Coogee notes

Just a few random notes from our stay in Sydney over the weekend.........

We love the Korean - Japanese food at Fujiyama (it's always our first meal stop on arrival in Coogee).

...... and now there's Andersen's ice cream right next door... perfect for dessert.

Australia is in the grip of a most ridiculous survey process that may or may not result in our country finally achieving marriage equality. The eastern suburbs of Sydney - home of Mardi Gras - comprise the heartland of our country's YES voters. So what was this skywriter doing spreading Vote NO over the skies of the eastern beaches yesterday morning???  (biggest waste of money ever) 

Spring has sprung in Sydney too - you never see pointsettias like this growing outdoors in Canberra.

And the new Lifeguard headquarters and change rooms at Coogee Beach are finally finished and open for business.

The beach looked gorgeous yesterday but the water was only 16.8oC so not many people were in swimming.

And we are wondering if the Sth Korean branch may be staying in an apartment in this building in January?? (please confirm Joel!)

Catching up at Clovelly

We couldn't have picked a better place for a family catch up than Sea Salt Café at Clovelly Beach on Saturday morning. Plenty of FREE unrestricted car parking, good coffee and a sweet little kid friendly beach on the café doorstep.

We hadn't seen Leo for a long time. He's 2 now and quite a personality in his own right.

Zoe and Alex spent hours on the beach playing on the sand and in the water, doing cartwheels (Zoe).......

 And engineering works (major and minor - Alex) .........

With the kids happy we had a lovely extended time to catch up on all the news with Clare.......

 .. .... although Zoe and Alex were absolutely soaked by the end of the outing (but happy). Beautiful Clovelly!

A day on the water

We spent a lot of last Friday on the water..... one of those days when this beautiful city was shining at its brilliant best (although who is Lynn??).

Barangaroo Wharf is looking like its starting to own its brand new space........

We were visiting friends who live a few ferry stops up the Paramatta River, just past Drummoyne. Tony and Ann wake up to views of the river just like this every morning!...............

..and this is what they see looking East towards the city and Sydney Harbour...........

Anywhere up the Paramatta River is an easy trip for us by ferry......

Sydney sparkled in the late afternoon light as we headed back to the city!

A cold afternoon

It is a very rare privilege when Abi says it's ok to take her picture.  It was very cold outside this afternoon and the light was fading fast but she ok'd me to document her nature studies and so I tried my best!

Abi loves mixing witches' brews with flowers in the garden. She uses the "teardrops" in the centre of the camellia bush flowers as the secret ingredient.

Abi collected her first "shiner" this week. It was a fall against a wooden stool with a spectacular outcome - ouch!

Father's Day

We had a bit of a get together today - our chance to wish the August birthday boys a happy birthday (finally),

 and give our favourite Dads a shout out for Father's Day!!!!

Is it just me or can you see a strong family resemblance in these pics of the 5 cousins?