Back to Coogee

We've just had 3 beautiful days in Coogee with J & J, A & E, having lots of fun and laughter together at our favourite city beach, great meals and LOTS of physical activity. 

After noting the presence of the very imposing Wallabies RU Team (and the Q'ld Reds) we were all settled in our ocean view rooms at the Crowne Plaza by Saturday afternoon. The girls were primed to hit the big grassed oval at Grant Reserve and test out one of Abi's new birthday ball and racquet games. 

 Abi's recently mastered the art of cartwheels. She can do them PERFECTLY and is now practising doing them NON STOP!

 A duet of cartwheels!

 It helps when you have a big sister willing and able to teach you the next level....

 We walked up to La Sen at the Spot, Randwick for a beautiful Vietnamese meal on Saturday night, adding a 3 kilometre walk (there and back) to our afternoon of running around Grant Reserve.

Sunday dawned cloudy but warm, good enough for a perfect morning on Coogee Beach.

 Abi did hundreds of cartwheels up and down the length of the beach this morning.

  

 Abi is "at one with nature" wherever she finds herself - always watching out for birds, insects, crabs and any other form of nature (and marine life).

 A laid back lunch at the Coogee Bay Hotel and a 2 hour sleep after (for an exhausted Abi) ended off a perfect Sunday morning at our Coogee Beach.

We celebrated with dinner at our fave (but crowded) Barzura's last night...….  Coogee was as lively as a January summer this Canberra Day long weekend!

 We were all down the beach again as early as possible this morning...…...

 And just to make sure we all got the most out of our long weekend at our fave beach we ended off our stay with a walk to South Coogee and the beautiful rock pool (the Ivor Rowe Rock Pool) at the end of the Bondi to Coogee coast walk

 Ella and Abi find lots of hidden treasures on these rocky platforms.

We ended off a perfect weekend with a late lunch at the Pool Café at Maroubra before the long drive back to Canberra. It was such a joy and a privilege to spend uninterrupted time this weekend with my gorgeous, funny, fit and always whip smart family - and there is no bias at all in that observation!

Vous etes belles

We would enjoy watching paint dry as long as our beautiful grand-daughters were involved. So you can imagine our joy when we were invited to join in some of their after school craft and homework fun a week or so back.  The girls aren't watching any TV at all during the week now and they seem even more calm and focussed than usual.

 I was instructed on how to make one of these paper constructions too!

 Left handed Abi is a whiz with right handed scissors.

Ella is really into teaching Grandpa how to do some coding on her beloved Chromebook (after clarinet practice).

Talking of beauties.... we've just got back from a few days in Coogee .... enjoying some very late Summer weather and these beautiful coast views (that's Gordon's Bay below)

We've started the process of putting the Coogee apartment on the rental market for a while - hoping we can eventually finance a few renovations to the place (bathroom, kitchen etc). We had a few sad moments as we handed over the keys - we're going to miss this beauty (but only for a while!).  You can see how pretty the apartment looks (unrenovated with its original "charming Art Deco bathroom") here.

South Korean family in Sydney

The South Korean branch of the family arrived in Sydney last Thursday for 5 days of feasting, sightseeing, great conversations, lots of laughter and eventually some tears (when we had to say goodbye this morning).

The laughter and feasting started on our first evening together at our fave Barzuras in Coogee.

This is the gorgeous couple (Joel and Soyoung - Kay) that has brought our families together......... This is their first visit back to Australia since their wedding in September 2016.

On Friday we took the ferry to the Taronga Zoo wharf and headed East along the Bradleys Head bush track to.......

the Athol Hall Café for a light lunch on the verandah, overlooking beautiful Sydney Harbour.......

This visit there were temporary fences lining the usually picturesque entry to the building (apparently in preparation for the NYE crowds), and the usually well behaved resident kookaburras were quite feral - swooping the tables looking for gourmet fillets of barramundi and calamari - very unnerving, and disappointing for me as the visit organiser!!

We have a photo of the London branch taken in the same place in the grounds of Athol Hall in February 2010.

 The harbour looked exquisite that day......

Friday night the fun continued with a wonderful meal at the iconic Bennelong Restaurant at the Opera House. It was a very photogenic venue so I'll do a separate post on that.

Saturday we caught the bus into the city so we could take Kay's Mum and Dad to lunch at Sydney's best Korean Restaurant: Danjee in Albion Place, off  George Street.

Kay's Mum is a wonderful cook and very discerning. She gave Danjee her top rating - Yay! After lunch we filled in a few hours taking the ferry to a very crowded (and HOT) Watson's Bay. We wanted our visitors to enjoy this beautiful spot on the Harbour but I suspect it must have seemed quite a trial in the heat with all the crowds.

Meanwhile Kay's brother and his girlfriend had arrived in Sydney too (from Seoul). They settled quickly into their Airbnb rooms at Coogee and managed to make their way to meet us at Darling Harbour late afternoon without once getting lost or confused. Amazing!

Nick's Seafood at Darling Harbour was Joel's choice for dinner. He'd been dreaming of Nick's bountiful seafood platters ever since his last visit home. 

Sunday in Sydney was a quiet one, in readiness for our HUGE night out for New Year's Eve on the harbour at Milson's Point. This wonderful night needs its own post!

We did final planning for our big NYE night out over lunch at the Coogee Bay Hotel (the young ones had spent the morning swimming at Bondi with Kay's Mum and Dad).

Joel & Kay and her Mum and Dad's Airbnb at Coogee gave them the most beautiful views North towards Clovelly - and over Dunningham Reserve, close to Giles Baths.

This is Joel's amazing early morning shot of sunrise over the Giles Baths rock pool.....

 and crowded Coogee Beach during its busiest week of the year.

Yesterday was an extremely quiet day for us after getting home from NYE celebrations close to 3.00am. After a very late to the day we enjoyed a reviving ale at the beautiful old Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel at The Rocks (Rob's suggestion - he loves this place!).

We spent our last night together enjoying Chat Thai curries, Fujiyama sushi and Pavillion pizza at Joel and Kay's apartment. We felt very sad to say goodbye to our wonderful South Korean family and the fabulous times and great conversations we've shared together during our Sydney stay. We don't want it to end!