What a wonderful world....

This really is an extraordinary place. Here we are in our home, overlooking a beautiful lagoon and a few minutes from a great beach - and yet we are 40 minutes by bus from the central business district of the most important city in the country, down the road from a cinema, shops, hospitals and everything we need for modern life.

And then - under 30 minutes away - there is this....






We've spent the day up the road in the Ku Ring Gai National Park with Maria, Molly, Luke and Sam, eating lunch by the water, enjoying the spectacular views and soaking up some rays. It's been wonderful.




As you can see from my photo, I'm feeling pretty relaxed these days. In fact, when I went to the gym to have a first session with the personal trainer he asked me to write a list of the 5 biggest causes of stress in my life, and do you know what? I couldn't think of anything! Not many months ago I could have written an essay on the subject, and I wouldn't have known where to start.

Coming here has definitely been a great decision. However, this is not to say that I don't miss countless things about home. I frequently think for a fleeting moment that I have seen someone I know - the other day I thought I saw Gary Watkins (hi Gary!). There is a short flicker of excitement, followed by the realisation that you have made a mistake and then inevitably, disappointment and a stab of homesickness. I miss the certainty of my old life - which is ironic, as it was exactly this certainty and lack of excitement and newness that had given me itchy feet. I miss my family, my friends and most painfully the opportunity to spend precious moments enjoying my nephew Lewis.

But what do I miss the most - the most consistently?

Sitting in the car chatting with Nugs after dropping off the children for school.

Love ya xxx

How's it hanging?

Oops. I seem to have neglected this blog just lately. However, you will all know that school holidays are a bit manic, and I literally have barely had a moment to myself.

So...where were we? I think I left you with our hopes for a day on the water with our tinnie and kayak on Sunday. Naturally, this didn't happen, because it rained. Again. And its been a bit miserable ever since. However, we haven't let that hold us back! Monday we had a day mainly at home, running a few errands and Anna playing with the girls across the road. On Tuesday, Lydia and her boys (Jack and Will) came over, and after we had exhausted the possibilities for playing here (ie when the boys got tired of chasing the girls), we bribed them all with money and promises of time spent in Galaxy World (an arcade) so that us women could have a quick shufty at the shops at the mall.

I was unable to persuade Lydia that she should buy the fabulous red dress I picked out for her, which she looked absolutely gorgeous in, and actually no purchases were made in the end, but we had a good time!

Then, very exciting, I went out for the evening! It was so wonderful to be out without the children and relaxing. I met up with Maria at the gym and we chatted on the bikes, the rower and the stretching machines. We did work up a sweat and were feeling very virtuous until we spoilt it all by going to a bar in Dee Why and sharing a plate of nachos...

Today we've been to an aquatic centre - you know, slides, waves, inflatables. The children had a great time, but Anna has been showing signs of being desperately overtired, and this usually manifests itself in being extremely rude and particularly to me. I think that because she was only discharged from hospital the day before the end of term, she's been pretty much on the go ever since with sleepovers and activities and now she is starting to fall apart. The other issue for her is that with the girls across the road she seems to be in a sort of heightened state of excitement, bordering on hysteria, all the time, which I think is to do with wanting to be accepted. It makes her kind of anxious and unable to tolerate any setbacks. Am I making any sense? Or am I making excuses? Anyway - I decided she needed some quiet time to calm down after swimming, as to be honest, she had been absolutely objectionable all day. I sent her to her room at 4.30pm and by 5pm she was fast asleep on the floor. Vindicated.

Why does parenting have to be so hard?

Answers on a postcard please....

PS Everyone should go out and by a Daily Mirror today - there is an article about my nephew Lewis in there today. And reading it should make us all remember that for most of us, no matter what challenges we face each day with our children, we should thank God they are able to be rude, objectionable and unreasonable.....You can read more about him at www.lewisjeynes.co.uk

Like fish to water

The week of torture by swimming lessons is over. And guess what? George has been promoted. This is excellent news of the highest order. It's no wonder that the Australians seem to churn out so many world record breaking swimmers. Swimming here is hardcore. I've never seen such attention to technique in children's swimming lessons. George and Anna are being taught how to swim front crawl with the most perfect breathing. George fair glides through the water now, and Anna is getting there. I'm starting to think that they might eventually be safe in the water.

At the moment, everyone (except me) is watching Many Sea Eagles play, along with our neighbour John and his 4 daughters. Manly Sea Eagles is the local rugby league club and it's in the top division (or something. I'm a bit vague about it all). Anyway, George really likes it, and John from across the road used to play for them. He also played league in England - for Widnes and for Castleford. The poor man was born in Queensland - how he coped with the cold I really don't know, but when he talks about those years, a certain haunted look comes over him. Anna likes it because there are cheerleaders (imagine that in Castleford!) and lots of opportunities to eat rubbish. I decided not to go because David Beckham doesn't play for them (the only possible reason for watching any sport) and I thought I might go to the gym. Although obviously I haven't gone.

I'm a bit tired you see, as our friends Richard and Sharon and the kids came over for the evening to eat cheese with lots of wine, and then, when we were absolutely stuffed, to get a thai takeaway. We spent most of the evening watching the Princess Diana concert thingy, which was shown in its entirety, and eventually Joel was asleep on the sofa and a fair swap of George for Zoe had been done. Richard and Sharon are off ski-ing tomorrow in New Zealand, but they are bringing over their kayak to keep here before they go.

This means that a day of water sports is on for tomorrow. We've bought the engine for the boat (I tried to buy one yesterday, but the man in the shop started to go on about transams and two stroke versus four stroke and my eyes started to glaze over), and the plan is to go off and explore the lagoon before stopping for a picnic. Luckily, Dad has chosen this weekend to send me an article about the drought causing sharks to be seen much further into the river system than usual. Apparently, sharks have been seen in the lagoon in the past, but a very particular set of tidal conditions would need to be in place for it to happen. A quick search of the internet revealed also that once a pod of dolphins got caught in there. I"m hoping for the dolphins.

Promise to try to remember the camera AND the memory card!

Saving Lives

Today I saved a life. Two actually. Those two ducks who starred on this blog a few day ago, somehow got lost in Woolworth's car park (local supermarket). Course I'm not sure it was the actual same two ducks, but they were white with orange bills and they quacked a lot. And they were quite stupid. So even if they weren't the same ones, they were certainly related.


Anyway, we had just popped into Woolworth's after swimming to pick up some milk and there they were, quacking manically and wandering around the car park. I spent the next 15 minutes trying to herd them back to the lagoon, whilst flapping my arms in panic in front of every 4 wheel drive that threatened to flatten them. Eventually they were on the road, where the three of us made quite a spectacle of ourselves stopping the traffic and risking life and limb. I have to say, ducks are rather difficult to herd. They go in really any direction, including back towards you, and show no fear of great big car wheels. Much to the local drivers amusement, at last they were back in the lagoon and paddling about as ducks ought to. I've no doubt that the moment we had gone they were back at Woolworths. I think someone has told them where we buy the Sunblest.


Thanks for all the comments. Keep 'em coming. My sister mentions that I should internet shop, which reminds me that I have been meaning to mention the quality of the shopping out here for a while. Whilst there are only really 2 supermarket chains - Woolworths and Coles - neither of which can hold a candle to Waitrose or even Tesco, the local economy seems able to support the full range of independent food stores. This means that I have a huge choice of local butchers, greengrocers and bakers, all of which sell goods of fantastic quality. Also, of course, there are great fishmongers. The other thing that is wonderful is the range of take aways, many of which sell healthy food which you don't have to feel bad about serving to your family every now and again. The best example of these are the chicken shops, which sell roast chickens (and lots of other versions of chicken), along with all the trimmings for a roast or a selection of really beautiful salads. At many of the shops the chickens are either organic or corn fed, free range, antibiotic free birds, so you don't have to feel bad about that either.


So if you do visit - you'll know what to expect food wise...

Another perfect day

I'm afraid it was hot today. Proper summer in England hot. And it's winter. Hurrah! I was beginning to think that the stories of summer all year round in Sydney was a myth propagated by the Australian government to attract unsuspecting Europeans to their shores.

Andrew and I slept with the curtains open, so that the first thing we saw when we opened our eyes was a view of the lagoon, still as a mirror, not a ripple in it. Beautiful. It's interesting how much the lagoon changes from day to day. On windy days it is quite choppy and all the windsurfers come out. One day last week we even saw a kite surfer out there. On calm days like today, the surface of the water is only broken by kayaks passing by and the odd tinnie.

After a visit to the physiotherapist, where my rubbish sacroilliac joint was manipulated and I was given pretty excrutiating massage (which actually has made it all feel much better), we came home and went for a bike ride around the lagoon, as far as the concrete cycle track goes. It was lovely. I spied a lovely and unusual (well - to me!) water bird and was so pleased I had remembered to take the camera. Wasn't quite so pleased when I discovered that I had failed to take the memory card - AGAIN. Never mind. Hopefully we shall see the bird again.

The rest of the day was taken up with the children playing with the locals and taking George and Anna for their swimming lesson, which we achieved without too much fuss.

Here's hoping tomorrow is as good....

That's more like it!

Today was a beautiful day. Sorry about that, for those of you still suffering with the rain and the floods, but it was. The sun shone all day, there was not a cloud in the blue sky, and the temperature, according to the internet was 19 degrees.

Now that is what I signed up for.

Temperatures and a sky that could have been an English summer day - but in the middle of winter. An excellent start for the school winter holidays. Which are 3 weeks looooonnnnnggggg........did I mention that before?

We spent most of the day with Sharon, Eben, Zoe and Joel enjoying the wonderful views of Pittwater from The Newport Arms pub - until we had to rush off for the first of George and Anna's daily swimming lessons as part of their intensive swimming course.

Which was cancelled....unsafe levels of chlorine in the water.

George and Anna could not have been more thrilled. Getting them out of the Newport Arms and off to the pool had been accompanied by plenty of moaning and unpleasantness. I'm not sure why they hate swimming lessons so much, when they love being in the water so much. But they do. And when I say -ok, no swimming lessons, no going in the water - they always call my bluff and say they won't go in the water then. Kids. Do they think I like dragging them kicking and screaming to the pool every week, then sitting on a wooden bench in what is just about a sauna for 45 mins, fully clothed? I'm only doing it in the hope that they won't drown. But you try telling them that! Anyway, tomorrow lessons should be back on so we'll have to go through the whole rigmarole again. Oh, happy days...

When we got home, George and Anna played in the garden without arguing for some time. This is a miracle. Even though Anna is sporting a large bruise on her cheek where George nutted her by mistake on the trampoline, they remained friends. Until I mentioned that we needed to go to the supermarket, whereupon all bets were off and everyone hated each other again (I caved in and have just got back from doing the shopping at 9.45pm. Thank god the supermarket is open until midnight). The arrival of two rather cute ducks in the garden made everything alright again though, and they devoured the last of our bread (making putting off the shopping until tomorrow impossible). Apparently the ducks could not fly, so George and Anna had to open the gate for them to get back to the lagoon.

Frankly, I think they were just a little lazy. And a bit full, given that they had just eaten half a loaf of sunblest each....

Gone fishing.....

This is Andrew fishing from the end of our garden about 10 mins ago.

Now that, my friends, is relaxin'.......