Christmas & Boxing Day

We picked Laura up from the airport on Christmas Eve and she'd had a good time in South Africa but was glad to be back and tired from her long flight via Singapore. However, as it was Christmas the next day, we were all up quite early and headed down to Curl Curl for breakfast on the beach. It was still reasonably quiet on the beach but the sun was out along the coast although there was a bank of cloud sitting over the land.

We drove home via Manly which was looking very busy with people heading to the beach and the day was clearing up nicely, but not too hot. Back home, we had the present opening followed by a lunch of cold meat, salads and our favourite bbq'd prawns, after which we had some quality 'family time' with games and general relaxation for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

On Boxing Day, Sue and I drove to Manly and walked up to North Head to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race at 1pm. It was a beautiful day and we arrived early enough to get a shaded spot with a good view, although the crowds started to turn up in larger numbers before the race start. It's not the most exciting of sports to watch, but it was quite a spectacle and we had a better vantage point than 2 years ago, so that we can see the 100 yachts in the race and the accompanying pleasure boats race out of the harbour and then turn south to Hobart, which the winning yacht should reach within 2 days.

There are some more photos from the start of the race here.

Australia, the movie

We've been to see the recently released movie 'Australia', which seems to have been in the news and in production for the 2+ years that we've been here. Starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, it's carried the expectation of the Australian film industry and has been long awaited, with hopes of Oscar success as well.

However, it's truly awful! It's a cliched melodrama which is overblown and overacted and quite cringe inducing to sit through, particularly Nicole Kidman's character, which may be the result of her interpretation of a well-off Englishwoman, or the directors. Maybe we missed the whole concept of the film as a vast expansive drama to reflect the Australian country and history, but it seemed poorly written and made, with some questionable special effects which look dated, or stylised in a unique way!

There were a few great scenes of the landscape but the rest of it was complete tosh! The ending was to accompanied by the rousing English piece, 'Nimrod' by Elgar, which seemed completely out of place for the location and the scene. Still, some members of the audience clapped at the end, although we weren't sure if they actually enjoyed the film or were responding to the final credits about the mistreatment of the Aborigines and the apology made to the 'stolen generations' by the PM earlier this year. We assumed it must have been the latter...

Countdown to Christmas

When Laura realised she was going to miss the run-up to Christmas in Sydney, she asked if we could put the tree up a little earlier so she could have a part in it’s decoration before she went off to SA. This was fine with us all, so a real tree was duly bought and decorated before she left for Johannesburg last Tuesday.

We know she arrived safely, as she ‘commented’ Caroline on Facebook, but that’s all we’ve heard! She’s obviously having a great time and is far too busy to think of us. We’re not worried, as she’s staying with her friend’s family and we’d hear if anything was wrong, but living in a society where instant and continual communication is the norm, the silence takes a little adjusting to! We’re looking forward to having her home on Christmas Eve and hearing all her news then, if she isn’t too tired!

We’re all enjoying the warmer weather and the concept of ‘Christmas in the sun’ is becoming more acceptable too. The Australians complain about the Christmas shopping crowds, but they’re nothing compared to the UK ones! I arrived at the local shopping mall at 9am this morning expecting to queue to get into the car park, but instead drove straight in to a half-empty car park – bliss! There also isn’t that urgency to buy far more food than everyone will eat and the supermarkets never get as busy as we’ve known in the UK, which is lovely. This year we are planning breakfast on the beach, followed by a seafood bbq - Laura, (and weather!) permitting.

Last weekend we had some Aussie friends over for a Saturday night dinner, then on Sunday Clive and I decided to go for a bike ride to work off the excesses of the night before! The cycling club we have recently joined don’t arrange rides during the summer as it’s usually too hot, so we planned our own to keep the fitness levels up! We set off about 11am and rode down to Narrabeen Lakes via Cromer and then home along the busy Wakehurst Parkway.

The whole ride took us just over 2 hours and this included about 15 minutes watching the windsurfers race across the lake (it was a windy day, so they were out in force!). We covered around 22kms, which was a good distance – far enough to feel we’d had a good work-out, but short enough to have us home for lunch! The route was fairly hilly and I had to get off a couple of times and each time I did I could picture the cycling group sailing ahead in the distance and urging me forward. Their images didn’t stop me getting off, but they did stop me getting off more often!

Laura back from Schoolies, off to SA

It was Caroline's turn to finish school this week, with her 'formal' taking place in Manly last Wednesday night and then her graduation event at school on Friday morning. High shoes and short dresses seemed to be the current style for the formal and Caroline had a great time and managed to avoid twisting her ankle! She now has time off until the end of January when she starts her 2 years of HSC study, covering 6 subjects.

Rebecca still has another week to go at school although things are really quietening down with the number of pupils much reduced and various trips going on - she's off to Darling Harbour this week with her year, to visit the Aquarium and the 3D Imax Cinema. She also had her dance show last night at the local theatre and she performed in 3 dances during the evening, all very professional and with good costumes.

And then Laura returned from the schoolies week on Sunday afternoon - she had a great time but her body clock is now out of kilter with the night/day balance, but this should put her in better preparation for her flight to South Africa on Tuesday. She's off for 2 weeks to visit her old school friend from here, who had to return with her family to SA earlier this year. Laura's been looking forward to this and it will be her first international fight on her own, so a good experience and we hope that she'll see a lot of South Africa, as well as avoid any of the crime there, which sounds rife.