Royal Botanical Garden and The Domain....

Luckily Fiona's gastro bug lasted only 24 hours and she was much better by Saturday morning. 

In the afternoon, we decided to take a small picnic to the Royal Botanical Gardens.  It was a hot and humid spring day (31 degrees!) and we had a fantastic time.  Even though it was very warm, there was a nice breeze coming off the harbour.  What an amazing spot!!   There is still so much more of the gardens to explore.  We will definitely have to go back!

Henry Moore outside the Art Gallery of NSW, The Domain

The Spring Walk - the flowers, the smell, it was glorious.  

Heaps of creepy creepy bats hanging out on the trees in broad daylight.

Having a picnic and a kick of the fairy ball.

Mommy -- Why isn't the ole stallion moving!?

Harbour Views from the Royal Botanical Garden and the Domain

There goes Fiona!

Sick again...

Hmm, I was thinking that our health has been pretty good this year but I'm rethinking that as I clean up Fiona's vomit.

Few weeks back, Fiona had a pretty bad cold, then Margot had asthma, shortly after Fergus had bad sinus/flu, and then following that I had a bad cold.  Now Fiona has the gastro bug - vomiting, fever, can't keep anything down!  This reminds me of home!  Unfortunately we will be missing Fiona's preschool pictures this morning.  How disappointing.

Hope we are better before our next school holidays!!  Next Friday, we are driving up to Queensland.  Stopping along the coast Nambucca Heads, Lennox Head, Brisbane, Noosaville, Byron Bay and SouthWest Rocks for two weeks.  We are all looking forward to the break!

Aussie Films...

At our local Blockbusters, they offer one week rentals for $1 on Wednesdays and we've been catching up on our Aussie films this year.

In case you are interested, here are a few good ones that you may have not seen:

• Romulus, My Father
  
• Look Both Ways
  
• Japanese Story
  
• Lantana
  
• Looking for Alibrandi
  
• Two Hands
  
• The Mullet
  
• Alexandra's Project
  
• Kenny
  

Here are a few that we need to watch again:

• Rabbit-Proof Fence
  
• Shine
  
• Muriel's Wedding
  
• The Piano
  
• Proof
  
• Priscilla Queen of the Desert
  

Food Weekend in Canberra....

We decided to check out the opening weekend of Floriade in Canberra.  It's the annual flower festival in the nations capital, with this years theme being "Films that shaped our Nation".  It was a bit disappointing as the flower displays weren't that spectacular.  The displays were flat and so you couldn't really see the outline of the objects and it would have been better if you had an aerial view.  My aussie family reckons that it would be better in a few weeks time when more of the flowers are in full bloom.  Maybe?  

Nevertheless we had a fun afternoon at Commonwealth Park.  The kids liked the petting paddock and the display of painted Gnomes.

The piglets had a wicked suck!

After Floriade we went to Rubys for dinner.  The restaurant has had a makeover and was snazzy.  We ate WAY toooooo much as usual!

On Sunday, we took some time out from the restaurants to visit Questacon - the science and technology museum.  The kids had a ball!!   Fiona was so excited she shouted that she loved it and wanted to stay there FORever!!  It was good but not THAT good?!!

We had a yummo yum cha lunch at Noble Palace with Uncle Chris, Phil and Kaelly.

We headed over to A Bite To Eat in Chifley for afternoon tea with Dani (our girls know her as "the girl who made our wedding cake").  It was great to see her and I had the MOST delicious Friands!!  We left with a doggie bag full of meatloaf, salad, potatoes, pineapple and a bottle of red wine for our picnic dinner!!  Thanks Dani!!  The restaurant is a major success and the food is fantastic.  If you're ever in Canberra, go for a visit!!

Father's Day in Oz...

The girls have been sick all week and so we took it pretty easy on the weekend.

As it was Father's Day on Sunday here in Oz, we went over to Coogee Beach for brunch and a play at the beach.  The sun was hot in comparison to Saturday when it poured all day and all night.

We were at Coogee for a few hours along with hundreds of other families who had the same idea!

Margot in her birthday outfit.  Thanks Poh Poh, Grannie and Auntie Ilona.