The end of October

It's been another good week for us - perfect Spring weather and lots of opportunities to be outside enjoying those clear blue skies, green shoots everywhere and lots of sunshine!!

It was another perfect afternoon with Abi and Sammy out at Freshford on Monday. Abi rode bareback and Sammy was perfectly behaved. We were introduced to his new stable neighbour Elsa, a Warmblood mare the same age as Sammy. Abi is predicting that Sammy is going to fall madly in love with Elsa when she finally moves into the stables.

Elas is still in the quarantine paddock at the moment; the pic below is of Abi and Sammy leading Creamy, Elsa's other (future) stablemate. 

We've also had an overnight outing to the South Coast this week - in our new Lexus LBX no less - mainly so we could meet up with our friends Judy and Jurgen, at Rosedale Beach, to catch up on progress with their new build on Yowani Road.

The last time we'd seen the build was last November when there really were just the foundations and a big cement slab in place. A year later and it was immediately obvious that there is now an almost built new house on that slab and so advanced in its construction that it's very easy to imagine its final form.

We are already looking forward to sitting up on that verandah when its finished enjoying those sea breezes and glimpses of the Pacific Ocean through those big old gum trees lining the coastline.

But it was once we were inside that the true beauty of this house revealed itself. it has views to die for and a wonderfully open airy spacious feel. Spaces flow beautifully and the build is beautifully detailed with an understated palette of natural materials and textures The solid wood timber floor is to be laid in the next few weeks. That will be transformative too when it's done.

This part of Rosedale was very badly hit by the New Year's Eve bushfires (2019-2020) and while houses can be rebuilt the bush and tree growth around Yowani Road will take decades to recover. I love the way that Judy and Jurgen's house has been positioned so that the view is all about the beach and ocean and the massive old trees that weren't destroyed in that terrible summer of drought and fires. From inside the house Rosedale looks unchanged from how it always was - beautiful!!

That view!!

Rosedale and the beaches around it looked stunning yesterday. I took this shot from the lookout near the lighthouse at Guerilla Bay. It was such a clear day we coul easily see Pigeon House Mountain (Didthul) a long way off to the north (not all that far from Milton/Ulladulla).

We spent a while watching the antics of a fur seal in the water and on the rocks just below the lookout too.

We also did a long walk along the length of the North and South Rosedale beaches for old times sake.

Judy and Jurgen's year has been way more busy than it needed to be with lots of distractions happening up North (!!). It's a tribute to them both that they have been able to keep this complex build at Rosedale progressing as beautifully as it has over the past year. We celebrated with them last night with a glass or two of Marjella and a special dinner at Sawaan (Thai) at Bateman's Bay. It's gonna be a much better year for them in 2027 with lots of happy times ahead in their Rosedale house for sure!

We stayed the night at the Abode Hotel at Malua Bay and woke to a stunning sunrise over the ocean through our bedroom window - a wonderful start to our day. Our luck continued with the drive back to Canberra - another superb Spring day for our absolute enjoyment.

Another fun week

It's been another huge week for us. We picked up our new car from Sydney City Lexus on Tuesday - after a very long wait since we placed the order for our new hybrid Lexus LBX on the 3rd March this year. We drove back to Canberra straight after, determining our shiny new vehicle was too young and innocent to overnight unsupervised on the streets of Coogee as yet!! We paid our respects to our beautiful little 16 year old VW Golf as we departed the showroom.

It was back to Sydney on Wednesday (in the Tiguan) and an afternoon rest for Rob after all that driving over two days and the undoubted stress of our interstate car purchase.

Thursday was rainy, very rainy. We waited for a short break in the skies and headed out to explore another Sydney neighbourhood on our list. Newtown was our pick for the day but it was hard to consider any ambitious exploring with all the heavy rain, and no let up once we got there.

We were able to enjoy a wonderful lunch at the iconic Cairo Takeaway on 81 Enmore Road. We both had memories of the legal stoush involving this iconic cafe last year involving the Sky News invasion and the Zionist activist. We let the food do the talking today.

Thursday night we had our Coogee Strata AGM, which went very well, but which had involved both of us in a lot of preparation being the diligent EC members we are, especially Rob as Treasurer.

Friday was the opening day of Sculpture by the Sea. We did the Coogee to Bondi walk that morning so we could see the sculptures in situ and enjoy the warm sunny conditions. SxS featured 100 sculptures by local and international artists this year, marking the event's 30th anniversary. 

Tamarama Beach is usually quite crowded with works for SxS - this year the installations looked quite sparse and it was quite noticeable that works on show throughout SxS looked to be reduced in numbers and scale compared to previous years.

....... although this sphere of fog, blowing in the wind by Tamarama Beach was creating quite a lot of interest.

Emma Anna's DREAM_N was beautifully placed.

Yoshio Nitta's moon series work was one of my favourites.

There were quite a few film crews on the walk and artists being interviewed about their work.

And installation was being finalised for quite a few of the works. Apparently the day of heavy rain during the week had delayed things. The Sydney based artist Ian Swift's " A Great White Pointer View" was still a way off being in its final set up.

Another Japanese artist's work (Keizo Ushio's Oushi Zokei Enmusubi 11)......

We ended off the walk with lunch at the Beekeeper Bondi in Hall Street before heading back to Coogee and a night of socialising with our lovely neighbours Greg & Lizzi. We ended off a busy day by meeting up with niece Claire, who'd made the Murrays bus trip from Canberra that afternoon to join us for the weekend.

Saturday dawned bright warm and sunny, a perfect Sydney day. We started the day with a walk to our fave Honeycomb in Sth Coogee.

We then met up with Ollie (and best mate Tom) at Central Station in time for lunch at the Royal Albert Hotel on Commonwealth St in Surry Hills. We were all on our way to Darlinghurst to see Angus's band's gig at the Oxford Art Centre in the eraly afternoon.

The Oxford Art Factory in Darlinghurst is an awesome venue .... and Angus's band (Body Shirt) absolutely smoked it there - the energy of their set was incredible.

We loved it!

And of course there was merch too!

We enjoyed a wind down afterwards with all the young ones at the Riley Hotel, over the road on Oxford Street. We spent nearly three hours together there, talking music, band goss and life in general - and lots of laughs ... lucky us!

Ollie came back with us and stayed the night in Coogee. It was great to have extended time with him to talk about all his plans for the future and (Wollongong) Uni highs and lows.

We drove back to Canberra on Sunday afternoon with Claire, happy after one of the most lively weeks we've had in Sydney for a while.

Birthday celebrations

We were lucky to have the young ones join us in Coogee this past (long) weekend - three days of good times together and an opportunity to enjoy a celebratory dinner to mark the occasion of my 75th (yikes!) birthday.

Ella, being on Uni break, was able to come up with us last Thursday. We experienced the fiesta like atmosphere of The Spot at Randwick that night - a regular occurrence apparently on the second Thursday of every month. There were hundreds and hundreds of people around, eating and drinking on tables set up along St Paul's Street with a soundtrack of great hits from a rockin' live band.

...... and a small army of street performers .....

Our fave old Randwick Ritz was serving up a bit of old school nostalgia that night too.

Friday morning dawned perfectly clear and sunny - but with a strong NNE wind the waves off Coogee Beach were a bit wild.

We walked from Coogee around a more turbulent than usual Gordon's Bay, to Clovelly Beach.

.... where it was calm and beautiful ...... calm enough that Ella couldn't resist taking a dip and then putting up with a wet cozzie while we did coffee and a pastry at Tuga Pastries on Clovelly Road.

Josh,Jody and Abi got to Coogee on Friday in time for a late lunch by the beach at the Coogee Bay Hotel - a great way to start our official weekend of fun times together.

Saturday morning started out raining heavily - for a few hours ..... but by 11.30 it had cleared and we set out for the beach ......

.... back to Clovelly .... where Ella convinced Abi to brave the fresh conditions (that water is barely 19oC) and have a swim.

Abi is just as happy to be back in one of her favourite childhood haunts - exploring the Clovelly rock pools - finding octopus, starfish and all sorts of other sea creatures.

Saturday night was booked for our big night out together. So I had the chance to do my annual photoshoot with this beautiful family outside our Coogee apartment block on Carrington Road.

Just look at this pair!!

....... and this amazing pair too!!

We made our way to the iconic Bondi Icebergs Restaurant for dinner ....... initially for an eye popping (and mercifully short) drinks session at the Icebergs Bar (along with a few too many glammed up and primped up residents of the Eastern suburbs).

But then we were shown our table in the restaurant - a proper, old school, Italian fine dining establishment - and very glamorous, yes - with the location (and view) to die for!

It doesn't get better than this!!

We had the BEST night - superb food, attentive service, the best wines - with my favourite people in the world - and THAT VIEW!!!

And there was even a birthday candle for me - thank goodness there weren't 75 of them.

We had a few stories to tell after our night at Icebergs, mostly about the other patrons frequenting the bar. But that all adds to the fun!!

Abi, Ella and I just stood together on the balcony at the end of the night and took in this most amazing view of this special part of the world, at the end of a very special night together.

Both mornings we started the day with breakfast in our tiny little kitchen. Abi cooked on Saturday. Ella cooked on Sunday. I enjoyed watching them bring together a full breakfast feast for the 6 of us in this tiny little space - with such confidence!

There was time for one last swim at Coogee Beach before the young ones had to head back to Canberra on Sunday afternoon. I love watching these two sauntering down Coogee Bay Road together - looking so like sisters don't they?

This was the first swim for our family at Coogee Beach since that shocking shark attack back in June. The beach has a drone patrol now, tandem helicopters flying overhead and lifesavers patrolling on boards just beyond the 30metre line off shore. Probably a very safe time to swim at this beach.

There was also a small army of volunteer surf lifesavers on duty this morning too.

Aside from all that the beach was looking its absolute best!!!

It seemed very quiet once the young ones left that afternoon. We're having a few more days here and a touch more excitement (more on that later!) before the week is out while they get back to Sammy, school and Uni and all the other demands of their busy lives.

In the meantime we're going to enjoy living in this 'hood for a while while i think back on such happy times we had this year celebrating being together on my birthday!!