I know. There shall be no retrospective blogging or updates. I shall just be more disciplined. Famous last word!

So today, having had to stop feeling sorry for myself for having an awful viral infection in order to take my son to the orthodontist, IS the day.

Cutting a long story short, we discovered upon a routine dental check up that Elliot had several teeth so badly decayed that he would require root canal therapy. Both milk and adult teeth were involved. It was the worst feeling that any parent could have. I really felt like I had failed him. Obviously, our brushing and flossing routine were not up to scratch. A visit to a paediatric dentist brought more bad news. He also had a problem with his bite which is damaging his front teeth. The decayed teeth, including the adult tooth, would have to be extracted. There was no point trying to save them. That was done recently with no complications.

The newest addition to our fridge magnet collection

Today would be the first appointment of many in Elliot's predicted long orthodontic history. The orthodontist was a lovely elderly fellow, oh so gentle and kind. He had already impressed by in his waiting room. Surely that castle had to be Disney inspired? If not one from Walt Disney World, then perhaps one from Disneyland Paris as demonstrated by the dragon next to the castle. Oh I wished I had brought my DSLR!

Is that Cinderella's castle at WDW?

I digress...back to Elliot. The appointment went well. Elliot had mug shots taken for accurate jaw measurements and to mark future growth. His hair do was unfortunately forever immortalised on the orthodontist's computer. I would have liked to believe that he could have made the cast for Twilight. My mother would have just said that he looked like a rooster. I should have cut his hair before we went. Moulds of his teeth were taken, his bite was documented, and X-rays were taken. All were done efficiently. We return in about 8 weeks with Malcolm in tow to discuss treatment options and costs...sigh. Wish us luck!