Family time

17 March 2023, 36 degrees – Welcome to Sydney!

Here we are in Ashfield, Sydney, with Jen, Vince, Oisìn and Flynn…….so happy to be here.

Leaving home and closing up the house for ten weeks has been a bit daunting but Kate and Ian are keeping an eye on it. Chris and John delivered us to the airport and the adventure began on Friday morning 17 March.

Auckland airport was an eye-opener, thank goodness our bags had been checked all the way through from Nelson to Sydney because it took us close to 90 minutes to go through from a line-up outside the shops and a very long queuing race just to be able to scan boarding passes, another queuing race to scan passports then finally through to the baggage x-rays where only one carousel was working so that was the cause of the bottleneck.

And then they pulled Pete aside and went through his backpack with a fine-tooth comb, no doubt because of all his electrical cords and things! Either that or he just looked really suspicious?

Qantas wasn’t too bad, a full flight, on time, they fed us. From the airport it was easy to get on the train to Central, then on to Ashfield. Vince picked us up at the train station and here we are!

So this first week is family time, the real travel won’t start until we carry on to Singapore on Monday 27th so keep an eye out then. We had a great time on Saturday morning at a playground in the huge Olympic Park, wandered round the lake and saw giant carp and eels, a couple of pelicans. Pete’s nephew Gareth came for dinner and took a family photo, a hot day so bare tummies were the best thing for the boys.

Sunday morning we were out early to Ashfield Aquatic Centre, all six of us in the water and the grandparents loved it, including in the little paddling pool with its sprinklers and fountains, great fun. In the afternoon it was off to a mall for an airconditioned playground experience, Jen and I were shoe-shopping when…………..EVACUATE, EVACUATE………..sirens and hooters………….EVACUATE!!! Vince could see the kebab shop with smoke billowing out and a hose stuck into the ovens! We went to the top floor and waited because the carpark was jammed, but then went down again and carried on playing and shopping – it was quite strange because some shops shut but most didn’t, the barber had kept on cutting hair, business as usual pretty much so we carried on, roasted only by the temperature outside when we got home. Thank goodness for aircon in the bedrooms of Jen and Vince’s little 1880’s cottage.

I’ll check in with you in a few days, fingers crossed for cooler days! In the meantime there are lots of stories being read, songs sung, balls kicked around the back yard, and so many cuddles and snuggles given and received, so special.Read more