NSW Trip Day 17: Sydney

Millie’s 5^th Birthday!!!!!

Millie woke up fairly early and came and jumped into bed with me for some birthday cuddles, then went and snuggled with Tony for a while, then Caitlin joined them. The girls got dressed in their party dresses and Caitlin did Millie’s hair, then they played with Millie’s puzzle gifts from last night until LiAM woke up. We all jumped on the bed for present giving – Caitlin gave her a loom bracelet in a design that she hasn’t made for anyone else, and a Lego Friends penguin set. We gave her a plush magpie toy, a pop cake maker (and Caitlin gave her special sprinkles to use when decorating the cakes), a Barbie doll with chalk she can use to change the colour of her hair, and Tony’s old iPhone for her to use like an iPod Touch. She said it was the best birthday ever and was so excited about ALL of her presents.

 

Dressed for a party day with her new iPod Touch

Playing with Colour Chalk Barbie

On Saturday morning Millie had woken up before sunrise and I had wanted to sleep in, so Tony took her for a drive and they had breakfast at McDonalds and had a play at Blacksmiths beach. When I asked Millie what she wanted for breakfast for her birthday she wanted pancakes at McDonalds, so we decided to go to Maccas for breakfast as a very special treat. I knew there was one at Thornleigh, about 20 minutes away, so we went there without checking to see if there was one at Dural, only a few minutes down the road – found out later that we are very close to one so the morning could have been a bit less hectic – but it was a fun morning anyway (just a bit tiring). The kids all had hotcakes and frozen drinks and Tony and I had McMuffins and hot drinks and it was a fun atmosphere to be in. The playground there was huge so after eating the kids had a long play, including playing hide-and-seek with some other kids. After a while Caitlin and I popped down the road to buy Millie’s birthday cake and some other groceries, then we picked up the others and headed back to our cabin.

Happy at McDonalds

Caitlin went down to the tennis courts to play with some kids she’d met yesterday and LiAM and Millie played with Millie’s presents. It had been a beautiful sunny morning, then while we were getting lunch ready it started pouring – a bit of a concern since our afternoon plans involved going to a playground with friends – the clouds were moving fast though and the rain passed (then there was more, which also passed, and so on through the afternoon…)

We decided to risk the weather and went to Ruddock Park in Westleigh, which has a pirate ship to play on, and a bike track for the kids to ride their scooters. We were met there by my wonderful friend K and her two kids who are now 11 and 13 and SO much bigger than last time I saw them. T had a football so all the boys and some of the girls played football for a while, in the sun and the rain. We had Millie’s birthday cake with K and the kids – a Freddo Frog ice cream cake, which I had promised her as part of the compensation for not being at home for her birthday. It looked beautiful and she was quite excited about it – it tasted pretty good too. We were also joined by our friends A & N and their three kids (A is LiAM’s godfather – and I realized we’ve managed to see all of the kids’ godparents on this trip which is pretty special). Great to catch up with both lots of friends as its been 2 ½ years since we’ve seen any of them. They also had presents for Millie - more craft activities and activity books. Caitlin showed the other kids how to make some of her loom bands and they all played in the playground, and our kids rode their scooters.

Wet and happy at playground

Back to the cabin feeling rather wet and tired and happy, and decided to have a quiet night in rather than going out again. Tony and the girls went and got some pizza, from a restaurant that Tony said was one of the fanciest he had ever seen, and not one that you would expect to sell takeaway pizza. LiAM and I played cards while they were gone, then we ate pizza and watched TV and had a very low key evening.

NSW Trip Day 16: Newcastle -> Sydney

Packing to leave without a deadline was nice, I was able to take my time, and help clean up from the night before, play with the kids a bit, chat to P & K in between getting ready. Tony and P took the kids down the end of the street to the lake to go fishing – first time fishing for our kids – Caitlin caught a shellfish of some sort, LiAM enjoyed the fishing although was sad that he didn’t catch anything – and was reassured when I said it still counted as going fishing even if you didn’t catch anything.

We had left over BBQ food on sandwiches for lunch, and baby E joined us down in the back yard for a while (she is on oxygen so usually needs to be upstairs where her tube can reach the oxygen converter). By about 2pm we were packed and ready to go – sad to leave family and excited to be heading off on the next bit of our adventure.

It only took about 90 minutes to reach our caravan park in Dural. We unpacked the car and had a quick play on the playground, then back in the car to go and see some more friends. P and S have a 5 year old boy and a 3 year old girl and all 5 kids had a great evening, playing on each other’s iPads, dressing up in jewellery and dressing up clothes, having sword fights, doing puzzles, watching Barbie movies, making loom bands and playing hide and seek. Tony and I had a very restful evening catching up with our friends. S had cooked a cake for dessert, and she put candles on it for Millie and we sang Happy Birthday again, and she even had a present (stickers and puzzles) for Millie – Millie didn’t really want to be away from home for her birthday so these extended celebrations are making it more fun than she thought it might be! S also took a photo of the 5 of us with the cake - the first full family photo we've had this trip.

We decided to drive home via the city so we could at least get a glimpse of the lights of the Vivid festival – and Millie really wanted to drive over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We saw several buildings lit up, including the Opera House which looked spectacular, and the Bridge itself looked great as we approached it – I still find it exciting to drive over it too. We spent about 10 minutes trying to find the entrance to a shopping centre on the way home so we could get milk and some other emergency supplies – when we finally got to the supermarket it was closed, so we popped in to a 7-11 to get some milk and then finally back to our cabin to crash.

NSW Trip Day 10: Blue Mountains -> Newcastle

On the road again today, we packed up the cottage and had left by 11, and headed through Sydney to the Central Coast. Much quicker these days with the M7 to cut across Sydney. We arrived our friend D’s (another old school friend of mine, and also a cricket friend of Tony’s. And Caitlin’s godfather) about 1pm and met his baby daughter for the first time, and his 2 year old for only the 2^nd time. We had a wonderful afternoon sitting out in the backyard watching the kids play and catching up with D & A. The kids hid objects in the yard for the others to find and sampled some of the produce growing in the garden and we all had a very relaxing time. Oh and Caitlin made charms and bracelets on her loom.

From there we drove the rest of the way to Newcastle and arrived at Tony’s brother’s house in time for dinner. The kids were so excited to see their cousins and spent the evening making loom bracelets and charms, playing basketball, playing music, watching tv and really enjoying each other’s company. Tony and I enjoyed catching up with P & K and meeting their baby daughter. Once again it was a late night – our kids slept in their cousins’ rooms which upped the excitement level quite a lot and meant that settling down to sleep took a long time.

NSW Trip Day 10: Blue Mountains -> Newcastle

On the road again today, we packed up the cottage and had left by 11, and headed through Sydney to the Central Coast. Much quicker these days with the M7 to cut across Sydney. We arrived our friend D’s (another old school friend of mine, and also a cricket friend of Tony’s. And Caitlin’s godfather) about 1pm and met his baby daughter for the first time, and his 2 year old for only the 2^nd time. We had a wonderful afternoon sitting out in the backyard watching the kids play and catching up with D & A. The kids hid objects in the yard for the others to find and sampled some of the produce growing in the garden and we all had a very relaxing time. Oh and Caitlin made charms and bracelets on her loom.

From there we drove the rest of the way to Newcastle and arrived at Tony’s brother’s house in time for dinner. The kids were so excited to see their cousins and spent the evening making loom bracelets and charms, playing basketball, playing music, watching tv and really enjoying each other’s company. Tony and I enjoyed catching up with P & K and meeting their baby daughter. Once again it was a late night – our kids slept in their cousins’ rooms which upped the excitement level quite a lot and meant that settling down to sleep took a long time.

NSW Trip Day 8: Blue Mountains

We had a lovely relaxing morning at the cottage, reading and playing and taking our time to get ready – it was a relief not to be on a schedule to get out. Around lunch time we drove up to Katoomba and got some food for a picnic lunch, then went to Echo Point. By the time we got there everyone was tired and hungry so we ate straight away – and it was cloudy and raining on and off so we thought we might not get a great view. As we ate the cloud lifted a bit over the valley and we could see the escarpment on the other side, then by the time we finished and went down to the main lookout, the 3 Sisters were in view as well. I’ve seen them many many times and still find them impressive and beautiful. The kids liked them as well.

The Three Sisters

Lots of cool rock formations to sit on

We decided to walk down to the little bridge that goes across to the first of the 3 sisters. It was an easy walk down the path, with lots of intriguing rock shapes on the cliff next to us, so we stopped for lots of climbing and photo opportunities on the way. We reached the lookout that looks straight out to the sisters, which was cool, and from there we had to go down the first part of the giant stairway, which was steep. LiAM and I were a bit nervous, especially at the bits where the steps were so steep it looked like they disappeared over the edge of the cliff, so we all took it slowly, then LiAM relaxed and Millie got a bit scared – we made it to the bridge and LiAM and I were a bit hesitant, but we went across and it was cool to be standing there although the drops either side are significant and I was freaking out a bit when the kids were standing at the fence looking down. We stayed there long enough for a photo then headed back up. Millie found it hard going – the steps were high as well as steep and I didn’t feel confident having her in the sling while I climbed up – she made it nearly all the way by herself, I was very impressed. I put her in the sling for the last little bit once the drop off to the side felt less scary.

The steps down to the bridge

On the first of the 3 Sisters

Back up to Echo Point with a few more rock explorations on the way, then we bought some ice creams and ate them with a view of the valley. Everyone was exhausted by now so we headed back to the cottage for a quick rest and recharge, then went back to S’s house for the evening.

S’s girls had agreed to look after our kids (they are 16 and 19) so S, D, Tony and I went out to dinner – very exciting to go out with another couple. We went to the Bowling Club in Lawson for Chinese – tasty food and great company. The kids happily watched DVDs and made loom bracelets while we were gone. We stayed for a drink once we got back and looked at more photos of Canada – made me quite nostalgic for Canada myself, I’d love to visit again. It was another late night so once again home and straight to bed.