Day Out at Taronga Zoo March 31, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Going Out, Life in General.Tags: taronga zoo
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We had a fab day doing the “tourist” thing in Sydney. We got one of those Daytripper travel passes ($16 for all bus/ferry/train) and discounts off some of the attractions. We went on the ferry to Taronga Zoo (15% off the daytripper). It was really hot, but not actually too busy. Unfortunately the Southern Oceans exhibit wasn’t open yet and all the sea creatures were being acclimatised into their new homes so we didn’t get to see any of them. The rest of it was pretty cool and we got loads of piccies of all the weird fauna (inc John posing in front of monkeys as is the tradition). Still think Melbourne Zoo was better, but maybe that’s cos 1/3 of the zoo was closed.
[Edit: found out on Thursday that it was the grand opening of the Southern Oceans exhibit - d'oh 2 days too late for us]
Summary of the day: Went to the Zoo! Had a burger for dinner (it’s mad, the standard Aussie burger has loads of onions, cheese, relish, salad and the most humungous slice of beetroot I’ve ever seen)
Day at the Beach March 30, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Life in General, Pregnancy, Under the Weather.Tags: beach, running with baby bump
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It was an absolute scorcher today in Sydney (well, it was about 28 deg which is warm for us Poms). We got up early (I did, everyone else was hungover from last night’s dinner). We went for a refreshing swim to wash out the cobwebs. My brother’s house in Bundeena is about 3 mins walk from the beach (I think Gunyah beach) and about 10 mins to Jibben beach. The water wasn’t too cold (the river house pool is much colder) but was so salty my eyes were stinging and running with tears. My skin stung like hell as well, but I think it’s meant to be good for the eczema.
We were meant to be getting the ferry from Bundeena to Cronulla to get lunch but my brother neglected to tell us what time it left, which gave us only 3 mins to get to the end of the pier. Only he made it on time by running down. John got to about 1/2 way down the pier. I got to the top of the road (could just about see the pier) by the time the ferry left. Why do these men not seem to understand that the baby bump does not seem to have proper shock absorption properties for me (fine for baby). Everytime I got past a certain speed it was bouncing all over the place. Then it went really really firm and was quite sore. Spent the rest of the day feeling terrible, various extremities started to swell up and had to lie down and sleep. Shrimp punished me for the rough ride by kicking lots.
Summary of the day: Went to the beach, Had yum cha, Felt bad and napped all afternoon, Watched Little Britain Live DVD in the evening.
Earth Hour March 29, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Life in General, Parties.Tags: earth hour
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Earth Hour is a big thing in Australia. It was on all the news and telly for the week. Basically from 8-9pm everyone switches off all the lights and extraneous electronic goods to save some energy. It’s quite nice as you get to eat by candlelight. Was spectacular at by brother’s house as we ate on the upper balcony and had views across the water to Cronulla and even further Sydney CBD. When Earth Hour started it was really impressive as it went very dark on the horizon (no orange glow from the city) and after 5 mins of eyes acclimatising there were so many stars in the sky. It’ll take some getting used to identifying the constellations of the Southern Hemisphere.
We had a dinner party where each person made a certain dish and each rated each other’s food. Sadly we didn’t win, but at least we ended up with a mark in the +ve integers. My brother got -ve marks for his course (oysters – although I got served a lump of cold tofu in an oyster blob shape, pretty grim). Everyone else got absolutely blottoed as each course also had to go with a selected alcohol (we did bloody marys).
Summary of the day: Met up with Dick (hubby’s teacher friend who moved to Sydney last year) for lunch, Went grocery shopping for dinner party, Went to Bundeena house, Ended up doing gardening for bruv before other guests arrived (John got bestowed with the strimmer, I got a weeder tool), Did Earth Hour whilst having a dinner party (which ended up lasting 5 hrs – we didn’t get onto the dessert course till 1am!).
Household Chores – DownUnder Style March 28, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Life in General.Tags: household chores, Miranda shopping
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How is it even when I am on holiday, I still have household chores to do? Today after the knackeringness (new adjective created by Gracie) of the last couple of days we decided to have a lazy day round the Shire. The only stipulation from my brother was that we had to track down a new fluro tube for the cooker hood. So we headed off towards Caringbah to find the mysterious Bunnings (which wasn’t on the road my brother said it was). Ended up at Miranda (which is a massive shopping centre) for a couple of hours looking for hardware, having coffee and cakes, and buying fresh food from the market. On the way back we passed some more shops and noticed a whole row of hardware stores – duh! Managed to get some of the stuff we needed, but still no bloody tube! Just as we were about to give up we drove past a Lighting store on the way towards Sutherland and managed to find a couple of the correct size (hurray). Came back to start work on the chores (only 2.5 hrs after we popped out to find stuff). So now my brother has a cooker hood with a light, a new clothes line (one that doesn’t have 17 knots in and isn’t 15 years old) a flyscreen that actually slides, and as I’m writing John is fixing the pool gate (it doesn’t shut securely). Little things my brother doesn’t seem to have time to do himself. It was actually quite useful driving around as we are familiarising ourselves with the locality which will be good when we move out here in December.
Summary of the day: Went out to find some bits n bobs, Drove round aimlessly looking for hardware store, Got stressed out at the shopping centre, Hung the washing out (wow, the washing doesn’t sag down onto the ground now), Swam in the afternoon, Went out for dinner to meet up with GH’s friends.
Wollongong for the Day March 27, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Life in General.Tags: day trip to Wollongong
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So, we took the Zeemer (BMW Z3) for a spin down the coast today. We had a lovely drive through the Royal National Park and went on the Sea Cliff Road Bridge nr Oxted. We stopped at this fabulous pub/hotel called the Scarborough Hotel that had the most fantastic views – it was set on the road side with nothing between the buildings and garden but a cliff face to the sea. We even managed to get one of the tables right at the edge. Drove through to Wollongong by the scenic route and went to Future Eco-Technology World which was all about renewable energy usage and saving energy in the home (it was mostly for kids, but with hubby a Physics Teacher and me having various students doing these kinds of things it was great for getting some ideas). Drove on down to Shell Harbour which was very small and quite quaint really. The weather was great (not too hot) and we had the lid off the car which was wonderful.
Summary of the day: Woke up, Went for a drive, Came back, Made leftovers into pasta. Felt knackered.
Interview Day March 26, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Family, Life in General, Parties.Tags: job interview
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Today was a scary day for hubby. He had an interview at Cranbrook School in Sydney (which is very prestigious and a bit posh). He didn’t know what the job was nor when it would start or anything, we just got an email from them asking him to come for a chat. He had his interview and was quite happy (even though they are looking for a Science/Biology teacher and he teaches Physics). Not really sure how it went though, seems to be a bit of a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” kind of affair so not holding out too much hope. Although if he gets a job then that would be a load off our minds. It won’t be fun moving out in December with a 5 month old baby and no job to support us! Whilst hubby went for interview, GH and I went for a pose around Double Bay area. Now, the area is something akin to Knightsbridge in London. Even the simple, 2 up 2 down terrace houses there are $2.2m (~1m GBP) so there’s no way we can afford to live round there! Was a really lovely area, lots of cafes and boutiques. There was even a poodle parlour and we stopped to watch a little black and white dog being coiffeurred (reminded me of Mocha, apart from this dog was not misbehaving).
Summary of the day: Went to Double Bay, Hung around posing, Went for late Yum Cha lunch in China town, Had dinner party with brother’s neighbours
Just Keep Swimming March 25, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Life in General, Pregnancy.Tags: swimming
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Woke up lovely and refreshed this morning. Hurray now the holiday starts. Hubby has an interview tomorrow so decided to take it easy today. We took the walking track up to Sutherland (from Woronora) which was really spectacular – not so much for the views, but the thing that really hits you is the smells. There’s this smell of bush forests (eucalyptus and the like) that is so fresh. Also it had started out really misty so all the water was evaporating off and the sun burning through.
In the afternoon we decided to swim in the pool. I squeezed into my tankini (hmm maybe I should have bought maternity swimwear after all as my big tummy was hanging out). Took about 10 mins to get myself into the pool (it was soooo cold) but once in it was divine! You don’t realise how much extra weight is at the front, conversely needed at the back to support the front weight as it creeps up on you. It was so nice to not feel heavy and floating around, especially after being crammed into ”cattle class” for 20 or so hours in flight. At 22 weeks pregnant, I can’t even imagine what the aches will be like by the time I get to 30+ weeks. Surprisingly Shrimp didn’t kick at all while I was swimming – I kinda thought they would be swimming along too 
Summary of the day: Went for a stroll in the locality, Went swimming, Sorted out some washing, Made dinner, Relaxed and unwound (great start to the holiday)
Arrrgh Jetlag March 24, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Family, Life in General.Tags: jetlag
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After the total confusion with the time zones and travelling we finally arrived in Sydney (at around 7am). Our baggage almost didn’t make it – luckily they looked again and found it left out on the runway somewhere (it was all wet when it came in 10 mins after the last luggage on the carousel got collected). My brother came to collect us from the airport and we took another 30 mins trying to find the car. It was so early in the morning he forgot where he parked the car so we were walking back and forth in an area with an “11″ (that’s the only thing he could remember) – later it turned out we were about 100 m from the area he actually parked it in. Oh dear! Got back to his house and showered and had a nap till lunchtime. Went for a lovely late afternoon/dusk stroll down the river – it was a good temperature but there were a lot of mossies out (not a problem for me as my skin is so dry it’s like rhino hide and damages the poor mosquito proboscis, but John is like a succulent five course meal for them).
Summary of the day: Slept, Wandered around Sydney airport car park, Slept, Went shopping, Went for stroll, Went out to Sutherland for dinner
Today is an Anomoly March 23, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Life in General.Tags: time differences when travelling
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[again, I've cheated as we didn't have internet access so am back-posting]
Today (I guess, something like Sunday) is Easter Sunday. Happy Easter. Easter, the most important day of the Christian calendar – our promise of forgiveness and resurrection!
Unfortunately it was also a bit of a non-day for us as we spent most of it in limbo somewhere between London, Seoul and Sydney. I guess that the day got compressed into something like 12 hrs long? The travelling is awful. Korean Air are a pleasant surprise though. The food was great. There is a bit more legroom than on other planes we’ve travelled longhaul on (John was happy not to have his knees sticking into the magazine rack). The best thing though was that the planes actually seem to leave at the time they say they will!
Summary of the day: Well, I could make up something exciting here, but all we did was sit on planes!
I’m Leaving On a Jet Plane… coming back in 2 weeks! March 22, 2008
Posted by graciek in Australia, Life in General.1 comment so far
[I've cheated a bit and posted this on a later day]
We stayed at my sister’s in London last night. Today we are off to Australia! Hurray- so excited! Not looking forward to the 20 hrs+ sitting on planes though!
Summary of the day: Met up with extended family for dim sum lunch, Went to airport, Got on plane.
