The Blue Mountains

Well, we were blown away by this experience.  Truly beautiful countryside, well worth the two hour drive....  Starting off with a cheeky coffee and chocolate brownie got give us energy for the trek we were about to undertake.  The children had a Mars Bar milkshake and it was just as well as we were about to embark upon an extremely challenging & very uneven 6k walk.

The three sisters

 ...the worlds steepest railway

Incredibly steep climb down to the base of the three sisters...the photos really don't do it justice!

.... AD spotted a water dragon en route! Also a blue tongued lizard.

and then the train back up the mountain followed by lunch for energy recharge and then onto our next walk, to Wentworth Falls.... Another 4k climb through rough terrain!

The under cliff walk to the waterfall

and we finally reached the top! 

... A very tired little boy!  Not surprising considering the climb!  Very proud of my monsters - we even managed to run part of it!!

Grown ups day out in Sydney!

Marsha - Alice's fabulous Mum very kindly & bravely offered to have our four little darlings for the day to enable us to go out with AD and Alice for a very grown up day out in the City.

We started off with a beer or two, 

and then on to China Doll, an amazing restaurant in Woolloomooloo Wharf, with the most fantastic views and food the likes of which I've never tasted, completely amazing.

.... Beautiful food, great wine and complimentary cocktails - just fantastic!

We then caught a private river taxi from the harbour to Cockatoo Island - it was a long way down those steps! especially after a few glasses of wine!

The view of our restaurant from the water.....

....spot the tourists!!

Not a bad view of the opera house from our boat!

Then we arrived at Cockatoo Island - now a heritage site, but was a key shipping dockyard for Sydney.  Just so happens to now host a rather funky bar with a great range of cocktails with the most incredible view of the Harbour Bridge.  How convenient for a grown ups day out!

Great music, a few drinky poo's and we then caught the ferry back to the mainland... A truly fantastic day out! - thank you so much to Marsha, AD & Alice for organising! Xxxxxxx

New Years Day

Well as you can imagine, a gentle morning was required today ...... So we decided to head to the beach ..... Palm Beach - AKA Summer Bay from Home and Away!  

After waiting for the boys to find a parking space, the girls hung out at The Diner, and we went hunting for New Years Day lunch ...... Found a great cafe with superb hangover food ..... Steak sandwiches, burgers and piles of chips!!

Then .... The beach!

New Years Eve!

What better way to celebrate New Years Eve then kicking off with breakfast at Bondi Beach!!!!

The weather was beautiful, and we were blown away by the gorgeous beach.  We had a fabulous breakfast.... Hmmmmm

We met Tom - Alice's brother running along the beach barefoot .... Very healthy of him!! 

Then we hit the beach - amaze balls!!!!!!!

The waves were huge, and the rip was so strong- like nothing I've ever experienced.... Literally taking your legs from beneath you.  AD caught a huge wave and managed to get tumbled about... He came out of the water quite quickly after that!   The kids loved it, but we had to be so careful - going in with them and not letting them out of our sight..... 

my little surf dude!

We left shortly after lunchtime, as we had a plan to let the children have a sleep before heading out in the evening!

Back at the house, there was time then for a little pool time for the mummy's! before sprucing ourselves up for the evening.

Sydney was our destination of choice for the evening.  Alice had organised a great restaurant in Darling Harbour, Chinta Ria - with perfect views of the fireworks and a dedicated outdoor area for the guests meant that there was no jostling or fighting our way through the crowds - it was fantastic.  We met with Jo, Brian and their two children Sophie & Angus - ate a delicious meal with a drinky-poo or two and then went outside at 9pm to watch the fireworks which were amazing.

After the fireworks, we went back to the house for some champagne..... and some classic old Skool music (with a fair bit of singing & dancing thrown in for good measure!)

The children were great and went to bed around 11pm, leaving the grown ups to celebrate in style (well the early part of the evening anyway.... Things inevitably deteriorated towards the 2.30am timeframe!!)

Great fun and LOTS of laughing!

Happy New Year! Xxxxxxxxxxx