Christmas Sunday 2

A pre Christmas get together at the Fischer's is one of our favourite traditions of the season. This year we started earlier than usual - but all the usual suspects were there! Jurgen's new shirt (from Vietnam - thank you Thomas) was the star of the show. 

The young ones: Maddie, Sophie and Thomas have been part of these celebratory get togethers for as long as the rest of us (at least 16-17 years?). We're so happy they're still prepared to be part of the fun!

Maxie and I contributed the appetizers - we went light fresh and pretty looking this year.  Judy did her usual Clyde River oysters entrée (thank you Bernie's at Charnwood), Jennie did a fabulous main course: confit duck with all the trimmings …………………………….

 ...and Anke did dessert - one of those rich and luscious Gumtree chocolate cakes with fresh summer berries ….. and expertly served by Maddie.

I was a bit slow and missed getting a nice pic with Sophie in it too - but she was definitely there - although a late starter because of her work commitments

The vineyards on the hill are looking lush and green although Jennie and Wayne may have some misgivings about the amount of canopy. Times have changed at Bush's Lane and the vineyard is no longer their day to day responsibility - it's a time for travel and taking stock for them.  We are so lucky that this pre Christmas celebration tradition at Bush's Lane still continues despite the other changes all around us. 

Christmas Sunday

With the young ones heading off on a road trip (to Adelaide) this week we celebrated an early Christmas with them on Sunday morning.  

We had strict instructions to arrive by 7.00AM! So I thought I deserved a picture opportunity with the girls in return for our early start!

Abi only gave me a one second pose, before she'd had enough.

But she was happy to have her handmade Christmas decorations captured on camera...…

Then it was present opening time (at last) ………….

There may have been an element of self interest in Joshy's present to Ella!

Abi's now joined other members of the family in owning a G-Shock watch …….

I think Abi was ok with these beach shorts???

But Ella's Manga book and Abi's craft set turned out to be presents that lasted the distance.

Josh and Jody prepared an amazing breakfast for us all: Eggs Benedict for the grown ups and handmade waffles for the girls. A highlight of the dish was the 4hour home smoked ham slices on wilted spinach.

A happy morning ended off with a game of Badminton in the morning sun, then time to relax and catch some rays (it was really cool this morning seeing the sun was so bright and the sky was so blue).

Happy, lucky kids and happy, lucky us to be a part of all this (sigh!)

Brisbane

Over the past week we've managed to fit in a very quick road trip to Brisbane to catch up with Rob's Mum, and share a bit of Christmas cheer.

We were very happy to see her much improved since our last visit in July. All that CAZNA Hostel care and attention has been doing her a world of good. 

Even though Granny Bobbie, G.G. is very frail now we managed one of her fave outings to Manly and a fish and chips lunch on the Bay (at Cuttlefish)...........

We were able to do some shopping with her and a few other lunch outings - made all the easier because we were staying in an apartment at the 'Gabba/Kangaroo Point that was ideal for a bit of entertaining.

This was the late afternoon view towards the Brisbane CBD from the apartment's 9th floor pool deck. 

And this was the view over the iconic 'Gabba Stadium from the 16th floor roof deck. Residents would count themselves very lucky during the cricket tests (and the Taylor Swift concert).

The Brisbane road trip is a big one for us - a 2,400 klm roundtrip by car. And this was a first road trip in over a decade that we haven't broken the trip with an overnight stay with Ros and Pete at Sandy Beach (near Coffs Harbour). The night at the 3 Star motel at Kempsey instead just didn't rate. Still, we're all really happy that they are happy where they are now (Geelong in Victoria).

Bennelong dinner

We were able to fit in a visit to the wonderful Masters of Modern Art from the Hermitage exhibition at the AGNSW yesterday. Focussing on French artists of the decade 1900-1910 this relatively small exhibition had plenty of beautiful Monets, Mattisses, Cezannes,  Kandinskys and Picassos  to please everyone. 

 But the main reason we'd come to Sydney was for our Sunday dinner date with our dear friends David and Irene  at the fabulous Bennelong Restaurant at the Sydney Opera House. We've waited a long time for this with all the "issues" this year.... but at last we've made it!

We'd booked into the beautiful Intercontinental Hotel on Macquarie Street - a short walk to the Quay (and Bennelong) - but a beautiful and historic property in its own right!

 But the star of the show was last night's dinner at Bennelong - in our country's most iconic building with its stunning harbourside location. 

We were so lucky tonight not to have one of those ginormous cruise ships backed up to the overseas terminal - blocking our sunset view.

 The food was beautiful of course - Princess Charlotte Bay bug dumplings, confit of Maremma duck (in the front of pic below) for me, and an array of shared desserts to finish off...…. perfect!!

 After a wonderful and memorable night at Bennelong it was a windy walk back along the Quay and then up these 150 odd year old stairs to our lovely hotel in Macquarie Street.

 We had to finish off the night with a ride in our hotel's oldest lift in Australia - it only spans 3 levels but makes up for its limitations with old world character in spades (a bit like us really!).

Our rooms may not have been on the hotel's "best" side but it is always good to catch a glimpse of Sydney's stunning harbour no matter how small a glimpse it is.

 We started today with a walk and a bit of a stair work out - and a view of this (below)! It's just as well we'd got moving as our hotel breakfast proved to be  too difficult to resist - even with our indulgence last night. Sydney is such a stunner - especially when long anticipated treats like this are shared with friends

December

We've had some wild weather in the lead up to December - wild winds, heavy falls of rain and storms, hot weather, cold weather - but Rob scored the jackpot in capturing this double rainbow shot from our winter garden windows last week.

We celebrated the Canberra family early Christmas on Saturday - Maxie's birthday and almost the birth day of dear little Vincent boy in Seoul, South Korea - so we had plenty to celebrate and a lot of food to eat (especially with the unavoidable absence of Ollie and Jeremy due to illness).

I gave the girls their Advent boxes too on Saturday - which just proves there are only 24 days to actual Christmas Day. The girls are always happy to get Advent underway although it took a while to convince Abi that it was a bit early for her to get the rest of her Christmas presents on the same day.

Last day in Tokyo

We thought we'd have a very laid back last day in Tokyo - a late start, a long morning coffee at our fave local (Byron Bay Cafe), a bit of a walk and a return visit to Shibuya and Shinjuki for some shopping, and not much else. 

I'd read that the canal district of Naka-Meguro was pretty lively and interesting so we walked there from Ebisu Station - but we couldn't find any arty little laneways despite my best efforts.

 But the canal was very pretty - and just imagine it in Spring when all those cherry trees are in bloom.

 It was a very stylish area - the shopping would be great if I only had more room in my suitcase.

 We ended up walking all the way back to Shibuya .... Tokyo's Times Square.

 I just love the Shibuya pedestrian crossing - the busiest in the world. We didn't bother viewing it from L'Occitane Cafe or Starbucks this time - just watching it at ground level was fun enough for me.

We then caught the train to Shinjuki and walked around the buzzy lanes of electronics emporiums and Pachinko parlours on the Western side of the station. (We'd only looked at the glossy Eastern side streets on our previous visit)

 I didn't come all this way to find a McDonald's!!!!

 We found a great place for lunch in one of the laneways - yakitori for me and soba noodles for Rob. We're both much more confident in our food ordering now.

And a beautiful dessert to follow: 2 of my favourite food groups; green tea (matcha) ice cream and red beans (with rice balls). I savoured every mouthful as it will be a long time before I can enjoy great matcha ice cream again.

We leave Tokyo tomorrow after the most wonderful three weeks in Japan and South Korea, in Seoul and on the islands of Kyushu and Honshu. Our family in Seoul and our dear friend Haruko (and her friends and family) in Japan have made our visits memorable and unique. We have been able to share some wonderful experiences that we would never been able to, on our own and met some beautiful people that we would never have been able to engage with as non Japanese and non Korean speakers. Genki de Japan and bai bai. We will hopefully see you (and Seoul) again soon.