Centennial Park

The sun returned to Sydney for the weekend, after a record-breaking 14 consecutive rain-filled days which was the longest spell in April for over 70 years! Saturday was a beautiful Autumn day, so as the girls were off doing their own thing as usual, Sue and I packed our bikes into the back of the car and heading across the city to Centennial Park.

This is one of the places we've been meaning to explore for ages but hadn't yet been ticked off the list. It's a large area of parkland between the city centre and Bondi and a popular recreation area, with horse riding, cycle tracks and plenty of space - much like Hyde Park (in London, not the Sydney version), or Richmond Park on a smaller scale.

We parked at one of the entry roads and spent several hours cycling round the various roads and paths in the park, including a detour to the edge of the park where the Sydney Cricket Ground and Football Stadium are located. It was busy in the park, with many people coming out to enjoy the sun again, but it was also easy to get away from the more popular areas and find a quiet spot for lunch next to one of the lakes.

Following this peace and quiet on Saturday, we had an entirely different experience on Sunday when the 2 of us, and Laura, visited the Imax cinema in Darling Harbour, which is supposedly the 'world's largest movie screen'. I had wanted to see the new 3D film of U2 in concert, which had received rave reviews and it lived up to expectations - an impressive 'live' film that made you feel like you were there (including on stage with the band!). Even Sue enjoyed it and thought it was even better than the real thing...

Sue's surfing experience

I tried to persuade Clive to write this blog entry about my first experience of surfing but he refused, so here goes!

It has been my intention since arriving in Australia to have a go at surfing before my 50th birthday. Time has been flying past and I was on the verge of admitting defeat when an Aussie friend of mine said she'd always wanted to try surfing, would I have a go with her? She was going through a hard time and I didn't like to disappoint her, so felt obliged to say 'yes'. I secretly hoped she'd forget, or at least put off booking our lesson until next summer, but just several hours later a message popped up on my phone: 'It's booked!'

The morning of our lesson dawned grey and blustery with squally showers but not too cold. Neither of us felt brave enough to pull out, so we drove down to Manly and signed the disclaimer, leaving a gap next to 'Age' - what business was it of theirs, surely they could tell we weren't spring chickens?

Our group consisted of me and Marjolein, a man with his 2 daughters of around 10 and 12, a single guy of about 25 and a young couple. Our coaches were Mike and Brad, strapping surfers who were more interested in the waves than us, but hey ho!

The hard work started immediately, dragging our heavy, awkward beginner boards the 1/2 kilometer or so up the beach away from the rip. Mike gave us some instruction on the sand. It all seemed quite easy - just paddle out from the shore into waist-deep water, point the board towards the beach, climb onto it in the right place, wait for a wave to hit the back of the board, do a press-up into standing position and ride the board to the shore. What could be hard about that?

We had recovered our breath from the drag up the each and made our way into the surf. It was not a perfect day - there was an onshore breeze but the tide was on its way out, so the waves were all over the place. That coupled with the intermittent rain at least meant that there were very few voyeurs to entertain, but we were all so busy concentrating and trying to catch a wave we really wouldn't have noticed if the whole of Sydney was watching us!

I was already tired from the walk up the beach, but my enthusiasm buoyed my flagging energy levels and I pushed my board before me into the water. I watched the waves. There seemed to be a suitable one approaching - quick, turn the board around, climb on, position toes at end and hands below shoulders ready to launch body into standing position. So far, so good. Stare fixedly at the beach. Is that the wave hitting me? Yes, go! Bit wobbly, board suddenly picks up speed, whoops, going sideways, losing control, get dumped spectacularly. Try to remember which way is up and where board is. Oh yes, attached to my ankle by leash. Board is now sailing happily towards the beach dragging me with it!

I look around me to see everyone else having similar experiences. Time to try again. The second time, my board feels more cumbersome and doesn't want to turn very easily. I look for a suitable wave and turn several down as not being good enough, but in reality I think the only person I was fooling was myself - there were plenty of good waves, I was just in need of a rest!

Can't put it off any longer. Mike approaches and grabs my board, telling me to leap on. I do as instructed and then he spots a massive wave bearing down on us before we have time to turn beachwards. 'Hang on!' he shouts. I do as I'm told, shut my eyes and grip to the board like a leech as it crashes down through the wave. Glad he was holding it!

We turn around (well, Mike turns me around!), a wave approaches and he launches me into it with a push. 'Up, Up!' he shouts and up I jump. I have to shuffle my feet a little further forward to stop the board doing a backward dive, but I'm doing it, I'm surfing! Not for long and not very stylishly, but I did it! The next second I hit the deck, but surface to applause from Mike and feel very proud of myself. I really hadn't expected to manage to stand up at all.

I then had to crack it without Mike's help. By now I was so battered by the strong surf it took all my energy to climb onto the board, let alone push myself into a standing position. Press-ups have never been my forte, and this, coupled with the fact that my toes were white and numb anyway from my Raynauld's, meant that it took every ounce of energy I had to stand on the board. For every 3 failed attempts I had one success, but never for very long. We had a couple of pep talks on the beach, but were actually in the water for about 1 1/4 hours, and despite my white toes and fingers, my body was lovely and warm thanks to a wetsuit.

Time seemed to move very slowly, but at last we were told to leave the water. Phew, relief! I am pleased to report that Marjolein and I may have been the oldest by a long way, but we were no worse than the other beginners, despite my Raynauld's and her dodgy back. We were treated no differently and no-one sniggered behind their hands at us (at least, we don't think so!). We really enjoyed the experience and will definitely try surfing again, but maybe in the summer! It's a sport that demands total concentration, determination, strength and flexibility. I can't say I have all those, but I have a great deal more admiration for anyone who surfs now and promise never to laugh at them again - well, only sometimes!

A week in Anna Bay

We've all just returned from a relaxing week's holiday at Port Stephens, 200km up the coast from Sydney. We were staying in Anna Bay - which is at one end of the impressive 30km Stockton Sands beach and sand dunes - and close to Nelson Bay, which is the main tourist centre for the region.

Although it was the first week of the Autumn school holidays, it was relatively quiet around the popular tourist spots and on the beaches, although the weather wasn't the best for beach life either! As seems to be usual with our family holidays, we experienced the full range of weather options, with the first and last days being the best for sun and blue skies, and heavy showers and strong winds in between.

However, it didn't stop us doing what we wanted and we had a bike ride, several games of tennis, went on a dolphin cruise of the bay, Sue had a good horse ride along the beach, and we all had fun sand boarding down the dunes.

We also had a good amount of family time - the first real break we've all had together since arriving in Australia - and it was good to explore a new part of the country, despite still being quite close to Sydney.

There are some more photos from the week here.

Flugtag on Sydney Harbour

The RedBull Flugtag (flying day) arrived in Sydney for the first time yesterday so Sue and I went to join the estimated 50,000 people around Farm Cove to watch the event. This is where a collection of imaginative and wacky flying machines jump off a high ramp into the harbour below to see how far they can fly. There were 34 competitors in all, coming in many different shapes and sizes, which made for an entertaining afternoon as they plummeted into the water.

We met some of our English and South African expat friends whose sons were participating as one of the flying teams and they had a reasonable 'flight' - their 'clock plane' took a good arc (below) and held together well when it hit the water!


Earlier in the day we had gone to watch Rebecca play her first match for one of the local soccer teams that she's joined and they played well to get a 2-2 draw. On the way, we'd also dropped Caroline off at the Mall where she was starting a new job at a surf shop, having recently left the pharmacy where she had worked, to get a change of scene.

Rugby League

I went to watch my first NRL 'footie' game last night - rugby league to the English - at the nearby Brookvale Oval, where the local Manly Sea Eagles team were taking on the New Zealand Warriors. Manly had not won either of their first 2 games this season after having finished the previous season as runners-up in the 'Grand Final', plus there is a strong movement to get some investment in their stadium. Also the local paper last week claimed that only 200 tickets had been pre-sold for the game and they were encouraging more support for the team.

So last night was as good a night as any to go, being a warm evening after a clear sunny day. I had encouraged another expat friend, Paul, to come along and we got there just in time for kick-off at 7pm. There should have been few concerns about the crowd as there were over 10,000 there although there was still plenty of space. Two sides of the stadium have stands and the rest is open seating and raised grass banking.

It was a good atmosphere, with plenty of families also enjoying the game and, in the event, Manly had a resounding win in a very one-sided game, so most of the crowd went home happy! The NRL is a predominantly NSW/Queensland game (as is rugby union) whereas Victoria (Melbourne) has a stronger tradition in AFL (Aussie-rules football).