December already

It feels like the pace is really picking up now we're into December and only a few days to go until we leave for Bali. We've had all our vaccines, finished off our Christmas shopping, got the girls sorted with their Advent boxes, had another trip to Coogee, signed off on final meetings for the year and carried on the usual level of end of year socialising. Its been busy!!

We took Abi and Ella shopping for their Christmas gifts (on different days). It's the best fun for us keeping them company on shopping trips - and lunch is always included.   

We took ourselves to the 50th anniversary Cold Chisel Concert at the end of November. It was a beautiful (warm) summer evening and we were able to walk to the venue in Commonwealth Park.

You could see that the audience fitted a certain age demographic ......

The best part was sharing the night with Josh & Jody (who were among the youngest members in the audience). ......

We all agreed the band was in fine form - a fabulous concert with lead guitarist Ian Moss the stand out star of the night!

We headed for Coogee again at the weekend, meeting up with young Aine for lunch at Barzura on Sunday and Conor and Lesley (from Belfast) for a day of walking on Monday.

But first of all an early morning walk to "the honeycomb", to get the day started right on Sunday.

By Sunday lunch we were in a prime position to watch a severe rain storm roll in and experience the torrents of rain and wind squalls that buffeted this part of Sydney quite severely for just under an hour.

Afterwards, the sun came out from behind the rain clouds, giving off a very surreal lighting vibe.....

Monday dawned bright and clear and HOT. We met up with Lesley and Conor at Bondi -nearly 7 months since we last saw them in Belfast in Northern Ireland. They had only arrived in Sydney a few days before, from freezing wintry Belfast!

Together, we walked all the way to Coogee along the 7klm coastal path - all looking absolutely stunning on this perfect summer cloudless day - but I did worry how our guests would cope with the heat, the sun, the glare, the UV factor!!!

They made it to the end - still amazingly positive about everything (they make 'em tough in Belfast) and we rewarded them with lunch at the Coogee Bay Hotel, looking very friendly, very breezy and quite uncrowded on this fine Monday. Uluru is the next stop for Conor and Lesley - so our walk today in 30oC heat would be good preparation for what they'll be facing there.

Tuesday was a quieter day for us. We enjoyed a walk around the picturesque streets of Paddington and lunch on the balcony of the old Royal Hotel on Paddington Fiveways.

I loved this take on a "decorated" Christmas Tree at the Ampersand Cafe and Bookstore on Oxford Street.

We had new shutters installed in our living room on Tuesday morning. After waiting ELEVEN weeks for this to happen we were really congratulating ourselves that we'd finally got a Sydney supplier to deliver as promised. The living room gets more comfortable every visit now. Rob connected our new (Smart) TV this weekend too, with full connectivity to all our streaming services - Yay!

And back in Canberra now - we're back to old (lovely) routines. Abi and Sam were in fine form in the arena at Freshford on Thursday. They're looking like a great jumping team......