Christmas

We've been doing lots of exciting things over Christmas. Here is a selection of them.

Botanical and Chinese Gardens

Before Christmas I visited the Botanical Gardens and the Chinese Garden of Friendship with my parents. We saw lots of bats in the Botanical Garden, which was the best bit. At the Chinese Garden my mother and I got talked into dressing up. I couldn't resist putting a photo up (sorry mum!).



Bats



Empress and Princess of the Ming Dynasty

Secret Santa

We went for a "Softwire Christmas Dinner", where I wore my new koala ears from the Wildlife World (you have to wear something silly on your head at a Softwire party) and opened my secret Santa present. I got a Pink Disco Ball. Thank you Santa!



Koala Ears!



My Disco Ball

Blue Mountains

We went and stayed in the Blue Mountains for a couple of days (22 Dec - Christmas Eve). We went to see the 3 sisters and did a bushwalk before driving home through driving rain. Not very Christmassy!



The information sign at the Three Sisters

Christmas Day

The weather made up for it by being glorious on Christmas Day. We went with a traditional modern Australian Christmas of seafood on the barbie (although we used the indoor griddle as we are still loathe to barbeque after the disaster last time). We bought the seafood from the fish market, which was an experience in itself - it was open for 36 hours continually from 5am on 23rd December to 5pm on Christmas Eve and bustling when we went in on the way back from the Blue Mountains. We also had a Christmas pudding imported from the UK for a piece of home.



Our Christmas Dinner starter

Sean got a remote control car from Santa that he couldn't unscrew and had to take to it with a bread knife. I got Sing Star, which we played on Christmas Day - especially the pong game, a talking globe and books and clothes.



Sean carves up the packaging

New Zealand



View of Auckland City

We've just been off for a weekend in Auckland, New Zealand. We flew out on Friday morning and got back this evening.

We did a pretty jet-set tour of the city, taking in the museum, Devonport and Kelly Tarlton's Antartic Adventure (for the penguins!).

But best of all, in true Kiwi spirit, I jumped off the Sky Tower.



Before I jump



Hanging off the tower

It was all very low key - we were having dinner in the revolving restaurant that night and so I went in evening wear and just changed my skirt for shorts, my pointed shoes for the standard jumper's shoes and donned the blue suit. No complex instructions, just up the tower, attached to a carabiner, lean over and let go.

I've done a parachute jump before (but not a bungy) and this was much better: more scary at the top (we were ordered out army style for the parachute jump; it would have been scarier to stay) and a nice speed coming down.

As the jump wasn't busy I got to go AGAIN! I was told to jump off this time rather than just letting go. It seems that the mind was willing but the legs slightly less so. Still Sean's got some good video footage and I seem to go out a bit further the next time so maybe I'm not so big a wimp as I thought.

My parents arrive



My parents and me

Last Friday evening I went to pick my parents up from the airport. I've never picked anyone up from the airport before so it was quite exciting.

We've been very busy since then: breakfast and dinner and then lunch the following day in Darling Harbour (introducing them to our local haunts first), a visit to Hyde Park, shopping in town, a walk to (and around) Bondi Beach, lunch at the fish market, a walk over the Harbour Bridge and back followed by a visit to the rocks and a take-away from Viva Goa (I had tired everyone out to the point where they couldn't face eating out).

We also had some ice-cream from the Royal Copenhagen ice-cream shop in the rocks. I am perpetually flummoxed by this shop (there are several around the touristy areas). Is ice-cream from Copenhagen really good enough to be worth shipping to Australia?

It's probably back to the rocks again today, and then we're eating outside with a view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Tomorrow we're off to New Zealand. It's just go go go!

Bill Granger

We've actually increased our knowledge of Bill Granger of Bill's (where we ate breakfast in the last post). He has just released a new book (I think this is his 4th or so) and Gleebooks, a bookshop in Glebe that I am a member of, ran a dinner with Bill's recipes, a talk by Bill and a signed copy of his book for all diners.

Bill's book also coincides with a new TV show on the Lifestyle channel (I am assuming from the name that this is not mainstream TV).

Bill came to sign our book before the meal started. He seemed pretty friendly but addressed the book only to me, despite the fact that Sean proffered his name at the start of our chat and I only gave his mine when asked. Sean wasn't offended - he thinks Bill was nervous. How can he be nervous talking to us when he has a TV show?

The food was all lovely, although as Bill explained in his talk the book is designed to contain food you can cook at home easily rather than restaurant food. In this he was right: although tasty, none of the dishes (salad, veal chops, tart) were things I would order in a restaurant.

However we did get to take the book away with us and I have since cooked several of the recipes, all with great success, and there are plenty more I plan to try. So I can consider myself a fan of Bill's. Although I think I will draw the line at buying his latest celebrity endorsed product, which is a CD of music he likes to listen to. Hmmmm, and we thought Jamie Oliver went too far....