A new address

We completed the move to our new home this week, with moving day on Wednesday. After days of rain we were lucky to get a dry day for the move and 3 removal men turned up early in the morning to clear the house in Forestville.

The girls were at school for the day so Sue and I spent the morning cleaning the house and transferring some items to the new house by car after I had collected the keys early on. By lunchtime the lorry was loaded and so the short trip was made to Allambie Heights and our new house.

The men were finished by 3pm so it was then left to us to sort out all the boxes and furniture and to get everything in the best places for the new spaces. However, we also enjoyed having some warmth in the house and all of us celebrated the end of a busy day with the traditional fish & chips with bubbly!

Whale watching

We had an early start today (for a Sunday) as Sue went to collect Rebecca from a friend's house, before Carol & Paul and their 2 girls arrived at 9am. We had arranged to go whale watching with them last Sunday while their girls stayed at our house, but the weather had been too rough and it was postponed until today. Although there had been some rain in the night, the day was brightening up, but quite cold.

The four of us headed into Manly and got to the boat wharf before 10am. Paul had arranged tickets originally for their family but their girls decided that they didn't want to go, so we had bought the tickets from them. We therefore had no idea what sort of boat we'd be going out in and were surprised to see that it was a small but powerful speed boat! It took 12 passengers in rows of 2 and you had to straddle the seats and hold on to bars in front, and it turned out to be much like a 'full on' fairground ride.

There was just one other couple on the boat with us so once we had suited up in waterproof gear and signed the disclaimer (!) we set off into the harbour. We were soon heading out between the Heads and into quite a big swell (about 3m apparently) by which time the boat was accelerating into an exhilarating white knuckle ride across the waves. We all got soaked with the occasional big waves and buffeted around but it was a great ride!

It was quite like being on safari in Africa - the boat was in radio contact with other companies out looking for whales and we were soon heading up the coast off Long Reef where a number of boats were tracking some whales. We had a peaceful 20 minutes or so watching a group of 3 whales (one of which was smaller and may have been a calf) breaking the surface and diving down with their waving tail, quite close to the boat. We also saw an albatross sweeping low across the waves.

It was soon time to head back into the harbour with another fast-paced ride and the hour or so seemed to have passed in no time. It was certainly a great experience on the boat and seeing the whales was an added bonus - very graceful and impressive!

There are some more photos here.

Busy weekend

This was going to be a busy weekend and the last one in our current house. It started off with a bit of socialising on Friday night with a 'Poms' group that Sue had recently had a few meetings with. We had been to a small gathering at one of the couple's homes last Sunday lunchtime and then a more extended group of expat 'mums' had arranged an evening for husbands as well, so we headed off to a nearby hotel/pub in Belrose for the meeting.

There were 8 couples in total and a mixture of Brits and South Africans. There were certainly some couples that we could relate to more than others but generally a sociable bunch and we enjoyed a good meal and a few drinks there before getting back just before midnight. This may well be the first of more meetings and we'll possibly make some more friends out of these - it's a shame we're not getting to know more Australians, but this appears to be a common trend and at least knowing some Brits is better than none!

Saturday was mainly spent finishing off most of the packing for the move on Wednesday and cleaning the house - especially all the windows and the outside areas. The weather was sunny again over the past few days and, since there was more heavy rain during the week, the dams are now at 50% capacity - the first time since 2004. So now we can now enjoy another minute in the shower without feeling guilty!

Posties on mopeds

As the houses in this part of Sydney are quite well spread out, or with long drives, all tend to have post boxes at the edge of their property - much the same as in the US. Post is delivered between Monday and Friday and the 'posties' are dressed in fluorescent yellow and skillfully ride mopeds, negotiating the grass and concrete kerbs between houses and post boxes. If you happen to be passing the local sorting office when they're all setting off on their rounds, it's quite a sight!

If you have a newspaper delivery, these will be delivered by the newsagent, rolled up in plastic wrappers and thrown onto the grass or driveway from a passing car - not that different to the regular scene from Kath & Kim! I guess that if you don't open your paper quickly then you can spend all the time reading it trying to keep the thing flat!

Wedding anniversary

Yesterday was our 19th wedding anniversary. We were going to go over to the city for lunch, but as the weather has remained wet we had a fairly normal 'work' day and then we went for a meal at the local Thai restaurant in the evening. Again, we would have walked, but it was raining hard so we drove there - had a lovely meal and were the last to leave at 9pm!

June has apparently been the wettest here since the 1940's and we're just over half way through the month. Today is also due to be very wet although the end of the week is looking better, which is good news for Caroline as she's going off on her year's camp on Wednesday for 3 days.

And more rain...

It's raining hard again today, as it was all night and for most of yesterday with some torrential downpours interspersed with steady showers. I was going to watch the local rugby league team - Manly Sea Eagles - play last night, with Paul (the father of one of Rebecca's friends), but we decided to leave it for another time. Apparently just over 7,000 people turned up, in a ground that can take 25,000, and from watching some of the match on TV, it looked like a sensible decision! However, we could have bumped into Russell Crowe, who is one of the owners of the opposing team and was there under a brolly!

The rain over the past week has pushed the Sydney dam levels up to nearly 40% capacity now, which is the level they were at last October. Despite all the flooding north of Sydney, the important rain hasn't fallen in the catchment...

Cremorne Point wharf

I drove into the city yesterday morning to run a training course at a company on Garden Island, which is mainly a naval base and where the Queen Mary II docked in February - an interesting place that juts out into the harbour and has some good views across to the city, although the offices smelt damp since they'd had a lot of water damage from the storms at the weekend.

On the way home I detoured to Cremorne Point to see the ferry wharf, which had sunk into the harbour last Saturday due to the rough weather on the harbour. This is our usual ferry stop when we go to the city and it looks like it will be out of action for some time. The main platform sticks out into the harbour and is surrounded by large wooden posts driven into the harbour floor.

As a result of the rough weather, the platform must have been damaged which led to it sinking. It was raining hard again yesterday after a bright start so I didn't stop for long, but there was a large construction barge moored alongside the wharf and so work is underway to either retrieve the old platform or put a new one in place.

This is a photo of the wharf that we took during the summer:


And this is a picture from the Sydney Morning Herald:

This will cause some disruption for the regular users of the ferry here, and we'll have to find another place to catch the ferry when we next go to the city (or just catch the bus, but it's not as scenic!).

Two birthdays on one day

Today is Rebecca's birthday and she was lucky enough to have the day off school to celebrate as it's also a public holiday here to celebrate the Queen's birthday - very patriotic! And the sun came out again today after 2-3 days of rain.

Rebecca had 2 friends stay overnight and then 8 others turned up at 11am for her party, which was held indoors, because this was the first year that Rebecca had experienced a 'winter' birthday. They played some party games - some of which Sue and I organised - but generally they made lots of noise, but not too much mess.

Rebecca enjoyed the party and we appreciated the peace that descended afterwards, plus the English parents of one of Rebecca's friends stayed for an hour or so afterwards for a drink and a chat and we were able to sit outside in the sun for a while.

Wind and rain

After several weeks of blue skies and sunshine we've had a sudden change with heavy rain almost continuously for the past 24 hours, plus some high winds. Apparently parts of NSW have had their worst storms for 30 years and 11 people have died in flooding. Around here there's tree debris over the roads, beaches have lost lots of sand and ferries have been cancelled, plus our usual ferry jetty at Cremorne has apparently submerged into the harbour! Just up the coast at Newcastle, a big coal cargo ship has been washed up on the main beach and is attracting lots of sightseers.

The rain continued for most of today and Laura had tickets to go to Luna Park with a friend for the day to go on the rides and attend a rock festival there, but they decided to cut short their visit and just stayed for a few hours to see one of the bands they had wanted to watch.

100th posting

Apparently this is the 100th posting on this blog, so to celebrate it's also going to be one of the quickest...

Aussie tradesmen

If England is (or was) supposed to be a nation of small shopkeepers, then Australia seems to be a nation of small tradesmen! There seems to be an abundance of tradesmen of various types out on the streets during the week, with their 'utes' (half car, half truck utility vehicle) driving around or parked at the side of the road. They're even active at the weekends, with work often being done on house builds or renovations.

The tradesmen we've had here (and we've had a few!) have always been cheerful and accommodating, with none of the criticisms of someone else's work or sucking their teeth and warning us of the likely high cost for any job - although of course it does help being in a rented property!

You'd think that there must be plenty of business around considering the numbers that are about, but it also fits in with the lifestyle. A tradesman's vehicle might often have a surfboard as part of the equipment on the roof or the back of the ute, and no doubt many enjoy the flexibility and outdoor work, plus quite a few are probably reserve firemen for the bush fires in the summer.

A new home for real this time?

We should have secured a new house for real this time - Sue and I had been to see a new house on Wednesday that had just been listed. There were quite a few other people also viewing when we were there and some seemed as interested as us, so we got the necessary forms in to the letting agents within an hour and heard back from them today that we had been approved, so paid up the deposit.

The girls haven't seen the inside of the house yet, but we think/hope they'll like it. It's in Allambie Heights, which is an ideal location and nearer to some of their friends, as well as being well placed for bus stops. The house is on a quiet road and has 5 bedrooms and two large living areas, but isn't as large as some we have seen. However it feels more homely and is in a good condition, plus it has a bath (for Sue) and a sea view for me (albeit quite distant!).

We're now waiting for confirmation of a moving date, but it's probably going to be towards the end of June. We will also hopefully get to visit it again next week with the girls and hope it's a good as we remember from the first visit!