Ella came up with Rob and me on Friday, in time for lunch at our fave Coogee Bay Hotel before the rest of the family joined us late in the day.
We had some time on the beach after lunch ..........
....... and time for a browse in the surf shops lining Coogee Bay Road.
This year my birthday coincided with a Super Moon. I got this shot on Friday evening through our dirty sash windows facing Carrington Road and was lucky enough to get a moon reflection as well as the real one rising in the eastern sky.
Saturday night we all made our way into the Rocks, very excited about the prospect of dinner at Sake, the contemporary Japanese restaurant on Argyle Street. We all love Japanese food!
None of us follow League or AFL so it was a bit of a shock for us to find we'd picked double Grand Final weekend in Sydney for my birthday celebration. So it was hard to find a venue/space at the Rocks to enjoy a quiet, classy drink together before dinner in amongst the cheers and shouts of the AFL followers enjoying the game.
in the end we were thrilled to find the tiny, but quiet, rooftop bar at the old heritage Australian Hotel on Cumberland Street to get our celebration started!!
I don't think we stopped laughing the whole time we were together this night (except for when we were eating (and drinking))!!
I think Abi took the prize for enjoying the food the most at the sublime Sake - but it was a close race!!
What a wonderful night of refined, layered flavours and quality, fresh seafood - enjoyed with my very favourite people!
Yesterday was clear, sunny, very hot and very crowded here in Coogee. We estimated there might have been around 10,000 people on the beach .... but we managed to find a postage size area to park ourselves for a few hours while the girls and Joshy enjoyed the surf.
Somehow Joshy managed to get us the very best table at the Coogee Bay Hotel Marra Restaurant for lunch - while the rest of Sydney was roaring and swigging on in the beer garden getting primed in readiness for the NRL Grand Final later in the afternoon.
Young Ollie joined us for a late lunch too, having made the rail trip up from Wollongong for the occasion. He was immediately at home with the family vibe, but introducing a few new lines of conversation and laughter with his stories of Uni life (including a stark shortage of red meat of the steak variety).
The best dessert on a 34oC day at Coogee Beach (even worth the queue) ..........
Then a nice time of the day at the rock pool at the base of Coogee's Northern Headland - Giles Bath.
We had a slap-up breakfast together this morning at the Crowne Plaza Hotel before the young ones set out back for Canberra after our three days of fun.
Rob and I are here for a few more days, but it seems so much quieter and so much more ordinary without the company of the young ones ....... but we are focussing on how lucky we are to have had such a wonderful time together this birthday weekend, with so much laughter and wonderful memories to hold dear!
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