Chrissy boy on Manly beach

 

Not a typical Friday 

Supping wine at Manly Wharf hotel

 

This is pure research for the Baileys visit- honest 

Manly Beach

 

How good does that look! 

Tunks Park

 

This is the life!! 

Tunks Park

 


This is our local park- it beats Red House park any day! 

Balmoral Beachy

  

G’day Possums!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m here again to tell you about the truly wonderful time that we are having in Sydney! I now consider myself to be a sydneysider- yes I have been seduced by the sights of this superb city (Chris still has his loyalty with Melbourne and considers himself a true Melburnian through and through)

We have spent the last couple of weeks getting to know Sydney. It’s great to have the time to really explore, as last year we were only here for a few days so only got to see the main touristy things.

Big Sister Claire was soooooooooo right when she said the North Shore was the place to live. There are so many places to see and you feel like you are a true local. We live in a place called Cammeray which is a small but friendly suburb with a nice mix of people.

We have already sampled some great meat from our local butcher and exchanged friendly banter with them! Those of you who know the League of Gentlemen should note that the butchers are a strange looking pair and would be right at home in Roysten Vasey! Seriously the one guy has a humpback and the other has deformed hands. I was expecting an offer to buy some “special stuff”- may be next time….

The North Shore has a very good bus service which means, not only can we get over the bridge and into the city in 15 min, we can also explore other north shore suburbs with ease.

The first place we went to see was Crow’s Nest where Claire used to live. Well it’s a busy place much larger than Cammeray and boasts a range of cheap eating places, shops and pubs. We tried out the Crow’s Nest pub and went to find Claire’s old apartment. Well you’ll be glad to know Claire that it’s still standing. It was a strange feeling to think that my big sis had been here before.

We have also ventured to North Sydney which is mainly dominated by the city workers, who like us Brits like to enjoy an after work bevy or two! Having said that the area also has a good range of shops to browse in (this is a favourite past time of mine whilst been a back packer!).

We also explored Kirribilli and Milson’s Point (Kirribilli is right next to Milsons so mom and dad can explore both with ease). The views around this area are truly magnificent!! Mom and Dad are in for such a treat, their accommodation is in the best location in the whole of Sydney. They are right next to the harbour bridge, they have breathtaking views of the harbour and can catch the ferry over to the city. There is a little park called Lavender Bay park close to their pad, which I would say has some of the best views in the world! In fact I think they can stay in Cammeray and us Wheldons will stop in the Milson’s!! HA HA

We have also joined our local club which is called the North Bears Social Club. It is mainly full of old aussies flitting away their pension on Bingo and the pokies! It does however has a great gym and pool. We both love to swim so have made full use of the pool. I swam 54 lengths in half an hour which is pretty good for me!

The weather in Sydney was wonderful last week so we decided to check out the beaches. Bondi was superb just as I expected it to be, as was Manly. The surprise gem was our local beach Balmoral. Been close to us and relatively unknown to me I thought it may be disappointing but it was lovely!

Yesterday we decided to do some serious research in preparation for the Baileys visit, so we did a Rocks pub crawl ( all in the name of research of course!) We had a list of 14 pubs and managed to visit and have a drink in seven of these!

My personal favourites were the Heritage Belgian Beer café which had a great range of strong beers, the Australian which had a great atmosphere with the locals getting excited over the rugby and the Glenmore which had a rooftop beer garden with excellent views over circular quay and the Opera House. Papa will definitely like the Hero of Waterloo and Lord Nelson (we didn’t visit this one but apparently it has a vast range of ales/beers and the best PORK PIES in Australia!) Needless to say we will be visiting the other 7 next Saturday!!!!!

Our plans for the immediate future include visiting other suburbs like Northbridge and Chatsworth, Cremorne Point etc, etc and visiting the beaches again if the weather stays nice. We will also be doing further research for things to do with the Baileys. We are both so excited to see them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not long now momma!

Bye for now

Don don

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Alexandria Bay

  

Our yummy sea food platter!

  

Hubby the walker in Noosa National Park

  

Enjoying the sunshine on Noosa beach

  

George the ring tailed possum

  

A lace monitor in Noosa National Park

  

Noosa

Hi there! Yes I’m back and it’s my turn to write the next blog (Chris and I decided that it was a good idea for one of us to write about a place, otherwise we will bore you all to death writing the same things!)

So I’m here to tell you about our time in Noosa and then Chris will write about Brisbane. After that I will have the job of telling you about our time in Sydney flat hunting. Are you confused? Good because I’m getting serious mixed up with where we are and where we have been.

Anyway on to Noosa on the sunshine coast. Well what can I say- the place was great! It’s an upmarket area with a great beach and lots of swanky bars and restaurants. The sort of place that Chris and I would choose to stay and blow lots of money, as you do when you’re on hol and not back packing! However that said, we did manage to have a delicious sea food platter during a happy hour at one of the restaurants! Most of the other restaurants were pricey and designed more for the rich folk- there were some real 'mutton dressed as lamb' walking around.

We spent a good deal of time sun baking on Noosa beach and chilling out. We did however keep active walking from our apartment down to the town and back as Noosa is quite hilly in parts.

We also spent one day exploring the Noosa National Park which has various walking tracks that you can follow. We opted for the longest one available which was a 6.4 km return trip. Needless to say we enjoyed our cold beers afterwards! Along the way we met some more of Queensland’s wildlife including a possum that we named George after an Aussie guy on TV.

The last thing to mention is our posh apartment. Chris’s boss at work commented that you get more for your money in terms of accommodation in Queensland. Well our apartment was actually a two story town house with two bedrooms, two showers, a large swimming pool and bbq area. We got the place for a good deal because we had it for the week but basically it cost around £30 a night for both of us!! What a bargain!

Well I’m off now to pack my pack as we’re flying off to Sydney in the morning. I will blog again once we have found somewhere to live in Sydney for our last three months in Australia.

Bye

Donnie
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