A perfect day in Sydney

This is Zoe's first post, actually the whole family are contributing. We have really had a perfect Sunday with the family in Sydney despite the fact that the westerly winds have brought day long 40 degree heat for the past three days.

Zoe: I think it is just a fabulous day in Sydney, I have just got hot the whole day and have got thirstier and thirstier. It's just the best day ever. We saw the ferry going round and round that we went on. It was always the same ferry. We saw a long green ferry and a yellow ferry and a short green ferry.

There were lots of people making sand castles on the beach. When we got to the party, there were people jumping off the side into the deep water of Sydney harbour but it didn't matter because they could swim.

Esme: I enjoyed my food. I enjoyed my fantastic cooking pizza yesterday. I liked swimming in Hans's pool. I liked all the pools, there's one, two, three there is mummy. I liked it when I throwed the balloons in the air, the balloons that i didn't like. I liked everyone on the TV putting the balloons up in the air and they sprinkled. I didn't like the beach. I did like walking in the rock pools....where's my seat, can I get on my seat? Thank you for my Holiday.

Hannah: we started with a perfect beach morning which was surprisingly busy at 9.00 am but made sense with the temperature. Zoe, Nick, Esme and Sue swam while I paddled. Then we went for a beautiful walk along the shoreline and onto the little island at Balmoral where Sue used to play when she was twelve. We saw where the shark nets were tied until last year and saw the manly ferry and round the headland. Then back to Nick for a wonderful swim before home for a late breakfast.

During that time, Sue phoned and said did we want to go to Hans's for a swim? We agreed to go after a quiet half hour in which even the children read silently which ended abruptly when Nick said "We've got 10 minutes to catch the ferry Hannah". We literally hot-footed it down to the ferry in the hottest heat I've ever experienced and made it with two minutes to spare.

At Hans's we had a wonderful afternoon swimming and eating and drinking with the Kirribilli community from three sets of flats and arranged New Years at Kirribilli. That means front row seats for Sydney harbour fireworks.

Nick: I am shocked that no-one mentioned that we travelled to the beach in the 4L Ford Fairlane Passion Waggon.

Nine days in Thailand

Thailand was Hannah's idea.  We were paying for the flights anyway and s stop-over did not add to the cost. I also had stacks of Hilton points to spend, so we booked ourselves into a resort in Hua Hin for nine nights.  The ideas was that we would use the time to recover from our hectic last few weeks and months so we would  be ready to arrive in Australia and hit the ground running.

When we landed in Thailand Zoe and Esme both drew a lot of attention from the locals.  At first I was worried that they were going to be kidnapped and kept a close eye on them.  As time passed however, I realised that they were just being friendly and that their way of being friendly to the children was to touch their face or ruffle their hair.  Later in the holiday I was surprised when Zoe refused to wear a pretty pink sari with elephant prints on it.  When I asked her why she told me in a very stroppy fashion that she was trying not to look pretty because she didn't like people touching her.

Esme's christmas list

Getting ready for Christmas in the sun and with the absence of cold weather, early evenings and snow/sleet/rain is something which we are not really concerned with.  However, we have been encouraging the girls to think about Christmas as we will be spending it with family who are well used to preparing for the festive season in 35 degree heat.

Anyway, this is a very quick post because I asked the two girls what they wanted for Christmas yesterday and Esme's list might take a bit of time to get together.  She assures me that her top presents would be:

UK to Thailand

I've been in Australia seven days now and am only just getting prepared to write about our trip out of England. I made some notes as we went around Thailand and reading through them now, I realise it's a good idea. I had forgotten about half the things that had happened already. I am finding it hard to find time to write now though. When at work, a bit more work seems to fit quite well, but the thought of getting my computer out while on holiday really doesn't appeal.

The taxi took us to Heathrow in what seemed like no time at all. The girls were excited, Hannah sitting in the back with them, with me in front talking to the driver, Richard. It all seemed a bit surreal, what we were doing just seemed like a dream and the feelings were just not what I expected.  It was very relaxing, I didn't feel excited, or sad, just exhausted and ready for a rest.  Not the best place to be when you are about to embark on an eleven hour flight with two small but very energy sapping children.