Hippo Birdy Two Ewes!

My baby girl was nine today......as always it only seems like 5 minutes since she was a newborn. And yet she seems so old for nine in many ways.....

Birthday celebrations began yesterday, when Anna chose to go to the Australian Wildlife Centre at Darling Harbour for a treat. We drove in......not a great idea really - the Darling Harbour complex is in the city centre, and I wanted to drive over the Harbour Bridge. You know how map reading causes much domestic disharmony? Well having sat nav doesn't help, because Hubby doesn't believe the sat nav either....well, at least it's not just me! However, we did eventually (after a considerable amount of swearing) find a car park, and took the monorail around the city to our destination. I was particularly interested in it because it was in the process of being built when I was in Sydney 20 years ago, and despite that it still looks rather space age zooming about on it's rail high above the ground. The children thought it was terribly exciting and giggled nervously clutching onto their seats, much to the amusement of other passengers!
The Wildlife Centre was a great success. Australia is evidently home to a large number of rather odd creatures, some of which I hope I never encounter. The ones I thought were cute I took photos of - including a loads of photos of the koalas, who are very photogenic and conveniently sit still most of the time. Apparently they sleep for up to 20 hours a day, and have very small brains. I know a few humans like that......

We were not reassured to discover that Australia is home to the world's most dangerous spider (the funnel web), the world's most venomous snake (the brown something...), and the world's most dangerous sea creatures. Virtually everything here could kill you it seems. Including the sun....

After completing our tour of all the awful ways to die Down Under, we walked over to the restaurant area and let Anna chose where we would eat supper. I took the above photo of the view across the harbour. I'm not much of a city girl, as you all will know, but I do think there is something a bit magical about those sort of city scapes at night.
We had a nice time eating Italian, watching the world go by and marvelling about the weather given the time of year. I swear George was having a good time, but Anna has her arm around him in this picture, which is guaranteed to illicit the sort of disgust you can see here!








I realise that the pictures have gotten all a bit out of sync here, but I can't work out how to change them! Sorry!

Anyway, this morning Anna leapt out of bed on first calling (v unusual) to open her pressies. Thanks so much to everyone who sent cards or presents or messages. It means so much to her and also to us - I wanted to make sure that this first birthday away from home was a happy one, and not too different to what she would have experienced at home. She loved all her presents, but she was particularly pleased with the iPod we got her, and the bikini Auntie Karen sent. Funnily enough, Anna lost her bikini bottoms at the swimming pool a couple of weeks ago, and since then I have been trying in vain to replace them. Inexplicably, no shops are now stocking childrens swimwear because.....it's winter! I honestly don't understand. There are people on the beach and in the sea everyday, but the shops are full of winter woolies! Anyway - that problem is now resolved, so thanks very much Karen!

I took Anna off to school armed with 30 chocolate muffins for her classmates and teachers, and when I picked her up this afternoon she had a sign hanging round her neck saying happy birthday on it. She seemed to have had a lovely day, and is pleased to no longer be so obviously the youngest in the class, as no one else was still only eight. But the fun didn't stop there. We had made arrangements to meet up with Sharon and her 3 children (Anna is getting very friendly with her daughter Zoe, who is a lovely sweet little thing), Maria and her 3 children and Lydia with Jack and Will (we think Anna and Jack have a bit of a mutual appreciation society going on!). We gathered at the gelato bar at Dee Why beach, bought them all icecreams and Anna got more gifts. What a lucky girl! The afternoon ended with all the children playing in the surf and the sand (more sand in the car.....)

When we got home it was pizza and birthday cake and then bed.......phew!

The other good news - for those of you who are not totally bored of my Australian lurgy - is that I have finally got my sense of smell back. For over 4 weeks I haven't smelt a thing, and Andrew has been telling me there is an awful smell in the kitchen. Today I smelt it for the first time, and oh my goodness me - yes it was awful. How Andrew hasn't taken the kitchen apart looking for the source I really don't know, but a couple of minutes of investigation revealed to me that the stench was emanating from the dishwasher we haven't been using and a brief look inside revealed a couple of inches of stagnant water covered in a moulding rotten food...lol. I've done my best with it, but all I can say is...thank goodness we move to Dee Why tomorrow!