Eek! Delayed post! Been having a...whaaaaale of a time...

Phew, been busy busy as usual! My weekend started with a lovely surprise from Jo, flowers delivered to work with a note saying "Hope your having a great day, and looking forward to the weekend" - well how gosh darn sweet is that! And they were a beautiful bunch too, orange roses, iris's and oriental lilies - stunning, as you can see. Only that we discovered that night that we do not own any proper sized vases!! So i had to separate them into three smaller bunches so they would fit into the little ones we had.






On Saturday we arose to bright and early to go whale watching - and what a beautiful day for it too! Sunny, warm, not a cloud in the sky! Our boat was running late though, and then the pick-up spot changed too, which was a bit of a fiasco...but they organised themselves in the end, and away we went. We saw the humpback whales out and about, and they were beautiful and graceful and it really was moving to see these animals that we almost completely destroyed - i hope by the time my kids are my age, they will still be around to see.

Here i am with the Opera House in the background!

Great shot by Jo - Opera House and Harbour Bridge all in one!

One of the 'tall ship' replica's

Errrr...well you can sort of see a whale there...!!

As you can see, we had a whale of a time...yes, i believed that joke was so good i had to use it twice.

On Sunday we went out to brunch in a little cafe in Erskineville which had sensational french toast, and then i spent a rainy afternoon watching Law and Order: SVU, which is my new favourite show for some reason...that night Jo and I watched a great little doco called Man on Wire, about Philippe Petit, the famous French high-wire walker, who is famous for one stunt in particular - he walked on a wire between the twin towers in NYC in the early 70s...the documentary is about how he actually orchestrated the whole thing, it was great! I can't believe they got away with it, but they did! Only in the 70s eh...

Last night we went out to a great Indian dinner in Glebe with David and Mel, but the highlight of the evening was really our dessert - we went to San Churro, this Spanish chocolate place where i had this plate of delicious churro's - Spanish doughnuts - dipped in melted milk chocolate...yummmmm!

My churros and chocolate!

Up to the third Potter - Prisoner of Azkaban - my absolute favourite i think! Off to keep reading...

Mid-week quickie...

What have i been doing this week?? It's been super busy at work, very hectic but in a good way i suppose! As long as the hectic-ness doesn't follow me home. Monday night an old favourite was playing on Foxtel - Captain Corelli's Mandolin. So i had to watch that. Reminded me of life in the Mediterranean and i missed it instantly. Glorious sunny days, swimming, eating, sleeping, walking the cobbled, ruined streets and loving every beautiful moment.



On Tuesday Sonali and I went to see Harry Potter (yes, yes second time for me, i know...) and i loved it again but she says she was disappointed because they change some things from the book. But that doesn't bother me too much at all really, i think i just expect it to be the case and as long as the essence of the books are there, i guess you have to understand that they can't include everything, and sometimes they have to change things too.



Wednesday was dinner with my parents, and a very lovely chicken and tortellini soup it was. Jo had two whole bowls in fact, but he was pretty stuffed afterwards, hee.



And tonight i have just gotten back from seeing the movie Coco avant Chanel with Romina, and we just loved it! The romance, the passion, and of course the beginnings of what became an empire - the movie title itself means Coco before Chanel, and the story is about her life before she became the famous designer, how the path led her to be who she was, and particularly about her relationship with the love of her life, Boy. Of all the expensive designers i love and can't afford, Chanel is by far my favourite and always has been, for it's class and elegance and simplicity. So i really enjoyed this one!



Another busy weekend coming up, so i hope the weather will hold out! Being out in the sun has been wonderful. And now, Jo has a documentary about the moon landing on which is quite interesting, so I'm going to go watch.

Round-up of a perfectly gorgeous Sydney winter weekend

So how about this weather? Warm, sunny and most importantly - long-lasting! This whole weekend has been so lovely you can't help but want to be outside.



We started out weekend by having a delicious dinner cooked by me (partially) and Romina (mostly) at their place on Friday night. In keeping with the current trend of re-naming all great super-couples (TomKat, Brangalina etc), we've christened Romina and Daniel 'Romaniel', which i think works superbly. On the train back to their place, Romina and i spotted a man wearing a big, red hat, which gave us some amusement because you don't often see a man wearing a big, red hat on the train after all. "Maybe he's a pimp," she said to me. "Maybe he's a Jazz Musician!" I replied, thrilled at the thought without knowing why.




We cooked up a delicious chicken, mushroom and brandy pasta and had a great time exchanging gossip from the last three weeks since we have been away. Although i was somewhat disappointed that the fabled matching monkey pyjama pants failed to make an appearance - maybe next time, Romaniel?

Romina, Daniel and Jo enjoying their dinner (which we slaved over, right Rom?)

Cute cupcakes for dessert!

Saturday dawned bright and beautiful, and we dashed over to Maria and Peter's to see Jack, who I've missed terribly since we've been away! The little chicken has grown, and has some new words, and was pleased to see me i think, but then again he was also pleased to see the ducks at the park, so who knows really. Still, the football-turned-kiwi toy was a big hit, and we enjoyed our lunch with them and playing ball with all the kids in the park - it was the perfect afternoon for it. I do have pictures, which i will post later in the week.




From there, we dashed over to pick up DT, otherwise known as Turnsie, and frantically rushed home to watch the Bledisloe Cup (we missed a bit, but after a few beers no one remembered that). Alas, Australia was defeated once more by the All Blacks. We'll get those pesky kiwi's next time...




Turnsie and I had a great time browsing youtube for old NRL ads from the 80s and early 90s (the glory age of footy i call it), before he and Jo headed out to town to catch up with some friends, and I watched Harry Potter! Goblet of Fire, for those interested.



Today we headed to Balmoral for brunch with my bestie Leah and her boyfriend Chris. She is housesitting there at the moment, so we brunched (and then lunched!) on the balcony, looking out over the trees and right through to the beach and marina, which was lovely. We had poached eggs and bacon, pancakes with warmed strawberries and maple syrup, and croissants with jam...so yummy. Leah called her kitchen one of 'perfection' for the food it delivered, a description i will allow her even though she was 15 minutes late to her OWN brunch because she'd been shopping, leaving us stranded and confused as to whether we were even at the right house. The garden was more like a forest (a haven for spiders...) and the house itself looked like it had been plucked from Mediterranean Europe - "...are we in the South of France...?" Jo quipped.

Me and the lovely Leah


View from the balcony



Moi

We spent most of the day there in the end, and it was, as always, full of insightful, hilarious conversation and banter that probably only our group would find even remotely interesting (and is, in my opinion, what makes it so special).

But! We had to rush off again by mid-afternoon because we were off to the movies to see The Proposal, which I've been wanting to see for awhile, and which i completely enjoyed! In fact i think Sandra Bullock is better at comedy than she is at anything else really.

Back home now, and our wonderful weekend is almost over....another week ahead, but probably time to fit in some TV before that, so I'm off.

Hi, my name is Nell and i'm a Harry Potter addict...

Whenever a new Harry Potter movie comes out, i find myself quickly overtaken by Potter fever - that madness that grabs a hold of me every now and then and forces me to get re-acquainted with my old pals (cause they DO feel like old pals!) Harry, Ron and Hermione. I re-read all the books (yes, right from the beginning), re-watch all the movies and scour the Internet for anything potter-related i may not have stumbled across yet in the last decade.

A decade! It's remarkable really. A whole generation has grown up with Harry Potter.

In fact when i think about it, i can't believe how many times I've fallen in love with this series over and over again in the last ten years. This sounds completely cheesy i know, but honestly, when i need a comfort book, i pull out my potters and feel immediately happy. If i have nothing else i feel like reading, i can pluck one of them off my shelf and am completely content to pick a random page and start reading. That familiarity is one of the things i love best in fact, and i can't tell you how many times these books have saved me from feeling utterly depressed about something or other in my life. Immersing myself in the world of Hogwarts always makes everything better, and i say that ain't a bad thing. Kinda like playing your favourite song when you're feeling like crap really.

So did i like the sixth movie? Need you really ask? Of course i loved it. Better than the others definitely, and filled with funny, sweet, scary, moving moments. If you know me, you know i love Ron and Hermione and always championed them getting together in the end, so i squealed like a teenager at all the hilarious moments between them in this movie :)

And that's my I Love Harry Potter post. Someone turn that into a T.Shirt for me please. I'm off to read Philosopher's Stone for the hundredth time.

Bonfires and back to work...

Well. We're back to the daily grind. Work the last two days has been...tiring. When you're used to getting out of bed at 10, doing very little most of the day and ending up back in your pyjama's by 5, it's a rude shock to the system to be up and at work by 8.30am.

Saturday was out last full day in New Zealand. Since we will not be able to be there for Christmas, Jo's mum arranged a delicious "Christmas Lunch" for all of us that day, with a huge roast chicken, stuffing, cranberry sauce and even Christmas crackers! It was such a yummy meal, my stomach was enormous by the end of it, but i couldn't stop eating!

Kayla, me and Rochelle at lunch

My New Zealand stout, mmmmm

After our late lunch, we decided to head down to the beach to make up a bonfire (which you are not allowed to do on the beaches here in Oz, and so was a huge novelty for me) and toast some marshmallows! It was such a lovely evening, and we were treated to the most glorious sunset, it was a wonderful way to end our wonderful holiday!

Jo building the bonfire!

Jo and I and some funny kiddies...

The gorgeous Lauren with not one but TWO marshmallows in her grips!

Me toasting my marshmallow, yum yum

Sunset by the beach

Our little bonfire!

Sitting around telling tall tales!

Me with a brilliant sunset

Jump for my love (Hugh Grant in Love, Actually anyone? Ooh, me, me!)

Amazing.

We got back and found even more dessert waiting for us, so we burst some crackers, continued to stuff ourselves silly and were treated to Jacob doing a "Pie in the face", which i will save for another post i think, as it deserves one all to itself!

That night Rochelle and I headed out to one of her friend's house for a birthday/girlie night, and it was nice to meet some of the other women of Westport! They were all lovely and made me feel very welcome. Rochelle got her face all made up and she looked beautiful! It was a fun night out. She dropped me back home later and i had to pack my suitcase, something i detest doing once the holiday is actually over, and then we took a look at our bonfire photos, which made us feel very sad because it was such a perfectly lovely time that we felt even sorrier to be leaving!

But it was to bed soon enough, because we had an early rise in the morning, for the long drive to Christchurch and the airport for our flight home. It's never nice to say goodbye of course, but especially to the children who i have really come to love! But we will be seeing Jo's mum soon enough when she arrive for a visit at the end of August, and i hope Rochelle and Matthew and the kids will come as see us soon too!

Our flight back was uneventful, except that i watched the movie The Boat that Rocked, which was excellent, if a bit long. I actually got teary a couple of times, which was totally unexpected!

And now, we are straight back into it, with work, and our social calender filling up quickly as always. Dinner with Mum, Dad, Ashley, Andrew and her friend Cathy last night was...rowdy! Great to see everyone of course. Tomorrow night i am off to see the new Harry Potter movie on opening night as per tradition with Daniel and Romina, exciting! And then another busy weekend coming up.

When can we go on another holiday Jo?

One last post from New Zealand!

It's been a very busy few days, so I'll quickly try to recount what we've been up to! First up, we took a day trip up north to Karamea, which is only a tiny town, but is right on the coast and has lots of beautiful scenery and walks to take in, so we thought we'd check it out. It took about an hour and a half to drive there, but it was such a beautiful, sunny day that we were able to stop several times along the coast just to marvel at how gorgeous it was!

Along the coast towards Karamea

You have to drive over a mountain pass to get there, and the road is very windy (which Jo says is normal here on the coast, and right through New Zealand actually, but which made me a little sick eventually!) As you can see below, it is basically forest all the way.

Over the mountain pass

We drove through Karamea and continued along the coastline for about 15 or 20 minutes, until we got to the beginning of the Heaphy Track, which was our final destination! The Heaphy Track goes from Karamea to Nelson, and takes two or three days to hike in total, but we thought we would walk a part of it because it's such a pretty walk to do. We had packed some lunch so before we started off we ate up at the nearby beach and river.

River at the start of the Heaphy Track

Jo frolicking on the beach

At the beach

After lunch we started along the Heaphy Track...

One of the first thing we came across was a swing bridge across a river. The other side led into a fern gully, which was really pretty, and very cool compared to the warm sun outside!

The swing bridge

Jo amongst the ferns

We stumbled across a clearing and a pretty stream

By the time out walk was over, it was late afternoon and we decided to head back. It was good timing because we were able to catch the sun setting over the sea - beautiful!

Jo getting some snaps....

Here's one of them....

Moi

Coastline in the sunset!

It was a wonderful day out, and luckily for us the sun has stayed with us these last few days! On Wednesday we drove up the mountains nearby Jo's parents house and took in some more lovely views.

View over Waimangaroa

We stumbled across The Mask on our way up the mountain...

...and tested out our artistic ability with these shots!

Back home, Jo's mum and I spent the afternoon in the kitchen busily preparing for a small birthday party we were having that night for Jo, Jacob and Lauren - they are all born withing a month or two of each other, and we're never here to celebrate together! So we thought we'd take advantage of us all being here and have a joint party for their birthdays. It ended up being a great evening, i made pizza's, and some desserts, and Jo's mum put on a great spread for us. She has also arranged a cake with some special icing on it, which had a picture of the birthday trio and a message saying "Birthday Buddies - Jacob, Jo and Lauren", which was very cute, and was a big hit.

Some berry tarts i made!

Jacob, Jo and Lauren with their special birthday cake

The children were at their giddy best of course - we got having a bit of a sing-a-long, because for some reason i started singing that song "She's a Lady" by Tom Jones, and Lauren immediately started mimicking me which was hilarious, and then so did Jacob, and before long we were all dancing around singing it. Then Jacob and I did a stunning rendition of "Love Me Do", to which he knows all the words of course, and his special request, the yellow brick road song from the Wizard of Oz, which we bought them on DVD and which they have been watching incessantly ever since.

The kiddies and I

Yesterday was another lovely day, so Rochelle and I headed into Westport for some lunch. We had a wonderful chat about everything under the sun, it's been really great getting to know her better because she is such a good person, and I've really enjoyed being able to have some great chats together. It was her friends birthday that day too, so we picked up gifts and we over to see her. She had made some delicious raspberry cheesecake which we indulged in, and then we were off again to sit by the harbour and talk some more.



Jo and Matthew had been playing golf all afternoon, and they brought back fish and chips for everyone for dinner, after which the children played with Uncle Jo by having him lie down near the couch so they could jump from the couch right over him - i was sure some sort of accident would ensue, or at least one of them throwing up after all the food we'd just ate! But nope, none of that happened, and apart from Jo ending up with a few bruises, a good time was had by all!




Our evenings, of course, have been spent watching movies and eating junk food with Matthew and Rochelle - I'm sure I've put on ten kilos since I've been here. Since my last blog we've watched The Last King of Scotland, Gone Baby Gone (which has an ending that will definitely leave you debating and questioning things in your head long afterwards), 28 Days Later and it's sequel, 28 Weeks Later (which left me sleepless that night!), and an old family favourite, Back to the Future, which always makes us laugh. I've also just finished an AMAZING book that you should all go and read, called Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. It's about a boy who lost his father in the twin towers on September 11, and how he copes with that loss. It's funny and heartbreaking and left me laughing and crying at the same time - such a moving book.



I'd better be off - we're having a Christmas in July dinner late lunch today since we won't be here at Christmas this year, and then off to the beach for a bonfire and marshmallows! Then back here for more dessert, plus i have to pack, and it's an early start back to Christchurch tomorrow morning...so i will skedaddle and report all of those things back to you tomorrow night when I'm back in Sydney. I can't believe how quickly this two weeks has flown, we've had such an amazing time with Jo's family, who are such lovely people, and we'll miss them when we return! Can't wait till we're back in February, will be great to be here in the summer.

Here comes the sun, little darling...

After a few days of rain and cold weather, the sun came out this afternoon! That deserves a gosh darn Hallelujah if you ask me. We went into town today to pick out some more movies, have lunch and to get supplies for a little party we are having tomorrow (more on that after the event though...), and when we care out the weather was so fine that i decided to take a little walk and enjoy it, after being cooped up indoors! This afternoon i watched the movie Flyboys, which i rather enjoyed, before Jo's Dad arrived from Christchurch and we all had dinner together.



Yesterday it poured with rain, but we still ventured out to Granity to go to an eccentric cafe there called Drifters, where i must tell you, the food was excellent! I know i sound surprised, but honestly, Granity is a tiny town, so i can't say i was expecting all that much. I was pleasantly surprised though, i had the seafood chowder and some kumera chips and it was delicious. Jo had a double beef and cheese burger which was so enormous i wasn't sure how he was going to fit it into his mouth, but of course he managed....



Afterwards we stopped by Matthew and Rochelle's, where Jacob went a bit cuckoo (must have been his fizzy drink) and what followed has turned out to be my favourite 'Jacob' quote so far - we brought the kids The Wizard of Oz, so he has been watching it and was telling us how the scarecrow needed a brain, the tin man needed a heart and so on. He proceeded to get the bizarre idea of stuffing bits of clothing down his pants which he decided would be his "brains" (i assure you this wasn't as bad in reality as it sounds when i write it down), and in a moment of total cuckoo-ness tried hard to convince Jo to taste his brains "Taste them Uncle Jo, taste them! It's OK, they taste like chicken!" To which we all burst out laughing, because really, what else can you do to a line like that? My brains taste like chicken. I love kids, i really do. Later we went back after the kids went to bed and watched an old Kevin Costner baseball movie, Field of Dreams, which Matthew and Jo assured me was a classic - when i asked whether it was a movie completely about baseball, or whether baseball just featured in the movie, Matthew waved away the question as if it were mere semantics (which i took as a bad sign), and told me to simply sit back and "enjoy the magic". Hilarious. I did enjoy it in the end though!




They've also been busy assembling a home made something-or-other for Matthew's guitar, some sort of amp pedal board thingy that results in being able to make the guitar take on different sounds, quite cool but beyond my musical comprehension.



Here they composing a work of utter genius I'm sure, as well as some other pics...

Kitty languishing by the fire


Funny body-less man with a stump at Drifters cafe - eccentric, i told you!

Jacob and I and the infamous fizzy drink that created chaos later

Rochelle, Matthew, Jacob and Lauren