aussielozzie18

Wet & overcast Saturday morning in Sydney for our prebooked Coffee Paddle Kayak Tour. Only our family of three + guide on the tour. All of us in single kayaks. Started early and the harbour was calm and there was no wind or swell. This was great for paddling, Paddled from Manly Sailing Club (close to Manly Wharf) out to Smedleys Head, then across to Collins Beach for a short break, then paddled onto Store Beach - a beautiful small beach that can only be reached by water - the perfect place for a swim (water temps were so nice today for swimming) and finishing up at Quarantine Beach for another swim before heading straight back to Manly Wharf. On the return paddle, DH was very thankful we all managed to stay upright when the wash from two Manly Ferries & one Manly fast ferry reached our Kayaks…. We thoroughly enjoyed the 2.5hr kayak tour and agreed we would rather paddle in rain & overcast conditions than the hot temps forecast for tomorrow, even if it means the photos don’t do justice to the beaches we went to.

@jimbo - beautifully designed kitchen. Stands outs for me are the copper sink & the lights.

Sorry your little grandson has been sick again. Wishing you a speedy recovery from your cold this time around.

Congratulations!

Had Indian takeout for dinner tonight at DD’s request. Indian cuisine is a rare treat for me. I chose Dates & Apricot Kofta - a vegetarian dish - mix of dates, apricots and potato dumplings in a rich onion cashew gravy. It was delicious. DD tells me the restaurant is very popular with her friends. I think I need to try more Indian dishes.

+1 @dani negreanu

That is really neat and you must have lovely memories of the time you spent with him.

Does anyone’s kids or grandkids do B-Reel? It’s an app where your phone sends you an alert each day and you take a selfie of yourself and whoever you are with at that exact moment and post it online to your chosen group of friends. My “kids” do it. DD loves it for seeing her friend’s cats each day I love it because DD sends me the photo DS posts each day in Canada with the comment “mum, here is your “proof of life”!

I posted my son in Canada a card & CDN for Christmas. He was horrified when I told him because unbeknownst to me, a staff member had been fired for stealing from the mail. He was convinced he wouldn’t receive it. Thankfully it did arrive (2 weeks via standard mail). Going forward, I will definitely be doing the international money transfer instead especially since getting CDN was a pain - after clearly requesting Canadian dollars and after a long wait, I was given Indonesian dollars from the new staff member….. Then the very grumpy Manager had to take over to reverse the transaction and do it all again. He was not happy and the poor girl got the brunt of his displeasure and then the dramatics when I asked for small notes….. (which I had requested originally)

Oh gosh, Sam looks so comfortable. Living the life. Nice easy access for the pool builders. Building is soooo delayed here. Your pool will probably be finished before the private pool near us, even starts being built. Can I ask how long it took after you accepted the quote/signed the contract to when they started?

I feel for you and get you. We’ve been through this, including rock slides that closed a roadways for weeks on end. The constant rain is frustrating and depressing and you do feel really guilty complaining when others are so much worse off. Hope the weather and conditions improve soon.

@grapau27 So sorry that your Sarah is going through this. So painful for Sarah and worrying for you and Pauline.

Maybe they are engrossed in reading Spare by Harry & his ghost writer……?

@derorim thanks for sharing. Very impressive. Wish my DH had a hobby like that. Brings back memories of my childhood retired neighbour who used to build large models of navy ships.

Such a striking looking pet you had. I can admire spiders from a distance or behind glass but even still I doubt I could keep one as a pet.

It’s warm here but the skies look threatening so put my umbrella on the passenger seat. Driving along (thankfully in local streets, so slow) and I have my window right down. Look over at the drivers side mirror and a huntsman spider climbs out of the gap and onto the middle of the mirror. Eeek! Thank goodness I was driving slow and able to pay pull over and even more thankful I had that umbrella to flick it off…then I had to get out and check it was gone and not hanging on my door…. That’ll be my only spider/car encounter for 2023 I hope!

We have the same issue with people driving through floodwaters- then the SES have to put their lives at risk to rescue them from their cars. So many people ignore warnings and don’t use their common sense…

Not sure if these are considered a bargain or not - Carnival Luminosa has 4 x 7 night cruises departing Brisbane for the South Pacific in Feb/March 2023 in a Balcony cabin at prices ranging from $726-$776pp twin share. Price varies slightly depending on date - 2 dates in Feb and 2 dates in March 2023. (Balcony for the price of an Oceanview).

In today’s episode of what is in my work kitchen that I cannot resist- homemade - Toffee Pecan Roll. Oh my goodness, I could smell it on approach and it tasted so good! I need to quit work to be able to stick to new year’s resolutions…,

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Lovely photo of you both. Love the jacket. Even Sam is posing nicely.

Such a lovely video. Thanks for sharing it.

Ours is called Van Gogh Alive. It’s mainly projecting his artworks and diary entries across the walls of a large exhibition space. The immersive experience looks to be more “immersive” ie you can do VR and create art etc. Actually it sounds very similar to the Frida Kahlo experience I did. If you decide to go, I am sure you will enjoy. Hope your Pilates class went well.

Walking from Barangaroo to Circular Quay, saw the Amazara Quest depart White Bay heading for the Harbour Bridge under gloomy skies. Saw Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth at OPT and judging by the crowds watching, she was due to depart too but alas the phone battery died and the skies were about to open so no photos.

Final indoor event for the day was Frida Kahlo, life of an icon, a Sydney Festival event at Barangaroo. This was all about her life and was very well done. This room was interactive, when you stepped onto the floor, the artwork swirled around your feet. 30 min video of her life projected on all the walls of the room. There was a VR experience as well and then at the of the exhibit a bar, cafe and Mexican band and dancers and the opportunity to make your own floral headband. Spent far longer here than expected but very good.

Next indoor event was National Geographic’s Our Country which was on at the Exhibition Hall in Darling Harbour. This was a similar concept but it was showcasing the beauty of Australia’s varied landscapes and flora and fauna. I didn’t take any photos of the storm footage but that was impressive too.