April

Darling Harbour

Saturday 1st April - Jean and Bob go home :-(

Had a 'barbie' for lunch at the wee park along the road - North Harbour Reserve to give it it's proper name. Nice wee park with swings etc, facing out to the sailing club, and then onwards out to sea. 

After that we sadly took Sheryl's Mum and Dad out to the airport for their flight back home. It'll be awfy quiet around here without them. 

Its weird being at the airport, and instead of it being your arrival airport, its now your home airport. Its also weird to think that as you are in such a nice place, there's not going to be the same annual flight to somewhere on holiday, like you used to do back home. Not rubbing it in, its just funny to take the the whole process of going on a big holiday, out of your annual routine.

Sunday 2nd

Clocks went back during the night, so instead of Holly getting up at 8am, it was now 7am - but Sheryl being a superb planner - we went to bed earlier to get a longer sleep!

I put together a wee ready-reckoner for time zones, to work out when to call people etc: 

Click on the picture above for a bigger version, which will print better.

KEY:

Its a work in progress ! If you want the larger, clearer one for printing out - its at the following link: http://www.jimnoble.co.uk/images/TimeZonesMarch.bmp

This morning, took Holly out a big walk for a couple of hours, walking around the neighbourhood, looking at a couple of houses, sussing out the different streets. Its really hilly about here so its good exercise. Its funny - no two houses seem the same design, or even close to the design of their neighbour - you would think they would run out of ideas!

Monday 3rd

Just to make sure the car is tip top before the dealer warranty runs out, its going in for a full checkup / service at a friend of a friend's place, who's the Service Manager for Ford, so should be more trustworthy than average (with a bit of luck!). Sheryl and Holly are away shopping, getting in the supplies - meanwhile here is another pic of wee munchkin.

Tuesday 4th

Got to get my car's rego renewed. First you've got to get an inspection report / MOT - they call this the Blue Slip (but if you buy a car from someone it can be a Pink Slip). Then I need to buy CTP (Compulsory Third Party insurance - a seperate policy to fund the Where There's Blame There's a Claim vultures) which is called a Green Slip. Then I take all this and my Insurance and stuff down to the RTA and get another wee square sticker, like a tax disc but different. Total cost about $750 / £315 per annum - I'll never complain about road tax again!

Wednesday 5th

The lighter mornings are waking us up earlier - before the alarm goes off - so got the earlier ferry at 6:40am. Even that was quite busy and when you get to town, I was walking up the street, and its about 7:30am and the place is full of folk - even the motorbike parking bay is full (about 20 bikes!) and the cars are queueing up to get into one of the car parks! Maybe every one else gets woken up early by the sun too !! 

Thursday 6th

Got some new mobile phones - on Virgin Mobile. Always like them - don't take things too seriously. The Virgin Mobile boss sends you a thank you letter for joining them, and he puts below his name "Head Honcho - Virgin Mobile Australia". Its hard not to like that kinda thing.

Then, went to see the bank about stuff and things, and do they not go and happily recommend I put my savings in another bank, as it gives you more interest - that's what he does he said. Keep your current account with them and put the savings somewhere else. The last guy I met from this bank was like that as well - very straightforward and honest.. almost as if they are that laid back they don't have a big worry about telling you like it is. 

Don't get me wrong - they do all the regulatory bits like best advice and warnings etc perfectly, so its not like they are incompetent - just chilled and open. Its almost like a part of the Aussie make-up, not to dress it up too much, which is refreshing.

Friday 7th

Had a seminar-thingy at 8am! so had to get up early, but its still dress-down day so easier to get out the door. Also sold my car back home today - which is a hassle out the way. 

Craig done a good job there, helping the chap get insurance quotes etc. Car over here got a wee problem fixed on it too by the garage under warranty so here's hoping that keeps going well.

Sad but glad to see it go though! Sentimental old fool!

Saturday 8th

I think we'll go looking around some neighbourhoods today - see what some new places we have seen houses for sale in, are like in the flesh.

Sunday 9th

Went out a nice morning walk with Sheryl and Holly and then when it got a bit warm, after lunch we went scootin' about looking at houses / streets / areas we fancy.

Monday 10th

A picture tells a thousand lazy words....sitting on the ferry waiting for it to leave the wharf, and took a couple of pics on my mobile.... its still a surreal image on your commute on the way home !

Look to the left and you see the harbour bridge....Look to the right and you see the Opera House ! 

You can click on these pics if you want a bigger view, although its only in low res mode on the phone so they are not the best of quality - got to keep the size down for space on the website.

Tuesday 11th thru to Thursday 13th

Been busy at work prior to Easter, and then Easter weekend itself meant I didn't get a chance to update this ! Even got up before the sun on Thursday to get to work half an hour earlier!

Easter Weekend

Easter is a big holiday here. A lot of the shops shut on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, including some of the supermarkets and we drove through some ghost towns on our way out and about looking at houses. A lot of people pile out and go away for the whole weekend - the roads are quiet. 

However there are a lot of road accidents etc, and the police double their demerit points for speeding or not wearing your seatbelt through Easter, so if you did both, and your passenger wasn't wearing their seatbelt either you could lose your license ! Still, their were 7 road deaths in New South Wales alone over Easter (22 in Australia - they report it on the news each year). There are a lot of boy racers that get cheap insurance through their parents and scoot about in big powerful Subarus and the like (although there is the odd Fiesta that they try to race about it which doesn't quite cut it !)

Spent a bit of time looking around some more areas, and checking out some of the new estates, trying to get a feel for the area etc...Some of the houses we saw were huge and had their own home theatre!...

... and depending on the area you pick, they can be quite reasonable - but you could be miles away inland and out of the city so you always get what you pay for I suppose in the end. Even Holly asked how much they were - you can tell from her face her surprise!

Also did a lot of going to the beach and trying to get some sun, without being burnt to a crisp. I don't know how people can be so energetic - when we're not pretend-drowning in the sea, we just sit and watch the waves crashing in and chase Holly about the sand, or make sand castles!

Often we go late afternoon into evening, which is a nice time to go, before the sun sets around 6ish

Easter Monday

Out a walk again down the centre of Manly and then along the beachfront

everywhere was buzzing with people. Even a few big fancy boats were in the harbour, 

which just goes to show, you can have millions, and you still can't resist doing the Sydney equivalent of going "doon the water" to Largs or Rothesay, i.e. take your million dollar yacht or cruiser over to Manly for some fish and chips !

Also, later I got a nice guestbook entry from Bob - the nice man that gave me a jump start up in Umina Beach a few weeks back. I told him about the website, and said I would give him a mention, so since we went to the bother of actually reading the site and adding to the guestbook, he gets his name up in lights again, so Good On Ye Bob - keep up the fishing and the diving!

Tuesday 18th

Phoned my mate Andrew Gillan at his work today to wish him a Happy Birthday, but as he is a Civil Engineering boss and was standing in the middle of a road at the time (probably keeping the workies straight on a thing or two, whilst avoiding a steamroller or other occupational hazard!) I thought it best to ring off quickly and give him a phone at the house later on!

I think Holly is trying to tell me something - time to hit the sack and sign off.

Saturday 22nd

Went a bit of shopping and Holly saw some shoes she liked, and like most women she "just had to have them":

 (and like the big softie that I am - I bought her them too as they were quite snazzy!)

Monday 24th

In hindsight I should have taken today off and had another long weekend, but another day another dollar I suppose. Its getting darker earlier now coming home on the ferry....and slightly chillier too!

When you leave Circular Quay, the sun is setting like this:

Which is quite nice.... and then by the time you get to Manly in 30 mins.... its like this..:

Tuesday 25th - ANZAC Day

ANZAC day is a big deal. Day off work - can't complain! There are even military parades at dawn and dusk ("5:30am sharp" read one notice we saw!). On the lighter side, its also traditional for a lot of folk to go play "two-ups" - where you place a bet, pick heads or tails, and they throw up three coins and the if you pick the right two that come up heads or tails, then you win the bet. Everyone seems to find a pub or venue and seems to be a big afternoon drinking event for all ages. Not being a very child-friendly event, we reckoned Holly was a bit young for gambling and smoky pubs!

Wednesday 26th

Got another couple of updates to the guestbook - which was nice. Its nice to think of people actually reading this stuff and coming back for more! Its nice to hear from people, especially as the "readership" widens a bit and you get unexpected nice notes from folks.... 

Although I have to admit, I have been lazy recently, and been missing a few updates! This is partly because I realised that sometimes if I type too much, people have less to talk about when we catch up on the phone, so I started to type a little less and leave more to be asked in "real" conversation... There is a balance to be found I suppose....

Saturday 29th

Sheryl got her new driver's license today - they punch a hole in your British one (to stop you having two active licenses at once and using two license to collect points etc!). Met a guy at the RTA office whilst waiting on the license, and he had driven 3 hours from his house out in the sticks, to come in to get his tax disc or whatever - makes you realise just how big the state of New South Wales is - never mind Australia! You can drive 16 hours north of here I think and still be in the same state!

Talking of driving...the car needed some routine maintenance work done on the brake discs and pads, so it was handy-andy day for me! Car's running quiet and sweet now, so it was worth it. It was funny that the guy Craig sold the car too, once a few of his details / description clicked with Sheryl, it turns out that she knew him - he used to be a doctor at her work! Its a small world. Nice to know the "old" car (which was newer than this one I've got here by a long chalk!) has gone to a good home at least.

Sunday 30th April

Going to a barbie up at one of the guys from work's house, along with the rest of the team. There will be weans, dogs, steaks and 'snags' (sausages!) galore. There were about a dozen or so people there, and some kids and dogs too - which Holly loved a lot - she likes talking to the dogs and the birds - Little Miss Doolittle!