Sydney Easter Fun

I have to say my Marty really knows how to show a girl a good time.....

Bar/cafe at the Park Street Hotel

Easter Friday morning Marty rolls over & says "do you want to go to the Easter Show in Sydney?" 

Me: "really???" 

Marty: "Or do you want stay here in Nelson Bay?" (which we are bored with now!!!) So I packed while Marty jumped on the Internet to organize accommodation - we must be mad...!!!  

After a two and a half hour drive we arrive in Central Sydney. They have some lovely boutique hotels,  Marty booked us into one on Park Street of the same name, we just loved it there, awesome atmosphere & the staff have to be some of the best in the business, if it is a bit of light hearted fun you are looking for?

Can you believe they used Chargers as Police Cars?

The Sydney Easter Show is certainly bigger than any I have been to before, we were there for hours. I enjoyed the Fashion Exhibition Hall & of course the animals, then Marty & I found a live band called 'Remote Control Freak' so we grabbed some food & settled in to be entertained.

Playing in Sydney is always fun, I particularly like it down at 'The Rocks'. The shopping is good & they have a little market by the The Orient Hotel. Now The Orient Hotel must be good as we went there two nights in a row??!!! 

Aussie ram with his manhood hitting the floor...!!!

We also diced with death visiting Kings Cross, what a 'Pit Hole' & yip somebody got shot the night we were there...?!!!! 

The day we were to leave was a fantastic sunny day for a drive, so Marty & I decided to take the long way home meandering up the Central Coast. Five & a half hours later we dragged our bodies up the steps of our temporary sea side home, exhausted from our long weekend playing in Sydney ...... 

Ahhhh, life is good ;-)

Sydney Festival

Aboriginal Ceremony

A decision made late on a Friday night had Marty & I on the train to Sydney Saturday morning. It is a long trip from our home in Nelson Bay to Sydney. It takes just under an hour to drive to the Newcastle train station & then it's a 3 hour ride on the train. By the time we reached The Domain in Sydney it was after lunch, so our first port of call was to find food.
Having fed our faces we wandered around checking out the huge mixture of talented performers (we even stumbled on a wedding), until we found the main stage. As we had arrived well before the concert was due to start we were able to get a good spot close to the main stage.
 

Gurrumul

The concert was opened with an Aboriginal welcome to the country ceremony..... I just love all that cultural stuff.

And then the blind, enigmatic, indigenous musician, Gurrumul Yunupingu -- who hails from ElkIsland off northern Australia and who has just performed for Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth II was lead on to the stage.  Gurrumul's songs are a hybrid of indigenous tongue, birdsong and English.

 
Young Aussie singer songwriter Megan Washington then performed tracks from"I Believe You Liar" (2010) and "Insomnia" (2011). She wontwo 2010 ARIAMusic Awards, Best Female Artist and Breakthrough Artist, and received afurther three nominations: Album of the Year, Best Adult Alternative Album for I Believe You Liar and Single of the Year ("How to Tame Lions").

Then there was a short break while we waited for the headline act to play. Nobody seemed to have heard of them before...!!!?....... Manu Chao La Ventura – a globe trotting,Spanish artist who sang a broad, multicultural blend of rock and reggae, sungin Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and English, and they really got the crowd going.

So that was the first night of the January 3 week Sydney Festival that almost rivals New Year's Eve!

Somewhere to hang ya kids...!!!

 We left justbefore the last act (Manu Chao) finished avoiding the crowds, and had a midnight feed of KFC at my request and then headed to the train station.

Well we had just missed a train (which of course was my fault because I wanted KFC!!!) and it was a 2 hour wait before the next one would leave. As the train was already in we got on board and slept. I have to say there are some ‘dodgy’ people on the train at that hour of the morning!

So 3 hours on the train and another hour in the car, it was 6am by the time we finally got home to the comfort of a bed, but it was all soooo worth it – would we do it again -          HELL YES!!!

ere

First Visit back to Brissy - Gotta do this more often?!!!

My work buddies, Engaged Birthday Girl, 2nd from the left

 

I really didn't want to leave after this visit & I truly believe that if it wasn't for the fact that I was going back to be with my Marty I probably would have stayed......

My  flight to Brisbane was delayed 45 minutes while they changed our planes Tyre. When we finally got to taxi out a little boy somewhere up in front of us turns to his Father & says" Daddy, what happens if we die" I did not get to hear Dads reply as the whole plane was laughing a nervous light hearted laugh....!!!
We had a turbulent flight & a rough landing.  I think the passengers were all nervous due to the tyre change & everybody on board gasped as we bounced on the runway. I was just happy to be back in Queensland.....

I got picked up from the Brisbane airport by two of my old work buddy's,  I was just delighted to see them. We were off to celebrate a work mates engagement, along her & her partners birthdays.
It was not long before we had reached our destination & were settled in with food & wine in hand. There were some familiar faces so the conversation flowed freely.
Leaving early in the afternoon we drove back to my friends apartment for more food & wine out on the deck in the warm summer air,  before heading into the city in the evening to have dinner & yes of course more wine....!!! I swear I returned to my Marty a couple of kilos heavier!

Aunty EJ in the pool in her Pixie dress with Charlie

After dinner we caught up with more work mates for a couple of drinks at an old haunt 'The Beer House'. I love Brisbane, it is such a friendly, fun, clean city. It was just  like old times & I loved it.

Sunday morning my friend & I headed out for my favourite meal of the day 'Breakfast'. Not sure what was going on at the restaurant but there was a table of retired ladies all wearing purple dresses & big bright red hats, we watched them arrive one by one, they both fascinated & entertained while we ate our meal.

Once finished, I was dropped off to my daughters home to celebrate my Granddaughter Charlie's 2nd birthday. I was just delighted when she came running out with her 

My little Birthday Princess

arms outstretched yelling "Nanaaaaaaa"........  I scooped her up & smothered her in Nana kisses.......
Charlie's little friends all started to arrive early afternoon, she got so many pressies, my daughter EJ is an awesome Aunty for organizing the party, & one of Charlie's teachers made a 'Barbie cake' for her.
Welcome to the terrible twos.......
Naaaa retract that, you can't be a terrible 2 year old when you are sooooo perfect...!!!

It was a very tired Nana that reluctantly got on the plane back to Nelson Bay...!!!

Christmas 2011 at Nelson Bay NSW

The Whale the greets you arriving.....

 

Large Sand Dunes

How excited was I for Christmas this year?
Jo, EJ & my granddaughter Charlie flew to Nelson Bay for Christmas Eve & Christmas Day.

My Dad & his wife celebrated 25 years of marriage this year, quite at feat & worth a mention......they  came to visit Christmas eve in the morning & 'Charlie' got to meet 'Charlie' & I got a photo of them both together which I was fairly stoked about!

Christmas morning I was in the bathroom brushing my hair when Charlie came to the door , looking up at me  she says.....
"Nanaaaa, inge". " I look down at her, " what are you trying to tell me?"
 " Inge".... "what's that Charlie" (I'm still not getting it?!!!)
 "Nanaaaaa, shut up...! Inge, inge" she says sternly pointing to her forehead.
"Ahhhhhh, FRINGE" I finally get it....!!! Charlie's Mum Jo, (a hairdresser) had cut Charlie a Fringe - 'just like Nana'!!!

What a pleasure it was to see Charlie's little face as she opened her presents.

 She got soooooo frigin spoilt & it was all sooooo worth it. Funny thing when are shopping for Christmas it just didn't seem like that much when i was buying??!!!!!!!!!

My daughter EJ was exhausted & slept a lot of the time, so Marty & I took Jo & Charlie sightseeing to the largest sand dunes in the southern hemisphere & we explored the many playgrounds that the Port Stephens area has to offer. EJ joined us later in the day.

All for Meeeeeee!!!!!!

Christmas day we took Charlie to the beach where she enjoyed making sand castles & Aunty EJ braved the cold water & took Charlie for a swim.

Two days went by way too fast. As expected the girl’s luggage was overweight going back to Brissy, thanks Jetstar for your Christmas spirit & over looking it!

First Visit back to Brisvegas Nov 2011

 

The one thing that has surprised me along our journey is that you don’t have to know some people for long to have a real connection with them & I am forever grateful for social networking & e-mail.

Catching up with old friends

So using social networking a catch up was        organised for my first visit back after moving to Nelson Bay.  I was counting down the sleeps till I was on a plane back to Brisbane......

I enjoyed my visit back so much, going to my favourite shops, particularly Dogstar. Staying at both my daughter’s home with my Granddaughter & their flatmates was kind of special.... The kids, their flatmate & friends all came into my room one by one, sometimes in pairs for a chat. The conversations were really interesting & also informative..... My Granddaughter & I really enjoyed our time together.  My youngest daughter had just turned 21; it was so nice to be able to give her presents in person Being there was frigin AWESOME ;-)" Thanks to you all for having me.

Before the concert

I also got to attend Charlie’s Childcare Christmas Party. Aunty works at the Childcare Centre that Charlie attends so I it was a double whammy for me getting to watch them both perform.  Once Charlie’s class had finished performing, Charlie continued to entertain us by being very cute dancing in the alley between the chairs.

Coming home Airport security found a pocket knife that I had lost weeks ago..... Now lost forever damn it...!!!

I was even offered a job back in Brisbane while I was there...... believe me I was very tempted.......

Boats, Fishing & Sunburn

Captain Marty...!!!

It's only taken 10 years but Marty has finally got me baiting my own line!

We got up early on the Sunday & headed down to the Nelson Bay Marina for breakfast. 

Taking a stroll after eating we thought we would check out the prices on boat hire & as they were so reasonable we decided that it was a great way to spend the rest of our Sunday

I found my sealegs which pleased me as I don't usually go to well on the water.  We find what we think is good spot to fish, I throw out the anchor & then.............

Curse  those Sydney idiots that can't read signs & think our boat is some kind of turning marker!! I really get why boaties dislike jetski's so much now; plus two boats go speeding past either side of us. & we get bumped around by the 'Wash' in both directions, So much for a peaceful day out in the boat fishing...!!!

At the end of our 4 hours we have caught everything obnoxious in the sea including 3 sharks, a Red Cod & a Moray eel...!!!
I also caught red lobster syndrome & spent the next week itching peeling....!!!

But as you can tell from the smile on Captain Marty's face, it was an awesome way to spend a Sunday ;o)

Ferry Ride to Tea Gardens

About to get on the ferry heading to Tea Gardens

Lovely Day, now to spot the dolphin's

I miss the ferries in Brisbane so it was a pleasing idea to me to catch the ferry over to Tea Gardens for the day..... The ferry was soooooo damn slowwwww that I think we could have swum there faster! Anyway, it was a lovely trip over &   we even got to see dolphins.

As you come into Tea Gardens the ferry passes under the Tea Gardens - Hawks Nest Bridge, also known as the Singing Bridge. It crosses the Myall River connecting the townships of Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest. The Bridge got its name from the musical sounds the railings make during a strong south-westerly wind causing the bridge to act as a wind harp & apparently it can be very loud!!!

We had timed it right to visit Tea Gardens as there was a market day happening. They had a couple of stages, one with dancers & then a ukulele club had their turn. On the other stage was a band that is normally resident at the local pub. And a bit farther down they had wood chopping competitions for our entertainment.

Marty helped me find a couple of treasures to keep, & then we had a lovely lunch at the local pub before heading outside & lying down on one of the big block seats by the water...... and yes believe it, we fell asleep..!!! After about an hour of snoozing in the sun we went & listened to the band & Marty got us ice-cream.

My Honey bringing me Ginger ice cream Good choice love, it was YUM...!!!

Exhausted from the sun & the day’s events we got back on the ferry to come home struggling to stay awake with the drone of the engine humming us to sleep.......