Summer Bay!

After about a 5 year wait, we finally got around to having lunch at Guy's Mum's house in Avalon. Troy, Guy and Philippe picked us up at about 10:30 and we started the drive up towards Avalon.

We dropped off our esky with Guy's Mum around 12:30 and then took the short drive back into Avalon for a coffee and a walk around the shops. I've been to Avalon a few times before, and I always enjoy it. It's got a really nice atmosphere, all the shops are great and there are endless excellent cafes to choose from, all a stones throw from a beautiful beach.

The Family on the Deck

We headed back for lunch at 1:30 and Roger cooked up a great BBQ, complete with one of Guy's famous salads! We had a great laugh over lunch, sitting on the deck in the breeze of a hot and sunny day looking at Guy's baby photo's (hahaha!) with his Mum and the usual non-stop eating and talking continued over Philippe's spectacular cheesecakes (Raspberry and White Chocolcate - mmmmmm!).

After eating waaaay too much we thought we'd try to be a little bit healthy and we drove out to Palm Beach. Guy and Troy went for a quick dip in the water before we trudged up what seemed like a million steps up to top of the hill to the Lighthouse.

I see you baby, shakin' that ass

The lighthouse is at the top of an 850m "climb" through bushland and on a hot day took bloody forever to get up there! But once we'd made it, the view was fantastic. You could see all of Barrenjoey point and across to the central coast (Pearl Beach, Patonga) where you can catch a ferry across. The lighthouse is on the side you actually see in Home & Away. They never shoot in the other direction as the backdrop is mainly mansions of the super rich! Kind of spoils that "small-town-with-a-caravan-park" feel somewhat.

We had a little photo shoot up there before taking a slower walk back down towards the beach and home.

Palm Beach from the Lighthouse

Merry Christmas!

It was an orphan's Christmas in Sydney this year, so we decided to host a brunch. Before we were joined for eggs & bacon by Philippe, Janet, Donna, Anthony and Nathan, Jo and I swapped pressies and I was a very lucky girl getting some goodies from G-Star :)

Jo cooked up a storm in the kitchen and made brunch for everyone including the best fruit salad ever! Anthony & Nathan had a lunch to go to afterwards, god knows if they managed to squeeze anything else in (unless it came in sparkling liquid form!).

Lou, Philippe, Jo, Anthony, Nathan & Janet all stuffed after brunch!

After Anthony & Nathan left for their lunch, Janet went home (as she had to prepare our roast dinner!!) so we played "Smart Ass" with Donna and Philippe whilst drinking Champagne. As it happens, I was the Smart Ass. Twice. Who doesn't know what a 'Stetson' is - honestly. Heh heh.

Philippe & Donna

In the afternoon we headed to Janet's place for some more drinkies, a great home cooked roast lamb dinner and a yummy tropical trifle made by the dessert king Phillippe. Even though the weather wasn't quite up to the usual Aussie standard it was a great day to spend with friends and relax. Janet invited some of her friends over and we spent a really nice evening drinking red wine on the balcony talking and laughing. Now here's to some time of work to take that relaxing theme forward!

Girl's Christmas Party

Donna had arranged for a girl's christmas party for the Saturday night - 16 girls, all to wear little black dresses piled into Yippiyio in Surry Hills to the amazement and bewilderment of the other diners downstairs. We had a private room upstairs that Donna had decorated to look like Santa's dining room.

We all had personalised place mats with amusing photo's of us and a Santa hat each. We even had our own stereo so we could play music up there - god knows how the restaurant coped with us all singing and dancing - I bet everyone who was eating downstairs will never ever go back there again!

Just imagine it....

God knows how Donna got them to agree to this, but the whole thing was also BYO (Bring Your Own alcohol for the Brits, something Aussies do all the time) and there was even a fridge up there for us to keep it cold!

Carnage.

We were in the restaurant until about 11pm when we all decided to move on, we ended up at a club in the city until 3am after dancing the night away to the best (or worst) of the 70s, 80s & 90s. Oh God. Still, that's what Corona is for - to make sure you have a good excuse and hopefully don't remember much.

The Entrance

We're having Christmas at home in Sydney this year so we headed up to The Entrance on the Central Coast to catch up with Jo's Mum and Andrew for a pre-Christmas celebration.

We headed up on Friday to try and beat some of the traffic but it still took 3 hours even though we left North Sydney at 4pm - we booked to stay at the Oaks Waterfront resort which was in a great spot overlooking Tuggerah Lake and the surf beach, close to the shops and restaurants and the newly renovated Entrance Pub.

We ended up having fish and chips on the balcony on Friday night as we were both so exhausted from a really busy few weeks and a long drive.

Mrs B and Andrew joined us on Saturday morning and we went for a walk around the local area, popped into a few shops, had a nice coffee. Jo and I took a drive around and found a few good surf shops where Jo fell in love with a Shane surfboard. It didn't take long for her to decide that this was the perfect replacement for the stolen Maliboo we just lost. It's a 6'10" Shane Stingray in grey/silver and looks fantastic! She bought it and took it home the next day! Can't wait to take it out for a test ride soon!

The Bank's 1st Birthday Party

Jo has spent a huge amount of time organising the Bank's 1st Birthday Party and managed to get a few extra invites for some friends - Anthony, Nathan, Althea, Christian, Guy and Troy all came along to enjoy the night, a band and free drinks!

They blocked off the back Terrace Bar for the event and invited a whole range of customers and clients and local businesses to celebrate - free beer, wine, champagne and a house cocktail were on offer as well as finger food from Sumalee Thai downstairs which went down a treat!

Guy & Troy (in "Blue Steel" mode!)

Jo booked the Boogaloo Crew as the band for the night and they were excellent. A few piece band consisting of a DJ, Singer, Bongo drummer and Saxaphone player, they play funky dance tunes that really create an atmosphere. They've been booked again to play at the Bank as part of the New Year's Eve party.

Christian & Jo posing for the camera

Thieving Bastards

We were due to go for a surf with Janet today at Bondi - I had gone round to the local cafe to get us both a coffee for the drive and Jo went to get the surfboards from downstairs in the garage.

Jo came running up a few minutes later saying our surfboards and wetsuits had gone and that some bastard had chopped off the padlock to nick them.

So, instead of going for a nice refreshing surf at Bondi Beach we ended up at Redfern Police Station reporting a theft. I hope they break their neck if the thief uses them to surf. Bastards.

Sneaky Sound System

Donna managed to get us some last minute tickets for Sneaky Sound System at the Hordern - nice one! We met up with Donna, Jo, Penny and Elka at Love Supreme on Oxford Street. Now, I know it gets hot in Sydney but honestly this place takes the biscuit. It's like eating pizza in a Sauna! The place has no air conditioning and if it's even a tiny bit muggy you end up sweating in your seat knowing that a steaming hot pizza is on it's way! Still, the food is really good but seriously they need some fans or something. And we took refreshing red wine. Doh.

We then drove into Surry Hills to find a park and then walked to Fox Studios across Moore Park to the sounds of Donna's whinging (red wine induced) - she ended up running across Fox Studios to Elka's cheers of "Run Donny!, Run!". Too funny.

Sneaky Sound System

The Sneaky event was an "all ages event" which meant lots of 15 and 16 year olds dressed like they've just stepped out of the 80s - but it did make for a good atmosphere. When we walked inside the venue, Sneaky has been on stage for about 30 seconds and the place was going nuts - like they'd been on for hours!

We started off sat on the sides like a bunch of saddo's - Donna's red wine consumption meant she was dancing in the eisles doing the chicken wing dance. We all ended up down the front dancing away to "I love it" and "UFO". It was a top night, even if some of us did disappear for the last 5 songs and encore to turn up after the house lights were back on with a glass of white wine and a vacant look on their face! Hahahaha!

More Watsons Bay!

The good weather continues and so we decided to go back to Watsons Bay for brunch (well, I was too lazy last week!). We enjoyed some great bacon, eggs and latte (what Sydney ponces we are!) at the Tea Garden cafe at Watsons Bay before taking a stroll along the South Head trail.

Tea Garden Cafe

The trail takes you past some great beaches (including the nudey Lady Bay - hehehe) right to the edge of South Head. The views were great and it was a stunningly clear day.

Along the South Head Trail

It's not long until Mum & Barry arrive and we kept thinking this would be a great place to spend an afternoon in Sydney especially if the weather keeps up like it has been!

Plonk!

We haven't seen Martinette & Carl for ages and ages and ages so it was great to catch up with them both again.

We arranged to meet them and their friend Saga at "Plonk!" at the Spit Brigde near Mosman. Saga's boyfriend is the head chef there and we were treated to some great food and wine! The restaurant backs onto Middle Harbour, has a lovely deck where we sat on a lovely warm evening. Right next to the desk is a small beach and the view is of million dollar boats moored there and of even more expensive houses!

We all enjoyed a yummy Shiraz, bread with olive oil/balsamic and I had a wonderful Corriander Linguine with King Prawns and chilli - mmmmm.

As per usual, we've all agreed not to leave it so long between catch up's next time and by the sounds of it we have plenty of catching up on our surf skills to keep up with them both now!

Manly & Watsons Bay

Ryan and Tanya arrived on Friday to join us, Patrick and Christina for the weekend. We stopped off at the Bank Hotel in Newtown for a few drinkies after work (very convenient for Jo!) before going for dinner on King Street. Much wine was consumed and we finally got up and out on Saturday for a day at Manly beach.

The weather this week for our overseas guests has been dreadful! Rain, wind and cloud all week but today things finally brightened up and we drove to Manly (they decided to bask in the sun finally and caught the Ferry) in shorts and t-shirts.

We took a nice walk around to Shelly Beach and generally enjoyed the good weather after a crappy week.

On Sunday, after a really exhausting week at work I had to sleep in but Jo, Ryan and Tanya took an early morning drive to Watsons Bay for a nice coffee and a walk. As you can tell, the weather on Sunday was just as good!

Lovely Jubbly!

Fancy a dip?

Indigo Girls

It's only taken me 11 years to see the Indigo Girls live but finally they travelled across the earth to play a fully acoustic gig at one of my favourite venues the Enmore Theatre.

Jo and I arrived just on time and scored a park a few mins walk away - we made it just in time to see the tail end of the support act before Amy & Emily took the stage.

Now, I first discovered the Indigo Girls my first year of University back in 1996 and have wanted to see them live ever since (particularly that their live album '1200 Curfews' was one of my most played albums of the last century) - so when I moved to Australia they of course decided that was a great time to tour in London - grrr. Still, better late than never!

You can't deny their musical talents; harmonising with ease, quality guitar playing and improvisation but I have to say I was a touch disappointed with their stage craft. For a duo that have been together for years and years I expected them to be at ease with interacting with the audience and generally put more energy into the banter between the songs as they did playing them.

Still, it was a solid performance and I am glad I can finally say I've seen them live.

Patrick & Christina

We picked up Patrick (a friend of Jo & Ryan's from the UK) and Christina (Patrick's Mum) from the airport on Sunday night. They had just arrived from the UK via Hong Kong and are staying with us for the week while their in Sydney.

Patrick works in travel and Christina worked many years for Finair (she is originally from Finland) so they are well prepared for making the most of a week in Sydney; they are taking in the Blue Mountains, a Harbour Bridge Climb, jet-boating on the Harbour, not to mention the usual Opera House, Botantical Gardens, city, beaches etc etc!

Unfortunately the weather forecast this week doesn't look too promising but we've got our fingers crossed for them!

Sunday Lunch

We headed to the Clovelly Hotel today for Janet's birthday lunch. I've never been to this Hotel before and after the initial struggle to find a car space on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon we found Janet and friends out the back enjoying the day.

I have to say, there is something great about having an ice cold Corona with lime on a hot weekend afternoon and that is exactly what we did. After the majority of people arrived we ordered some lunch; I had a really good chilli salt squid salad and Jo had a moroccan lamb salad - really yummy!

We met some really nice people as we only knew Janet and Jo met her counter-part of another Sydney hotel so I believe some networking took place! :) It was a real shame we couldn't stay for longer but we had to go a) because we've got friends from the UK arriving and we need to pick them up from the airport and b) if we stayed it would've been criminal to not have more Corona's and we were driving!

Still, I managed to squeeze in a shot as a partying 'cheers' to Janet (some baileys, schnapps thingy but it was good!) before we left. Looking forward to catching up with Janet for some surfing soon!

Black Eyed Peas

We were offered at the last minute some tickets to see the Black Eyed Peas who were playing at the Hordern Pavillion on Tuesday as part of their Cheesy Peas tour or whatever it's called.

We raced home from work in time to get changed and catch the bus to Fox Studios and managed to meet Donna, Julie and Co for a drink at the Fox & Lion.

We must've been the last people to go through the gates but managed to get a good spot towards the right of the stage. It's been a while since I've been to the Hordern and this time they had big screens up on either side of the stage which I must say did help what I could see - being as I usually end up behind the 7 foot freak.

The 'Peas didn't disappoint, or rather I should say Fergie (and then Will.I.Am) didn't - the rest of the peas quite frankly just make up the numbers! Fergie even squeezed in a few of her solo songs and for the most part these were the highlights of the night. Donna and I even squeezed in some air-guitar so it was all good!

Punks Rock!

Tanya came down from Newcastle on Friday night, I think mostly as she couldn't wait for our Punk Rock party we were hosting on the Saturday night :) We ended up going out for a drink and some pizza, but the next day was ridiculously busy. Jo and Tanya headed out shopping for food, drinks and god knows what else. I went out to buy some speakers for the computer (something I had been meaning to do for about 3 years now!). I finally found the elusive Harman Kardon Soundsticks II at Bing Lee and they didn't disappoint! When Jo and Tanya got home, we had an entire afternoon of preparing and cooking food for what seemed like 100 people, even though we were only expecting about 17.

The Punk Girls!

We finally finished about 5pm and then had to get ready for the night - we had been out shopping earlier in the week to get our outfits - so this part didn't take too long.

People started to arrive for the party around 7pm and by 8:30pm things were in full flow, with Jo belting out "The Greatest Love of All" on SingStar!!

Phillippe and Donna

A special mention has to go to Philippe, who was easily the coolest looking punk at the party! We rocked on until the early hours, quickly going though our reportoire of songs on 4 SingStar CDs (PlayStation game) plus Donna's playlists on iTunes. And all of the food got eaten too! Hurrah!

Photography & Websites

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I ended up helping a friend set up a website for her photography business.

We grabbed a bunch of her photos and sat down with a bottle of wine one night (and were kept full by Jo's best Kylie Kwong recipe) and about 4 hours later and some subsequent tweaking....tah-dah.... www.donnaflynn.com.au

Up to Newie

I reckon it's been about 2 years since we went up to Newcastle for a weekend, so it had been a long time coming.

We headed off straight after work on Friday night and went to Ryan's place near Merewether. We met up with Tanya and headed into town for a drink down at the very nice Honeysuckle development (a bit like a small Cockle Bay - full of bars/restaurants/cafes) before heading out for some yummy Vietnamese at Lans (the food was great although, I can't say much for the decor!)

Mmmm, pink!

The next day was a lazy day, starting off with coffee down at the beach and hamburgers in the park for lunch. We went to stay at Tanya's friends place on the Saturday night and as per usual our obsession with food continued and we enjoyed a fantastic home made risotto and pan fried salmon courtesy of Tanya.

Good Coffee

New Job

After about 5 years (on and off) at IBM, the recent changes have become beyond ridiculous and so Jo now has a new job. She's off to the Bank Hotel in Newtown to work as their Office & Events Manager! Woo-hoo! And she gets free Thai everyday from the yummy Sumalee Thai restaurant downstairs.

To celebrate we headed to Circular Quay for a few drinks after work on her last day at IBM.

Jo and Guy

We had a great time, drinking down the Moet a bit too much though!

Jo with her old boss Joe

Coogee to Bronte

The weather this weekend has been wonderful. Unfortunately we didn't make the most of Saturday after our Friday night out but today on Sunday we certainly did a lot better by doing the Coogee to Bronte walk. We set off about 10:30 and the day was just perfect; blue skies, beautiful temperature and just enough breeze. We even found it easy to find a park in Coogee which was a bonus.

Take a look at the day....

Gordon's Bay

Jo at Bronte Beach

The pool at Bronte, don't let it fool you that water is freezing!

Kebabs & Bellydancers

Saturday night we headed back to Surry Hills for Neil & Nicci's birthday party at Amira's Palace Lebanese Restaurant. At first we had trouble finding the place as downstairs is a pizza take-away but upstairs is the 'Cushion Room' were we found many of Neil & Nicci's friends waiting.

Nicci enjoying herself

After the Noiseworks night on Friday we stuck to the water this time! Nicci was fashionably (and typically) 20mins late and when all 20 of us had made ourselves comfortable on the cushions the banquet began!

Nicci and I in an extreme close-up!

We started with bread, hummos, baba ganoush, then chicken and beef kebabs, falafel, more bread, lamb koftas, and the food just kept coming until we couldn't eat any more. Not bad for $35 a head and no corkage fee! Good job too judging by the amount of wine bottles everyone went through!

The belly-dancing was great fun!

Towards the end of the night, the belly dancer arrived and ensured that everyone (except me, hehehe) got up to have a go. Some surprising performances from Jamie and Jason ensured we all had a good laugh!

We finished off with a sing-a-long of Happy Birthday while Neil and Nicci blew out candles stuck in Turkish Delight and Baklava - Yum!