A life less ordinary What started out as 12months in Sydney has turned into a great adventure - taking in Australia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and now 'home' in Dubai.

After we got back from Noosa we’ve been pretty busy, my event is in 10 days so work is ramping up for me and I can’t wait to get out on site. I’m excited and nervous, all at the same time!! Daire says he’s ‘busy’ at home most but goodness knows what he’s doing!!! Jokes!! First few weeks in Feb and the weather has been pretty dia but we woke on Saturday morning (after Friday night swim and Sailor’s Thai) to particularly bad weather. After a short text we had organised for 12 or so to come over and spent the morning pottering and getting food in (you know what we’re like). An afternoon of drinking, eating and laughter ensued followed by a trip to the pub to wet James Parnel’s new baby daughter’s head! It was one of those great short notice things – lots of fun! Sunday we went and had a nice breakfast and then chilled in the park. A couple of months ago we had booked an outdoor cinema at Mrs Mcquaries Chair, we were due to see broken embraces. Typically the rain started threatening to ruin our evening but we got there and the atmosphere was great, we picked our spot and went and found some cheese and red wine before we sat down to watch the screen rise from it’s vertical position laying parallel with the water into horizontal. With the city, Opera House and Bridge in the background it was fab. Great movie too!!! Daire’s training is going well and he had a time trial at AFL training on Wednesday night – even brought a ball home! We went for a lovely meal on Thursday night at A Tavola on Victoria street, it was lush!!! Stuart and Gail arrived last Friday and we went for dinner at McMahon’s point at Delicado after leaving 2 inquisitive young ladies and a screaming baby boy with their nanny. Ben was our host for the evening at the small tapas restaurant. We were apparently in the best place as a storm went over Sydney and the heavens opened, flooding any low areas and causing roofs to fall in all over the city! Saturday was a slow start but Daire and I went for a run in the rain, made breakfast and generally chilled out at home as the weather was up and down. Saturday night we went over to Manly for dinner with Stuart and Gail and their friends Ed, Laura, Scarlett and Chris at Hugo’s, lots of food and wine followed and 5 of us even made it to a little underground bar for a little dance until the heat pushed us out! Got the last ferry home, the harbour was like a mirror. So still. Sunday (Happy 14th February day) we watched 6 nations rugby in bed before Daire made me French bread with strawberries, mint and maple syrup YUMMY. Back in bed with a bucks fizz we watched another 6 nations rugby game!! Weather still up and down but we decided to do the Spit Bridge to Manly walk. It turned out to be a longer and tougher but better walk than we imagined and we got on Manly beach after 3.5hours to hit the beach/sea. The waves were just massive and there was a rip but completely refreshing....tired and hungry we decide to hit the ‘Ribs and Rump’ restaurant to find it was fully booked for Valentines!!! Daire, as you can imagine found this terribly funny and thought typified the Australian Culture! Ate and ferried home to chill and have an early night. This week so far has seen us spend more time with Stuart, Gail and the children and work even longer and harder than previously.....hope all is OK where you are?? Our post card wall is looking pretty sparse so please send us one through to let us know what you’re up to! Heading to the Hunter this weekend so until next time folks.....