3rd April - Olympic Park and DFO

Tyler woke up feeling very tired and lethargic and went back to bed again this morning after breakfast and slept for 2 hours.

This gave us time to do all the 'house work' for Monique while she was out.

We woke her up and showered her then we went out to Olympic Park for a look around.

A southerly wind had sprung up overnight and was freezing. You could have sworn that it was blowing straight off the ice of the South Pole. Bryce forgot to take is jumper with us, so had to borrow Rick's jumper. Can't you just see the cold in his face?

We visited the poles commemmorating the Volunteers of the Sydney Olympic Games - no Brisbane Volunteers were included here! It was here that we also say the Olympic Torch, a pole celebrating Kylie Minogue's song "On A Night Like This" from the Opening Ceremony.... and the list goes on. It was a fantastic thing to see, especially for anyone who wasn't able to be there for the Olympic Games.

We spoke to a lady in the Stadium Shop and asked if we could PLEASE have a sneak peek at the stadium, even though Rick had forgotten to bring his MSFA ID. We were in luck and one of the guides took us in. WOW! What a sight. It is so BIG and yet feels "so cosy". This place will seat 3 times as many people as the "Gabba" and the ground can be adapted from a regtangular field for Rugby Union and League to a round oval for the AFL. (The Sydney Swans call this "home"), just by sliding huge sections of seating in and out across the edges of the oval.

While we were there, Hasam ElMasri (NRL) was practicing some goal kicking.

This sculpture is suspended over the main entrance to the stadium. Each of the feathers on it represents each of the Australian native birds.

After here, we went back to Mary & Han's place for coffe and lunch.

After lunch, we went back to DFO, beside the Olympic Park, for a look around here. I have never been to DFO before, and I am very impressed. Couldn't do any shopping here, but did get myself a pair of Rivers thongs and Rick got a really nice Rivers shirt for a song. Kids got a new pair of sunglasses each. Am definitely going to DFO for new clothes etc, when we get back to Brisbane and back to work again.

When we got home again, we went out for dinner with Andrew, Monique and Neils at a lovely little Thai restaurant on Victoria Rd - walking distance from home.

Gave Tyler Panadol every 4 hours today and it worked well. She felt well all day.

3rd April - Olympic Park and DFO

Tyler woke up feeling very tired and lethargic and went back to bed again this morning after breakfast and slept for 2 hours.

Again this gave us time to get some 'house work' done for Monique while she was out.

We woke Tyler up and showered her then we went out to Olympic Park for a look around.

A southerly wind had sprung up overnight and it was freezing cold. Could have sworn that it was blowing straight off the ice of the South Pole.

Bryce forgot to take is jumper with us, so he ended up wearing Rick's jumper.

3rd April - Olympic Park and DFO

2nd April - Sydney By Night

Marlies came around for afternoon tea with us before we go home. It was so nice to sit and chat to her without too many interuptions.

Monique took Bryce out with her for the afternoon to pick up the girls from school and then to the park while Michaela was having her tennis lesson. Tyler slept all afternoon after some more panadol. She still is not 100%, but the regular panadol is helping a lot.

Rick cooked rissoles and vegetables for dinner - to give Monique a night off.

After dinner we took the kids for a ferry ride into Circular Quay to see the lights of Sydney - the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Luna Park etc. It was a beautiful night on the water. We travelled from Meadowbank and back again.

The night was just beautiful with a very gentle cool breeze and the water was like glass. The ferry just seemed to skim over it without any other sounds. The sights of all the million dollar mansions on the harbour-side all lit up was like looking at a make-believe fairyland.

The kids really slept well after a few hours of sea air in their faces.

2nd April - An Old Family Friend

Tyler wakes up feeling a little bit better. After attempting some breakfast, I gave her some panadol and she went back to bed for another hour or so.

While she's sleeping there's lots of washing to do - soiled clothes and bed linen and a wet bed. After doing all this and sweeping and cleaning up the house for Monique, Tyler woke up feeling a lot better, so I gave her a shower and we got ready to go out again. Nothing too strenuous today, just a quiet catch-up day for all of us.

We had arranged to have morning tea with Betty Williams. She hasn't changed a bit - only "grayer". She gave me a pair of miniutre clogs from Hengelo that Rita had brought back for Gabriel and Merideth back in the early 1960's. The kids were wonderful and beautifully behaved.

On our way home, we went to the Macquarie Centre where we got some NSW roads maps from NRMA and had lunch at McDonalds while watching over the ice rink. Beauriful! Took the kids into the ABC Shop for a look around and they thought it was a "cool shop".

Tues 1st April - Catching Up & Sickness In The Family

A slightly quieter day is in order today with catching up with both sides of our family today.
We start out with morning tea at Mary's place with Tante Mary, Om Hans, Lud and Monique.
They have a beautiful Federation Style home which they are renovating themselves. Mary is gradually replacing the windows with Lead-Light windows that she is making herself. Hans has done nearly all of the carpentary work himself and he has some beautiful collections of carpentary tools that he has mounted on the walls around the house. Mary has a beautiful, and extensive collection of little blue & white porcelain Dutch houses displayed on shelves around the house.

Well, morning tea extended into a lovely lunch of salad and cold meat when I realized that it was 12.50, and we had arranged to meet my relatives for a catch-up at the North Ryde RSL, so it was a quick finish to lunch and a phone call to let them know that we were on our way. It was about a 20 minute trip.
On the way, we had to drive down Pittwater Rd, which was where my Great Aunty Glad used to live, so we made a note of where her house is - and it is only a block or 2 down from the main road and probably only about 2km from where we were staying. I feel like I have reached my family roots because my Dad actually grew up here as a little boy and went to the same Primary School that Monique's girls go to. What a co-incidence is that?
The catch-up with Robyn, Dick and Merideth was great - not long enough, but that was partly our fault for arriving late. Unfortunately the kid's playground was closed for the day, so Merideth found them some colouring in to do and bought them a milkshake each. We never heard them once: they were so well behaved. We are so proud of them, because it must be boring for kids when the adults are talking all the time.
After leaving them, we decide to call in on Banjo Patterson Park in Gladesville, but that is my next post.
We have organized with Mary & Hans to go out tonight to the Hunter's Hill Hotel for a Steak Night, but, unfortunately I have to stay home with Tyler and only Rick & Bryce go with Monique and the girls.
As I was getting Tyler ready to go out after her bath, she started vomiting and looked decidedly unwell, so I put her to bed and tell Rick that I will be staying at home with her. I put it down to 4 days of excitement and being generally over-tired. Poor little thing, every time she woke up and moved, she vomited again. We went through about 4 sets of sheets. Monique blew up an air mattress for her and she spent the night in our bedroom with us. She finally stopped vomiting at 3am, but was very tired and lethargic, so we let her sleep as much as possible, whenever she wanted to.

Mon 31st March - Darling Harbour

After the rest of the family had left for school, work etc, we caught the bus into the city and walked back down to Darling Harbour. The first thing we found at the bottom of the stairs was a HUGE playground with lots of slides, ladders, monkey bars, sand etc, where the kids played for 20 minutes or so

The 'Spiral Fountain' at Darling Harbour. A really interesting piece of architecture with every 2nd tier being a dry one so that it is possible to walk down into the centre - just Tyler & Bryce have done.

before we continued on down towards the main shopping area and the National Maritime Museum.

Coffee & donuts for morning tea and a visit to the toilet in the shopping centre were a "must do" before we ventured into the Museum.

A very impressive anchor at the main entrance to the National Maritime Museum, Sydney.

Like all modern museums these days, the Maritime Museum was extremely interesting, especially with our liking for boating and all things to do with boating.

"HMAS VAMPIRE" & "HMAS ONSLOW" "KATHLEEN GILLETT"

Rick and Bryce went on a tour of the "HMAS Vampire" while Tyler and I found the "Kathleen Gillett" which was a yacht owned by an old family friend in Rabaul in our (Dunbar-Reid) sailing days up there, back in the 1970's. I'm sure she was painted white back then and fitted out to be a very comfortable cruising yacht. She looks a little different now! I didn't know, then, that she had competed in the Inaugural Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race or circumnavigated the world. I feel quite priveleged to have known part of her history - albeit (sp?) the later part.

The hightlight of Rick & Bryce's tour of the warship was that they experienced a simulated "All hands to battle-stations" alarm - just when they were underneath one of the deck-mounted guns. This certainly was alarming and gave Bryce quite a fright. Their pass on board the ship also included a tour of the Navy submarine moored along-side, but Bryce decided that he didn't really want to go onboard the sub. I don't blame him really - no windows.

We spent about 2 hours in and around the museum, and by the time we met up with Rick and Bryce, we were all ready for some lunch. We went on back down to the main Food Court and found a noodle bar called the WOK ON INN. We both ordered noodles with pork and vegetables. Rick had Chinese-style and I had the Thai - style. The chilli flavour was lovely - left the lips tingling for a while afterwards, but extremely yummy!! We knew the kids wouldn't eat the noodles, so they were treated with Macca's - again.

An impressive entrance to the Sydney Acquarium

In order to settle the huge lunch, we walked across the bridge to the other side of Darling Harbour where we found the Sydney Acquarium. Of course, we had to see this, so, while Rick waited outside, I took the kids through. The seals were very cute and the glass floor in the Great Barrier Reef exhibit was very freaky, (walking over the top of a LARGE Shovel Nosed Shark). It had been over an hour by the time we re-emerged at the end of the tunnels through the Acquarium.

Waiting for the ferry at the King St Wharf 3.

From here, we walked around the corner to the King St Wharf and caught the 4.30pm ferry home again. Monique picked us up from the Huntley's Point Wharf in Gladesville.

Gladesville Bridge from underneath.

Huntley's Point Wharf, Gladesville

We have arranged to go and visit Gabriel Williams for coffee after dinner - David will be there too. Surprise, surprise, she lives only 3 minutes from where we are staying - overlooking the water.

The kids are really tired from a full day in the city walking everywhere, so we put them to bed before going, and they drop straight off to sleep. Think tomorrow might be a quieter day for their sake.