Yesterday (Saturday) we decided to head up to the Blue Mountains:

http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/parks.nsf/parkContent/N0004?OpenDocument&ParkKey=N0004&Type=xo

We had planned to go on Thursday but Colin had work traumas due to an earthquake in Taiwan!!

The Blue Mountains (or Malcolms as Adam calls them) are about 100k from Sydney so we loaded up the car and headed off. We set the destination into Betty (Sat-Nav) and once we got on the motorway she told us to ....follow the course of the road ...for a while.

We had no particular plans so just stopped whenever we, or the kids felt like it. The first stop was Wentworth falls which was very picture-skew. We went then on to Leura and the Toy and Railway Museum.

http://www.toyandrailwaymuseum.com.au/

Which reminded me a bit of Haggs Castle Museum, when it existed, with lots of rooms full of some-body's collection of toys. It was a bit disappointing for Adam and Emily as they weren't allowed to touch anything but there were some buttons to press that made trains go or cable-cars work.

After lunch we went to Leura Cascades.



It was about a 500 metre walk from the car park down some quite serious steps. Adam did a great job going down and was quite happy jumping down (like a skateboard guy, he informed us). Emily was on Colin's shoulders - I think if we are going to do this again we need to get one of those baby backpack carriers. Unfortunately Adam didn't like climbing the stairs as much as he liked jumping down them so I gave him a piggyback to the car park. Considering he was complaining of being tired, it was amazing how his energy levels came back at the sight of an ice-cream van!!

The final official stop on our tour was Echo Point and the Three Sisters

The whole range is huge and really is blue. The blue is from the light reflecting off the eucalyptus oil on the trees.

By this time it was nearly time for tea so we went on to Lithgow and stopped at Red Rooster - KFC but without the fried bit. All day clouds had been gathering and we knew that rain was forecast but before we finished, some serious storm clouds had appeared. The heavens opened - it started really heavily and we thought we could wait 5 or 10 minutes for it to ease off and then go to the car but then it got really serious with thunder and lightning and at one point the lightning blew the lights in the restaurant. Throughout this, Adam and Emily were perfectly happy running round ignoring the near Biblical rain, thunder and lightning.

After getting into the car, we changed Adam and Emily into their pjs and set off home - Adam said it was just like when they went to Granny's house. It took about two hours to drive home and we arrived home with two sound asleep children.

Today we are not planning on walking any further than to the car as we Colin and I have very tired legs!!

Came home the other day and as it was so hot filled a bucket of water, put the kids on the patio with it and waited for the obvious mess to happen. This was the result.

We went to the zoo again yesterday, but almost did not make it. We headed up there about 11am and got there to find that there was a queue of several hundred people with the same idea queuing to get in. The car park was also full and every side street was jammed packed with cars. We toured all the neighbourhood looking for a space but to no avail. We had decided that we would head to Balmoral beach in Mosman instead just as a family in front of us stopped beside their car and started to leave.

We unpacked the car, loaded the kids onto their buggies and headed to the entrance. The number of visitors had multiplied since we last past the entrance, but fortunately we noticed a prepaid entrance with no queue, so we walked straight in.

We had made a picnic and so looked around for a nice shaded spot to sit and eat. We found a quiet spot beside the giraffes and zebras. Very civilised, sitting eating our lunch with a knife and fork. The weather was heating up, but still pleasant when in the shade. It had been 24 degrees at 8am when I got up!

We wandered around and saw the usual, lions, tigers and elephants. The great thing about having the "zoo friend" pass is that because you havent paid to get in you dont feel the need to speed round the whole place making sure you see absolutely everything.

We saw one of the bush talks all about the creatures you find in and around Sydney. We saw a Funnel Web spider, (the most venemous spider in the world), the Sydney Red Back, (likes to find home in toilet seats), and the Bird Eating Spider which can grow to about the size of your hand. For all of you afraid of spiders, did you know that every spider is venemous, even the Daddy Long-legs is! Fortunately, no-one has died of a spider bite in the last 20 years in Australia. We also saw a two headed lizard and a python. Adam was very brave and touched both! Leigh on the other hand was about 4 or 5 rows back keeping a safe distance with Emily. I found the whole thing very interesting and am now keeping a lookout in the back garden for some deadly creatures. Photos may follow!

As Colin gave me a great picnic set for Christmas, we decided we would use it and watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart race. We walked through Sydney centre, up past the Opera House, through the Domain - I had many flash backs from BootCamp and bored Colin pointing to the routes I had run and stairs I had climbed - through the Botanics to Macquaries Point.

http://www.discoversydney.com.au/parks/mmc.html

We weren't very close to the yachts but it was fun anyway as a good number of Sydneysiders had the same idea.

On the walk home we thought we would visit a couple of the shops but changed our mind within three steps of getting into the shops as they were absolutely stuffed with people. Australians seem to love the sales!

Christmas day started with the thud thud thud of Adam running down the hall - he normally runs into our room to climb into our bed but not this morning, he knew what day it was so he was straight into the lounge.

Adam and Emily, who had to be woken - it was about 7.30 - then went about seeing what Santa had left them. Adam was pleased that Santa had eaten the biscuit and drank the beer that we had left out. He was even more excited that the carrots had been eaten by the reindeer.

After the Christmas carnage had ended  - the kids were spoilt rotten - we were quite restrained but certain family members went mad!! Emily is now fully Disney Princess-ed up - she has the book, the dress and the castle!! Adam has a million new cars and particularly loves his basketball game - everyone must know he loves spider-man as he got three pairs of spider-man pjs!!

We then had great fun talking with Dave and Ryann on the webcam. Adam and Emily showed off their new toys, although Emily didn't quite understand the game so started bringing any toy she could find to hold up in front of the webcam.  The chat was all the more entertaining as Dave and Ryann had been "celebrating" Christmas eve so were sometimes a little bit hard to understand -  you can see the photo of them in the photos page.

We then headed for the Sydney Tower for lunch - 89 floors up and revolving. Although the setting was spectacular, the service was shocking. It was a buffet but we had to queue for nearly 50 minutes to get food. I queued and Colin distracted the kids, not sure who had the worse task.

After lunch we had a nice walk back home with two over excited children who fell sound asleep.

In the evening, I had a telephone interview with Fred MacAulay on Radio Scotland. After a brief chat, he asked that I stay on the phone as they had a surprise for me. When I was back on, my surprise was revealed.... Mum on the other end of the phone - not at the door as Colin had wildly suggested. It was quite odd talking about Christmas day with my Mum whilst on Radio Scotland.

The funny thing was that I had phoned Mum and Dad about an hour earlier and Dad had said that Mum was still asleep and, as they had been "celebrating" Christmas Eve as much as Dave and Ryann, he didn't want to wake her! I was slightly put out by the fact that I had called from Oz and I didn't get a chance to talk to my Mum!!

Christmas 2006 was quite different from any other we have had but it was a really good day.

Feel free to give us a shout on skype if you want to chat. The icon below will show you if I am logged on:

Colin:


Leigh:

As you can tell by the number of new articles and photos, we have got our new laptop - the insurance money came through - yeah!

We have gone for a change... we got a Mac - it is quite swish with lots of new toys to play with.

The best thing is the built in webcam. Everyone needs to download Skype so we can chat for free adn you can see the kids!!

http://www.skype.com

On Christmas day, 9.45am your time, Leigh will be interviewed on the Fred MacAulay show on Radio Scotland. They want to know what our first Christmas away from home and in the sun is like.

It is all Julia's fault!!

Got my first business trip next year. I am off to Tokyo for five days at the end of January.

Should be a laugh. Been reading a bit about the culture. It will definitely be a shock to the system. For one I dont like rice or sushi. Oops. Hope there are plenty of MacDonalds, cos I could be living off them.

It is not that far from Sydney, but still a 9 hour flight. At least I will get to fly business class and there should be another 2 people going from Sydney. My boss also lived in Toyko for a number of years and can speak a bit of Japanese.

Christmas Eve tomorrow. Still very strange. It is 27degrees today and meant to be like that for a couple of days. Its just wrong wrong wrong!

Going to try and get to the beach on Christmas day. How cool is that!

Might try and get out on my bike tomorrow.

Was thinking of this:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Lilyfield-to-the-Sydney-Harbour-Bridge

If you want some fun, you can view this webcam and take control. So you can move it about and see the city harbour.

http://www.therocks.com/sydney-Webcam_Rocks_Viewing.htm

Emily is actually speaking a bit more, although "ehh" does still get used quite a lot:

·         Mummy

·         Daddy

·         Adam

·         Juice

·         More

·         Shoes (girl after my own heart)

·         Mine (this is used quite a lot)

·         Ow

·         Yes peas (please)

·         Kay (okay)

·         Hi

·         Bye

·         Na night

·         cha chow (thank you)

·         Pram

·         Buggy

·         She also does animal noises - horses and dogs

This morning's boot camp was a running exercise - each session alternates between muscle work and cardio/running - Wednesday was muscle work and my abs are still aching. I knew we were in trouble when all the warm-up stretches were for our calf muscles and the fact that our instructor didn't make us do punishment push-ups for people not turning up.

The route we took was:

I have done it...I have eaten kangaroo.

On Monday, it was my department's strategy conference (yes it was very dull at times) and it ended with dinner on the Sydney Showboat

http://www.sydneyshowboats.com.au/

I had Thai Kangaroo Salad to start - it was really tasty - just like beef! The rest of the evening was good fun, including when I pretended it was my birthday and got a free glass of champagne  - as egged on by my director - she thought we would get a free bottle of champagne!

Instead of having a weird Christmas day in the house, we have decided to go out for lunch. We are going to go to the Sydney Tower, but not the posh restaurant Colin and I went to in August, but the more family friendly buffet-style restaurant.

http://www.sydney-tower-restaurant.com/frlevel2.htm

 

Well actually he is here already..

On Tuesday, Adam, Emily and I went to Meyers - big department store, very amusingly, used to be called Grace Brothers! - to see Santa.

First up was a ride on the Santaland Express - cute little train that goes round in circles, but for some reason both Adam and Emily didn't want to go on it - they were both very excited at watching it but didn't want to actually ride in it.

Then we went to see Santa (as the train was too much for them, I didn't hold out much hope for them sitting on Santa's knee), and then, as predicted, they both refused to see him. Emily clung on to me like a Koala and refused to let go and Adam wouldn't even go through the door. We did get our Meyer teddy and snacks so, once we had left, the kids were happy!

As I am determined to learn to surf - we're in Oz, it would seem rude not to - I decided I should start with improving my fitness so I foolishly enrolled with Boot Camp.

http://www.fitnessfirst.com.au/services/bootcamp

Basically, doing group exercises, in a military style-y at 6 o'clock IN THE MORNING.

The first day was a fitness test: a warm-up, then press-ups, sit-ups, plank holds and then a 2.4km run/jog/stagger. I nearly died!! okay, that is a bit of an exaggeration but I did wonder on many occasions what I had let myself in for. We do the fitness test again after the 4 weeks to see how much we have improved.

Disturbingly, I heard lots of rumours about Bootcamp - every time at least one person gets injured (I am betting that will be me) and that only about a third of the people who start, actually finish!!

After the first session, we have been split into groups so we are with people of our own level and the instructors then do their best to push us to our limit (one of the instructors had a really disturbingly excited look on his face when one of the girls said she might be sick!!).

To give you an example, at one point this morning we had to do 20 squats then run (yes run, not jog) up a steep but small hill then do 10 push ups - not too bad but then we had to do it again (18 squats, bigger hill, 12 push ups) and again (16 squats, even bigger hill, 14 push ups) and again (14 squats, even bigger hill, 12 push ups) and again (12 squats, even bigger hill, 10 push ups) and this was only half way through the session.

One thing I would say about it though is that it isn't dull - great views as we meet at the Domain

http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/royal_botanic_gardens/garden_features

and everyone is very friendly.

Once we finish, I head to the gym, shower (you need it after rolling around the grass sometimes), change and then walk to work. On Bootcamp mornings, I am at my desk at 8!!