Sydney, November 2011

November 28^th, Hooked up the Van to the new towing hitch and was very happy that it all looked good, so said good-bye to Carole and Rob and set off for Sydney. Booked into Sydney Gateway Holiday Park for 8 days and went around to Greg and Dianne’s in the afternoon. Greg’s new “Pride & Joy” (boat) was taking up one side of the driveway. Very impressive! Dianne had the day off work to take Annaliese to the Dental Hospital as she had a back tooth with a huge hole in it that had to come out and the Dentist wanted to remove it under anaesthetic, as this was her first extraction and would be too traumatic to be done under local anaesthetic. Annie was still drowsy from the aneasthetic but wasn’t in a lot of pain. Greg had cut fillets off a recent catch of flathead and bonito, caught on a fishing trip in his new boat, so we stayed for dinner. Greg and Val made a curried fish dinner from the flathead and bonito pieces and I BBQ’d some nice t-bones for Dianne, the girls and myself.

November 30^th, Yesterday and today have been stifling hot, typical western suburbs weather. Jessica walked home from School today, so I had to take her back to School at 4pm for Guitar practice, which was followed a Recital. Each student had to perform for an audience of parents, before getting their certificates for the past years achievements. This was an after school subject run by an outside musical company. My photos aren’t very good as I was one of the last to arrive and had standing room only, out in the vestibule, so had to take long shots over peoples shoulders. I’ll know better next year. We got back to the Caravan Park in time for the girls to have a swim, before Greg picked them up to go to their piano lessons.

December 1^st, I picked Jessica and Annaliese up after school and brought them back to the Caravan Park for a swim, while Val was making dinner. Greg and Dianne joined us for dinner and Karina, Cloe and Riley paid us a visit after dinner.

December 3^rd, Set an alarm for 7.15am so that I could get to watch Annaliese playing Netball at Castle Hill at 8.30am. At 7.30am I got a phone call from Greg to let me know that Netball was starting at 8am, so had to get my skates on with breakfast and hope I found the Sports Arena without any problems. Foresaking a coffee at home, I made it to the Sports Arena with 5 minutes to spare and Greg had a coffee waiting for me. Annaliese played a great game in the goal shooters position, all her team mates were in great form and came out winning 9-0. After the game, the girls came back to the Caravan Park with me. Greg and Dianne went home to finish packing and drop off the girls clothes to us before heading off to The Hunter Valley for The Elton John Show. Jessica and Annaliese were fully occupied with swimming, jumping pillow, games room and other activities. At 2pm we all went over to Steven and Margaret's place, at Balmain, for a farewell drink and afternoon tea, while sitting a the waters edge on the Harbour. We are not going to see them before they move to their new Apartment at Centennial Park. We had a lovely afternoon, the girls were waving to all the passing boats. We left for home around 6pm. After dinner Annaliese challenged me to a game of “sequence” and beat me 6 – 3. She has picked the game up quickly and I just could not get the right cards.

December 4^th, I took the girls for a swim after breakfast, but ½ an hour later we were chased from the pool by a Thunder Storm. It rained all day with only a few short breaks. Greg and Dianne arrived back from the Hunter Valley around 4pm, having enjoyed the Elton John Show and their visit to some of the Wineries. They brought a nice bottle of “red” back for Val and I got some lovely chocolates. After a cuppa and catching up they took the girls home.

December 5^th, Dropped Val at Greg & Dianne’s, to do our washing, then took the car down to NRMA Motor Serve Depot, at Seven Hills, to get a pink slip. When I paid my car Insurance, they sent me a voucher for a free pink slip inspection. No problem with the pink slip but I was told they had to replace 2 wiper blades for it to pass. So my free inspection still cost me $20 but I didn’t worry as I had replaced the passenger side wiper blade a week ago, so that left 2 old blades, one on the driver’s side and one on the rear wiper. Later on I checked the blades to confirm which ones had been replaced and Guess what! they had replaced the 2 front ones, so much for my free pink slip. Val made a really delicious lasagne for dinner, which we all enjoyed. We all left around 6.30pm, when Greg was taking the girls to piano lessons, as I still had some final packing up to do ready to leave in the morning for Anna Bay.