Sunday, June 17, 2007

Firey sunset

I looked outside the other night and jumped up with a hell of a fright - I thought there was a fire - all the trees and fence were buring red.

But - it was a beautiful rich sunset.


Sunday, June 3, 2007

Dad's BBQ

Last weekend I headed down to Geelong for the opening of the new Lions Club park in Bannockburn, where Dad was president for a couple of years. After he passed away they told us that they would like to honor him in some way. We were speechless, it was a very nice thing for them to do.
So here is the Allan Cusack BBQ – the only thing that would have suited him better would have been the “Allan Cusack BBQ and Beer Fridge”!



Apparently there is going to be a photo of all of us in the shire newspaper, the Golden Plains Minor I think it’s called. So I'll share that one (as I'm sure it’s nicer than this pic) when I get it.

It was a great day though, with lots of friends and family coming down to see it... a big Thanks to everyone who was there.

The new park looks fantastic too.

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Mothers Day in Sydney - Part 2

As if viewing the harbour, a ferry ride, the Chinese Gardens, a walk through the city, Circular Quay and dinner at Manly wasn't enough... we were up early on Sunday morning to see what else we could fit into Mary's short stay with us.After much deliberation we decided to go to Taronga Zoo. I was a little hesitant at first, thinking that a Zoo was a Zoo. But this is a Zoo to be seen. Located on the North Shore of Sydney Harbour just about every animal has a magnificent look out over the water.




The Elephant enclosure was fantastic, with hundreds of people crowding around to see them bath. You can also look inside the Elephant Barn, where you can see where the zookeepers do thier washing, grooming and feeding of Elephants. The Meercats were too cute - I just wanted to reach over the fence and pop one in my handbag to bring home for Boston. I'm sure that they would have gotten along like a house on fire! By far the funniest animal we saw was the Giraffe though. No matter how hard it tried, its tounge just couldn't reach the carrots that the bigger ones were being fed.



After enjoying all the views and the animals at the zoo we had a couple of hours before Mary had to be at the airport. We decided that a short visit to Bondi was in order. There we enjoyed a quick coffee and a walk along the beach. After a busy weekend, that was really all we had the energy for.



It was a great weekend all up, and we look forward to having our next visitor in Sydney that we can use as an excuse to be tourists!

Mothers Day in Sydney

For Mothers Day we had Murray's Mum come and visit us in Sydney! Our first "interstate" visitor - infact.... only our second visitor all together if you don't include the guy that came to drill a hole in the wall for Foxtel.

We squeezed in soooo much in to the one weekend, I felt like a holiday once it was all over!

On the Friday night we headed out to The Oaks Hotel with Murray's work people for yet another going away (such a high turn-over there!). It was a huge pub, with a big beer garden and lots of different rooms. We all spent most of the night in one of the function rooms upstairs before we had to make room for another party who'd actually booked the room! Not a bad little spot though, with Murray spending most of the night introducing people to his new friend Bloody Mary.

Speaking of Mary, we had to get up early the next day because Mary (mother in law kind, not the bloody kind) was arriving - and we needed to make the house presentable! So after a mad rush - I was glad that we only live in a small unit - much quicker to clean!

After picking her up from the airport Mary came back here to check out the house. We showed her around our unit, the shops across the road, and Murray even took us for a tour of his workplace. After all that we headed down to Crows Nest for a quite bite for lunch. Then the real fun began!

First stop was for a nice look out over the harbour from Blues Point. Driving around the area we stumbled across this by accident one day, and as you can see, is an excellent vantage point. We wandered around here for a while, before deciding to walk over to McMahons Point to catch a Ferry - our very first Ferry ride!



Although we intended on going to Ciruclar Quay, we ended up taking the ferry over to Darling Harbour, as it was the first one to come along. Don't let those sunny blue skies fool you - it was chilly waiting for a Ferry to come along. I wouldn't like to be one of the many thousands of people who take them to get to work each day!



Walking around Darling Harbour we decided to bypass the Lindt Cafe (note, THEY decided to bypass it, not me) and instead head to the Chinese Garden of Friendship. It was well worth a visit. Although we only had an hour to walk around it, we saw so much. It was so peaceful, and amazing to think that we were in the middle of the city. I'm really looking forward to going there again and would recommend it to anyone in Sydney.



From there Murray thought it would be a good idea to walk to Circular Quay, and then catch a ferry from there back to where our car was. "It's only a 15 minute walk" I can remember him say. 15 minutes my foot! What felt like hours later, we arrived at Circular Quay. I know that walking is the best way to see a city, and we did see some good stuff... but honestly... I couldn't wait to get on that Ferry again.

So across the Harbour at night we went back to the car. It was beautiful to see the Opera House and Bridge lit up in all thier glory. And Sydney's Luna Park looks wonderful coming across the water at night (if not a little scary). Still wanting to fit in one extra activity for the day we headed out for a drive to Manly to go the Manly Fish Markets for dinner. What's that you say? But Sherry can't eat fish? Yes I know. So I ordered the single non-fish option on the menu... which had clearly been cooked on the same grill as fish, because it was very fishy chicken. But Murray and Mary said it was excellent. And judging by how crowded the place was, and the line out the door, it must be a pretty good place to go for Fish.

I might leave it at that for now, and go and check on my Pear and Raspberry bread. Will continue with our Mothers Day Weekend Extraveganza later on.

Bad, bad blogger I am...

Well, several people have given me reminders now... I know I've been a bad bad blogger and haven't been updating. So thats my mission for this afternoon - to update my blog. Oh - and make some Pear and Raspberry bread. As you probably know I'm no wizz in the kitchen - so I'll need all your positive thoughts!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Officially a New South Welshman....

Look what I got!!!


It all happened rather unexpectedly.... we went to register the car... and came out with these!

Didn't get the car registered yet - you need all these kinds of slips, green ones and pink ones and blue ones or something crazy!

Sunday, April 29, 2007

I drove without GPS!

YAY!!! Today I made a big step.... I drove into the big wild world of Sydney without the GPS Navigation system - yup - thats right - I drove ALL the way the Northbridge to do the groceries (see how exciting things can be in Sydney? Groceries were never this exciting in Melbourne!). Drove all 5km or so by myself! Didn't even get lost, not even nearly lost! Closest to lost was I couldn't find tomato sauce at Woolies! Made it all the way home too! *proud grin*

Saturday, April 28, 2007

The Rocks - Sydney

Today we spent a lovely day at The Rocks in Sydney. It was amazing that there is so much to do just 5 minutes from our house. Yes - thats right, in 5 minutes we'd left home and got a park at The Rocks.

First on the agenda was lunch, because Mr Murray was hungry - and boy did he eat! We had a great lunch at this great Italian restaurant just near the market called Caminetto. We had this great little table right up the back of the courtyard - it was hard to believe that we were in one of Sydney's busiest little spots. Its a place that we'll definetly be going back for. Murray especially enjoyed the "Sizzling Oysters on the Rocks" served with garlic, tomato, shallots, chilli and mushroom - all things he loves. As you can see by this pic, he loved the pizza too!

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We walked and browsed through all the market stalls, taste testing, touching, smelling, looking at everything as we went along. Its a spot that I'll be definetly taking Mum when she finally comes up and visits me.

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After having a good walk about we went down to where you can get a spectacular view of the Harbour Bridge. I thought it would be packed down there, but amazingly, I think due to the overcast weather, we were amoungst the few people there.

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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

From there we walked down to Circular Quay for a desperately needed coffee. We sat outside and had a great view of the bridge and the Opera House.

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With all the Ferries and Jetboats about, I think that we are now inspired to make that one of the next things to tick off our list. In addition to the museum at Circular Quay, and about a million other things. I'd also like to find if there is still a "Leftorium" at The Rocks for when Mum comes up - she missed out on visiting it years ago, and has never gotten over it.

Ooo-oooo-ooo! I also found DFS Galleria - but Murray took me away before I could be swooned by all the pretty shiney things.... ooooo.... On that note - Sweet Dreams! (I'll be dreaming of little blue boxes....

xx oo xx

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Birthdays and Goodbyes

We had a great weekend in Melbourne celebrating a 30th birthday (Yikkes! They have begun!) Happy Birthday Rodders! (Will try and get a pic up here later).

The night started (eventually after the worst afternoon of transport ever!) with a great meal at my favourite
Red Emporer. The weather wasn't great (but we can't complain about rain these days) and so there was a last minute change of venue so from there we headed off to The Pub at Crown. It was great because next to us was private function, so hardly any people came into the area where we were! After several (too many?) Long Island Iced Teas - Rodders was well on his way to having a great night! There was lots of drinking and dancing to be had by all. Oh - and Jam Donuts! You have to try one - best shot ever!

On Sunday I said goodbye to yet another friend in Melbourne on the weekend - I hope you have a wonderful trip around the world Cheli!

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Thursday, April 19, 2007

See you soon Laura!

Can't wait to see you up this way!

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Wednesday, April 18, 2007

I survived peak hour, just...

What a scary day! I had a meeting to go to for work today. It felt like a million miles away (and probably nearly was with the amount of times I got lost!) but in reality it was only about 30kms away, SW of where I am.

I enlisted my three favourite friends to help me - printed off a map, got out the street directory, and charged the GPS navigation. (YES - I still got lost! I missed the Western Distributor or something....) and braved my first day in Sydney Peak Hour Traffic.

I thought I was going to die. There are about a million roads, all weaving in and out. And then to make it worse there are OTHER cars on these already confusing enough roads. And LOTS of other cars!

Just when I thought that things couldn't get worse they guy at the toll booth asked me "Do you have a phone number to go with that smile you just gave me?" I can't deal with being hit on that early in the morning while I'm FREAKING OUT! That'll learn me for not getting in the lane where I can use the E-tag thing.


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But eventually... I made it there. And only 20 minutes late too! (Rang ahead of course). And from there on it was all pretty good! Why is getting home so much easier?

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Our house is a very very very fine house

Finally - some photos! Sorry about the mess - its not as clean as I would have liked for photos. No matter what I do though it always seems to look a little cluttered... I guess that's what happens when you downsize so much.

Kitchen - How I miss our old kitchen - it was so huge! So much space!

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Lounge and dining room - we were lucky to find a house where we could actually have a lounge and dining area... so many places we looked at were so small it was one or the other.

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Bathroom - most of all I miss having my own bathroom, with my own toilet! I miss the huge mirror, and all the cupboard space... and of course the spa bath. You can't see it in these photos, but there is a cupboard which hides the laundy.

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Bedroom - is actually pretty good - no complaints... other than we could do with more hanging space.

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Study/Office - and this is where I write my blog and spend most of my day. I need to dress it up a little still. So messy!

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Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

And that is all I have for you tonight!

Boston photos!

Thought I'd better post these too! Our fur-baby Boston.

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Saturday, April 14, 2007

Our big day out!

We had a fantastic day out in Sydney today – and we are thoroughly exhausted!

As Murray has a several day conference to attend for work next week he needed to do some shopping so he could look all spiffy! So we boarded a bus (yes that’s right, Murray caught a bus!) and headed into the city! Last stop was
Wynyard Station.

After a beautiful walk through a park, a look at a statue of someone we didn’t know, chasing a funny looking bird, and getting lost through a few arcades/malls, we found Pitt St Mall.

Boy oh boy (remember the show ‘Man O Man’?) did we shop! Well… I should probably say did HE shop! Now I know how he feels – following him around assuring him that no his butt doesn’t look fat in those pants, and that yes that shirt does match. But he got a new pair of shoes, 2 trousers, 1 jeans, and 2 shirts. And they all look great on him.

We also bought a new Darling Harbour to relax a while and get some dinner. And we had a great dinner at what I think will probably become “our restaurant” at Chinta Ria (The Temple of Luuuuurrrrvvve). Of course no trip to Darling Harbor would be complete without a trip to the Lindt Chocolate CafĂ©! I limited myself just to a coffee though… as I’m meeting a friend there for ‘afternoon tea’ tomorrow! Can’t wait!

So tonight we’ll sleep very very well after our big day out, but it was wonderful – we had a great day in Sydney.

Monday, April 9, 2007

Molly's Art blog

My sister Molly has started a blog of her very own, detailing all her wonderful Art work.

Its got work from her school days, and she'll be adding her Uni work as she does it.

Also any ideas or thoughts that she has over time.

Check it out at
http://within-u-without.blogspot.com/

If you've got any thoughts or comments please post them - she'd love any feedback at all!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter all! I hope you all had a safe one, and aren't feeling too sick from all the chocolate!




I had a great, but very busy Easter. I flew to Melbourne the weekend before Easter for a friends birthday - after which I promised to never drink again! So happy birthday Gaz!


Popped down to see Mum on Monday night before dropping Murray off at work, and after that he returned to Sydney until Easter.


I spent the week living it up on my own! Well... it was hardly living it up... work mostly - and my nights were filled to the brim with catching up with friends and family. It was really great - but I think I may have spread myself too thinly.


Friday night (Good Friday) was Mary's birthday, so happy birthday Mary! And we went out for dinner. Went to the Berwick Inn which was somewhat disapointing for everyone. With several takeovers in the last few years its really gone downhill there... it used to be much better than a regular pub meal... I wouldn't really recommened it these days.


I was the only person going to hell at our table, I had red meat on Good Friday. But it was Kangaroo, and it was delish! I figure that Jesus didn't know what Kangaroo was so that doesn't count. Right?


That night we headed off to a housewarming party - where I can say that we sufficiently warmed the house. Again - for the second weekend in a row - after a bottle of red I can say that I'm never drinking again! It was a great night though and fantastic to see everyone again.


I slept my way through most of Saturday, and after much deliberation I headed down to Mums late Saturday night. It was the best I'd felt all day. I wanted to wake up at Mums on Sunday morning so that I didn't miss the Easter Bunny!


For Easter Sunday we had the biggest "afternoon tea" I've ever seen. Between people working and us having to catch flights we could do neither lunch or dinner - so we had Roast Lamb and Roast Chicken at 4pm! As always, Mum put on a great spread of food for all 1o of us! Mum, Jeremy and his girlfriend Amy, Molly and her boyfriend Alex plus a 'homeless' friend Tiff, Myself and Murray, plus his Mum and Uncle! Phew!


After eating ourselves silly it was finally time to head off to the airport to come home to Sydney. I was really looking forward to it - it was great to see everyone, but probably even better to come home. All the Easter Eggies came with me as hand luggage, and I'm sure that the overhead cabbins that night were a chocoholics dream.


Today we had a blog day and did as little as possible, which was lovely. I can't believe I have to get back into work tomorrow - I wish I had another week off now! But thats always the way isn't it?

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Happy Birthday Jess

Happy Rainbow Blowing Dragons toooo yyyyooooouuuuuu!

I couldn't find you a rainbow blowing dragon - but I found you this cute little guy!


And I had my glass of GOLD champagne for you last night too! xxoo

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Bondi Beach

We woke up to beautiful summer weather on Saturday morning. It was clearly beach weather, and being new to Sydney - there was clearly one beach that we had to visit! Bondi Beach!

It was oh so Bondi. The blue surf, the white sand, the buff lifeguards (it really is like the TV show!), the topless women, the crowded beach, the people playing beach tennis/rubgy/cricket, the surfers (not much of a swell though), the beach joggers, the band on the 'grassy knoll', the packed bars and cafes and of course, the bus loads of tourists!

We had a lovely walk along the beach just soaking up the sun and sand.

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We had a nice lunch at a cafe along the main drag. I had a lovely goat's cheese and walnut salad, and Murray had a club sandwich. His only complaint was his usual complaint - it wasn't big enough!

It was everything I imagined, and with about 1 in 3 women topless it was much more than Murray had imagined! It was a great day - silly us though! We didn't pack our toggs! So next perfect summer day guess where we'll be!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Well Stone my Crow!

I had a lovely lunch yesterday down the road in Crows Nest at The Stonned Crow, which apparently used to be a bit of a dive, but they've done it up into a great little bar!

For lunch I had a delicious Chorizo Salad with asparagus, semi-dried tomatoes, mixed leaves and parsnip crisps. It was great! (Just when they say you don't make friends with salad they go and put some spicey sausage in it! Just what every salad needs!).

It was a really great venue, and the company was even better! :)

Hope to go back thier soon to check out thier cocktail list! I'm thinking Stone My Crow to begin with!