Yum Cha in Chinatown...

We headed to Chinatown/Haymarket this afternoon as we've been craving dim sum or yum cha as they call it here in Australia.  We've only been twice and were missing our bimonthly visits to Pink Pearl.  We went to East Ocean and we enjoyed deep fried squid, bbq pork buns, sparerib rice, gai lan, red bean puffs, har gow, pork dumplings, jello, mango pudding....the usual.  Margot liked her lunch but Fiona was in a funny mood and not hungry.

I forgot that it is probably full moon festival at the moment.  The kids liked the dragon dance.

We strolled around chinatown.  It felt very touristy and busy.  We also poked our heads in Paddy's market briefly.

Wow, that's alot of shark fins and abalone in one window!

One hell of an adventure!!!!!!!!!!

What a full-on day, to say the least!!  Saturday morning, we decided to head south to the Royal National Park, 29 km south of the city.  The Royal National Park is Australia's oldest national park and the worlds second oldest national park after YellowStone.  As it is a very large park, we thought we'd make it easier by taking the 20 minute ferry from Cronulla to Bundeena.  Bundeena is a little artsy village in the park that can be accessed via the ferry from Cronulla or by car through the National Park.   Around noon, we headed down with Fiona (in her 8 seater Toyota Prado) and her kids Charlie (from Margot's class) and Bridget (from Fiona's preschool) as well as Katerina (who is also in Margot's class).  It took us over an hour to get to Cronulla!!

There wasn't much on the internet about this trip so basically we tried to wing it.  There was little signage to the ferry terminal but we found some Cronulla locals who gave us directions.  

We got there and the small ferry was miraculously waiting for us.  The journey was brief but the kids enjoyed it.

We arrived at Horderns Beach at about 2 pm and the kids spent a good two hours working on their project (digging and collecting seaweed, twigs and shells), getting wet, having numerous snacks and green cordial (H2G), having a 'game' of touch footie that just about put me out of commission for the rest of the day!, drinking coffee and hanging out.

We then went up to the playpark and drank lemonade and beer and ate 2 large hot chippies - one with regular salt and one with chicken salt (as you do in Oz)!

Since Bundeena was such a long journey from the Hills and we wouldn't be back anytime soon; we attempted a walk to Jibbon point to check out the aboriginal paintings.  I guess that was originally our intention for the day; go for an adventure and a bush walk.  The start of the beach was about a 20 minute walk through the residential part of town.

The kids were pretty tired at this point but they were still in a good mood so we soldiered on. 

Fiona smartly suggested she stay at the beach with the wee ones, Bridget and Fiona.  Armed with a bar of cadbury fruit and nut and small packet of chips, Fergus and I took the big ones for an adventure.  We had read that it was 1.2 km to end of the beach where there were rock paintings.  

This was the end of the beach....400 meters to go

We walked through trees...

We saw the water...

We walked some more through the bush....

We walked along the coast...

It was getting dark and we finally stopped at Jibbon Head...

We searched and searched but we couldn't find the actual rock paintings, and figured no worries, we'll just head back.  However, due to a wrong turn, we accidentally found the rock paintings -- thanks Charlie for noticing!  They were nothing special but we were happy to have found it!  The kids were brilliant trekkers considering they had no shoes and the path was somewhat rocky and rough at times.  

We rushed back to Fiona and the girls as the sky got darker and darker!  We reached the three of them in all their many layers and just then it started to drizzle.

We walked very quickly back to the ferry terminal and by now it was pitch black.  There were no signs of a ferry, no timetable, nothing.  We had read that the last ferry to Cronulla was at 7 pm and it was about 6:10pm .  We called various numbers to confirm.  We finally got a hold of the ferry company and discovered that the last ferry had sailed.  The 7pm ferry ran only in summer and M - F.  There wasn't going to be another until 9 the next morning!  You can imagine what was going through mine, Fergus' and Fionas' head!  There are only two ways out of Bundeena, 20 minute ferry ride or a 45 minute drive through the National Park.  

We walked over to the RSL (close to the ferry terminal) to feed the kids and figure out a solution.  Various alternatives fell through (a 19 yr old would take us to our car but his car wasn't registered and his mother wouldn't allow it; call a taxi but our chances weren't good as it was a Saturday night and they hadn't come in the last 18 years as the barmaid told us;  a local who kept on saying she could drive us but....nada; no locals with a boat; no water taxis).

  

Luckily we were with Fiona, who is a midwife and very good at dealing with emergencies; she asked everyone coming into the club if they were heading to Cronulla.  We lucked out and found a couple who suggested that we could take their car to get our car!!  We offered and gave them $100 for petrol and for their troubles, but its a real testament to the laid back attitude of aussies!!!  "Here take my car, no worries, I'll sit here and have my dinner and a couple of drinks!"   Thank god for that!!!

Fergus and Fiona took the couples' car (after dropping off their dog at a friends) back to Cronulla.  I stayed downstairs of the RSL with the 5 kiddies.  We had burgers and fries, the girls danced (Margot and Kat were waves and Fiona and Bridget were mermaids), Charlie was frustrated and tired and wanted to sleep but we had good conversations, the big ones played hand ball, they had ice-cream/cookies, danced to the choice tunes from the jukebox.  Fiona and Fergus finally returned as I was being picked up by an Irish local...NOT! ;-)  The kids were really good considering they were exhausted!

Apparently the taxi did show up after all!!! Imagine that!  We broke the 18 yr spell and then set it right back again!! 

Fiona drove us out of the dark park in half an hour and back to the hills by about 10pm; but only after Charlie got carsick (good aim though, right in the barf bag!)!!!

Poor Fiona had to work the next day at 8:30!!!  

Can't say that the day wasn't memorable that's for sure!!!  Fiona and the kids now have fully experienced 'what we do here in Australia'!! 

Over-tired kiddies dancing to "Staying Alive"

Kellyville...

We spent the day at George and Lils place over in North Kellyville (about 30 minutes from us).  They have 5 acres and Lils parents (who live across the street) also have 5 acres of land.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed some great food and fresh air!  Sofia (5) and Alex (2) shared their home with the girls - they played soccer in the yard, feed the fish, checked out the four chickens, played in their toy room. 

Lil's parents are originally from the Naples area.  The retirees have every fruit and veg you can imagine, growing on their property!  Artichokes, asparagus, rocket, fava beans, broccolini, pumpkin, tomatoes, fig, lemon, orange, mandarin, grapefruit, kumquats, and many more.

Lil taught me how to make tiramisu and we left with a big pumpkin, rosemary, bay leaves and some grapefruit.

Artichokes

We made a massive pot of roasted pumpkin soup that week!  Delish. 

Crazy busy week at school!

Wow what a week.  I'm not sure why everything was scheduled for this week but it has been crazy hectic!!

I had to find a father's day gift for under $5 and wrap it in cellophane by the end of the week.  I found some dvds/cds for $2 a piece at Go-Lo!  Brilliant.  The kids will bring in some money and buy their Dads a father's day gift from the school store.  In Australia, Father's Day is the first Sunday in September - Sept. 7th this year; unlike the third Sunday in June as in Canada and the UK.

Monday Margot went on an excursion to the Wetlands at Sydney Olympic Park.

Thursday in celebration of Book Week, there was a book parade at the school.  The children had to dress up as a character from their favourite book or make a poster.   Margot dressed up as Strange the Cat from "The Night Garden".  There were the usual suspect of Harry Potters, fairies and disney princesses but there were also some fantastic costumes and I stole some ideas for Halloween.  It was quite a long drawn out event. The librarian called out each child from every single class (kindergarten to Year 6!!) and the kids had to parade in a circle down by the lower playground.   It must have been a bit nerve wracking for the kids.

In addition to the parade, it was Margot's birthday on Thursday and so we brought in cupcakes for her class -- I made 31 cupcakes!  Thank god for cake mixes!! 

On Friday the school had scheduled a mini-Olympic.  The kids were to wear a shirt in the colour of one of the Olympic rings.  Good thing it was raining and the event was cancelled!!!!!!  Otherwise I would have been at the oval orchestrating some sporting events this morning!  Poor Fiona has a fever and we stayed home instead.