The end of 2009

It's been a funny week in Sydney - funny as in not sunny, very rainy and occasionally cold - so really not funny at all!

Despite that we've been busy - visiting friends in Elvina Bay (stunning place just 30 minutes by car and 2 minutes by boat), walking in the Blue Mountains and doing some shopping.

Boxing Day involved the start of the Sydney Hobart. Our friend Jules was sailing on St Jude, a 47 foot yacht, and set of at 1:00pm on the 26th - finally arriving in Hobart some 4 days later. We were very excited on the 27th as for about 16 hours Jules and his crew were leading the race on Handicap. Sadly the winds changed and the ended up a very creditable 20th - but not quite 1st....

Elvina Bay is a glorious part of Pittwater. You get there by boat and there are 84 houses. Our friends Nigel & Helen have been staying up there for Christmas (with our boat) so we went and joined them for the day. We had a great time jumping of the jetty and watching the world sail by.

We also found a small creature underneath their dinning room table. I insisted it was a Pygmy Possum. The girls insisted it was a baby possum that had lost its mum. Well the RSPCA were called and the little Possum was then taken by boat to the RSCPA guy on the mainland. The next day Helen was called and asked to go back and collect the Pygmy Possum and return it to the woods! So, next time you are in the bush with Emma ignore anything she says about local flora or fauna.

Tonight it's Manly fireworks at 9pm then home for the main Sydney fireworks at midnight. I am sure a New Year blog will be required to share some firework snaps.

Ken

Some Christmas snaps

We have had a great Christmas in Sydney. Despite terrible weather we still made it to the beach on Christmas day for a swim and had an excellent dinner (in doors) with all the usual turkey & trimmings.

These are some initial snaps of the day.

Xmas Greetings

A few more snaps from the show

Cannot get video to work...so more snaps instead. There were taken at the dress rehearsal.

The Twelve Days of Christmas -like you've never seen it before!

A few months ago Emma was asked if James & Olivia wanted to take part in a Christmas production. The production theme was "The 12 Days of Christmas". After 5 rehearsals, including a full dress rehearsal the show took place last night - and what a show.

It was put on by the local C3 Church - which is a bit happy/clappy for my liking but they know how to manage a stage show. Great music, amazing light show and the kids performed like real stars.

James was one of the 12 Drummers Drumming and Olivia was a butterfly - not quite sure which "Day" she was part of.

Did you know that the Twelve Days of Christmas all have a biblical meaning - for example The French Hens represent the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Love?

That was all a little lost on the kids, but they had a great time. The grown ups managed to escape from the clutches of the happy/clappy crowd without too much damage to our wallet - this was not like churches I grew up with - there was a credit card slip on each chair to make your donation with! Father Jackson would be turning in his grave......

The video will follow soon!

Talent Show

The local primary school has a talent show towards the end of each term.

This year James did not enter but Olivia and her friend Tess did.

They finished in the top 3 and qualified for the final - sadly we were away camping and Olivia could not take part - but we clearly have a talented young lady in our family!

Feeling hot, hot, hot

It's unusually hot for November. It got over 40 today, which in old money is over 100 - in fact 108 degrees this afternoon.

We've just enjoyed the final swim in the pool for the day. The water feels cool despite being 28 degrees. The kids have spent a lot of time in the pool today - it's been a lazy Sunday with a bit of shopping, gardening, swimming and out friends Tom & Kirsten (plus 4 kids) over for BBQ dinner. We are now waiting patiently for the Southerly change that is arriving and will drop the temperature by some 20 degrees in the next 4 hours!

James & Olivia had their school discos this week. They both had a great time. When I saw the photo below I thought James had put gel in his hair - but no, he had gone to swimming class before the disco and was still a little wet.

Friday was supposed to be a Class Play at Clontarf beach but a huge storm hit just as all the kids left school. So instead of the beach it seemed like the entire school came back to our house. When I arrived home at 5:30pm the pool was overflowing with kids - who were having a ball. Sadly another lightening storm arrived and we had to quickly get everyone out of the pool and under cover.

It really is a wild time weather-wise in Sydney at the moment. Huge swings in temperature, high winds and bush fire risks all around. Already there are fires raging in South Australia (they have had 17 days in a row above 30 degrees) and parts of NSW also have fires out of control. It is looking like a hot dry Summer - El Ninio is having it's usual effect.

Sorry if this is all a bit painful given the Winter weather many of you are now experiencing....

Ken

Rock Star life style....

One of our 40th birthday presents was a weekend away in the Hunter Valley. The weekend had several special features - no kids and a helicopter trip to lunch.

We set off on Friday morning after dropping the kids at school. By 11:15am we were enjoying our first 'tasting' at Peterson's Champagne House - the bubbly was the perfect start to our weekend. Another quick tasting followed and then we were ready for lunch - at a lovely Italian cafe.

After all the eating and drinking we were in the perfect mood for our 3:00pm massage in the Golden Door Health Spa. My massage was so relaxing I actually fell asleep - which I think is a good sign.

After a relax by the pool we prepared ourselves for yet more indulgence at Rock - the best restaurant in the Hunter Valley - and one of the best in NSW. You can see the menu we enjoyed at http://www.rockrestaurant.com.au/default.asp?page=/menu We had the Dinner Menu.

We slept well on Friday night.

Saturday was really more of the same - but the highlight arrived at 12:00. Our helicopter may have been small, but it was great fun. A 15 minute flight over the nearby mountain took us to the small village of Broke, and Margan vineyard. This small vineyard produces an excellent range of wine and has a superb restaurant. After the compulsory wine tasting we settled in for our 3 hour lunch - enjoying a series of tasting plates washed down with their own white wine (Semillon). Highlights of lunch included Belly Pork with Cherries and Zuchini Flowers stuffed with goats curd.

Just on 3:30 our helicopter arrived to take us back to the hotel - another short but wonderful flight away.

The weekend continued to be just about perfect. Sunday was 34 degrees so we spent 2 hours by the pool, did some wine tasting, enjoyed a final lunch then drove home. I'm pleased to say that after 6 years Emma has finally started to enjoy open top motoring - and even smiled as we blasted back down the motorway with the wind in our hair.

So, all in all, a great weekend. The kids also had a blast staying with friends - so it was win-win.

The big challenge now is working out how we can afford our own helicopter. Please send donations!!!!!

Ken

Family weekend

We've almost completed a fun filled family weekend.

Saturday kicked off with Cricket - another win for the Kookaburra's and a solid performance from James - another 11 runs and a wicket. One of his team mates Billy got a hat-trick - each time clean bowling the opposition. This is no mean feat as the kids struggle to get good accuracy - so hitting the stumps three times in a row deservedly got Billy man-of-the-match.

Saturday afternoon felt a bit touristy. We headed down to Manly for ice-cream and the surf festival. The first few photos above show the event - the surf was a little messy but it was still fun to wander round and the kids certainly enjoyed the ice-cream.

We had a lazy afternoon tidying up, gardening followed by a dip in the pool and a Star Wars DVD.

Today we went for an adventure. We decided to cycle to Manly - and then hope the kids would make it back. After getting Olivia a new helmet and waiting for the rain to stop - we headed off. We made it to Manly in one-piece having stopped at a friend on the way. We timed our lunch stop to perfection as the rain got pretty heavy for a while - thankfully we could watch if from the cafe. Finally we set off back to home - all uphill. Despite a couple of minor falls from James & Olivia we made it back to Seaforth - to Deb & Ben's house. Tea & cake were just what we needed for the final few hills.

A great family day - the kids are just out the bath and we're now going to finish the weekend off with a game of trivial pursuit (Disney DVD edition).

More soon.

Ken

p.s. It cooled down from Tuesday's highs - a mere 22 degrees today.

Just a quick mid-week entry

As I said on Sunday - it feels like summer has arrived.

If you need proof....my iPhone does not lie...it's a scorcher. Actually peaked at 39.5 per my car.

Has Summer arrived?

It certainly felt like Summer this weekend, despite technically still being Spring.

Saturday saw the first Cricket Match of the season for the Kookaburras. James opened the batting along side Alex Cowan and finished joint-top run scorer with 11 runs from his 3 overs of batting - including a great 4. His bowling was a bit mixed but he got a wicket with a good run-out - he hit the stumps with a throw from a good pick up. The team won - which is a great way to start the season.

Saturday night was Halloween. Some American friends had a bit of a party - all the kids and most of the adults dressed up. James was an evil Jedi night and Olivia was a witch. Emma went as a witch (I told her the dress up was not really required for that look but....). The kids had a great time and finished up with 'trick-or-treating' in a nearby street. They both now have a small bucket overflowing with sweets.

Given the glorious weather we decided to hit the beach today. It was about 27 degrees when we got to Queenscliff and despite the wind we were all soon splashing in the water. James, after some initial reluctance, got into the swing of it and was soon body boarding with Stuart Hoffman and playing football with me. Olivia spent most of the time trying to surf with Quinn - they both stood on a board in the shallow water until a wave came along and knocked them over. This was very amusing as they did it at least 200 times. Emma won the bravery award by having a proper swim - I wimped out at waist deep as the water was still very cold.

The two videos below show James & Olivia attempting to 'sand board' - basically surfing on the sand. James got the hang of it a little more than Olivia did.

The afternoon was a bit more like a normal weekend - Olivia had a party and I did some gardening and then we all had dinner in Manly with the Hoffmans.

A great weekend - shame it has to come to an end.

Quiet weekend.....

It's all relative.....this was on paper a quieter weekend than normal but was still pretty full.

Saturday started with Jame's playing cricket - his final warm up match before the start of the season. The team were looking good and all the coaching has clearly helped. One of the players Dad's is Dermot Reeve - former England test player and current coach of the New Zealand cricket team. His involvement can only help and we all have high hopes for The Kookabarra's this season.

On Saturday afternoon I played another soccer match - for KPMG this time. I made several mistakes in this match, firstly - no suntan cream and secondly - thinking I could keep up with 25 year-olds. By the end of the game I was sore, bruised and very red - my nose will probably start to peel tomorrow.

Saturday night was Party Night. Our friend Helen Peach just turned 40. We joined 80 other people for a huge party in their house - complete with Harpist, a Rock Band and full catering. The theme was "Barefoot and Black Tie". The guys had to wear board-shorts and black tie, the girls cocktail dress with a 'hint of beach'.

In the picture you can just about see Emma's thongs (Flip-Flops for the Brits) - her 'hint of beach'. It was a great night with lots of dancing and drinking - it ended about 1:30am with most of the guys sitting in the jacuzi enjoying their final beers. We woke up with very sore heads this morning - and 4 kids as Helen's kids had stayed the night with us. 4 kids & a hangover are not a good combination.

Today was very, very wet in Sydney so we did not do much.

Olivia had fun pretending to be an alien from a distant planet. Lisa, Craig, Hunter & Fletcher joined us for dinner and I somehow managed to find the courage to enjoy a glass of wine. The hangover is finally gone!

Ken

Auckland weekend

We are just back from a long (Thursday to Monday) weekend in Auckland, New Zealand.

It was David Mochrie's 40th Birthday and given that I have known him since we were about 12 months old - we thought a visit was justified to help him celebrate the occasion.

We spent our time (in between eating & drinking) seeing the sites of Auckland - including several volcanoes (did you know Auckland is built on 50 volcanoes), some wonderful beaches, an acquarium and the compulsory Crazy Golf Course.

We had an excellent time. Dave, Nic and Nate were great hosts and put up with our messed up body clock from the mere 2 hour time difference.

Our dinner experiences were exciting. On our first night we went to a local Fish restaurant and enjoyed great food. We were not expecting the entertainment that arrived with desert - the Chef & Owner, clearly rather drunk, made a speech to the whole restaurant about a long held grudge he had against a local waiter and how he had just 'had it out' with him. He then moved on to Auckland's food critics and described how after a bad review he had flown a huge banner above a bridge calling the critic a w**nker. After that he joined our table and spent 30 minutes explaining how he had beat his drug problems. While a great chef - as a dinner companion he left a little to be desired. We'll remember the night for a long time though.

Now, it may have been the Whisky (a lovely single malt) or the many beers, but I have a vague recollection that Dave & I agreed to lose a few kg's and climb Kilimanjaro in 2010. Better get in training as after a few drinks in the week before I also agreed to do a 100km walk for charity - must be something to do with being 40!

Ken