A busy weekend, helped by the return of summer weather! On Friday evening we all went to Balmoral for a 'fish & chip supper' on the beach as a delayed birthday meal for Caroline (as she had been out at a school dance on Wednesday). There was a lovely atmosphere along the beach as the sun went down and the lights came on at all the houses on the hillsides overlooking the sea.
Then it was an early start on Saturday morning - just for me - as I decided to go and watch the new Queen Victoria liner arrive in the harbour for the first time. I reached Kirribilli by 5.30am and walked over the bridge where people were starting to wait the arrival of the ship, although there was still plenty of space at that time of the day.
Soon after the sun started making an appearance the ship appeared behind the traditional fire boat spraying water into the air. The Queen Victoria made slow progress up the harbour and eventually docked at Circular Quay at 7am - it's certainly not as big a ship as the Queen Mary from last year, but still an impressive sight and lovely to see at that time of day as the sun rose over the harbour.
I was back home again by 8am ready to start a 'normal' day and it was a long one as we had friends around for a meal in the evening which went on until 1am. Sunday was also hot and sunny so Sue and I spent some time snorkelling at Shelly Beach after taking Rebecca and a friend to Manly. The sea was busy with snorkellers and scuba divers and there was quite a swell, which made it interesting, but there didn't seem to be as much activity in the water as the previous swim we'd done at this beach.
In the evening Sue and I went to Cremorne Point on the harbour to watch the 'historic' passing of the Queen Victoria and QE2 as the former left the harbour and the latter (which had arrived early this morning) swopped berths. It was also the last visit of the QE2 to Sydney, which is due to become a floating hotel in Dubai. The water was busy with boats and there was quite a crowd on the foreshore to watch the event which took place bang on schedule at 6.30pm.
There are more photos from the liners' visit here.