Camping at Jervis Bay

The white sands of Chinaman's Beach



Dawn at Collingwood Beach



Don't worry - it's a dolphin!




Some of the children playing at Hole in the Wall Beach







Beach Babe!



Fitzroy Falls on the way to Jervis Bay



Andrew, Graham and Richard take part in the Krypton Factor!


We spent the Easter long weekend at Jervis Bay, camping with the Stevensons and the Leifers. Easter has a reputation here for being a bit wet and it didn't disappoint, but having said that, my dad sent me some pictures of the snow in the UK and we had to admit that although it drizzled a bit, it was never cold, and in fact on Easter Sunday it was boiling and we all got sunburnt.

The whole area of Jervis Bay is National Park, and when you get there you can see why - white sand beaches and the clearest, greenest water you've ever seen. Add to this dolphins, stingrays, lots of kangaroos, and good restaurants and coffee bars, and you have a near perfect destination for a holiday. The fact that it is only about 3 hours south of Sydney is also a big plus, although the route down there can be tortuous in terms of traffic jams. Not for us though - we avoided the coastal road for as long as possible, taking an inland route then cutting across Kangaroo Valley (which was really beautiful) and stopping at Fitzroy Falls on the way.



Joel at Hole in the Wall beach




George digging!

Highlight for me was definitely getting up at dawn with Nicky and Graham and going down to watch the sunrise over the beach whilst dolphins played in the surf. Seeing a huge (about 3 metres across) stingray in the water at Chinaman's Beach was slightly marred by the fact that all the children were in the water and not taking much notice of our frantic attempts to get them out.....the stingray actually passed within about a metre of them!

Camping is great fun, but very labour intensive, and as a result I am not sure I would want to do it without being in a group of families. With 6 adults to cook, wash up, put up and take down tents, and lots of children to keep each other amused, it's doable. Not sure whether it would be fun with just the 4 of us though....

Mum and Dad arrive tomorrow, and then it is go go go for a month. We have next weekend in the Blue Mountains, and then the following Friday we all fly to Melbourne to spend a week at a bush resort. Then Andrew and I will be staying on in the city for a couple of days while Mum and Dad and the children have 4 days back at Jervis Bay. School breaks up for Easter for 2 weeks on the 11th, and then it won't be that long before we are flying back to the UK for a bit of a holiday. The cricket season ended yesterday, with George's team, coached by Andrew, finishing 3rd on the table, and the netball season has just begun. I need a rest!!

Enjoy the photos!

Reflecting on a year gone by (Part 1)

Hello. Its the man of the house here. I know you haven't heard much from me lately, this blog mainly being the preserve of the more literate member of the household (hey I'm an engineer - she has a degree in English!) but I thought that with our one year in Oz anniversary rapidly approaching it was time for a bit of reflection on my part. I am anticipating that the more literate one will probably be reflecting on a similar theme, hence the 'Part 1' title.

I feel like I should be saying something really profound about the life changing decision that we made and the impact it has had on me so that people far and wide can learn from the experience but in reality it seems far simpler than that. I think the biggest impact has not been so much that we now live somewhere different or better but that by throwing all the balls up in the air it has prompted me to do a whole load of things that I would not otherwise have done (see below). I am by nature a conservative sort of person (decidedly small 'c' please note) and so tend towards inertia, whereas the other 'alf is only happy when things are changing, a product of our respective up-bringings no doubt. With so much change happening in such a short space of time however I have become rather accustomed to this new way of life. It reminds me of that old cliche about life not being about the number of breaths that you take but the number of times that your breath is taken away. I was once accused of being in danger of "having a life half-lived" which struck a chord, I think I have done enough to refute that one, at least for the time being!

It will be interesting to see how year 2 pans out, now that the novelty of all that Oz life offers has started to wear off. On the whole I am convinced that the lifestyle here makes a big difference, in particular the climate and all that goes with it in terms of outdoor lifestyle. We have been well aware of this despite it having been the wettest and coldest Sydney summer for decades.

So here is my list of 20 things that I have done in the last year that I would not have done had we not come to Australia:

1. Commute to work by ferry.
2. Commute to work by bus.
3. Not have a car.
4. Visit Seoul.
5. Spend an evening at Raffles in Singapore.
6. Watch dolphins playing in the surf.
7. Watch whales breaching in the Pacific.
8. Become a qualified cricket coach.
9. See Sachin Tendulkar score a century at the SCG.
10. Become a rugby league fan (go Manly!)
11. Join a gym and actually go to it regularly.
12. Take up camping.
13. Play tennis in the back garden.
14. Swim in the front garden.
15. Spend boxing day on the beach with my best man and his family.
16. Sign up to play over-35's soccer this season (middle aged limbs permitting).
17. Watch the cup final in the middle of the night.
18. Go to an orchestral concert at Sydney Opera House (and the ballet next week).
19. Catch fish, although not yet one big enough to eat.
20. Start a new job.

So I guess the lesson is that if you are feeling a bit of malaise in your life then the answer doesn't have to be as radical as giving up a perfectly good job, moving 11,000 miles and starting over (although it might be). Perhaps just come up with a list of 20 things you have always wanted to do (or even that you had never thought of doing) and go for it.

Barrenjoey Lighthouse

Walking up the beach on the Pittwater side of Barrenjoey Headland - we are off up to the lighthouse you can see up there



Anna taking a break halfway up


George and Anna have a pretty frenetic social life here, and as their taxi driver I do too. Most weekends are full of sport plus extra children sleeping on put-me-ups around the house. In many respects I love having a home where children are keen to visit and where their parents feel confident that they will be well looked after, but every now and again I would like to have the house to ourselves and not share the my children with their friends. In the last couple of weeks we have had Joel, Jack, Eben, Luke, Chloe and Georgie for sleepovers - all lovely kids, but lots of noise, mess, late nights and bedlinen!

As a result, this weekend was declared a sleepover free zone, and today a family only day. This plan was greeted with a decided lack of enthusiasm from George and Anna, but Andrew and I perservered - despite feeling like the world's worst parents when fighting off requests from all corners for various apparently enormously important social events!

Having been for a great walk with Sharon and Joel on Friday to the top of the Barrenjoey Headland (Joel should have been at school but, as 6 year olds are inclined to do, he had been suffering from a mysterious ailment in the morning, of which by lunch time he had been miraculously cured...), we thought it would be fun to do the walk again with the children, have a look around the lighthouse, and then retire to the beach.

We started the morning with a fun game I have invented called tidying up the house. I am the only person who is keen on this game, but Andrew and the children reluctantly joined in. It involves going methodically from room to room collecting all the things which belong to you, and then returning them to your room. I follow with a black sack getting everyone to pick up bits of rubbish. The final stage is to go to your room and tidy that up. Can't understand why everyone was so negative about it myself....and of course we wouldn't have to play the game IF EVERYONE PUT EVERYTHING BACK IN THE RIGHT PLACE IN THE FIRST PLACE. I know women across the world are nodding their heads in agreement...

Anyway - back to our lovely family day...

Barrenjoey Headland is the rocky outcrop at the end of the Palm Beach peninsula with Pittwater on one side and the ocean on the other. You will have seen it in the opening credits on Home and Away, if you ever watch it, because the programme is filmed there. It's 350 feet about sea level, and is therefore a pretty steep walk up steps hewn out of the rock to get there. Although it is tiring - especially in the heat - the view when you get to the top is plenty rewarding enough to make it worthwhile. You can see all the way up the central coast in one direction, and in the other you can make out Centrepoint Tower in Sydney city centre. We went on the tour of the lighthouse and found out that the tower and the buildings had been built by convicts, who had dragged great chunks of sandstone up there for the construction. Given that it was tough carrying nothing but a water bottle, I reckon that was quite an achievement!



George has spotted a big lizard. We are told there are (highly venomous) brown snakes up there too!




At the top, looking over to the beautiful beaches of the Central Coast

After that, we retired to 'Carmel's Cafe' on the jetty on Pittwater - where the seaplanes set off from - for refreshments and then went over to the beach on the ocean side to cool off. Andrew and the children went in with their bodyboards and I watched anxiously from the edge of the water. I still find it difficult to relax when George and Anna are in the water, even when Andrew is there. The more I see 'Bondi Rescue' on the tv, the more I realise how treacherous the sea really is, although I accept that George and Anna rarely go in above their waists and always between the flags and are really not ever in any danger. In the end, I decided that the best thing was to take myself back to our stuff and read my magazine, on the grounds that what the eyes don't see, the heart doesn't grieve over...

Despite the dodgy start, and the initial muted commitment to the idea, family day was announced a success, and it was agreed that it should happen at least once a month. Disappointingly, no one wanted to make the tidying up game a regular thing. Funny that.

You will all be pleased to know that for the last couple of weeks, the weather has been glorious - consistently hovering around 30 degrees, and without a cloud in the sky. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the bank holiday weekend when we are going camping....perhaps you could cross yours for us too!



Taken from the top of the lighthouse, looking along the Barrenjoey Headland back towards Palm Beach, with the ocean on the left and Pittwater on the right. You can see the jetty where the seaplanes go from, and where we had our refreshments

Say what??!!

Radio is really big here. I was talking the other day to someone who is in advertising, and she was saying that one of the big things she has had to get used to since moving out here (of course she is British - nearly everyone is...) is what an important medium radio is - more so than tv. Radio DJs are superstars, and everyone knows what they look like. They do have some good shows (certainly Australian radio is far superior to anything I've seen on the telly that they produced themselves), but the thing that I find extraordinary is the adverts. They will advertise anything on the radio at any time of the day. The one that is making me uncomfortable at the moment is one where there are two cowboys (I presume, from the voices..) and one of them - Fast Willy - is having trouble with shooting off too soon. It's an advert for some nasal delivery system to deal with premature ejaculation. Now - I appreciate that this is nothing to be ashamed of etc etc, but really - I'm on the school run! I've got children in the car! Can you imagine that on a UK radio show??

And the other day I was listening to an interview with one of the personal trainers (female) on the Biggest Loser, and the (male) DJ asked her whether there were any exercises the other DJ (female) could do to lose the fat from her vagina.....erm excuse me?! Would that be an appropriate thing to ask anyone anywhere - let alone on national radio. George was sniggering in the passenger seat.

As a result, I often listen to a Christian radio station in the car, which happened to be already programmed into the stereo when we bought the car. They play good music and they NEVER talk about premature ejaculation or vaginas. I just zone out if they get too godly...

As far as the TV is concerned, it is pretty much all the same programmes we watched in the UK. You'd be surprised at the amount of UK stuff - some of it, it is difficult to imagine what interest it have to Australians. Although it sometimes feels like it, not everyone is British - so why would people want to watch 'Escape to the Country' or 'Relocation Relocation'? I've just checked the TV schedule for tonight, and the number of UK shows is amazing - The Bill, Antiques Roadshow, Casualty, Parkinson, Coronation Street, Eastenders. I don't tend to watch any of the UK shows, with the exception of things like Relocation Relocation. I like to see the familiar places.

Speaking of which, our house (in the UK) has just been on TV! It was featured in Escape to the Country. The people didn't buy it, but apparently they were very complimentary. Thank goodness. Did anyone see it?

Right - better go...it's Saturday morning and we've got a busy day of cricket, riding and BBQing on the beach with friends!

(Oh and if anyone needs info about that nasal delivery stuff for premature ejaculation, please feel free to email me privately....lol)

Rose Tinted Spectacles

I've had a number of messages and emails from people recently which say that our life sounds perfect or idyllic. Plus a couple of requests to write an entry which says it is rubbish here.

Whilst it is not rubbish here, most people who know me will know that I'm a positive and optimistic type, and I'm inclined to make the most of things. You have to go out and meet the world head on, and relish the opportunity to do this.

However......

Just so you all know that life here isn't perfect....here is a list of things about being in Australia which piss me off.

Insects

Insects are everywhere, and are an important part of life here. Housework, in particular, is governed by them. If you don't keep the place clean and tidy, they will take over. I've found ants in virtually every room in the house. We've found dead cockroaches in the dishwasher. We've had HUGE spiders. Today I extracted a weird jumping type creature from inside my trouser leg whilst filling the car up with petrol. And mosquitos....you can forget about going out in the evening smelling sweetly of your latest expensive scent. These days the only thing I smell of after dusk is insect repellent. And woe betide you if you ever leave the sunroof or windows of your car open after parking. I'm not sure how many deaths can be attributed to people driving along and suddenly realising that they are sharing their vehicle with a huge hairy spider, but I'm sure as hell not going to be one of them. Actually, speaking of the big hairy ones, I was listening to the radio the other day and they had a segment where you could phone up with your tales of unfortunate encounters with insects....now if you are eating or about to eat, or of a nervous disposition, I would suggest you don't read this, but someone phoned and said she was camping in the bush, and unbeknown to her, a spider got in her ear and laid some eggs. As if this wasn't horrifying enough, when they hatched, they found a way out via her throat and into her mouth.....aaaaaaaaaggggghhhhh. Will be taking my ear plugs with me camping at Easter...

Sweating

Yes yes yes....I know...only horses etc....but I'm telling you. I definitely sweat. A lot. This is both unattractive and unhygienic. It also ruins your hairstyle. On a hot day, getting up consists of an immediate shower because you've been sweating all night and feel disgusting. You are still sweating when you get out the shower. Then you dry your hair (this has to be done naked or you would die of heat exhaustion). Then you need another shower because you are so hot. At this stage I usually put the ceiling fan on full blast and stand under it till I cool down. You can attempt to put make up on, but you have to keep mopping your brow. Any sort of physical activity - hoovering, ironing etc - has to be followed by another shower. I am conscious of sweating all the time. I'm told I will acclimatise. I better.

Pedicures

Your feet are on show virtually all year round, so this means regular pedicures. Other people might find this a lovely, relaxing thing, but I find it a form of torture. I absolutely HATE having my feet touched. I writhe about in the chair, they beg me to relax my feet, and it can't be over quick enough for me. Bet you would never have guessed that about me!

Early Mornings

I know I've mentioned this before, but the aussies LOVE to get up at the crack of dawn. The last two days, for various reasons, I've had to get the kids to school for 6.45am and 7.15am and it is a 25 minute drive. This morning as we travelled along Pittwater Road at 6.15am, George and I were surprised by the amount of traffic about, and the number of people running, walking and riding bikes, presumably before going to work. At the gym, they tell me that one of the busiest times of the days is at 5.30am when it opens. Nutters. Understandably, they are not late night people. If you are going out for dinner, it could well be at 6.30pm, and everyone is going off to bed at 9.30pm. Odd.

Things I Can't Buy and Would Like To

Boots No 7 blusher
Total Blonde hair shimmer (I think that is what it is called)
Twinings Decaffeinated Earl Grey Tea
Applicator tampons (...sorry...)
Really good, proper, pork sausages
Persil Non Bio

Distance

It really is a bloody long way from anywhere, and once you get out of Sydney, it's a bit the back of beyond. Pretty and everything, but I find it a bit scary. What do people do in these places? They look stifling.

Is that enough? Are you people satisfied now? It's not perfect, bad stuff still happens, the children still argue, Andrew is still sometimes an arse (and so am I), but hey - the sun is shining, and tomorrow we might be going to the beach. So if you don't mind, I think I'll keep on smiling!