And 1st April, almost as casually as Autumn is arriving in Sydney so Terry touches down. Effortlessly dressed in jeans, shirt and sporting the Ray Bans –although the clincher was really the loafers minus socks! I LJ managed to catch a quick hello before heading off to the office and handing over to Tour Guide Gilmore. Thankfully Terry wasn’t feeling like a duck out of water tucking into a good ol’ fry up Ozzie style (didn’t even realise they fry stuff over here) to help sustain him on walk to Circular Quay via the Opera House, Botanical Gardens, Woolloomooloo and the ‘funboy’ streets of Potts Point! After a celebratory beer at the Opera house, they were straight on a ferry to Watsons Bay for a long lunch of white wine, fish and chips at Doyles topped off with a cool ice cream on the bus home. LJ met a panda eyed Terry and Daire for a drink on Victoria street before heading home for saussies on the bbq and chilled eve.
Good Friday and I was finally able to stretch my organising arm getting the boys up and to Coogee by 11am – although Daire and I religiously ‘cream’ from head to toe when we know we’re heading to the beach and we do it before we leave the house. Upon offering our ‘cream’ to Terry his almost too immediate response was ‘got anything under 30??’!! Needless to say, Terry went without (sun) protection. So, in Coogee we start the coast walk towards Bondi taking in the beautiful bays on the way, the sun was shining despite it being a little windy. We stopped off at Bronte for brunch before heading off again and hitting Bondi. The boys head straight for the sea whilst I laid and got sand whipped, after a walk a few hours of chilling was definitely required! BEER O’CLOCK....happy hour beers and wine consumed in the Bondi Pavilion and last bit of sun before heading back to Kings Cross...the boys hit the bar whilst I got and purchase the fish, loaves and water for our Good Friday Feast AKA a whole Baramundi and salad with a few bottles of Verdhelo, all in all pretty low key (except Terry’s sun burn) in anticipation for Saturday’s Horse Racing!
Daire and I were up pretty early and went for a run, Ken came over and we did a BBQ breakfast preceded by fruit, granola and yoghurt on the terrace – it was so hot out. The boys finally got ready and after much debate all decided to wear Jackets...including Terry who only had the White Miami-vice linen jacket Stuart had had made for him in Hong Kong for the 7’s!! Check out the pictures – it complimented his rosy face so well!! After no notable wins and copious beers at the races we came back into the city and went to our favourite pizza place in Surry Hills ‘Pizza e Birra’ for long slow dinner that ended in a very pissed Laura, a tired Ken and a geed up Daire and Cherry ready to take on King Cross!! Alas, I was tucked up by 10pm woken only by Daire at around midnight although he didn’t come to bed (he wanted to watch some sport apparently) so when I woke at 4am he was passed out on the sofa (not his best look) after managing to get him into bed and him having no idea where Terry was I nipped to the loo for a pre 2nd sleep pee. Now, Terry had this funny annoying cough the whole time he was in Sydney and just as I was sat contemplating sleep I heard said annoying cough....I picked up the intercom and said ‘Terry’, ‘yes, it’s me’ he said. I think he said I was like his mum or something when he finally got up to the apartment. No comment!!!! See what happened to him on face book.
Sunday was a slow, slow start – given that I had had 12 hours sleep got up and went and got the papers and coffees for the boys and made BLT all round. We got out around 12noon and headed to Balmain on the ferry with a map and a list of recommended bar/pubs/hotels! We have wanted to explore the area for a while and there was an article in Time Out so we pretty much followed it around, we went to 6 or 7 different bars all except the last were really lovely so we’ll definitely head over there again. Finally a bit beered out at 6pm we jumped into a cab over to Darlinghurst to a comedy night we’d seen advertised at the Local Tap House (yes more beer), Ken and Alex joined us for a few crap warm acts and really funny fat main act. Completely bushed we headed home and bed.
Bank Holiday Monday we hired a car and took a trip up the Northern Beaches, the weather was not great and the sun hardly shone but it was warm and great to finally go North of Manly and see Queenscliff, Freshwater , Deewhy beaches and a few more. We then finally coming back into the city and stopped at Balmoral for a coffee and wine for dinner. Back in good time Daire headed off to AFL training and I made a seafood risotto with Tel.
Tuesday and I was back to work, but the boys headed to Readleaf beach/pool, lunch and a beef in the sheaf (that I think knocked them both out) but they managed to get it together to meet the brother of Terry’s friend. Paul, has a perfect English accent but has been in Australia for 20 odd years – he has some interesting stories too. Great new person to meet over here! Finally, on Terry’s penultimate day in Paradise they went to the Hunter with an organised trip – an up at 6am and back at 6pm type of trip! Unsurprisingly they were a little pissed by the time I met them for dinner – but they had bought some nice wine so happy days!!
Terry’s last day was spent swimming, buying boomerangs and packing in 60 seconds before heading off to the airport. That night Daire went training and I went for farewell drinks from Reed Travel exhibitions as my 6 month contract was finally over (sniff sniff). Great eve with Rebecca and Felicity.
Finally a day of not drinking, and I went straight to the gym for a spin class to purge my system of all the booze I had consumed over the previous week, cleaned the apartment to get the ‘chores’ out the way and ran errands to the shops etc. In the evening I made seafood linguini cooked in a bag as Daire (pasta=fuel) had an AFL game the following day. Great day just pottering about but was shattered so fell into bed.
Saturday and Daire got up to get ready for the game and headed off early doors with his homemade chicken sarnies in his bag, his game was way out west in Penrith (on the way to the Blue Mountains) so after a shoe shopping trip to Bondi Junction I headed up to meet him and go onto the Blue Mountains. Unlike last time when we carried our clothes around with us, this time we checked into a nice little boutique style hotel near Echo Point called Lilianfels. We hit the pool and spa almost immediately and chilled to the max, a 2 minute walk took us to a restaurant next door for dinner and then an after dinner drink in the hotel lounge that felt like your front room but was full of people also listening to the pianist/singer. The next morning we swam again and headed out for breakfast at the Blue Cafe –YUMMMY! We then hiked down the Giant Staircase and around the Three Sisters then got a ride up the steepest railway in Australia and back to the hotel to collect our cases and head to town. Picking up a bottle of vino and a ham and pea soup we boarded our train back to Sydney. Back home, fajitas for supper and preparing for day one of the new job.
