Explore.Dream.Discover 2012

Oz Pt1- Sydney with the Masters - 29th May - 5th June 2012

AUSTRALIA | Tuesday, 29 May 2012 | Views [668]

What is there to not like about sydney (apart from the ridiculously high prices). We have enjoyed great art galleries and exhibitions, amazing views of sydney harbour, the bridge and the opera house.. More importantly though, it is the home of the masters family & the stylian family. We were greeted at the airport by trudy & angelo and it was greet to see to familiar faces after almost 4months without. We were made to feel at home straight away and a delicious roast lamb with all the trimmings was our first delicious homecooked meal. We were also taken on a tour around the local area and enjoyed seeing where Katie, our sister-in-law had been to school, had her 21st, engagement and wedding party, where she use to go out 'dancing' and lots more. Angelo is a great driver (thank god as he is a teaching instructor) and trudy a brilliant tour guide. We had a great little picnic by the beach and then went for a nice walk along the coast. Oresti and I went on a little further and noticed that we were being filmed. One of the crew members then approached us asking for permission to use the footage in a new show called The Shire, a bit like 'The only way is essex'. I told the man that i was a professional and that i normally get paid for work like this back home but that on this occassion it would be for free. We offered to do some more camera angles and he obviously couldnt refuse such talent. Oresti's first appearance infront of the camera was great, he's a natural!!The follwing day oresti & i headed into sydney centre. We enjoyed the art gallery & botanical gardens. We met up with ben (katies brother) for yummy pizza, duck with hoisin sauce & kangaroo. Both great. The following day we hit the centre again and this time went to the gallery of contempory art. We saw an amazing film called 'the clock'. It is apparently the most complex film ever made. It is 24 hours long and is made up of snippets from other films, old and new that make reference to the time. What makes it more interesting is that whatever the time in real life was the time showing in the film, either with the snippet showing a clock or the actor/actress saying the time. We then met crazy cousin louisa and went to china town to eat huge portions of tasty food. Arriving back at the Masters residence i was overjoyed to see a beautiful looking orange and poppy seed sponge cake ready to be eaten. We all stayed up until 1am eating this beautiful cake with orange sauce and vanilla ice cream.Oresti and Angelo also hit the bottle of Drambuie which was amusing. What a day!!The next day oresti went for a run with ben and linda while i took part in a fun scavenger hunt with the kids led by Trudy. I learnt a lot about nature during the hunt thanks to trudy and the children.That night we were treated to angelos delicious BBQ where we ate steaks, octopus and heaps of salads and carbs. We were licking our lips for hours afterwards. On monday we headed back into the city and went on a tour of Susanah's Place, a row of four cottages restored to how people would have lived in them over the decades. We enjoyed that, especially seeing old ice boxes that looked like wooden fridges, old settees and the old outside toilets. We then met up with Louisa and went to her parent's home. Aunty Toulla cooked a very tasty roast and we were given lots of tips of what to do along our east coast road trip. Uncle George regularly hung out at the best surfers beaches and so recommended where to go and where to avoid. We left with their road map book, a detailed description of our drive and a full belly each. It was great to spend the evening with them. Somehow, during the past week trudy and I found time to watch 3 movies. A movie night (with popcorn) was on my 'wish list' and we somehow managed three of these nights.The 'monster in law' which had me in stitches and 'Notting Hill' always makes me giggle. I can't remember the third. I loved watching movies with Trudy!! We have had a great week in Sydney thanks to the masters family and the stylian family. We have been looked after so well. It's going to be sad saying goodbye but are really looking forward to our 2 night return in July!!A great time with great people. Thank you so much xx

Tags: city