Winners are grinners

and it wasn't Tammy, Bill or me. Yes, that's right, Collingwood won the Anzac Day game - Again. Now we can cope with once or twice but three times in a row is a bit much. Still we must remain positive and next year will be our time for celebrating. Well, one can dream, can't one. I'm sure it was Bianca's extreme dedication to detail in her wardrobe which made the difference this year as you can see in the above picture. On the 25th 14 of us headed off to the MCG to watch the game and at the end of the day only 3 of us were smiling. Not to worry, the rest of us managed to find a pub on the way to Chinatown to drown our sorrows. We even got a free bottle of wine from the great little restaurant when we all arrived wearing Essendon scarves - Bianca had gone home, they must have felt sorry for the sorry lot we were.

Tammy spent a week with us and once again Melbourne welcomed her with open arms. I'm still not sure how she will fit all her new shoes in her wardrobe or how she got them home in the first place. All shopping jokes aside we had a great time with her as we always do. Even I succumed to the shoe shopping as well buying 3 pairs in 2 weeks.

While checking out What's On a few weeks ago I found there was a temporary sculpture intallation outside Crown so I wandered home that way and found all these giant shopping bags. It was a shame they were gone by the time Tammy arrived but I did think of her at the time. The shopping bags seem so right for this city. Shopping sure seems to be a favourite pastime of most of the people who visit here.

So with all my shopping done it's time to rest up for next's weeks adventures in Darwin. Until next time.........

Sydney or bust

should have been our catch-cry for the past 2 years. After our trip to Tassie in 2006 we were going to check out Sydney in May of the same year. Instead we brought our place and moved instead. Sydney has been on the drawing board since then but we have never made it until now. This week it finally came together with Bill already being there for work so I flew up and joined him for the weekend.

The fun started on Friday night with a work function. Dinner at the Harold Park trots was the finale to the Trade Show that he was in Sydney for. We had a fun night with a couple of winners and more than a couple of losers.

We woke up to a glorious morning so got out and about early to make the most of the day. We walked across to Darling Harbour for breakfast and after a look around caught a ferry across the harbour to the Zoo where we spent a few hours checking out both the animals and the view. A further ferry trip to Watsons Bay, the Opera House, Circular Quay, Luna Park and back to Darling Harbour completed our day on the river.

A quick coffee and a change of clothes and we were off again to the Capitol Theatre where we saw Billy Elliott. It was very good, had us laughing and cringing at times but we thoroughly enjoyed it. And the old theatre was just lovely. We finished the night with a very late dinner in Chinatown and finally fell into bed after 1.00am.

The next morning was not so bright with an afternoon storm forecast so we headed out early again before it hit and caught the Monorail into the City and from there walked down to The Rocks & Circular Quay where we spent some time wandering through the laneways & markets. It was very busy and alive with people and a fun atmosphere with the markets and buskers all through the area. The walk back into town was a race against the storm, which we lost and ended up in the Strand Arcade rather damp. Lunch in the Arcade let us dry off a bit.

The shops held no appeal for us so we jumped back on the Monorail and decided to check out Paddys Market. Rather large and rather busy but really stall after stall of the same stuff, a little disappointing I thought. Once our walkthrough there was done we decided we had had enough and it was time we headed for the airport to start our journey home. As we arrived early we were offered an earlier flight which we took and even though it ended up being delayed we still got home a little earlier than was planned.

Whilst in Sydney we saw a few sculptures but of course I have to be predictable here and use the classic vision of the bridge that everyone sees. Bill took lots of photo's from the ferry and again as we wandered round both days.

Back to work for us both on Monday which was bearable just, after our great weekend away. Bill was in SA for a couple of days and got back in time to catch up with BB's visit on thursday night. Dinner was a fairly lenghty affair while we caught up with all his & Bett's adventures on their recent trip. And the Red Wine was pretty good too.

The weekend was a celebration all round with me attending a kitchen tea for Amber and Bill attending Matt's Buck's Day/Night. They are getting married on the 1oth May. We both had a great time at our respective parties.

And then of course you all know the rest - Grandparents at last with the safe arrival of Corbyn John Harris on Sunday night. Sarah, David & Corbyn all doing well.

Until next time........

The Big Blow

on Wednesday was the worst storm Melbourne has seen for the last 25 years. Apart from the strong wind and a few branches down around the surrounding streets, we felt no ill effects from the experience. Lots of other areas were not so lucky with stories of the damage still appearing daily on the news. Two days later and you would never have know the big wind almost blew the place apart.

On Saturday we took advantage of the beautiful weather to walk up to the Ian Potter Centre to see the Sydney Nolan art exhibition. Some of the paintings I knew but many others were a complete surprise.

A lovely mild night made for an enjoyable walk to & from the MCG where we went with Bryce to see Essendon redeem themselves, after last week. It was a really exciting game that kept us all on the edge of our seats from start to finish.

Sunday was another glorious morning and we headed off to Docklands to have breakfast with Debbi & Ana, a farewell of sorts before Ana goes off on a 5 month world trip. Of course we offered to carry suitcases but to no avail, we have to work tomorow. Still we can dream, can't we. After breakfast we checked out the Sculpture Exhibition and there were some pretty interesting installations. While there we also saw the Urban art piece, Blow Hole by Duncan Stemier. It is a really fun sculpture moving with the wind as it blows. Imagine how it would have looked last week.

So a quiet but enjoyable weekend as we recharged the batteries for another week at work.

Until next time...........