Arrival: Abu Dhabi to London to Hazlemere

At Abu Dhabi, we disembarked around 5.30 local time, went through transit, and found our gate. We brushed our teeth and watched the sky spectacularly change colour until the sun came up. Our short hop back to London boarded and took off around 8.30. We were served breakfast and stayed awake, editing photos and watching films (I watched Mary Poppins, which was not terribly impressive).

We landed in London late, went through border control, and waited a long time for our three pieces of luggage. The tenor came through and looked like it hadn't been mistreated. Christian had got the plates of the taxi, and we found it outside, and went to Rackspace. We loaded the car and went, stopping for a wrap at the service station. We arrived home close to 2pm, and went straight to bed as we felt rough.

What a great trip. Busy, enjoyable, but not terribly relaxing. We'll be back next year.

Sydney and departure to Abu Dhabi

The alarm was set for 6.15 and we forced ourselves out of bed and did the last bit of packing, so that we left with Jill for the station at 7.10. We got there in plenty of time, said goodbye to Jill, and bought our multi-day tickets.

People walking past us on the platform asked us whether the holiday was beginning or ending, or commented that we were going somewhere exciting, which was fun. The train was one of the shinier Sydney trains, and we got seats in the vestibule, opposite each other, with the luggage out of everyone's way. I was a bit worried about the feasibility of dragging all our luggage around Sydney, but many of these misgivings were eliminated when I found out that the train we were on continued on to Wynyard anyway.

We got off at Wynyard, and took the lift to the concourse, where we had breakfast in a cafe. We then ventured out into George Street and went in search of the Rackspace office. We found it without difficulty, and went up to meet Bruce. After staying for an interesting chat and tour, and leaving our luggage in the storage room, we went back out (our load much lighter) and investigated O Bar and Australia Square. O Bar wasn't open until 5pm, and wouldn't let us in without smart clothing anyway, so we moved further up George Street to QVB and explored it a little.

From there we went across to Pitt Street and to Centrepoint, or whatever they call it these days. We asked about lunch, and found out we could pay $27 to go up to the observation deck, or $30 for one course of an a la carte lunch. No prizes for guessing which we chose, despite not exactly being dressed for a posh lunch. We were given a card and shown to the lift. It was a strange wedge shape, and there was a camera to see into another lift. At the top, we emerged and studied the lay of the land. The central section, with the lifts, the kitchen, and the desk staying still, but two rows of tables rotating. The window section obviously stayed still.

We were shown to a table against the window, and took our seats. I ordered salmon, and Christian ordered pork belly and a beer. The waiter brought us bread and oil/vinegar and we settled down to watch the view. It was lovely having the view brought to us. It was cloudy and not the clearest of days, but we saw lots and put the geography in perspective. The lunch was very good as well. Our photos won't be brilliant, but they'll be fun.

We headed back down to the real world, and made our way south to meet Cheryl (Ange couldn't make it). We had tea/coffee, resisting attempts from beggars to divest us of our money, and had a lovely catch up - it was very good to see her, and as we hadn't seen each other since school, we gave potted histories of ourselves to catch up. Good quality time.

Christian and I then made our way to the King St ferry wharf, on the Cockle Bay side of Darling Harbour, and got a ferry across the 400 metres or so of water to the other side. We wandered past the Maritime Museum and had a look at the boats, and then had a look at other things like fountains and street performers, before going into Harbourside and buying some appropriate souvenirs. We then walked around to Cockle Bay, looking at a crazy mirrored climbing wall thingo for kids, and then walked up through a restaurant complex that had whales hanging from the ceiling, to the Pyrmont Bridge, and then back into the city, via the post office to send my bank card back to Dad.

It was 4.30 by now, and there wasn't time to do anything else, so we wandered back down Pitt St, stopping in the mall to listen to a good busker, and then went back to Rackspace, collecting our luggage and thanking Bruce. We walked to Wynyard station, bought a gatepass to the international airport station, and got on the next train. Getting seats was easy enough, despite it being commuter hell time. At the airport, Christian investigated getting my tenor wrapped in plastic, but all the airport could offer was strapping, which was good enough, really. We dropped off our luggage, thankfully didn't have our hand luggage weighed, and then went through security. We had loads of time, and so sat at a bar and had a sherry, and then had an overpriced and average Chinese meal. It was then time to go to the gate, and so made our way to the right place for the 9.50 flight. As we boarded, we were told that our seats had been changed, so instead of being in a double seat near the back, we'd been moved to a bulk head, where admittedly we had more leg room, but which was a bit annoying. We had a meal, and then both of us slept for much of that flight, until a child having an enthusiastic screaming fit. I tried to get back to sleep but failed. Then came breakfast, and we landed soon after in Abu Dhabi.

Central Coast and packing

Up at usual time, we had breakfast and set off to the Central Coast the long way, through Doyalson. We stopped at the Entrance, and parked along the water, beyond the main street. We wandered past a fair, and past the pelican feeding area, taking in the sights and looking for somewhere to hire us some kayaks, as there were lots of people on the water. It wasn't until we'd gone under the bridge that we found a place, and wandered in. There was one double kayak, but mostly double canoes. We asked whether we could book something for that afternoon, but they said they wouldn't be able to, and to give them a call when we were on our way. They had a blue swimmer crab in a tank beside the counter, and it was distressing to see it jumping around, trying to escape.

Back at the car, we moved on, heading for Terrigal. The traffic on the way in was awful, and the town itself was full of people on such a lovely day. We drove past the busy part, over the hill to the dive shop and the oval, and found a park on the far side, walking back to the busy part to meet the G.I. girls at the Crowne Plaza. Al was waiting for us there, and we chatted while waiting for the others to turn up. No sign, so we walked around the hotel. Nope. Al texted Lisa, who was still in Erina. We heard nothing from Kristie.

The three of us got a table and Christian got us some drinks. We also looked at a menu there while we were waiting. Lisa, Chris, and Sebastian eventually arrived, having had satnav fail, and being caught in the traffic, and we decided to eat there, and took our seats for a fun catch up. We ordered lunch, and the place had got quite busy. Sebastian was very interested in his surroundings, and, having recently started walking, was keen to investigate, so Lisa and Chris took it in turns to take him for walks. He's a sweet boy.

I had a chicken schnitzel parmigiana, and Christian had lamb cutlets (I think). The meals were good, and took almost exactly the advertised 45 minutes. We heard from Kristie about now that her grandmother had been taken ill in hospital that morning, so she wasn't able to come, which was a disappointment. We finished off our meals, chatting some more, and the party broke up at about 2.45. It was good to see the girls, and to meet Sebastian.

Christian and I walked back to the car via the rocks (having to leap down to the sand at one stage), and had a walk to the other bays near the hill. They weren't suitable for snorkelling as the tide was very low, and Christian was more keen on kayaking than snorkelling, so we headed back to the Entrance. I got changed and we went to the hire place, only to find that it was closing. Damn. We were just not destined to go kayaking in Australia. So we drove over the bridge to the other side of the water for a swim. We investigated the far ocean beach first, walking over the dunes to get there. The patrolled section was miles away, so we just paddled, then followed the mouth on that same side until the current was weak enough and the water not deep enough to sink us. We made our way to a sand island in the middle and then swam back out, racing the current to lie around in the shallows and relax. It was a nice afternoon in the end, despite not having achieved our aim.

We headed back to Coal Point the same way we'd come, but with a detour in Morisset. People had told us that tourists had been visiting the hospital site in order to see lots of kangaroos in the wild, and while I didn't really approve of this practice, I was determined for Christian to see some kangaroos before we went home. So we turned off the road, which had signs designating it as a private road which was closed after 6.30 (it was well before 6.30), and kept driving until we spotted the first kangaroo beside the road. And then there were two more. And then the hospital itself had large, shady, green lawns that were filled with kangaroos. Success, finally! We turned the car around and stopped beside the two we'd seen, who were largely unconcerned, said hello to them and took some photos. Aim achieved, we drove back to Coal Point, stopping once more to buy some pizza for dinner.

Once there, we busied ourselves with cleaning out Dad's car (Christian did a brilliant job of vacuuming) and taking the bin up, and packing, and Christian wrapped up my tenor with my blue camp mat, string, and sticky tape. I discovered some missing photos on my external hard drive, but didn't have enough space for a real back up. Once the bulk of the packing had been done, we put the pizza in the oven. It was tasty. We tried to watch some West Wing, but Steve was determined to talk to us. Before long, it was bedtime, so we did some last packing, said goodbye to Steve, and went to bed, our last night in Coal Point.

Hospital and home to the lake

Up at 8am again, Jill suggested that we be at the hospital at 10am, as she had to be elsewhere then. We had no other plans this day. So we drove into Gateshead to see Dad. He wasn't doing well on the food front, having brought up his breakfast, and had forgot to put his oxygen back in and so wasn't feeling great. With the oxygen back in, he was happier, though still pale and weak. It was very hard saying goodbye, as this was the last time we were to see him on this trip.

We set off home, getting fuel in Warners Bay, and deciding to go to Glendale to get some luggage scales, some lunch, and look for some shoes for me. We got the scales from Dick Smith (having failed to get mechanical ones at Bunnings), some shoes for me, and some chicken skewers from Woollies (as well as a mountain of Tim Tams and cherry ripes).

Back at Coal Point, Christian barbecued the skewers and some corn on the cob while I made the salads, and we had a nice meal. I chose this afternoon to go through my camphor chest looking for trips to add to my blog (with moderate success), and we went through some photos. I sent Ange Sager a message to try and organise a chat, but didn't hear back from her. We then went down to the lake and Christian snorkelling while I read my book on the jetty. There were two young guys spear-fishing nearby, and I was a bit nervous about them reloading near us, and swimming by Christian, perchance thinking he was a large fish. And then they decided to use our jetty, so I asked them to go elsewhere.

I went for a quick dip, and then we hosed ourselves and our gear off headed back up to the house. We were the only ones home for the evening, so I got out some steaks for our dinner, which we had with hash browns and salad. After dinner, we watched some West Wing. Christian tried to hook up the laptop to the huge TV, but it wasn't having any of that. We had another reasonably early night.

Port Stephens and lobster

Up at 8am again (I felt much better), we tried once again to book kayaking in Port Stephens, and did so this time. We'd been thinking of going paddle boarding there with Jess, but she declined in the end as she had too much work to get done before term started again. We had breakfast and decided on another easy morning (blogging and doing photos and the like). During the course of the morning, the kayaking hire place rang to say that the wind had come up again so there was no kayaking for us. Boo.

Christian made us toasted sandwiches for lunch, and we packed up and left at about 12.30, stopping to transfer our house deposit at the building society, and to have a look at the fish shop in Argenton (it has an impressive marine representation, with fish and some amazing corals). The drive seemed a lot longer not being broken up. We went straight to Nelson Bay and parked at the end near the fish shops, having a quick glance at Bub's takeaway with a view to a snack and/or getting dinner there. Loaded up with snorkelling gear, we walked around the shops, peered into the water in the marina looking for fish, and got something to eat. We camped on Nelson Bay beach, at the closest end to the marina, and went in for a snorkel. It was incredibly windy, and the water was very cloudy and silty. We didn't see much. We decided to try again at the other end, and it was better, though there was a kid throwing a line in the water nearby. We went close to the rocks and found some fish and coral, but we also found a nasty current. We decided that that was enough and went back to the car.

I thought it was worth trying Fly Point or Halifax Park for snorkelling, but despite driving in the direction I thought they were, I could find the right places. And the tide was low anyway, and the wind strong on that side as well, so it wouldn't have been optimal. We kept on to Fingal Bay, and I felt sure that that, at least, would be more protected. I was wrong. I'd never seen such a swell there before. We walked down to the beach, but gave up on getting wet. Disappointing.

It wasn't quite dinner time, so we decided to investigate Boat Harbour, which could have been a potential snorkelling place, but we didn't think we'd get wet there either. After a 20 minute drive, during which we saw a red-belly black snake scooting along the road trying to avoid traffic, we arrived to the right of the main harbour, and investigated the rock pools. Christian put his phone, inside a waterproof sleeve, into a pool and then through a wave. It was nice there. We then drove to the main harbour, found a park, and walked onto the beach. Out of all places we'd stopped, it was the most sheltered, and we should have gone there to start with. Oh well.

We drove back to Nelson Bay, parking in the same place as before, and went into Bub's seafood. Christian had been toying with the idea of a seafood platter, but he decided on half lobster mornay with chips as well, so I ordered them for us and sat down with our buzzer to wait. They were $27.50, so fairly reasonable, and we hadn't managed to get lobster in the UK despite wanting to for some time. It was very busy, but the food came before too long. It was really delicious - Christian wolfed his down, but I savoured every mouthful.

We drove back to Coal Point in the growing darkness, hoping to see some kangaroos beside the road (but didn't). Stockton Bridge was very pretty with its lights against the sunset. Back at home, we caught up with Jill and the tennis, and went to bed.

Hospital, and Newcastle foreshore and Stockton

We were up at 8am again and tried to arrange for kayaking in Port Stephens that afternoon, but when we rang the hire shop they said that the wind was too strong. We had an easy morning, as Roy the cleaner was there, and Jill wanted to go off to the hospital, so we stayed until he'd finished. He's a sweetie. We arranged to be at the hospital at 12pm when Jill went off to Garden City. We fitted in a quick visit to the lake and the surf ski before heading off (which made us slightly late). Dad was in Lake Macquarie Private in Gateshead now, and so Christian navigated while I drove. It was easy enough to find. Again, he was looking very pale and small, and relying heavily on oxygen. He'd had the lung drained under a local anaesthetic, which sounded scary to me, and he'd been pretty terrified too, but he hadn't felt a thing. He still wasn't eating, mostly because he hadn't eaten for weeks, and the food that the hospital were bringing him were not palatable to someone who needed to start gently. The packet soups that Jill had bought were deemed not to have any protein in them. OK, but at least they're something.

We didn't really have any plans for the rest of the day, and Dad suggested we head into the honeysuckle area, so I thought we could add Stockton to that. We said goodbye, and drove into Newcastle, parking behind the honeysuckle restaurants. We wandered for a little while and chose a nice and cheap cafe to eat on the wharf. I had prawn and calamari pasta, and Christian had a chicken schnitzel sandwich.

Our parking was due to run out, so we decided to drive up to Nobby's to leave the car (where parking is free), and walk back to Queen's Wharf to get the ferry across to Stockton. So that's what we did. The ferry is still cheap. We walked out onto the breakwall to look at the shipwrecks, ships, and crows, and then went onto the beach for a while. I didn't fancy swimming, but Christian went in (I took photos).

After a while, we headed back to the ferry, just making the one we could see. I was hot and tired by now, and the walk back to the car was difficult. We fancied ice cream (nothing new there), and I decided that stopping in Beaumont Street would be a good plan, as it was the only place in Newcastle I could find proper gelato. We got a park, and I realised that the shop had gone. So we walked back up the street and found a Cold Rock. I got white chocolate and cherry ripe, and Christian got passionfruit and bounty. It was nice, but not amazing, and overpriced. Never mind.

We drove home, and as I was feeling rough, I went to bed. Christian woke me up at about 8.30 as we had to eat. I was incredibly groggy and tired for about 45 minutes. Christian cooked us crumbed fish and salad. I ate it and felt a little better. Christian thought I probably had sunstroke, but apart from a slightly burnt back, I didn't seem to have symptoms. Not sure what it was but I felt quite bad. I think we went to bed soon after dinner.

Reptile Park and dinner with Clint and Jess

We woke up at 8am, but took it easy for the morning, leaving around midday for Gosford and the reptile park. Sue had given us an entertainment book voucher, and so we got two-for-one tickets, which was most welcome. We parked in the sun, got our gear together, and went inside.

Just inside the entrance, we were met with a woman who was holding a dwarf bearded dragon, which I patted, and Christian held for a time. He was awesome. We went to see the aligator feeding, then the Tasmanian devil show, and then went around the exhibits, getting some lunch through the day. Christian made good use of the GoPro, both photographically and videographically. Turns out it's a good way to get animal videos - holding it on the end of a pole. It was a good day, though Christian got hungry and hot and was a bit uncomfortable for a while. I was disappointed that it was too hot for the kangaroos to be out and about, so Christian still believed them to be a 'marketing ploy'.

We left there at about 3.30, after a slushie, and headed back to Coal Point, which meant we got some time to relax and have a shower before going back out again.

We headed out again at 6pm to meet Clint and Jess in Warners Bay at 6.30. We took our seats in Brown Sugar, which was pleasantly swish, and had an impressive menu. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable, because my left ear still hadn't cleared from diving the day before, and I had trouble hearing. It was also slightly difficult to see, as the sun was pelting through the window at us, and the blind wasn't really doing a very good job of filtering it. We had three very good courses - mine were octopus salad, kangaroo loin (yes it was revenge for not seeing any that day), and a chocolate pudding. I didn't drink as I'd offered to drive, and strangely, I felt like it took away from the meal. It was a lovely evening, though, and great to catch up with Clint and Jess. The bill came to $90 a head, and I was a bit uneasy about that, even though it had been extremely good.

On the way downstairs from the restaurant, I managed to break my third pair of old Coal Point shoes. I think I've probably learned my lesson now. We headed home and to bed.

Bondi, diving in Camp Cove, and Manly

The alarm went off at 5.15, and we were packed and ready to go at 6am (with tea and toast in hand). We had a mostly easy run on the M1, M2, and harbour tunnel, and got to Bondi at 8am, parking in a nearby street for free. The dive shop wasn't open yet, so we found a football-obsessed cafe who cooked us a nice breakfast. We went into the shop when it opened and met Rick, our guide. We went upstairs to the teaching room, and went through the required forms, and then through the training session. Much of it was reiterating what I'd learnt before, but I learnt a few new things, and going over stuff was reassuring anyway.

Once done, and I'd only got one of the questions in the quiz after wrong by not reading the question properly, we went downstairs and were fitted for wetsuits and wings. We then went back to the car to get our gear (Christian still in his wetsuit), I picked up some sandwiches for lunch, and met we Rick at his car. The drive to Camp Cove was surprisingly long - and once there, parking was incredibly difficult. We unloaded our stuff, and Rick hovered until a parking space became available.

Rick walked us up to a high point to tell us the plan for the dives and sketch out the scene. We then kitted up, and got into the water. We moved out beyond shoulder depth, and I did my skills tests. Firstly, I did reg remove and replace - once by clearing the reg with my breath, and once by pressing the button. I found clearing with my breath challenging for some reason. I panicked about having to open my mouth to put the reg in. I found pressing the button much less stressful. Then I had to do the dreaded mask clear. I somehow managed it without choking or shooting to the surface, but I'm pretty sure I held my breath during it. Then we headed off for our first dive.

I never felt comfortable on this dive. I couldn't empty my wing properly to descend. I couldn't go where I wanted to - I was rocking side to side, and for the first half of the dive, I was dragging along the bottom. Rick said he'd look after my buoyancy, and he did eventually, but mostly went off ahead with the DSMB and left me to it. I think I was still trying to breathe through my nose, and so my mask kept filling up, and I had to clear it (equalising my ears at the same time, at least). My fin came loose and I managed to put it back on and tighten it. Rick pointed out some octopuses and rays, and lots of fish, which were awesome. I wanted to abort a number of times, but didn't want to give up. After an eternity, we got back to shore, and I could relax.

I felt peculiar though - dizzy and disoriented. My left ear was blocked, despite being able to equalise the whole time. I felt like I'd done quite badly, and didn't really want to go back in the water, but I sat for a while and ate half a sandwich, and ended up feeling better in time. I talked over what had gone wrong with Christian, and I felt like I understood, and knew better how to cope.

We kitted up again, and went into the water. With no skills first, I was feeling more relaxed, and we descended - I more successfully this time. But I took control of the wing, and filled it back up a little so I wouldn't drag along the bottom. This worked a treat. I was able to concentrate more on what I was doing, and look at the underwater world around me a lot more. I wasn't rolling around all the time, and my trim was a lot better, though it felt very unnatural. I did stray to the surface a couple of times, so I think perhaps there was too much air in the wing - I was higher than Rick was in the water. I got a bit cold in the wetsuit at one point when we were at our deepest (about seven metres). I tried to dump air by lifting my backside and using the kidney dump, without success. At the end, Christian got Rick to take a photo of us underwater, but I couldn't get low enough in the water. Still, I came out of this dive feeling a lot happier and more confident - glad that I'd persevered. We took a photo out of the water and headed back to the car, dekitting and packing up.

Rick drove us back to the shop, and we thanked him and went to the car. Christian was keen on a swim somewhere else, but I wasn't sure what would be possible given how busy Camp Cove had been. He suggested Manly, and I agreed immediately. We drove through the city and to the east above the harbour to get there, paying for parking and taking our gear down to the sand. We ended up between the two sets of flags, and the lifeguards were strenuously removing people in the wrong places. So we moved up the beach to the flags, and went in. It was cold to start with, but lovely in. We went out to where the waves were rolling before the break and it was many fun. We went in for a sit down, and Christian got itchy feet as expected, and went back in. After that, we moved on to see if we could find ice cream. As we got back to the car, Doug Blaxell rang, and I spoke to him while Christian took some photos, and while we strolled towards the main street.

The conversation ended, and we walked to the harbour end of the main street, which does actually have a beach (with shark nets). We watched the ferry loading up and saw thousands of fish underneath it. Christian fancied sushi, and had seen one at the top of the street, but there was good gelato at the bottom. We compromised and went back for the sushi at the top. It was OK - on a belt, and interesting, but dry. We gulped it down in time to rescue the car from a parking fine, giving up on ice cream for now.

We drove home via the highway, intending to seek ice cream on the central coast, and take the long way back. But it was getting late, so we headed straight home on the M1 (F3), stopping for fuel in Morisset and getting an ice cream there. At home, we relaxed, and I made a small salad for us later in the evening before going to bed.

Hospital, dropping off car, and lake shenanigans

I was feeling a bit stressed after all the activity, and at the prospect of diving the next day, and so we had a slow morning, and drove in to the Mater to see Dad. He was looking small and weak, but determined to get better - he was due to be moved to Lake Macquarie Private to have his lung redrained that day. We drove back in time to drop off the car for new tyres and new headlining at 12pm.

While in Toronto, we bumped into Andrew Gardiner at the tyre place and had a nice chat, had lunch at the Double Take cafe, I closed my term deposit account, and sorted out a couple of other building society issues, I called in to see Kristy at the RSL, and then Jill picked us up at 2pm and drove us back to Coal Point. We filled in time until it was time to collect the car, went to get it (buying stamps at the same time), and then headed back to Coal Point and the lake with our snorkelling gear.

We got the surf ski out and had a play around - Christian tried to get on the back and learned the hard way that this was a bad idea. He tried getting on the front, but I refused to move until he got off. While I was out, Christian put the GoPro on the bottom of the lake, which recorded my return on the surf ski. We tried the GoPro on the surf ski, but it was swinging around too wildly to get good footage. We then had a snorkel, and saw a surprising amount of interesting stuff.

We packed up and went back to the house. We'd intended to watch some West Wing, but I wanted to do some organising, and printing out and filling in the diving forms, so by 9.45 I was ready for bed and needing sleep.

Melbourne to Newcastle, Shoal Bay with Sue et al, schoolies meal

The alarm went off at 5am in a most unwelcome way, and we packed up and got to the airport in good time. We got breakfast much like we had on our other arrival at Melbourne airport, but this time we had to throw most of our tea/coffee out. I was not happy. The flight was not full.

I dozed most of the flight, and we were in Newcastle soon enough. Jill was due to meet us there, and we met up very quickly, and drove back to Coal Point. We had a shower, repacked for the day, I did a bit of organisation on the laptop, and we headed back out to Stockton. It was great to see Sue, and Camillo and Matt and Sue Pendlebury. After inspecting where Sue had nearly burned the house down, we set off in Soopy's and Matt's cars in the direction of the Bay. Camillo stayed at home. As I went to get in Matt's car, one of my sandals broke (and I love those sandals). Matt offered me a giant pair of his thongs, and I accepted. We stopped at the brewery/winery at Bobs Farm, each got a beer/cider, some crisps, and we sat down to relax under the umbrellas and chatted. When Christian went off to the toilet, Sue told me how wonderful she thinks he is, which means a lot.

We finished our drinks, and got back in the cars, driving on up to Port Stephens. Matt subjected us to the Twelfth Man. At Shoal Bay, we drove on nearly to Tomaree head before getting a car park. Sue/Soopy/Kev parked near the fish and chips shop. Christian and I got changed, and the others ordered fish and chips for us as we walked to meet them. It wasn't the nicest meal in the world, but it was jolly.

We crossed the road, and went for a dip. Christian got in quickly, but I found it cold. I got in eventually. Soopy jumped in and jumped out straight away. Sue stayed just over her knees. It was nice to cool off. We joined Matt and Kev in the pub across the road, and I got changed. We headed off soon after - Matt drove us back to Sue's, and we said our goodbyes and headed back to Coal Point.

Christian had opted to stay at home that evening, so I had a shower and went back out to meet my school friends at Blue Water Pizza at Warners Bay. Unfortunately, a lot of people either couldn't come or dropped out, and so it was only me, Ash, Lorrice, and Nat. It was a nice evening, though, and good to catch up.

I drove home, and we went to bed soon after.

More Hobart, the farm, and back to Melbourne

We made sure that we were up and showered by 8am today, as we needed to get on the road sooner than we had the day before. We had some tea/coffee, then Nick drove us in his ute to Hobart so we could have breakfast and look at the Salamanca markets. We parked a little way off, and walked into the market precinct, choosing Barcelona as a place to have breakfast. I once again had eggs benedict, and Christian had a 'big breakfast'. They had a long wait on the coffees, so Sarah went elsewhere to get hers. Our breakfast came out extremely quickly, and was very good. The milkshakes that the boys had ordered, however, failed to appear, and we cancelled them as we paid the bill and moved on.

Nick went off to do some chores, and the three of us wandered through the fairly impressive and interesting markets, trying some wasabi cherries, chilli non-alcoholic ginger beer, and some of us tried some mead. Christian bought some ginger beer and some postcards, but otherwise we were happy to just look and sample. Nick rejoined us, and we made our way down the other side of the markets, and into a vintage car display, which was pretty cool. Sarah found a Morris Minor like the one that Nick had bought her, and asked some of the guys for advice on doing it up.

We walked back to the car, and drove back to Richmond, changing clothes and swapping stuff before heading back out again to Nick's farm to the north-east of Richmond. We drove in to the main house, and stopped to have a look at the Morris. It really does need a lot of work. We then got back in the ute and four-wheel-drove down the steep grassy slope in search of the sheep. We found a small clump of them and kept driving to the river. Nick got out his fishing rod in the hope of snagging some trout. He failed. Christian had a go, and caught a log, or something else heavy that swallowed the lure and hook. Oops. We had a small wander and I spent the whole time looking out for snakes, as Nick and Sarah had told me (perhaps as a joke) that there were a lot in the grass.

We drove on, back up the other side of the hill, and found the rest of the sheep, huddling together under the shade of a huge tree. They wandered off, and Nick tried to herd them back under the tree but failed. We had a look at the sandstone quarries, and at the shed for working the sandstone, at the tree plantations for pulp, and then at the shearing shed. The wool from the prize ram was super soft, and quite oily.

We drove on, stopping at the bushland gardens nearby, where Nick wanted to show us the 'dinosaur'. It was gone. The gardens were a display of native plants, and some locally sculpted artwork in metal. Some were very clever. We drove on back to Richmond, via Sorell, where we bought some barbecue chicken and salad for dinner.

Back at the house, we relaxed for a while, and then Sarah's and Nick's friend Margaret came around for dinner. We had a lavish chicken, wrap, and salad dinner, Sarah forced me to eat some more strawberries, ice cream, and ice magic, and then it was time to go. We said goodbye to Nick, and Sarah drove us the short distance to the airport. I was sorry to leave Tasmania, as it had made its mark on me. I was also sorry to leave Sarah - it had been great to see her.

At the airport, we went through security, had a look at some souvenirs, and boarded the flight quite quickly. The flight itself was uneventful, and we arrived at Melbourne after 10pm. Despite Christian's doubt, we found the Ibis easily, were given our key, went into the room, had showers, and got into bed as quickly as we could. I texted Sue to organise the next day, but we were soon asleep in the air conditioning.

Exploring Hobart

Sarah was up before us, despite having been completely exhausted the night before, and we decided to get up at about 8am. We had a lazy breakfast, and formulated a plan to go to Mount Wellington, Huon Valley,  Geeveston for sushi, and a stop at a winery on the way home.

We packed up and left at about 10.30. We headed up to Mount Wellington, via the city, and a few mountain suburbs, on a steep and winding road. It was quite cool at the top, and I should have had another layer. We walked up onto the rocks, and to the lookout and the new shiny toilet block. There were no substantial walks to do up there, but it was fun pootling around and looking at the view, which was extremely good. It wasn't completely clear, but we could certainly see all of Hobart and the Derwent. There's one obviously broadcast tower made of steel frame, but there's also a large white tower there that Christian was curious about, but we didn't find out what it was. Turns out it's a broadcast tower as well, made of concrete and steel, which beams all the FM radio stations and some digital TV stations. We saw some cool beetles, and there was some pretty ground-level flowering vegetation.

We drove down the other side of Mt Wellington, and headed towards the Huon Valley, getting stuck behind some slow traffic on the way. Sarah pointed out the cherry orchard that she's working at at the the moment, and also the backpackers hostel that's causing her grief. There were a lot of orchards under netting, and lots of boats on the extremely wide Huon River.

We arrived in Geeveston very hungry, and found the sushi place easily in such a small town. We had a seat, and started with miso soup (which was very tasty, and had vegetables in it). Turns out that because we arrived around 2pm, much of the sushi was gone for the day, but we asked for a platter with everything left to feed three. It came out looking very impressive - we had salmon nigiri, one cooked tuna ISO roll, two raw tuna ISO rolls, an omelette roll, and a couple of other pieces each. It was fresh and delicious, worth the wait, and only $25 a head.

We'd talked about going further south-east to Dover and the beach, but in the event we turned back to Hobart, and headed back out to Richmond. Sadly, the wineries were closing by then as it was 5pm. Never mind.

Nick got home soon after we did, and we decided to go out for dinner to the Richmond Arms. We did the short walk into the centre of town, and found a table in the rather warm pub. Sarah and I ordered a seafood basket, and the boys ordered a chicken parmigiana schnitzel (though Sarah and Christian arranged to have half each of their meals). We shared a bottle of sparkling wine. It was a nice meal - the seafood was beautifully cooked despite being battered. The pub had some colourful characters come in - I wondered whether the client base stretched further afield than Richmond.

We did the walk back to the house, watched some tennis, and went to bed early again.

Melbourne to Hobart

Our alarm was set for 4am, which hurt a lot. We got up, though, and Mum and Tom very kindly drove us to the airport through the sparse traffic. After goodbyes, we went into the terminal, went through security, and grabbed some breakfast (which for Christian was a beef and horseradish sandwich, and for me was a white chocolate and macadamia cookie). We went to the gate to eat, and had to drink our tea/coffee before we got on the flight. We used the mobile check-in for the first time, and they scanned the code and gave us a ticket anyway.

The flight was only an hour and ten minutes, and we mostly dozed, but there were some incredibly rude and ignorant Tasmanians behind us who made the trip a bit uncomfortable. We got off in Hobart, and took the only method of transport into the city that was available to us - the shuttle bus. It cost $17, but the man was nice, and there were hardly any people on it. He dropped us in the city, and we headed for the harbour. I couldn't understand why people were wearing summery clothes as it was cold. After seeing which lunchtime cruises were available, the first stop was breakfast, and we had that at T42 (degrees south). It was very pleasant, but the sun was incredibly bright and hot, and before long I removed layers and changed shoes. We repacked our bags with our boots, and wandered back to book a cruise. Christian really wanted to do a cruise on the tall ship, and I wasn't averse, so we booked that at $80 a head.

We decided to walk up to the Botanical Gardens via Queen's Domain and the Soldier's Walk, and it was hot and uphill. It was worthwhile, as the Botanical Gardens were cool and verdant. There was a Robin Hood pantomime running, which was very lively.

We took the easy way back into the city, and were ready to board the tall ship at 1pm. There was a bit of a delay, but we eventually got on, and Dylan gave us the safety briefing, including how to put on a lifejacket, where not to walk on the ship, and to look out for the harsh sun. We motored out a good way onto the Derwent, had a chicken and salad roll lunch, and then the crew went through the difficult process of putting the sails up. Gradually, they put eight of them up. The wind wasn't strong enough as we weren't moving very fast, but it was really interesting to see how they went about things - two of them had to go up the mast to unhook the sails. We then had some cheese and fruit, and we were taken on a tour below decks, which was claustophobic but interesting. We met the ship's cat, who lazily lifted her head as we talked in the room containing the sofa on which she slept, then went back to sleep.

Time was getting on, and I let Sarah know that we would be late meeting her. We went beyond where we started, almost to the bridge, before the sails came down and the motor went back on. The captain (Sarah) expertly steered the ship back to its dock under motor, and we disembarked. It was lots of fun, and I was really glad we did it.

We walked to the cenotaph to meet Sarah, and eventually found her lurking near some boot camp crazies. We drove to a supermarket to buy dinner, and Christian acted as basket carrier while he dealt with mine and Sarah's crazy conversation. We drove on to Richmond, though ever-increasing country scenery, and got to the house, which was off dirt road after the sealed part of the road ran out. Richmond is a beautiful, convict-built, sandstone town, with a famous bridge, a gaol, and lots of tourists. We met Nick, said hello to Persia, and they whipped up a delicious dinner of salmon, smashed potatoes, and salad. With fruit, ice cream, and ice magic for dessert. :-)

We watched some T20 cricket on TV, marvelling at how ridiculous it was, and then turned in for bed quite early.

The Mornington peninsula

We got up normal time, had breakfast, and got ready for a road trip. We had a vague plan to get as far down the Mornington Peninsula as we could, and stop in as many dive shops as we could to buy a strap for diving with the GoPro. We studied the Melways and I worked out how to get there. Then we set off with Christian in the driving seat.

It was a lovely warm day. The route was simple down Springvale Road, and onto the coast road. We first saw the beach at Chelsea. I was very surprised to find that the water was beautiful and tropical-looking. Frankston was the biggest town we went through, but we didn't stop there. We kept on to Mornington, as we'd singled out a dive shop to have a look in. Upon arrival in Mornington, we discovered that half the population of Victoria had converged on it. We crawled down the main street, dodging pedestrians, to the water, and didn't find anywhere to park down there, so came back up the car park side, and wasted about 15 minutes going in an out of different sections. We gave up and drove back to the approach to the town, and got a park for two hours there.

We walked back into the town, keeping an eye out for the dive shop, and for somewhere to eat lunch. We found the dive shop in a side street, and bought a fluorescent yellow wrist strap that would do the job. Finding lunch proved more difficult. There were a lot of nice looking places, but they were all full. We decided on the pub in the end, and apart from the hours it took Christian's drink to come out, it was very good.

We walked back to the car, via Optus to get a new mini-SIM for my phone, and headed south in search of excitement. We found a nice beach just outside the town, a place to leave the car, and made our way down via a boat ramp to the sand. The water was shallow, and the bay open, so we mainly splashed around. I went to get my swimmers on, but never actually got in, as it was a bit cool. The sand was horribly annoying to walk on, but we explored the far end of the beach, and Christian chose to swim back rather than walking on the sinky sand.

We packed up, and continued south again. Beyond Mornington, Safety Beach looked the loveliest, but we kept driving, as we had the time. By now, I'd given up on making it to Michael's gig that night, though I was upset to give it up, given it was the only gig I was going to see, and it had been so fortuitous. The road between there and Sorrento seemed endless, but we eventually made it to Portsea, and were surprised to find a national park with some kind of military installation ('defensive facility') there. We drove as far as we could, then parked and walked through the warm and fly-ridden bush to the water. The beach was lovely, and mostly deserted. We went for a walk, but didn't reach the furthest tip.

We headed back to the car, and made our way east/north again. We chose to stop at Dromana for a swim, which was just before Safety Beach, as the water looked deep and inviting. It was pretty darn cold, as well, and I was still feeling fairly coldy. I made the effort to submerge myself fully, and was pleased that I did. We monkeyed around for a while, with some GoPro action, and then settled back in the car for the final trip home. There was an exit to the freeway nearby, and so we took that, which cut off most of the slow bit of the trip (and was a really nice road), and we found ourselves back at Mitcham quite quickly - I think by 8pm. We filled the car up with fuel on the way.

We had salmon for dinner, which was very tasty. It was nice to be at home for our final night in the end. We did as much packing as we could, and prepared ourselves for an unpleasantly early morning. Bed.

Another walk, Maitripa, and curry dinner

Having explored the city the day before, we didn't really have a huge plan for this day, and so took it easy in the morning. We had a walk in the bush with Mum and Tom, having a look at a historical cottage, and the big ugly grey tower on the way. Back at home, we had lunch, and then, as Mum and Tom had arranged a visit to Maitripa, we packed up the car and headed out on a road trip. I'd considered us dropping in at the Healesville sanctuary, but it was more expensive than, and too similar to, the Gosford Reptile Park, so we gave it a miss. Christian still hadn't seen any kangaroos at this point.

The drive was pleasant, and Christian got to see a type of country he hadn't until now - vineyards and sheep country, and wet forest as we headed up into the hills from Healesville. At the centre, it was hard to miss Rinpoche's stupa. It's enormous and beautiful. We walked a few turns around it in respect (kora?). There were a load of retreatants coming out and had some group photos taken in front of the stupa. After they'd gone, we had a closer look at the stupa, and met the woman who was running the summer school (whose name I've forgotten). We also got to have a look at the new bar next to the cafe - it looks lovely.

We decided to go for a walk up the mountain, and made it to the ridge. I was going slowly, as I wasn't 100%, but it was lovely, and definitely worth doing. It was cool, and overcast.

Back at the car, we hopped in and made our way back home, passing some running sheep beside the road, and noting as we went over the Yarra. Back at home, we relaxed for a time, and then headed back out in the car to pick up Joan, as we were going out for a delicious curry dinner. At the restaurant, a young boy served us for most of the time - it was fun as he was a real natural. It was lovely to see Joan - she's such a sweetie.

We chose a good handful of dishes, and shared them. The food was just as delicious as I remember. We also had some tasty wines to go with the food. It was a lovely evening. And it continued, as Joan offered to host us for tea and cake at her house afterwards. She presented a wonderful spread of refreshments in her absolutely immaculate living room. Really lovely. I was very tired, though, and we left after 10.30. At home, we went straight to bed.

Exploring Melbourne city

We had a lovely sleep in until about 8 again, and went up for breakfast. I wasn't feeling too great, but decided that I wanted us to have a day in the city. It was a much cooler day, and overcast. As Mitcham station was closed for refurbishment, Mum kindly took us to a newsagent on the main drag where we could top up my Myki and buy Christian one. She left us to catch a 907 into the city.

One came along quite quickly, and we got on. The journey was comfortable and easy enough. We got off on Lonsdale Street, and started walking down Swanston Street. I had intended for us to get lunch at Brunetti's, but as we walked past all the exciting looking Asian restaurants and dim sum places, the temptation was too great, and we went and sat down in a nice-looking dim sum restaurant. It was tasty, and relatively cheap. The highlight was giant spring rolls served upright in a glass.

We kept on down Swanston until an interesting 'little' street, ending up on Bourke St Mall. Then Elizabeth. We got distracting buying a North Face shirt for Christian, and a wombat called Russell for Heather (complete with birth certificate). We kept on down Elizabeth (via Starbucks) to Flinders, and back up to the station. We wandered past the Arts Centre and the National Gallery, snapping photos, with Christian getting distracted by putting the GoPro in a fountain. A bit further down, we crossed the road, and walked back to the tram stop via Queen Victoria Gardens and some friendly ducks, and via the Yarra bridge and a view of the MCG. We had a quick wander around Fed Square, and looked at a 4WD demonstration.

At the tram stop, we got the next available tram to St Kilda, enjoyably watching the world go by on the way, getting off on the Esplanade. It was blowing a gale there, and there were actual waves. We walked out onto the pier, watching the kite surfers. We didn't stop at the cafe on the end of the pier, but kept going to the breakwall, Christian walking along the top, where the spray was quite strong off the waves, and I along the inside, saying hello to a black swan, and keeping an eye out for penguins (there were none). We met up again, and made our way back to the shore. There wasn't much else to see or do here, and so we headed back to the tram stop.

There was a bit of wait for the 96, and so we got the 112 for a change of scene. I certainly saw bits of Melbourne I'd never seen before, and Christian did his trick of the GoPro in the window. We must have changed to a 1 at some point, and got off at Lygon St. I went to where I remember Brunetti to have been, and it just wasn't there. I could have been wrong, but we started walking up Lygon St, and Christian employed google maps. It was hiding in a shopping centre. It's definitely moved. How rude!

Anyway, we went inside, intending to only have a snack. It turned into a full meal of calzone and a beer for Christian - perhaps not the most appropriate thing to do at 5pm. And of course, it would have been rude not to have ice cream. I bought some biscuits for us to have at home later. We headed out and bought some nice bottles for Mum and Tom, and got back on a tram - just a short hop back to Lonsdale St to get the bus back to Mitcham.

As the sign indicated a long wait, Christian went off to get a coffee, and of course a bus came and went while he was gone. We got the next one, and were duly delivered back in Mitcham, getting off before the main street. We walked back to the house, which was fairly pleasant in the sunny evening.

At home, we delivered our gifts, had a sociable chat, ate our Brunetti biscuits, gave a report of the day, and Christian and I had leftover moussaka for dinner. Then bed.

Flight to Melbourne

We were up at about 6.15, did the last bit of packing, and got in the car with Dad and Jill to go to the airport. I was feeling quite rough by now, with Christian's cold, but I soldiered on.

They dropped us off, and we went inside. Having checked in online, all we had to do was go through security, which we did, and got some breakfast. The flight boarded at the appropriate time, and took off away from the sea. We didn't see any fighter jets. I was conscious that we finally did that walk from terminal to aircraft that I'd so pathetically pictured us doing twelve months earlier. I pointed out things of interest out the window to Christian, including Canberra, which that flight always seems to go directly over. It was a smooth flight, with the only turbulence happening right before we landed. Christian commented on how much browner Melbourne seemed than Sydney. It hadn't had the same amount of rainfall.

Upon disembarkation, we saw Mum and Tom almost immediately at the gate, and greeted each other and completed introductions. After finding the car, we drove through the warm city to Mitcham, and Christian and I explored the house and moved in to the flat downstairs. Mum made us lunch (lentil soup, I think), and we decided to go for a walk in the afternoon. It was very nice. We started on paved path, and then dirt path, then not much of a path at all. We were following some curious numbers, but kept going until we ran out of places to walk. On the way, we saw and heard lots of interesting birds, and also a tortoise on a rock in a pond, and a cute little wagtail.

Back at home, Christian met some of the birds, and we watched some cricket, and Mum made us some tasty moussaka for dinner. With a bit of wine, and a lovely dessert, it was a very pleasant evening, but we had an earlyish night to make up for the early morning.

'Christmas lunch' at Coal Point

We got up, probably around 8, had breakfast, and decided to fill in the morning with a small explore around Rathmines and Fishing Point. I went the long way through Kilaben Bay and pointed out the odd thing down there. We kept on to the Christadelphian/bowling club end of Rathmines, and parked there for an explore.

Firstly, we checked out the Catalina memorial. I'd never looked at it before, and so it was very interesting to read the dedications, and to see all the servicemen named as they died, be it on active service, or at any point up to the present. Christian attempted to take a photo of a parrot (a lorikeet, I think) that was sitting in a bottle brush bush, but it was determined to escape the glare of the media.

We then walked downhill to the main foreshore section of Rathmines, passing a cicada on the way. Christian had heard them in California, but it seems he'd never seen one, as he spotted the huge, ugly, black thing and asked in alarm what it was. 50mm photos were taken. On the Rathmines foreshore, Christian was struggling for the lack of sunglasses and hat. We saw two galahs there; strangely, we only saw a couple more during the course of the whole trip. I tried to explain the geography to Christian and we took some photos back towards Coal Point. I pointed out the Westlakes Music Centre.

We went back to the car, and drove in the direction of Fishing Point, and hadn't gone far when a woman and her children were cycling full pelt out of a side street. She spotted us, and proceeded to push the larger of the children off his bike sideways in order to save him from being hit by our car. That was interesting. We continued on up the hill, and I showed Christian Lincoln Close (after being less than sure how to find it after all those years). We kept on out to Fishing Point, glancing over to Coal Point, but not having anywhere to stop to really look. We continuing around the far side of the point, then back to the main road, past the Boot's house, and then back to Coal Point.

There was nothing for it then but to wait for the visitors to arrive, and they duly did, for our Christmas lunch. So we had Dad, Jill, Steve, Emma, Cheryl, Graham, and Christian and me. Dad had prepared potato salad and sliced beef that morning (with help from Jill), and together with the prawns that we'd bought, more from the Boots, ham, salad, and bread baked by Cheryl, we had a lovely meal. Dad wasn't very strong, and needed his oxygen out on the deck, which was worrying, but he did have a few things to eat. Cheryl had made and brought a tasty frozen coconut dessert, which was very good.

After lunch, Christian and I were on prawn head duty, and Christian had the idea of putting the GoPro in the lake to capture the spectacle of the fish attacking the prawns. We tied it to some string, and took it down. There was too much current for it to stay still, and we sat waiting, increasingly forlornly, as nothing happened and no fish appeared. But when we took it back to the house and had a look at the video, there were plenty of small fish.

We farewelled the Boots (after Cheryl had tried to encourage me to get Graham to take us out in his boat), and everyone relaxed. We may have tried again with the GoPro at this point.

Before dinner, Christian and I went for a walk around the point, including Robey Road, and Grant Road, then a bush track (through Threlkeld Reserve) back to Coal Point Road, and a wander through Gurranba Reserve. We met a kookaburra, and some 'punk' pigeons.

I think we had leftovers for dinner, packed for the next day, and had an early night.

Glendale, Newcastle and Nobby's, Garden City

I think we might have woken up quite early on this day, but took our time having breakfast.

We got ready and went out in the car, heading for Newcastle. As we went through Glendale, we decided to stop and sort out a few things. Firstly, a SIM for Christian. We tried Optus first, but thought about having the two companies between us to make sure we had coverage, and changed our minds and went to Telstra instead. The SIM was still only $2, with $30 value covering calls and data. Now he just had to unlock the phone.

Then we had a look for t-shirts for Christian, but failed as the surf shop that had been there had gone. Instead, we went into Target and got him some swimming shorts, and a pair of deck shoes. So some success.

We drove on to the University, and had a quick drive around to show Christian what it was like. We rejoined Lambton Road, and continued on into Newcastle, taking Hunter St towards the foreshore. We parked at Queen's Wharf, and trekked up the tower. Shame there's perspex at the top - makes photos impossible. On the way up, Dad rang me asking me to buy prawns from Costi's at Garden City on the way home. Christian managed to take some photos through the railings on the way down the steps.

We only had 20 minutes of parking, and so drove on (Christian took over the driving here - eeek!) to Nobby's car park. There was a stupid woman who seemed incapable of getting her car out in front of us, but we parked successfully for free. We wandered down onto Nobby's beach, and walked along the beach side, enjoying the wind and the sun, and the kitesurfers. We walked back the way we'd come, and got in the car, driving around the other beaches and eventually joining the highway near Highfields. We turned off the highway to go to Kotara, and picked up some prawns for lunch the next day, and some prawn skewers for our dinner.

We drove home via Charlestown Road, and relaxed. Dad was kind enough to cook our skewers on the barbecue for us, and we had a tasty meal. I think Christian either had a lie down due to feeling rough with his cold, or worked on his laptop for a while, because I watched TV before he joined me. We had an early night.

First day in Lake Macquarie and Blacksmiths beach

We got up, we had breakfast. We did a bit more settling in, and I dragged out my bag of old snorkelling gear from downstairs. Miraculously, my mask, fins, snorkel, and boots were absolutely fine after all those years - no perishing at all. We laid it all out on the deck to see what we had.

The plan was to go to the beach, even though we'd left it too late to beat the heat of the day. We found towels, got our stuff together (with the all-important GoPro), and I drove around the lake to Blacksmiths. We found a spot on the sand, laid out stuff, and headed for the water. It was surprisingly cold, and it took me a while to get in. It was fine in the water, though, and Christian documented all of it with the GoPro, including inappropriate extreme close-ups.

We sat down for a time, but went again soon after, and then set off for a walk along the shore to the breakwall so Christian could see the geography. There were people fishing off the breakwall on the beach side, and so Dad's suggestion of snorkelling would have been dangerous. We decided to walk around the back of the beach, and so went bush for a time. Eventually we were back on a path that looked inhabited, and Christian had a shower and we headed back to the car.

I drove on across the bridge into Swansea, and tried to find the lovely beachy places under the casuarinas that I'd swum in the past. And totally failed. We stopped at one place, and walked along the grass for a while. I drove on some more, and still couldn't find it. Damn my poor memory. (I can find it easily on the map now.) We turned back, and drove to Warners Bay. We withdrew some cash from the Perm, and as it was lunch time, we went to Bill's for some enormous burgers, chips, and milkshakes. Bad idea, as we were stupidly full.

[As far as we can remember, the rest of the day was spent relaxing at Coal Point, and editing photos. Can't remember what we had for dinner - probably a salad.]

More sightseeing in Sydney, visit to Em in Summer Hill, and north to Lake Macquarie

We slept through until 8am, which was a miracle under the circumstances. We packed up everything and checked out, leaving our luggage downstairs at reception. Walking back towards the station, we stopped for breakfast at a cafe that had good food but really lousy but well-meaning service. While there, Christian rang Heather, and managed to get the time difference wrong and wake her up. Oops.

After breakfast, we got trains back to Circular Quay, and explored beyond the ferry piers; first stop: cheeky ice cream. We stopped for some obligatory bridge photos along the Opera House approach, and then had a look at the Opera House itself (though not inside). They were still packing up from the festivities of the evening before, and we saw the location that they'd been filming the night before, and saw the silly gold sofa they were sitting on.

On the other side, we kept walking into the botanical gardens, and talked to Moreton Bay figs, ibises, and various screeching cockies. We wandered in the direction of Wynyard, taking in a few sights on the way, and waited for the next train that would take us to Summer Hill, as Christian's friend Em was conveniently having a party and we didn't know whether we'd manage to catch up with her again. One came along before very long, and went straight to Summer Hill. The journey wasn't wonderfully inspiring, but gave us an idea of the look of the inner west suburbs. Christian employed the GoPro in train mode to capture parts of the journey.

Summer Hill itself seemed unremarkable on first glance. We were looking for a bottle of wine to buy for Em, but everything was closed. So we went in search of lunch instead. There was a Michel's Patisserie, which we decided to go back to to get cake for Em instead. There was a market that was closed, and then we kept walking and spotted a cafe called Envy, and walked into a lovely beer garden with manicured hedges and fairy lights that was full of happy customers.

We sat at a table, and I ordered a toasted Turkish sandwich and Christian ordered a squid salad with a goji berry shake. They were delicious. Then it was time to go to Em's. We found the house easily, and met Em and her partner, and some of her lovely friends. It was a very brief stay, sadly, but very pleasant, and Em insisted on sending us off with as many sweets as we could carry. Summer Hill felt very comfortable and laid back. I liked it.

We got back to the station as quickly as we could, as time was now getting away from us, and Dad was wondering where we were. We trained back to North Sydney, and collected our luggage and went straight back to the station. We didn't have long to wait for a train, but I neglected to check that the one we were on went straight to Hornsby on the North Shore line. It didn't. It went the long way. We missed a connection at Hornsby by not much, and may have made it had I chosen the right train. Stupid stupid. Christian went for a wander in search of food and cold/flu tablets (he could only locate chips), I booked a hire car from Fassifern, and then we waited for the train, which eventually arrived.

The train ride was fairly boring and not a great intro to the area for Christian, as it was overcast, and getting dark. The hire car was waiting for us at Fassi, and cost $25, but was very comfortable. At Coal Point, we were welcomed by Dad, Jill, and Steve (Emma had had to go home as it was late). Steve showed us his medals, Jill showed Christian around upstairs, and then C and I had leftover barbecue chicken and salad for dinner. We chatted for a while, but went to bed before long.