So...it’s been a few weeks since we last updated you on our life down under with our witty and skilfully written prose so I thought it was time about time to subject you to more!!
Basics:
1. It's getting hotter. The other weekend it reached 40 degrees in the city and when we went out west for Steve’s 40th birthday (that’s Ken’s brother-in-law) the gauge in the car went up to 44 degrees!!! It was like being in an oven, we drove out west in Ken’s car (a convertible) and it was like being blown by a really hot hairdryer for like 30 minutes! It hasn’t been that hot since then but it has been great at the weekends and we’re having to slap the old cream on whenever we leave the apartment.
2. It’s almost Christmas. Getting super excited about Dad and Charlotte coming over for two weeks – have a full itinerary planned and today we bought a little tree and some decs to make the place a little Christmassy! It’s so weird walking around the shops in shorts and a vest top, buying ice cream and meat for the BBQ whilst ‘Santa Clause is coming to town’ is playing in the background!! Monday night it was pretty nippy here (around 22 degrees) so we went to the Lord Dudley which is an olde English pub and wrote Christmas cards – I posted some this week so let us know when they start arriving. Anyway, I think that got us in the Christmas spirit. I know we will both miss spending time with our families and friends over the next few weeks, believe me if we could have you all here in a flash WE WOULD!!!
3. Work is going well for both of us. Daire is busy with Wine Chap and the other stuff (??!) whilst I’m enjoying my job. The people I work with are really nice, one of the girls who started the same day as me is preggers and it’s our Christmas ‘do’ on Friday so lots going on. We have to dress up for the ‘do’ the theme is Nautical – the winner gets a trip for 2 to Fiji...my team are going as pirates so I was making swords from cardboard and tinfoil last week! Will be sure to post pics in a couple of weeks of that beauty. It’s so nice not working at the weekends or the evenings – I can’t imagine how I managed to fit everything in before or even trying to do that here! Totally living for the weekends.
So that covers the basics – what else? Oh we saw Jose and Lucy when they came to Sydney – he is still as raucous as ever and we were reminiscing about last year’s Christmas party in Cole Street! We met some of his mates who live in Sydney so we have met up with them since then. It was Cheryl’s birthday dinner last weekend so we joined her and Ross and around 14 other people for a nice meal and drunken debauchery in Kings Cross afterwards. Was really fun, and then the next day we went to Bondi to play Volley Ball on the beach – it’s the BEST hangover cure! There are also free markets and festivals so we went to Glebe a couple of weeks ago, was cool but similar stalls to Newtown festival so we went with Ken and Sam over to Watsons point with wine and beers for last afternoon beach/drinks and fish which was so relaxing. We also went to Prymont farmers market yesterday which has some amazing food stalls for really reasonable cash. We had shanghai Dumplings for breakfast then bought picnic stuff and some Macadamia nut Christmas pudding for Christmas day!
Typically Daire has been sourcing out all the best places to drink in Sydney and Friday night was no exception. The Local Tap in Darlinghurst is a beer drinkers heaven – over 20 beers on tap and more in bottles. The boys worked their way through over 2 different beers doing taster selections and all sorts! We have also been to a couple of gigs in the opera house (not the main hall I hasten to add) but in the Playhouse and Studio one, seeing Camille O’Sullivan (singer) and Daniel Kitson (comedian), both areas are amazing venues and a beer in the opera bar overlooking the Harbour bridge always hits you with a realisation stick of where we are!
Right, I think that just about covers everything....we are meeting so many people all the time so you’ll see lots of new faces in pictures but nothing is a replacement for the people we have left back in the UK and Ireland, we promise!!! J Next weekend we are going to Wellington in New Zealand to see Daire’s Uncle Noel and his cousins, I am really excited. We have never been to New Zealand and have no idea what to expect so watch this space for an update!
