Fall Out Boy

Caroline went with a number of friends to see Fall Out Boy at the Acer Arena yesterday - an indoor concert venue at the Olympic Park. As this is the last week of school before the holidays we were happy for her to take the day off and go to queue outside from early morning, which seemed mad but they got a good place at the front after the long wait. She really enjoyed the show but came back very bruised, deaf and hot!

Laura was also out for the evening at her Year 11 'formal', which was a disco at a venue in nearby Terrey Hills. It was also fancy dress, so she and 6 others went as Crayola crayons - each in a different colour with a letter on the 'tube'. They looked very good but they didn't keep the outfits on for long as they weren't very practical for moving around!

Museums

We decided to visit 2 museums in the city yesterday, which we'd been meaning to do for some time. Rebecca had a friend stay overnight and we encouraged them to come along with us, so we drove to Old Cremorne and caught the ferry across the harbour, noticing that the main wharf at Cremorne Point had now reopened after sinking in the storm damage in June, so we'll start using that route again next time.

First stop after walking up from Circular Quay was the Hyde Park Barracks museum. This is a small museum over 3 floors in the old building that was first used to house male convicts working on building projects in Sydney after 1820. It then became a lodging for female immigrants and eventually was used as government offices and courts, before being saved from demolition and being turned into a museum. It recreated the sleeping accommodation for the convicts and also had displays of items found beneath the original floorboards and from other excavations - very interesting.

We then had a short walk to the Australian Museum, which was more of a traditional museum and the oldest in Australia. It had a big collection of stuffed birds, insects and a large collection of rocks and minerals, plus a 'skeleton room' and Aboriginal collection. It wasn't too large to get around but we were starting to flag by this point and this museum didn't grab our attention as much as the previous one, so we headed home by mid-afternoon.

Tennis coaching

I started the first of 5 coaching sessions today that Sue had bought for my birthday. I went to our local 'club' at 8.30 for an hour's session with the coach there, which was useful but also much like starting a completely new sport as my technique seems quite outdated - although he didn't think there was much wrong with my serve! Still, it should be useful and something I can try to develop in the Tuesday evening matches as well, as long as the transition isn't too confusing!

In the afternoon Sue started teaching a new student through her Adult Literacy group. The first student she was given turned out to be unreliable and then uncontactable, so she has now been given a Philippino lady to teach - Jennifer - who has been in the country for 18 years but can't read or write any English and has been reliant on her husband and children.

It makes you wonder how people can cope in such a situation, but she's really enthusiastic to learn, which is good for Sue and will be quite a challenge for both of them over the coming months! Although Sue had first met with Jennifer last week, together with the Literacy coordinator, today was her first 'solo' session which went well and she'll continue to meet her at her unit in Dee Why each Friday afternoon from now on.

Spring sunshine

The weekend has been sunny and warm with clear blue skies - much like the first few weeks when we arrived last year. We've had quite a busy weekend, starting on Friday night with another 'expat gathering' at a hotel/pub in nearby Terrey Hills. There were 16 of us and an interesting crowd, so we had a good evening. We were also amazed by the size and organisation of the pub, which had recently been renovated apparently and was clearly the place to be on a Friday night, although as usual most people had gone by 10pm.

On Saturday Sue and I drove up the coast after dropping Rebecca at the Mall. We had a walk around Church Point on Pittwater and then Newport to get some local information for Sue's business.

On Sunday the girls were busy with other things so we headed to Narrabeen and had a hour's kayaking on the lagoon which was fun and very peaceful out on the water. We then headed down to the beach at Narrabeen and had a walk along before sitting to watch the surfers. At that point a distress flare was set off out to sea although we couldn't see where it came from, other than a small boat.

Nobody seemed to be doing much about it, so Sue called '000' on her mobile and was put through to Manly police. About 15 minutes later 4 police cars turned up, followed by the surf life savers. They couldn't see a problem out to sea but at least another person came up to confirm the flare. Two life savers headed out in a boat to check and met a small coastguard boat that had come from the north. We did wonder what we'd started but we presumed that people don't tend to set flares off for a laugh! There didn't seem to be a problem by the time we headed home, but then it was also a mystery where the flare had come from.

One year on

This evening is the first anniversary of our arrival here, so we had a small celebration with a Chinese takeaway and bottle of 'bubbly'. The last 6 months in particular have gone past very quickly and we can still look back quite clearly to the uncertainty (and exhaustion!) of when we arrived, not knowing what was going to happen over the next few weeks and months, such as where we were going to be living or which schools the girls would be going to, as well as if we would all be happy living here!

Overall though, the experience so far has been very smooth and it's a relatively easy society to settle into, with the same language and mostly positive attitudes, although as mentioned before, we're finding it quite difficult to make social friends with the Australians and so the relationships we've built so far have been with other Brits and a few South Africans. The girls have had no problems at their school however and have all established a good circle of friends and are feeling very settled, as well as enjoying the better school environment here.

We all seem to have established a daily routine now, particularly over the recent winter months, and during the school terms. The business is getting busier, although it's a slower process than in the UK, but the signs are reasonably positive at this stage.

We also realise that we have a big country out there to explore, as we've hardly been outside the Sydney (and Northern Beaches) area in the past year, but hopefully there will be a chance to do more in the next year or so. However, we're also all looking forward to the trip back to the UK over Christmas to see everyone again and to appreciate what's familiar or what may have changed since we left.

So we start our second year tomorrow with some more certainty about what life here will be like and it will also really be this next year that will determine whether the business will develop enough to enable us to apply for a permanent visa.

Out of the office

This month is becoming the busiest with work for some time after a few quieter months over the winter. The first 3 days of this week have also involved various trips and meetings out of the office, which makes a nice change!

On Monday I spent the day in the centre of Sydney on the 57th floor of the MLC Centre, running a training day for 3 people at a company based there. Although I was able to enjoy the fantastic views over the harbour from the reception area - with the morning sun glistening on the harbour looking out towards Manly - the actual training room was windowless and could have been anywhere! During the break for lunch I got a sandwich and sat in Martin Place which was full of workers out for lunch and enjoying the sun.

On Tuesday I drove south of the city for about 60kms to visit a marketing agency in Narellan, who I may start doing some work for. This was an introductory meeting after a few phone calls and I met the owner and 3 of his staff, which went well. I may be heading back down that way again if they also take up the offer of several half-day training sessions to help them sell my service. Once over the bridge it was 2 and 3-lane roads all the way and the countryside south of the city looked more like the UK, with less bush and more fields and open rolling countryside.

And on Wednesday evening I attended another of the small business seminars which are being run this month by the state government. This was a web-based marketing event held in the Powerhouse Museum, so I caught the train to the central station and walked past Chinatown to the venue. There was a big turnout and I was able to exchange a few business cards again, but didn't learn that much from the presentations (which I suppose is good news!).

APEC in Sydney

This week sees the hosting of the annual APEC Summit in Sydney (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation), so we've got the leaders of 21 countries here, including George Bush, Putin and the Chinese and Japanese leaders. As a result the city is in a high state of security with a large area around the Opera House cordoned off and barricades closing key streets in the city to enable numerous motorcades to travel through.

Bush arrived early - on Tuesday - and has been the main centre of attention although demonstrations have been quite muted so far. The rest of the leaders are here for the weekend so the city has been given a public holiday today and the girls have the day off school, although the weather's not great at the moment and won't be showing off the city in it's best light.

You wouldn't want to be a tourist here at the moment though, as the centre of the city is like a ghost town, plus there's no access to the Opera House and most of the transport system is disrupted! It should all be back to normal by Monday.

Birthday

It was my birthday yesterday, although after our day out at the weekend this one was quite 'normal' in that the girls were at school and both Sue and I have got plenty of work to do this week.

However, we had a break over lunch and went to the Thai restaurant in Dee Why, followed by a brief walk along the beach, although it was cold and windy. The tide was high but also most of the beaches are still suffering from sand loss after the storms in June, so there is a much narrower strip of sand than last summer. In the evening we had a present opening session, and a 'party tea', interspersed with UK phone calls and then a table tennis session around the dining table!

This afternoon I attended a brief training session for just over an hour about being on the teacher selection panel at the girls' school. Since I've joined the school council as a parent 'rep' the principal has asked for a 'pool' of people he can call upon when necessary to appoint new staff members and we all have to undergo this training and receive a certificate to say so! The process is very procedural and whether I actually get to contribute to the process in the future will remain to be seen.

Botany Bay

It's Father's Day in Australia today, so we managed to convince all the girls to join us for a 'family day out' again, this time to Botany Bay.

Once you look past the shipping port, the airport and the petrol depots, Botany Bay is, of course, the historic site where Captain Cook first landed in Australia and thought it might be a great place to live. However, when the First Fleet arrived about 20 years later, they decided it wasn't that great after all and moved up the coast to the next inlet, which became Sydney harbour. Even today, Botany Bay conjures up an unattractive image as a place to live for most Sydneysiders, but you can't ignore the historical significance!

It took us less than an hour to get the north side of the Bay and the first stop at La Perouse, where there's an old fort (which was closed) and viewpoint over the bay. It was quite busy here with tourists, fishermen and scuba divers but despite the sun there was a cold breeze blowing so after a quick walk down onto the rocks, we headed off past the container port and international airport and around the bay to the south.

After passing through Brighton-le-Sands and Sans Souci (which roughly translated is French for the popular Aussie expression, 'no worries') we reached Cronulla where we had lunch and then a walk along the beach front. This is where they had the bad riots in 2005 but today the town looks very modern, relaxed and family-friendly, although we felt the beaches didn't match those on the Northern Beaches.

We then headed to the southern point of Botany Bay which is where Cook first set foot on land - there's a National Park area here with a number of monuments and the actual 'rock' where landfall was made. Of course the girls were very impressed!

There are some pictures from the day here.