An eventful week

It is our good friend Judy L's birthday this week. She planned a three day extravaganza of fine dining and smash hit stage shows (in Sydney) to mark the occasion and invited us along for the ride this week - lucky us!

This was beautiful Coogee Beach at the start of the week, just before the east coast rain depression arrived in full force a day or so later.    

With Judy and Jurgen joining us the day after, we arranged to meet up with our young friend Áine at the busy Hong Kong style Kowloon Cafe in Sussex Street on Sunday night. While enjoying the buzz and the delicious food we took some photos of each other with my Fujifilm X-T3 camera prior to Áine taking it over for as long as she wants to. I'm going cold turkey on full format cameras and investing in a better iPhone to take all my photos for the next little while. 

We enjoyed dessert at the wondrous Kamakura Warabi-Mochi (in Regent Place) after where the flavoured mochi was an oozy taste sensation!! Áine also introduced us to the Ice Kirin Bar, also in Regent Place - the home of Sydney's best matcha icecream - a delight we tried a day or so later!

Time with Áine passes quickly, catching up with travel tales, news from Scotland, work dramas and all things Formula 1. This young woman is just a delight! 

Our birthday program began in earnest on Tuesday. We started with an early lunch (no breakfast) at Malay Chinese in Sussex Street (up near Town Hall), a great place for excellent laksa, smoky char kway teows and all sorts of delicious noodle bowls. We took Judy and Jurgen up to Regent place afterwards to try out our newly discovered mochi and matcha destinations - but I don't think they were quite as enthusiastic about it as we were.

By 1.00pm we'd made it to the Australian Museum in William Street in time for an off peak (discount) viewing of the "Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru" exhibition. There were over 130 artefacts on show including ceramics and funerary objects and a very impressive collection of gold jewellery

Photo credit for this "quirky" pair goes to Judy L.

It was raining hard by the time we finished at the museum. We caught a train to Milsons Point, north of the harbour and, braving the downpour, walked down the steep incline of Willoughby St towards Careening Cove - site of the iconic Ensemble Theatre in Kirribilli.

We were headed for early pre dinner drinks next to the theatre at the Sydney Flying Squadron Sailing Club.

Rob and I could not resist checking out the harbourside park and marina next to the sailing club before seeking shelter at the bar.

In this pic Rob is in the park standing on the commemorative tribute to Ian Kiernan OAM, the round the world sailor and long time resident of Kirribilli who died in 2018. Kiernan was considered a national hero for his untiring work in establishing the remarkable and long lasting "Clean Up Australia Campaign".

At 5.45pm we met up with Judy's long time friend and Suzuki piano meastro Gabrielle for a delicious meal at Bayly's Bistro (which is co-located with the Ensemble Theatre). The bistro is ideally located overlooking the harbourside marina and is fully geared to serving theatre goers with delicious food within the set timeframe - we were seriously impressed with this venue!

The Ensemble Theatre is intimate and instantly engaging. No wonder playwrights love to try out new ideas here to a very appreciative audience before hitting the bigger venues. We saw David Williamson's "Aria" this night - another witty, sometimes biting, fast moving exploration of family and relationships, so typical of this long standing Australian playwright's style.

Wednesday was a big day, starting with another early lunch, this time at our fave Ho Jiak on Hay Street. We were due at the Theatre Royal on King Street at 1.00pm when "Hadestown" was due to start. Hadestown, the musical tells a version of the ancient Greek myth about Orpheus and Eurydice and their journey to the underworld.

Most of the action took place in this speakeasy set. We all found it an interesting, clever production with some great talent on show, but we were not as engaged with the action (story and characters?) as some other musicals we've seen!

We enjoyed a reviving cup of coffee at AALIA in Martin Place afterwards before catching an uber to Pier One in time for the hotel's happy hour in the harbourside bar. $2 oysters and $12 dollar cocktails (Old Fashioneds for the boys and Margaritas for the Judy's) and a view to die for were the order of the day. Probably the best bargain on offer in the city - and a perfect sunset thrown in for good measure.

Rob was still in recovery mode after his 3 week long hideous viral attack so he left us after drinks at Pier One - capturing these stunning views, with a rising full moon, on his walk back to Circular Quay to catch the L2 back to Randwick (and an early night in bed!).

Judy, Jurgen and I were heading to the nearby Wharf 4/5 to see the Sydney Theatre Company production of "4,000 miles".

This was a view from the beautiful bar area of the 4/5 Wharf. This is Sydney's premier Arts precinct with its perfect backdrop of all of Sydney's harbourside icons.

4,000 miles was poignant, insightful and quite moving - about a grandmother's relationship with her adult grandson at a difficult time of their lives - staged in a perfectly sized space in this historic old port building. We all loved it!

I took this pic walking back to Circular Quay after - Sydney Harbour Bridge and the night sky brightly lit by the full moon.... what a beautiful city this is.

Thursday started gently in perfect weather at Coogee Beach and we didn't set out for the city until around 4.00pm. We were booked for a 5.00pm pre theatre dinner at The Little Snail Restaurant in Pyrmont. Here we enjoyed another fabulous meal - classic French - and a lovely gesture at the end in special recognition of Judy's birthday milestone. Happy birthday dear Judy !!

We were off to see MJ the Musical at the Sydney Lyric Theatre in Pyrmont after. The crowded theatre was in a high state of excitement as the show opened and we were not disappointed. The show is based on the last 2 days of rehearsals for Michael Jackson's 1992 Dangerous world tour. A journalist interviews him during breaks in the rehearsals which creates opportunities to travel through time and present all those show stopping numbers from his time as a child star up until 1992 (one year before the first allegations of child abuse were made public).  If you could ignore all that became public after 1992 MJ The Musical was a fabulous production - so much talent on show, awesome dance sequences and superb production values. We loved it - a real highlight show to end our time in Sydney!!

We all drove back to Canberra on Friday after our 3 day extravaganza - just in time to celebrate Sophie's 26th birthday with an Italian feast at Pronto (in Weston Creek) and Judy's lemon cake after - a traditional L family way to celebrate all birthdays - YUM!

Well and truly back to "normal life" now we visited Rod today at the UC Rehab Hospital in Bruce. It was so exciting to witness his progress in the hospital gym this afternoon - on day 6 of his rehab - up walking and standing (supported) for quite significant periods. .... awesome progress in such a short time.

A great way to end an "eventful week" - and to top it off - our renovations in Coogee are definitely starting soon! It's been two years since we were hoping they'd get underway - but definitely better late than NEVER! It's going to be a busy (and eventful) few months ahead

Carrying on

We're carrying on here ...... though its been very hard seeing Rod's transition to the Uni of Canberra Rehab Hospital in Bruce late last week. We had assumed this would be a positive move but so far it is anything but positive for Rod. It's terrible to see him in virtual nursing home care with minimal focus on actual rehabilitation at this stage.... and he's aware enough of the situation to feel anxious and devastated by it too.

As always it helps to have the support of extended family around at these times. Ros and Pete called in over the weekend on their way to Kiama and we were able to share the time up at the hospital with Rod and Claire and get some help with the weekly watering we're doing over in Rod's garden. It was a lovely break for all of us to share some laughter with Ella, Abi and Angus and the rest of the family together on Saturday night.

Sunday morning we fitted in a lake walk and coffee time under the trees near Blundell's Cottage. Pete was able to do most of the walk with us this morning with his new knee performing well!

Canberra put on its best Enlighten show on Sunday night - a lovely spectacle to show to visitors - and in walking distance of our apartment too. The National Gallery was looking spectacular as always with its light show devised by Lindy Lee (the sculptor of Ouroboros)

and Questacon ....

The Carillon looked spectacular on the walk home.

And a few more pics of Abi ......... (these girls give us so much joy which we are greatly in need of at the moment) ........ We did cupcakes and candles in the carpark again after her birthday dinner this year at her fave Mawson restaurant - accompanied by a lot of laughter.

...... and Abi with Sammy, riding free at Freshford this week - we love these horsey times we share with Abi. They are very restorative.

Abi is 13

Our AbiGirl is now officially a teenager - full of sass, witty one liners and enough knowledge of horses to fill at least a dozen Wikipedias.

When she turned over her first decade I created a tribute blogpost which was fun to take another look at on the occasion of her 13th birthday yesterday.

https://purplefig.blogspot.com/2022/02/abis-ten-years.html  So now its time to give an update on the three years since then...

So we'll start from August 2022 .. and Abi is back at her favourite place then - Forest Park Riding School, on one of their school ponies ......... 

By September 2022 Abi had become the proud lessee of Harry the Brumby pony, whose home was at Redlands out Womboin way.

Christmas 2022 was made complete by the gift of a mini Les Mieux horse. Abi named him Rio! At that stage Abi had a name for all her animals, including the birds, spiders and worms she found around the garden too.

Christmas 2022...

By January 2023 Abi was growing fast and eating full size meals to suit. This was her intense carnivore year too ........

Abi's 11th Birthday in February 2023......

In March 2023 we had a belated celebration of Joshy and Rob's birthdays at Bennelong in Sydney - a fabulous night of feasting we repeated in 2024.

We love our Easter stays together at Narrawallee too. This pic of Abi was taken on our second Easter visit.

In May 2023 Abi was helping out with the beginner riding lessons out at Redlands ...

By July 2023 Abi was ready for a bigger, younger horse to ride. She took over the lease of Ringo then, a 16.2 hand gelding - 600kg and an ex racehorse .... We thought he looked huge, but Abi managed him easily (or so it looked to us).

Ringo enjoyed the showjumping that Abi was getting increasingly interested in ....

Abi, quite the socialite, at a rooftop bar in the Rocks, in Sydney - October 2023

Abi graduated Year 6 at the end of 2023. We loved her graduation party style .....

Seen in Sydney with sister Ella in January 2024 ....

Ringo was the recipient of most of Abi's 12th birthday presents in February 2024.  Best dressed horse award in the Canberra region...

In March last year we were back in Sydney for another Bennelong dinner - the girls were dressed and ready for our big night out in this pic .......

We spent Easter at Narrawallee in 2024, memorable for Abi no doubt because she had new braces fitted on the day before Good Friday. It cramped her Easter egg eating style quite a bit that year.

We took these beautiful pics of Abi and Ringo at Redlands in July 2024 - just as their one year lease was coming to an end.....

Lunch with Granny at the iconic Tilley's Divine Cafe in Lyneham also in July last year.

By September 2024 the search was over and Abi finally had her own horse - Sam (Sammy) a 14.1 Welsh Arab pony .... her new love .... He's based at the beautiful Freshford Equestrian Park along the Point Hut Road on the southern outskirts of Canberra's suburban sprawl - a beautiful bushland setting that we're all enjoying on our now regular visits.

Abi agreed to a weekend away from Sammy in October last year so we could celebrate my birthday in Sydney (dinner was at Queen Chow at Manly Wharf).

But this is where Abi is more often found these days.... This pic was taken in November 2024.

We celebrated Christmas Day 2024 in Ubud at our fave The Indus Restaurant. This was Abi's 6th holiday in Bali (after a 5 year break from their last visit in 2019).

Abi in full celebrity style mode at The indus, Ubud Bali ....

Joshy has captured the best pics of Abi and Sammy in full flight in the paddocks around Freshford. Taken January 2025.....

Abi with the extended fam in January 2025.

In the last three years Abi has grown into a very special teenager - full of character and sass yet with authority and leadership too - so evident when we see her in operation as a rider and carer with her beloved Sammy. We have been so lucky to share these years with her. Happy 13th birthday dear AbiGirl!!