We get cold in the Blue Mountains

On Saturday we went to stay in the Blue Mountains for a few days while Mike and Donna were still here and now Pam and Paul have arrived. We hired a car so we could get all six of us up there.

The first day we had a quick look at the Three Sisters in case the mists came in. We'd all taken our hats and although it was a little cooler than Sydney it was still about 30 degrees so we needed them for solar protection. We had a very nice dinner in the guest house in the evening - as it was still warm we sat outside.

On Sunday we had a bit of a shock; the temperature had dropped to under 10 degrees! I think this was colder than when we first stayed in the mountains in Winter. We went on a walk, had a bit of a rest and then had dinner inside.



We go on a walk

On Monday it was even colder; I think it got down to 6 degrees. Sean, Mike and Paul braved it outside for a run up and down the mountains, although I think only Mike was hard enough to enjoy it. We were adventurous in the evening and tried a new restaurant in town. It was recommended by Mel and Glenn the guesthouse owners and they took a night off and came out with us.

We came back on Tuesday via the Norman Lindsay Gallery. Norman Lindsay wrote a famous Australian Children's book called the Magic Pudding (I got a copy for Christmas), however it appears he spent more time painting naked ladies. So not quite one for the kids.



Bunyip Bluegum the Koala and the (grumpy) Magic Pudding

In other news: Sean has had a new friend to play Guitar Hero with, although Mike and Donna have now left us so Sean is back to being a band of one.



Mike and Sean rock out

Pam and Paul arrive

Pam and Paul flew in to complete the Williams contingent on Tuesday at 7:30pm.

We've been taking it relatively easy since then. We went for breakfast in Darling Harbour on Wednesday and a little walk up to the Opera House. We then went out for Chinese at the Rocks in the evening followed by Macbeth at the Opera House (the only play we could manage to book while everyone was here).



Everyone except for Sean who's taking the photo

Yesterday we went for lunch at Jordan's and I remembered why I used to religiously order the fish curry. We ate quite a lot at lunch time so we went for dinner late and still had trouble managing much food.

Today we tried a new local cafe for breakfast, which was enjoyed by all and now we're going out to the Opera House again to have dinner at Bennelong and to see Alcina by Handel. Sean is planning on getting some sleep in....

Football

Everything here is called football (soccer, Aussie rules and any rugby), so we had hoped to get to see a game of some sort of football at some point while we were over here. Mike fancied this too, so we went to see the NSW Waratahs play the Cape Town Stormers at the Aussie Stadium tonight.



The stadium

We went early to the entertainment quarter and got ourselves a decent early dinner at Arena. Mike and I had crab lasagne to start with, which was amazing and Mike had a pretty nice-looking steak. Also high quality petit fours, including chocolate truffles and lemon meringue balls.

The petit fours did take us over the time when we should have been leaving and we just missed the kick off. We were sat 3 rows back from the front and had a great view.



Some people playing rugby

We were behind a stag party, which caused us much amusement, particularly as the stag was wearing an England shirt and being constantly berated for being "a Pom". The 'Tahs didn't do very well, they kept dropping the ball and lost 16-10.

In other news (stop reading now if you're not interested in what I've been eating...) I went to an exciting cake shop for lunch on Friday. It's in China Town and is an Asian bakery chain (from Malaysia, although I think it is similar to other bakery chains from Singapore and Hong Kong). I've passed it a few times but have been too scared to buy anything. I spent a good 5 mins wandering round on Friday and then purchased a custard puff and a mango tiger roll. I was intrigued by a purple yam pastry, maybe next time.



Custard Puff (left), Mango Tiger Roll (right)

I was so carried away by the excitement of it all, I went to the scary iced tea shop that I have previously run away from for being over-exciting and bought the most exciting thing I could find - a red bean and taro crushed ice drink.

The custard puff was quite nice but the mango roll was a bit tasteless - I think I will definitely have to go for the yam pastry next time. I could taste the red bean in the red bean and taro drink; I'm not sure what taro tastes like so I couldn't identify it. The texture was pretty good, it was basically cake in a drink format but it was really sweet and I had to give up about as third of the way through.

Still, I think I shall make it my aim to go through all the exciting shops in China town before we leave.

Mike and Donna arrive



Mike and Donna

Mike and Donna flew into Sydney last Saturday evening. We had a nice day hanging around in Darling harbour on Sunday. We went for breakfast at Nick's cafe (I had pancakes with maple syrup and ice-cream which was ace) and then played mini-golf and pool. I didn't do so badly at mini-golf and I think this made it seem more bearable than normal. I've completely forgotten how to play pool though.

On Sunday evening jet lag caught up with Mike....



Aaaah

In other news, at dancing today there was a film crew in because one of the girls is appearing on Find me a date. I was right behind her in the camera shot so keep a look out if it appears on UK TV!

Cat passes through



Cat's bags are bigger than her....

Cat flew into Sydney on Saturday night - right in the middle of Mardi Gras. We had made it down a little bit late and missed the dykes on bikes, which was a disappointment. Despite a few hiccups trying to navigate Oxford St (we had been sticking to the back streets, but took a wrong turn and ended up in a crowd), we had got as far as Flinders St and set up camp to watch, when we got a call and went to pick Cat up from the station. Luckily the parade is miraculously long so when we got back from the station we still managed to see a good few floats, including the one manned by 250 Kylies.

Cat's got a super camera and I was hoping to steal some of her pictures to post, but she's moved on and I didn't manage to get them onto my PC. Still she's coming back through on the 14th so if I get hold of any then I'll post them.

We had a good tourist day on Sunday: lunch looking at the Harbour Bridge, a mosey round the Opera House and a compulsory visit to the Lindt Cafe. Sean and I had to work on Monday but I understand that after getting soaked walking round Bondi, Cat went back to the Lindt Cafe. A girl after my own heart.

And finally in this unexciting week...

My sister has given birth to a healthy baby boy.



Baby Blake

Blake Matthew Daniels was born on Wednesday 28 February at 2.29pm and weighed 8lb 10.5 ounces. Tamsin was the first mother to use the new birthing pool at the hospital.

Unusually Blake was born on his due date, apparently true of only 4% of births.

I'll never predict an unexciting week again.