Nick and Megan's trip to Sydney

Nick and Megan were here for a whirlwind week. We went to Shoal Bay for a few days and Nick took heaps of great photos of rocks and waves and birds, and of course us!

Sarah and Ben collected a lot of shells. It took ages to walk along the beach because every inch of sand was thoroughly searched for any 'pretty' shells.

Two days went by very quickly but it was fun and really felt like a holiday.

Then it was the rest of the week in Sydney and we coordinated our Rivercat trip to coincide with the masses of people flooding into the city for world youth day. Nick took heaps of photos of flags, people from all over the world, us walking around the city, buildings, food, ...everything! The atmosphere was all a-buzz with the pilgrims singing, chanting, waving flags all over the city.

We walked from Circular Quay to Chinatown, had yum-cha (Nick's first time), and then walked to Darling Harbour, had a Lindt Cafe stop, had a quick look at where they were holding the WYD mass (but we couldn't see anything because the gates were closed to us), and then onto the Rivercat back home. We were quite pooped.

Stage 4c: New cladding at the back...and new windows and doors

The new cladding is being put up at the back of the house. The windows and slide doors for the new extension are now in, and the new family room is now enclosed.

The view at the side of the house (at the back)

The view at the back of the house

Stage 4b: New cladding on

The new cladding on the house is going up and looks great, and hey, no painting! It's colourbond in the shade of 'Windspray'.

Stage 4a: Cladding off...insulation on

The outer wall cladding comes off and Robert and Shane put in the insulation...more to come. We found a termite track along one wall, but practically no damage to the wood. Truly amazing!

Stage 3: Roof goes on

On Tuesday a crane arrived with the roofing, and the team got to work putting the new roof on. It was very exciting having a crane in Wood Street. We were fascinated watching the crane extend the hook over the power cables and hoist up the sheets of roofing onto the roof, and getting around the gum tree too.