Australia Day

Showing off our patriotic tattoos...we spent Australia Day at home playing Wii with Mare.

William's 4th Birthday

William Higgins is turning 4

Party Time!

When: Sunday 24 Jan 2010
Time: 10am to 1pm
Where: Dryden Avenue, Carlingford
RSVP: by 16 Jan to Emily

Jumping Castles, lots of kids, party food, balloons, pinatas and cakes.

Nathan's 25th Birthday

Nathan and Silvia surprised us all by bringing home a Freddo ice cream cake late on Wednesday night, just in time to celebrate his birthday.

Festival of Sydney

Evan and I went out Sunday 10 January 2010, the day after the City of Sydney closed off roads and launched the Festival of Sydney at Hyde Park. Thought there would still be things happening, but the city was quite and being such a nice day, we walked from Hyde Park down to the Botanic Gardens, then to the Sydney Opera House and back to Town Hall.

Came back to Strathfield and had dinner at the usual Korean Restaurant, before walking home.

Spending a Day with Matty

Not having seen Matty for a while and Shirley and Casey were having cravings for Vietnamese, so we bought lunch to their place. Had Vermicelli with Pork Chop and Spring roll x 3 (Shirley, Evan and I) and sum sik broken tomato rice for Casey.

Stayed and played with Matty, played game and then went out to dinner at Eastwood, which Casey paid for. Having dumplings, etc.

Spit to Manly Walk

Tuesday 5th January 2010.

Not having to work, and seeing as it was going to be a nice day, we decided to do the Spit to Manly walk. Bought 2 x Adult Day tripper ticket for $18.20, 1 child for $9.00 and caught the train out to Wynyard. Had breakfast at Maccas - Evan finally having his Angus Burger.
We then caught the bus to The Spit, but missed getting off the correct stop and had to hop out at the next stop and back track, crossing the Spit road. Got there in time to see it open to let the boats through.

We followed the arrows to Manly or MSW (Manly Scenic Walkway). Past Sandy Bay and the Clontarf Reserve, followed the signs along Monash Crescent. At the Sydney Harbour National Park sign, a short path leads to Castle Rock Beach, then continued along the main trail past gum trees and rock platforms to Grotto Point Lighthouse. Then back on the trail to a brief detour of rock engravings by Aboriginals. Continued along to Crater Cove Lookout with sweeping views of Sydney Harbour, across to Manly and out to sea.
The walk goes into the Dobroyd Head Scenic Area, so we follow the signs and bypass Reef Beach - which is supposedly a nude beach and head towards Forty Baskets Beach..lucky for us the tide is low and we can cross to the North Harbour Reserve. Follow my little City Walks guide and get to Fairlight Beach..we're nearing Manly. Follow the foreshore and at this stage, people have finished work and are going on their afternoon walks.Follow the promenade down to Manly Cove and on to Manly Wharf.Cross the street to the Mall and walk down to Manly Beach. Sit and watch a man looking for lost items with his metal detector. Go back to the mall and have dinner at one of the many restaurants. Settle on Fish and Chips. Then take the ferry back to Circular Quay. Do we finish here....NO...we decide to hop on another ferry and head on a round trip to Luna Park, Blues Point, past Cockatoo Island, Glebe, Putney and back again to Circular Quay.Then we go to Maccas for ice cream. Making the most of our ticket, we catch a bus down George Street to Town Hall station and catch the train back to Strathfield. Would have kept on going, but was too tired from bush walking in the heat.

First Tennis Session of the Year

Monday 4th January

Picannini Tennis has it's first match for the year. Only, Mandi, Bindy, Evan, Kaylene and I.

After which we go pick Mare up at Newington (wtf - what is she doing over there and not at home)...so it's a 20 min detour to go pick her up to head out to the Domain, Mrs Macquarie's chair to take photos of the Harbour Bridge..but hugely disappointed...the Yin Yang sympbol on the bridge is not lit, and there are no lights at all. So after 30 mins, we head back to Leichhardt for late dinner of pasta at Bar Italia. Mare has gelato.