sunny oz!!(stacey blog no 2)

I am sat on a toliet at the Reptile Park with Red Back Spiders behind me (they are not real mum)! Perparing myself for the weekend in the bush!


Thursday I went to the famous Pelican feeding at the Entrance. WOW what a amazing experience we sat on the front step right next to the pelicans. They were all getting very excited about being fed. One managed to flick me in the eye with their huge wings!



After the Entrance Sharon then took us to Norah Head Lighthouse. As you can see a bit windy but a brilliant view!



Monday we headed down to the beach (Caves Beach) to work on my tan! I tried out body broading which was good. Tina and Sharon were my one to one teachers!


This is me riding a wave (a little chilly)

Stacey's first Oz blog

Hi everyone Stacey here. Arrived safely in Sydney and I brought the English weather me. You have guessed it, it was raining! It carried on raining through to Monday evening. I was whisked off with Tina and her friend Sharon for some wine tasting in the Hunter Valley. Started wine tasting at 10.30am and finished at aound 2pm (mum that was Tina's bad influence)



On our way back to Warner's Bay Sharon saved the day and rescued a long neck tortoise from the road....but in our joy, we sped away and got pulled over by the police. Sharon said she hoped she didn't get breathalysed.....well the first thing she was asked to do was to count to 5 into a machine! We waited in complete silence...expecting the worst because she had been sampling too(but only sips...honest!) Luckily, the police officer only gave her a speeding ticket.....but that was still an expensive error,costing $231 (the same as Tina's in January! Infact, she blamed her ill fortune on her!)



On Tuesday luckily the weather had improved so Tina took me for a bike ride around the Lake. (this is no normal lake!) It took 45mins to cycle to the art gallery. We then had a well deserved hot chocolate which are also served with a marshmallow.

September showers (torrential downpours)

Heavy rain in Oz

Canberra afternoon schedule.

The Australian Sports Academy was a great recommendation....thank you.
We just managed to gate crash a guided tour....catching it up just as it was leaving the really fun, play part; Alex & Jess looked longingly at all the equipment but it was a good incentive to keep them sweet on the tour...that we would be returning to that part, by crashing in on another group later!



This really is an incredible facililty, with the latest in technology and resources; cameras are pointed at the atheletes every body part....to spot every move! (no smutty comments, please!)
The swimming 50m pool (which can be cleverly split in half!),had an area competition going on, as it can be used at certain times by the public.



Our guide was a promising, 18 year old hockey player. (no, Ian, she wasn't a lesbian!)
Once she found out that I used to play, she chatted to me quite a lot, in between the tour, telling me the 'low down' on the international team and why they had not been doing very well in recent years!
I'm afraid , despite all of Chris's trivia knowledge, we were often unable to answer her questions as to which Australian person or team had won gold or whatever in numerous Olympics etc...
But despite this, the tour was very interesting to see how the best in Australia are nurtured; they even have their own dietary building, complete with flotation tanks and accommodation for aclimatising to different altitudes.

The hall for Netball and Basketball.
(the basketball players have to shoot 1000 baskets a day....as part of their training!)


....and finally, the place that the kids had been waiting for.....we got to test our skills against each other and the computers!
Skateboarding.


Penalty Shoot out!


Bike race.


And much more....including the winner's podium........Ever the competitive Dad! (they took it in turns to be the winner...but Chris rubbed it in the most....what a bad example to set our children!)



And then.... some culture and serious lessons on "how grateful we should be to our ancestors and everyone who fought for our freedom. " Gallipoli was a particularly popular theme.


These 3D scenes and the films were brilliant in bringing the history to life.
Alex only asked once, " Can we leave now...?
Jessica thought she has seen quite enough death for one day.



The memorial wall was incredible.....to see so many names, interspersed with poppies.
It was eerie to see a 'J' and an 'A' Chappell right next to each other.



The most poignant moment came with the single bugle playing, The Last Post', at 5pm; standing on the steps of his memorial courtyard alone.



There was even a couple having their Wedding pictures taken...with this as the background.


We ended our day by going out for a meal and playing table football! (guess who won? Yes the boys....but later I beat Chris 3 times at Pool....and he was very gracious to tell Alex so he doesn't get too much attitude, thinking....'boys are better than girls!' )

Canberra revisited morning schedule

This YHA had been recommended to us because it is quite a new one. The family room was lovely and we had our own bathroom....which had been our main issue with the one in Sydney. It was also cool to have a pool table & table football very close to our room. The only problem was....some idiot set off the fire alarm at 6.45 in the morning! The warning alarm was scary enough, but when the second alarm came....it was a high pitch siren...with the dalek voice repeatedly saying,"EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY...EVACUATE THE BUILDING!!" The children were terrified...apparently we later learned...they have never been so scared!




The plus side is that it gave us an early start and the impetus to fill a full day's itinerary. It started with breakfast in Kingston at Silo Bakery for a dose of "inner suburban cool" on the "bustling cafe strip". Which translates as very nice, very pricy and slimy green vegetables on top of your scrambled eggs.
Anyway we moved onto the political version of "It's a Small World". Driving around looking for all the different embassies. Two of the dullest and most fortified were The British and US Embassy. The latter of these two is on the right with security cars in view. Tina parked 50 yards down the road and I strolled up for the photo. This was enough to set alarm bells ringing and the guard immediately stepped out of the car and watched me intently. I wanted a shot of their unwelcoming entrance fortifications but thought I meant end up in Guantanamo Bay.



In the more aesthetically pleasing category, Thailand, Papua New Guinea and India rated highly. We were also impressed by New Zealand's Corrugated Iron Cows and the foreground blossom outside the pagodas of the Chinese Embassy.




A gorgeous early spring day in Canberra, so we took advantage with a one hour ride around the lake. Pink Blossom



The parade of flags. Which gave me the opportunity to share an anal "vexillogical" knowledge although I must admit Lybia's one had me stumped but all of us in agreement that it really is the most boring flag imaginable.



White bloosom




and the "Australian of the year" walk. We found our birthdates although Tina's was partly concealed by contributions from local birds. The Seekers,eh? Well it's not quite the Beatles.




Stuff the view. Coffee in a poystyrene cup is never nice.



Still mid morning so we bombed up the Telstra tower. Yep pleasant view across the whole city and back down 10 minutes later heading for.....

Crikey!

Where were you when?

Kennedy assassinated? Nowhere
Elvis? B&B in Babbacombe
Princess Di? Having a lie in.
9/11? By the sink in the MJS staffroom.
Steve Irwin? In the office at Glendore Public School.

Not sure that all these events are of equal Historical significance but the latter of these has certainly hit an emotional nerve over here. Front page followed by a 5 page editorial as you can see. Radio phone in on the way to work. Which usually deals with topics like "tell us how you got revenge on the ex" or "What's the most embarrasing place that you farted" was just full of eulogies and memories about him. One equated it to the loss of Princess Di which got me wondering if Elton John was going to do a new version of Crocodile Rock. Sorry, poor taste I know but it's the way my mind works sometimes. The "stuff the timetable" school of teaching which is more prevalent over here led Jessica's class to write letters of support to his family.

To the Irwin family,

I send my sympathy to you. The World will miss Steve. He was the best. I know you are sad but just remember that he died with the things he loved most, animals.

yours sincerely

Jessica Chappell, 4M , Australia.

P.S. I can't imagine what you are going through at the moment.

Plan B when it rains? There is no Plan B!

Having driven up from Hornsby for the first time since March, it was time to entertain the Garrett family again. This time their elder son Tom had decided he just couldn't handle another non stop adventure with the Chappells and so stayed back down South whilst we mused over what a second weekend in Newcastle could offer guests. Well Chris (the female Garrett version not the Chappell one) was desperate for a bike ride and so we decided to cycle round the lake for a barbie at Speers point. Unfortunately the clouds were closing in and the first specks of rain were about to fall so we decided to.......still cycle round the lake and have a barbie at Speers Point!
A closer look will help to establish what Jessica thought of this plan!



Tina had stayed dry by driving the equipment round to our destination and as the wind continued to blow decided that her knee would not be able to cope with doing the homeward trek. Here we are cycling off into the distance, looking optimistically at the bluer skies heading our way. This was also about 30 seconds before Alex broke down in tears insisting he couldn't go on any further. I think the Australian for this is... "being a sook".




It had stayed dry for the cycle home so I took Richard and Chris to another local beach. It rained again. We therefore set off on a "boys" mission to see the Rugby(football) with some trepidation. I had even more trepidation about being forced to wear the Knights Jacket(sorry, David....it just doesn't suit me!) But the boys loved wearing theirs and Richard only kept his on long enough for the photo as we decided we didn't need jackets; the brolly stayed down and the Knights won easily.... so smiles all around.(and it is official...Tina must be the 'Boggey', which causes any team that we support to lose!)



Jessica had had her friend Holly over on Saturday night so Sunday morning was rather vexing with three children being taken out after an obvious lack of sleep. They managed to smile nervously for this photo with the Tawny Frogmouth at Blackbutt reserve. Why nervously?



Well he was pretty scary looking and had just swooped over Jessica's head!



Newcastle council is pretty good at funding things which make life just that little bit more pleasant. Blackbutt is a free facility with Bushwalks, picnic facilities, an aviary, Koalas, Wallabies, Emus, Quolls (no I'd not heard of them either) etc. They used to have a Diamond python but he got stolen a few weeks ago*. Anyway here is the boardwalk where most of the local fauna is found. Here am I with Richard and an apparently headless Chris admiring the various exhibits.


*The link takes you to A january news story. The sad fact is he was found and has now been stolen again this time not being returned and obviously not newsworthy a second time around.

More council money has been spent on the kind of urban regeneration programme to be found going on at just about every industrial harbour city around the Globe. You know the sort of thing.
Marinas
Overpriced apartments
Bars and restaurants with names like Silo, Breeze and Terminal One
Water features



Fancy lights and paving along the foreshore.



and a string ensemble for good measure. Sitting out in the sun, listening to Pachebel's Canon, sipping latte (actually I ended up drinking bloody Mocha without realising it whilst the other Chris enjoyed my latte) felt very soothing, chic and cosmopolitan. The Music was part of the "Livesites" programme who had given us the Winter Heat evening a few Fridays before. We could tell it was provided by the same people thanks to the good quality music, the Red Gazebo and the same B & Q chairs.



We realise retrospectively that our style of entertaining does not involve negotiated consultation of what our guests would like to do but a strict timetable of events which must be adhered to. So it was we left the string ensemble behind and forced Chris , Richard and Luke a further Kilometre into the centre to admire the view from the phallic shaped tower which dominates the foreshore. The enjoyment of this dramatic vista out towards the Tasman Sea is somewhat spoilt by the fifteen thousand words of graffitti at the top of the tower with the compulsory olfactorius (Leonard Sachs eat your heart out) complement of stale urine. In simple terms it stank of old P***.



Well we took the pegs off our noses made it back to the cars and said goodbye as the Garretts were keen to see the Pelican Feeding at the Entrance that we had previously enjoyed back in February. We were tempted to go but did not like to risk it with two tired children from the night before. Ironically we got home and the children played happily for two hours and we crashed out on the sofa.