Sailing

You wouldn't think we were a few weeks off the start of winter. It felt like a summers day today while we were sailing on Sydney Harbour. There was not a cloud in sight. Just sunshine and no wind!! Not exactly a perfect day for sailing, but it was still a lovely day. The race was a shortened course because there was no wind but it still took 3 hours to finish. We ended up coming 3rd out of 11 boats, so it was a good effort in such slow conditions. Below is a photo of all the boats behind Gondy.

On top of Sydney!

Yesterday we finally made it to the top of the coathanger. I had bought us tickets early last year but never got a chance to climb the bridge before now. We got to the Bridge Climb centre where we were given a safety briefing, got into our one piece suit and practiced climbing up ladders before heading off for the real climb. The scariest part of the climb was the approach between the office and the start of the arch. The walkway was high above the street and harbour and you could see straight below you. Before reaching the arch, we had to climb up 4 sets of steep ladders. But once there, the view was amazing. Walking on top of the arch was a fasinating experience. Our guide Tony was a funny guy and kept the walk very amusing. It was great to learn about the building of the bridge 80 years ago. Once we reached the very top, we crossed to the other side of the bridge and walked back down. It was amazing to see the city from a different viewpoint.

New Zealand

Our New Zealand holiday started in style with us travelling in an A380 from Sydney to Auckland. Its such a smooth and quiet experience compared to all the other flights we have been on. Our first night in New Zealand we were woken at 2am by the fire alarm going off!! We hoped this wasn't a bad sign of what might continue to happen on our holiday, luckily it wasn't.

The next day we caught a bus to the Bay of Islands.The weather was perfect, sunny and warm. We picked up the boat, a Noelex 30 that would be our home for the next 5 days. We both loved just relaxing, enjoying the sun, sailing around a little then anchoring in one of the many bays and swimming before one of the magical sun sets. On our last day with the boat, we were woken early by the coastal marine service advising us of a tsunami warning being issued and we needed to listen to the emergency radio for further instructions. Fortunately nothing happened, but it was still a little scary.

After giving the boat back, we went back to Paihia for one more night before heading back to Auckland for our flight to Queenstown. Uwe made a friend while we were there - Rocky the parrot. The parrot had fun eating a button off his shirt and didn't want to get off. He would bite at people who tried to get him off!

The flight to Queenstown was spectucular. The southern alps and lakes were amazing and then there was the tricky landing into Queenstown to avoid the many mountains surrounding the town.

For two nights we stayed in the Balmoral Bed & Breakfast in Queenstown. It had a spectacular view of the mountains and Lake Wakatipu from our room. Uwe went out on the town with Brendon for his bucks night and came home a little drunk.

The next morning. we drove up to Lake Wanaka to do some hiking, but we arrived too late and didn't have enough time to do the long walk before the sun set. We went part of the way and the scenery was spectacular along the way.

Then we drove to Glenorchy for our Dart River safari with some friends who also came over for the wedding. We got on the bus and drove through some forest and took a little walk to where the jetboats were. We got on the jetboat for a fun, and sometimes a bit scary, ride up and down the Dart River. After the jetboat ride, we drove to the lovely historical town of Arrowtown, where the wedding would be the next day.

Anita and Brendons wedding was lovely. They got married in a tiny church in Arrowtown, then the guests were driven in a red double decker bus to the reception, a lovely winery just outside of town. It was a lovely evening, enjoyed by all.

We had one final night and day in Queenstown before we headed home. Again another spectacular sunset, then in the morning before the flight, we took the gondola up to the top of one of the mountains for an amazing view over Queenstown. If we had the time we would of paraglided down the mountain, maybe next time!

Busy, busy, busy

Can't believe we are half way through February already. Where has the time gone?

I finished my job with Nover early January after working for them for 6 years. It was a sad day to leave, but needed to happen. I was travelling about 2 hours a day just to get to and from work. I started a new job with Infigen Energy, a company that owns and operates wind farms in Australia, the US & Europe. Their office is in the city, much closer to home, so I catch a bus in the morning and then walk home. Love going shopping during lunch.

Uwe went to Brisbane for a boys weekend. We play tennis every Monday night with friends. We have sailed Friday nights, Uwe sails every Saturday and we both sail every third Sunday.

Uwe and I started Febfast, which is where we give up alcohol for the month of February. Not really a challenge for me as I am not a big drinker, but it has been hard for Uwe so far. It was my birthday on the 5th February, we went sailing after work, then to a nice restaurant in Double Bay for dinner and water, no wine or beer for us! Then on Saturday we had dinner with my family.

On Saturday we celebrated two birthdays, friends Tracie and Jen. Tracie turned 40 and we went over to her place for a birthday lunch. Then after we left there, we drove down the south coast to Culburra Beach to celebrate Jens birthday. We spent Saturday night there and headed back home after lunch on Sunday. It was a lovely house on the beach, but it rained all weekend. Below is a pic of the view from the deck of the house we stayed in. It was only a short walk down to the beach.

A busy week ahead for us, we still have to organise a few things for our holiday to New Zealand in a weeks time, plus I am going to Melbourne with a friend to do some serious shopping this weekend! Really looking forward to both these trips away.

Happy New Year!

Hello, 2010!!

We spent a fabulous New Years Eve with our friends on Garden Island to watch the fireworks and welcome in the new year. Garden Island is one of these terrific spots in the harbour with an excellent view of the Opera house and the Harbour Bridge, the centre of the fireworks. We had a picnic with plenty of food for everyone including a whole watermelon and many bottles of champagne. As always the Sydney fireworks were spectacular!

Both Uwe and I hope that 2010 is a fantastic year for everyone filled with much love, happiness and good health.

Motivated

Last year, Uwe and I went to Hamilton Island for a long weekend. We spent time relaxing by the pool drinking cocktails, played mini golf and went sailing. It was a great trip up until the part where I broke my foot. We had just spent a couple of hours sailing to Whitehaven beach and I went down below to get my towel and bag when I fell down a step. In that split second, the holiday had ended. The next day we were flying home and spending countless hours at St Vincents Hospital waiting for xrays and getting a cast put on.

Obviously, with a broken foot, there was no sailing for me for a while. Actually, there wasn't much happening at all, just resting my foot and recovering. Since then, I had lost my motivation to exercise and the weight had gradually piled on. It was on Saturday night that finally gave me the motivation back to get fit and lose the weight. Its when you go to your cupboard to choose something nice to wear out to dinner and you realise most of your clothes are just too tight!! That was Saturday night!

So it has begun, the fitness regime. Uwe is definitely with me in the training as he has come to the same realisation as me. So, on Sunday we got our bikes out of the bike cage (had to clean all the dust off them and pump the tyres as they hadn't been used for quite a while) and we rode them from Rushcutters Bay to Bondi Beach and back. Wow!! It was alot of fun and very exhausting. There were lots of steep hills which I couldn't ride up, I ended up having to walk the bike up them. Thankfully, Uwe was really patient with me. Uwe had a quick dip at the beach before we headed back home.

Summer's coming

In just less than a month, summer will officially be here. Yay! Today, Sydney reached a temperature of 37 degrees. It was the perfect time to use the pool on the roof of our building when I got home from work. It was a little cold when I got in, but once in, it was lovely. I did quite a few laps in the pool and then just relaxed in the sun. Can't wait to do this every day during summer. It was also the first test for our unit to see how hot it would get inside during summer. Surprisingly, it was not hot at all when I got home. Now, the storm is coming through and the temperature has dropped alot and will only get to about 20 degrees tomorrow.

Darwin to Broome Holiday

We're back from our outback adventure to the Kimberleys and what a great time we had. It certainly was filled with lots of adventures. There were many lovely sunsets, lots of driving on what seemed like endless roads, lots of wildlife and even some crocodile spotting. The weather was very hot but the water holes and gorges were very refreshing to swim in.

There were many adventures along the way, we got bogged on a rocky trail coming back from seeing a wonderful gorge. It was quite late in the afternoon so we didn't have time to walk back to the homestead so we had to camp overnight there in the 4wd until the next morning when we got towed out. We also had one flat tyre on our second last day, some kind men stopped and helped change the tyre for us. Uwe had his first helicopter ride ever, we flew over the Bungles which were amazing to see from above. It was a little scary, as there were no doors on the helicopter, just seatbelts holding us in.

We saw some freshwater crocodiles at one of the gorges, many kangaroos, birds and countless cattle along the side of the road. There were many Boab trees, some with massive trunks. The roads in the Kimberley were rough and only 4wd accessible, sometimes they were so rough we could only drive about 20km/hr.

Cable Beach in Broome was spectacular. The sunset here was amazing. I couldn't believe how white the sand was and the aqua colour of the water. While we were in Broome we stayed at the luxurious Cable Beach Club Resort which was a big step up from living in the campervan the last 13 nights.

Bondi

I can't believe the difference in weather we have had the last few days. Today, I made it home from work just in time before the big storm passed through the city. It poured down and is still bucketing down now. I'm not complaining, we really do need the water but its such a big difference from the last couple of days where it was warm and sunny. It was the weekend which was perfect, so we headed to Bondi to do the Bondi to Bronte coastal walk. We had fish and chips by the beach and sat in the warm sun and enjoyed a lovely afternoon. Really couldn't think of a better way to spend a warm spring day with Uwe.



We are now getting prepared for our adventure holiday in the Northern Territory & Western Australia. We leave on Saturday where we fly to Darwin and hire a 4WD camper and drive through the Kimberleys to Broome. Really looking forward to it, can't wait.

Sunday BBQ

On Sunday, we went down to the boat club to have a bbq with the Gondwana crew and their families. It was a lovely day, very sunny but a little windy which made it a little cold. It was great to catch up with some of the crew we hadn't seen for a while. The kids enjoyed themselves, playing games and riding bikes all day. I always love to go down to the boat club, it has a great view of the Harbour Bridge, plus it is only a 5 minute walk from our place.

Pink

We had a girls night out last night where we went to see Pink in concert. It was an amazing night, she is such a talented performer. She sold out 58 shows in Australia, it is the biggest concert Australia has seen. The night started with dinner and drinks at a friends place, then we left the boys behind to go to the concert. Before Pink came out, we listened to Evermore play and then the crew came on stage to do the Thriller dance, very funny. Then Pink came out and amazed the entire crowd. She not only sang but did numerous acrobatics while singing and lots of dancing in wonderful costumes. While I loved all the stunning dancing and stunts she did, my favourite part was when she grabbed a guitar and sat down and sang a few songs, my fav was Dear Mr President. It was a great concert, enjoyed by all.

Housewarming Party

We had our housewarming party last night, with great success. There were about 4o adults and 10 kids come to celebrate our new place with us. It started at 2pm, my family came over and we got the place ready by decorating and making snacks and platters of food. My neices and nephew enjoyed swimming in the pool and spa for a while then went to the park to play. Then all our friends came over for dinner and drinks on the rooftop terrace. It was lovely to have our party there in the open, with the city as the backdrop. Plus, it was a lovely evening, not too cold and not raining (we got a few drops at the end though). We had a wonderful barbeque on the roof, Uwe cooked prawns, steaks & sausages and we served up salads, coleslaw and bread rolls. The German beer went down well, everyone loved the Erdinger, Schoefferhofer and Loewenbraeu, they even loved drinking it from the Weiss beer glasses Uwe has. We then had fruit platters and cream cupcakes for dessert. Everyone enjoyed the food and the view from the roof.

Today was cleanup day. There were many glasses and dishes to clean, carpet and our new sofa needed to be cleaned (kids eating and drinking on the sofa didn't help). We filled at least one garabage bin of just beer glasses, amazing how much we all drank!!

We also got some wonderful gifts from everyone. My parents gave us dinnersets and cutlery, my sisters gave us serving platters, friends gave us plants, herb garden, glasses, ice cream bowls, salt and pepper mills, platters and bowls, cook books and much more. We were very lucky. We also received from one of Uwes friends our initials, U & L. They are lovely. Thanks to all our friends and family for coming, we had a wonderful day.

Sydney Swans game

Wow, what a game tonight. Edge of your seat thriller, right down to the last second. The swans lost by five points against the Cats. It was a must win for the swans tonight if they wanted to make the finals with only 3 games left. It is most likely they will have to wait for next year. My sister and I have been members for the last 12 years and have a season ticket for all the home games. We always have alot of fun at the games and I have even managed to get Uwe to a game or two.

My sister Vivien and I at the swans game

Great weekend

What a great weekend we had! Saturday morning, we drove to Bondi and did the Bondi to Bronte walk. It was such a lovely day, the sun was out but the wind was a bit chilly. It felt a bit strange to be walking around in t-shirts and shorts in winter. We had breakfast at Icebergs and had a giant feast. We headed home as we were having our new fridge delivered. It came late in the afternoon and is wonderful. Its about twice the size of our old fridge. We then headed to some friends new place they just moved in to and had a nice dinner at Moseleys pizza.

Sunday morning, we were up early to watch the city to surf. There were about 75,000 people in the race this year and they ran right past our street. The race goes from the centre of Sydney all the way to Bondi Beach. Some people ran, walked even danced past us. Some had covered there whole bodies in paint and others dressed up in costumes. Uwe and I set ourselves a goal, that we will get fit enough to run the race next year. Not sure about it, 14 kilometres plus the steep Heartbreak Hill... The rest of the afternoon we spent relaxing.

Blue Mountains trip

Saturday morning, we packed our bags and drove 2 hours west of Sydney, to Blackheath in the Blue Mountains. There were 11 of us getting together for a Christmas in July celebration. While we were there, we took a walk through the mountains (it took about 4 hours and lots of struggling walking up the steep steps for me, my legs are still store 4 days after), we had afternoon tea at Lilianfiels in Katoomba, walked down to see the Three Sisters, along with lots of eating and drinking. We left Monday morning, Uwe headed back to Sydney to go to work, and I continued west on to Orange for work. I stayed until Tuesday afternoon to train staff before the long drive back to Sydney.