Kerey comes to town

After counting down the weeks till Kerey arrived, the day finally came. And what was a fairly low key school holiday suddenly became fun and exhausting for all. It was great that Brent had a week off work - so every day became an adventure.

Day 1

We go to a hungi at the Tongias and then onto Shelly Beach for a dip - but the camera runs out of juice. On the way home from the beach we go to see 'The fastest Indian' at the Orpheum Theatre.

Day 2

It's Brent's 41st birthday! After church in the morning we go to Yum Cha and then go back to church for the evening. We bolt out of church to get ready for an impromptu party for Brent and Dave...batteries still dead on the camera!

Day 3

Brent takes Kerey to DFO and Kerey makes a purchase!

We then go Luna Park - Coney Island first and then it's 2 rides each.


Sarah and Kerey like the chunder machines. Heather was silly enough to go with them on one topsy turvy ride - what a foolish decision!

Brent and Ben play it safe on the dogems.

Day 4

It's ANZAC Day! We catch the Rivercat from Meadowbank to Circular Quay

We go walkabout - Sydney Opera House - Gardens

And through the city (Martin Pace) where the ANZAC service took place

To the Queen Victoria Building and Darling Harbour, then to the Aquarium.

Fish can be interesting! A big day on foot.

Day 5

Brent and Kerey go for a bike ride - Brent falls off his bike - and then we're off to the zoo.

We're impressed by the the new exhibitions and enjoy the bird show.

Day 6

Off to Darling Harbour again, but this time we go further than the Aquarium. Ben was sick in the carpark at Star City, but comes right for the rest of the day - we're proud of our little trooper.

We head towards Paddy's Market and amble through Chinatown taking it fairly easy for Ben's sake.

We go home via the Macquaire Centre Greater Union Cinema to see 'Shaggy Dog'. It was fun -"woof woof".

Day 7

A big day out to the Blue Mountains. We stop at Katoomba and walk down to the 'Three Sisters', then go to Scenic World.

At Scenic World we go down one of the steepest railways in the world - take a stroll on the boardwalk through the forest - and ascend on the Sceniscender, a large cable car, back to the top.

We race to the Janeolan Caves and make it within minutes of the start of the tour through the Lucas Caves.

The caves are pretty magnificent. The tour through the Lucas Caves show the largest caverns at Janeolan - it was well worth the dash.

Day 8

We walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge - a standard for all our visitors at some point in the stay. We take Kerey on the traditional browse through the Rocks Markets - this time we make a purchase at the space painting stand.

We get corn, delectables from the French Patisserie, and jump onto the Manly Ferry.

The kids go swimming - boy that's keen for the end of April!

Dinner at Leichhardt - The Italian Forum for Pasta, and Bar Italia for gelato! At last.

January till April Catch Up

Well I've finally downloaded the rest of the photos off the camera since January, so here's a very quick diary of events. The only problem is that I didn't always have the camera with me.

January

Sarah and Ben have a 4 day swimming intensive at Kirsten and Tom's Swim school. Sarah learns bi-lateral breathing!




Pepa the cat gets neutered but then on Australia Day is sadly taken from us after an unfortunate mishap with the car.

February




The kids have a great start to the year with a party at Kids Church.




Elly Field and
Oliver Pocknall - looking cute.

School starts back - and it's Ben's first year.

After a few weeks they are straight into the swimming carnival.

Vanessa's face says it all.

March

Lyn and Kepu's buddle of joy Kara is dedicated - she is so cute!

And she sleeps through the whole thing

Ben gets his first guitar

We take our friends the Navarretes, McLeods and Maddens on a Wishart tradition - a walk across the harbour bridge.

April

Sarah's dance group from school performs at the Easter Outreach at Martin Place in the city - they are brilliant! (Sorry photos to come)

Northcross School had it's cross country event - Sarah and Ben have been in training doing laps around Wood Street.

That's Ben running towards the finish line - he was actually sick at the time.

They made a splendid effort on the day - it was a scorcher!

We go to the Royal Easter Show along with 10s of thousands of others.

We hold our breath while in the animal exhibitions.

Highlights of the day: Having a family outing; watching the ducklings going down the slide; the candy floss and pluto pup (hot dog on a stick); fun rides; and the show bags.

Yes Ben finishes it all!

It's great having Monday off over Easter - it's like a bonus prize. We start the day with a huge breakfast feast at Sean and Vanessa's.

And then we try to burn off the bacon with a walk from Bronte to Bondi. It was the best day for a walk and it was great to share it with our friends.

It was beautiful walking along the coastline...and then we saw Bondi not too far away. So after a quick icecream we head back again.

Routeburn Trekking

We had always wanted to 'do' the Routeburn track. Trekking, tramping, hiking, walking, whatever you call it - it was a 3 to 4 hour amble through lush virgin forest.

So we headed off to Glenorchy, a 40 minute drive from Queenstown, and got energised with lunch and the spectacular 'Middle Earth' scenery.



After a pit stop and a 45 minute interlude trying to break back into Megan's car (the result of a helpful nephew locking the doors so it would be robber-proof.


Unfortunately it was also Aunty Megan proof as the keys were left inside the car), we head to the start of the Routeburn Track to attempt the first leg of the arduous trek.


Aside: A helpful tip at this point - it's best not to wear in your new sneakers on a 3 hour hike. It could lead to a debilatating foot condition known as blisters.

Swing bridges across flowing creeks and rivlets marked the progress of our journey. I don't think words can describe this part of the world, nor do it justice, so I'll let you admire the photography.

As the day drew towards coming to an end - the children got a sense of 'hometime' and Grandma's baking in the car, and ran most of the way back. I guess being in the lead and Grandma's fudge cake is a pretty good incentive to race to the car.