Easter holidays: Part 2

It has taken me a while to get around to this... As always, there's so much to see and do, yet so little time. Autumn was showing her true colours in Canberra – it was stunning!

The War Memorial Museum.

Old Parliament House. The girls went back in time to experience the 'technology' used in offices waaay back in the 80s.

We braved the cold and attended the dawn service on ANZAC Day. Somehow, amongst the huge crowd we managed to get seats up the front only metres from Kate and Will.

There was an impromptu family reunion (minus a couple of people) when we all got together to celebrate Terry's birthday. One of the highlights for the girls was meeting their second cousins Mitchell and Henry. Or is that their first cousins twice removed? Maybe you could explain it to me one more time Yvonne?

One more spot of indulgence at the ice-cream bar in the Sydney Qantas lounge before heading home.

Easter holidays: Part 1

I started writing this post quite a while ago but have only gotten around to fine tuning it now. That's why it starts with Recently...

... we decided to holiday in Sydney. I can count the number of times I have been to Sydney on one hand – it's sad, but true. In fact, the last time I was there I was pregnant with Ava and Eadie still has the scars on the top of her feet from where she slipped on the ramp going down to the beach at Bondi [sigh].

There really weren't many long faces, I just happened to capture one here.

Hanging out at the Manly beach with a few thousand of our closest friends ;)

St Mary's. My kids can count on one hand the number of times they have been inside a church. They were interested to hear me explain the stations of the cross. I guess you could say that was an Easter lesson – tick!

We just couldn't get enough of Circular Quay. It's so beautiful! Sydney was really pedestrian friendly too. Each night we were in bed by 8:30 – all of us! We were just so exhausted from pounding the pavement.

Can you see everyone in the photo (below). There are four people.

At one of the art galleries, the name of which escapes me.

I really liked the funky paint job on this building. We went to explore Oxford Street but were left feeling a bit disappointed. Apparently the rent increase has affected shop owners : (

On our last morning we had a couple of hours to kill so we went back to the Queen Victoria building on George Street. Very cool indeed. 

Goodbye Sydney. We love you!

Coming soon (I hope). Part 2: Canberra.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

Well folks, it has been a while but I'd just like to say:
Happy Australia Day!

When friends of ours from Cairns dropped in yesterday on their way home from travels in South America, we took the opportunity to kick off our Australia Day celebrations a day early. As we all know, no Aussie BBQ is complete without steak, lamb chops, snags and my favourite brown rice salad all washed down with some beer and wine. And to top it off? An Aussie pavlova of course (just don't tell the Kiwis).

PS. There have been some requests for pics of our new home. I had planned to blog about it when all the boxes were unpacked however I now realise that could take a while. Watch this space...

When southerners drop by

Yesterday we had a visit from the lovely Monique and Danielle. It seems whether in Australia or NZ, we are destined to live at opposite ends of the country. The girls were in town to see Florence and the Machine who are playing at the Vector Arena tonight. If only I'd known they were going, I would have got myself some tickets!

Anyway, it was a great catch up. We really must try to get down to Queenstown some time soon.



Dawn Service

I'm the first to admit, I was a little surprised at the enthusiasm shown by the kids when I suggested we go to the ANZAC Dawn Service. It did wane slightly when we told them they would need to get up at 4.15am, but still, they agreed.

The service was held at the War Memorial Museum in Auckland which provides a majestic back drop.

We secured a great position at the heart of the happenings. It's possibly the closest I will ever physically be to the NZ Prime Minister in my life. As always, I sprouted goose bumps when the bugle boy played The Last Post – very sombre.

When it was all finished, we had a cup of tea while we waited for the crowd to thin out before heading home. Now I'm off to try my hand at making some gluten-free ANZAC biscuits but I haven't had much luck in the past.

Our new toy

Yes, this is the new addition to our iFamily – the iMac. Having two iPads in our family already we opted not to get a laptop but to go back to a desktop. I looove the BIG screen and the extra space on my desk [real that is, not virtual].

We got it in Australia where it's much cheaper to buy than here in NZ. I wonder how cheap it would be to get one in the USA?

I am now slowly re-training myself to become a Mac-user. [Please note my tidy desk!]

Back to Briz

If we have time, going to GoMA is always on our "to do" list when we are in Brisbane.

Some people were spoilers.

Busy making birds and nests. It's not often I see Ruby so focused.

Then there was the trip to a certain Swedish shop in Logan with the Aspros girls. That's how I tried playing it down to Steve but I couldn't fool him. There was no flat pack furniture on my trolley but I did pick up a couple of small things – that is the best thing about IKEA after all.

We also went up to Caloundra for a couple of nights and caught up with old friends – as in long-standing not over-the-hill! Was so great to have a few laughs. [Sorry no pics but that's probably a good thing!] You guys make me feel normal. Thank you!

Sadly, I had to return to NZ ahead of Steve and the girls for work. Ho hum. Had take-aways last night and off to the movies tonight with some girl friends [sigh].