Holidays at Cotton Tree

Filed under: At home in Australia| Travel & Holidays | Tagged: | |

Understanding the value of a bargain, Michelle and I organize our annual beach holiday just as the high season ends. This year we hired a three bedroom unit for the week at The Dunes. We had spectacular views overlooking the Maroochydore river at Cotton Tree.

Unfortunately while caught up in the excitement of a week away at the always sunny Sunshine Coast we forgot to plan for one very important thing – RAIN.

…Oceans…
…full…
…of it….

The whole week was pretty much washed out but that didn’t stop us from having heaps of fun as a family. We still managed to get out and about taking full advantage of the fleeting moments of sunshine whenever we could.

There was plenty of bucket and spade fun down at the beach, a trip to the local aquatic centre and lots of running around at the park across the road. We even hired a boat and spent an hour exploring the Maroochydore river. Ted didn’t really know what to make of his first boat ride and got a little restless at having his play area restricted. Along with Michelle’s parents, we took Ted to the Ginger Factory where Ted enjoyed another first – a ride on a steam train. He was fascinated at first but got bored quickly. Not to worry though, he was completely fascinated with some mechanical ‘All Blacks’ doing the Haka at the Overboard attraction. He couldn’t stop mimicking them, bowing up and down doing the ‘Haka’ all day long.

Michelle – being the awesome mum that she is – planned plenty of wet weather activities to keep Ted – and of course us – happy. We enjoyed coffees at the ‘Plaza’, McDonalds and the Mooloolaba Esplanade. And at home in between playing in the makeshift cubby house / fort, we read books to Ted – over and over and over – teaching him all the sounds that his favourite animals make. And one day we ventured down to KidZone – an indoor playground – where Ted nearly wet himself with excitement.

Michelle’s parents stayed with us a few days at the tail end of the week and graciously looked after Ted letting Michelle and me and enjoy a few outings together. We went and saw Hugo one night and the next we enjoyed a romantic dinner at the Spirit House. Enjoying ourselves thoroughly both times.

While it would have been easy to have moped and moaned about all the rain on our week away, as a team we managed to make the most of our situation and ended up having the greatest, relaxing week away.

I can’t wait for our next family holiday.

Ms Moo

Filed under: At home in Australia

As I’ve said many times before, two posts is my usual run on stickfly.com (old or new) before I take my hiatus… so here goes. Post two.

We are lucky enough to live in a house backing on to a large paddock with four cows in it. For those of you who missed Ben’s earlier snap of Ms Moo, here goes –

Every day or so Ms Moo or one of her mates will stick their heads over the fence to say g’day … or “moo” as it is usually, and munch on our banana trees.

Ted is doing his best to confuse the poor cows as, to him, everything with four legs is “doggie”. But I don’t think Ms Moo minds…

The Breakfast Club

Filed under: At home in Australia

It was only last year that I finally watched the movie – “The Breakfast Club“. As it turns out, it really has nothing to do with breakfast and can only be enjoyed by those who saw it when it came out. In short, it’s got nothing to do with Terminators or Arnold so go put it back on the shelf if you thought otherwise.

I can only assume that the Thomases and Johnsens have not seen the movie either, as if they had, rather than enjoying delicious morning dishes and the best coffee this side of Chinook St. we’d be having our semi-regular breakfast catchups crammed under school room tidy trays serving out detention.

The Thomas family hosted today’s event, transforming their kitchen into an omelette station, with chef Kristy making our delicious parcels to order. Of course, I had cheese, capsicum, ham, shallots and the pièce de résistance – hot chilli.

It was lovely to catch up with the Johnsens and more lovely that I finally got to meet little baby Abigail.

A gem

Filed under: At home in Australia

Five years ago today we were in our flat in Chiswick, London mourning the sudden and desperately tragic loss of our dear friend Cath. We were completely lost, mindlessly opening a bottle of bubbly in our fridge to numb the pain and stop the thoughts. A weird thing to do, but hey, that’s what we did. Today, we share a glass while we reflect on a the way-too-short life of a gem who lit up our lives. We won’t ever forget you.

Saint Helen

Filed under: At home in Australia | Tagged:

We were lucky enough to spend an evening with our Scottish friend Helen when she had a few hours in Brisbane last Tuesday. Along with our friends Andrew and Louise, we started the evening at That Thai on Racecourse Rd and reminisced about the many good times we all shared together in London. I always love listening to Helen when she talks, she makes me feel at ease and I love her wicked laugh.

As Andrew and Louise are Racecourse road locals they took us down to Milany, the gelato place owned by Tatiana Grigorieva – the pole vaulter – and her husband. It was absolutely fantastic. I highly recommend popping along their for a cold treat next time you’re in the vicinity.

Sadly the evening ended way to early and we said goodbye to Helen not knowing the next time we’ll see her again.