Update

10.10.8 - its going the right way...

Demolition Man

Came back up to Rugeley on Monday morning to give my Dad a hand with knocking out some walls in their house. Its actually surprising how hard it is to knock out a wall...I thought it would just be a case of banging it a few times with the hammer and, hey presto! It isn't...

One thing you also don't think about is the dust. It gets everywhere. Still, its all finished now, all thats left to do is level the floor, cut out an iron box, build new walls, plaster, fit door frames and doors, decorate.

Have dogs, will travel...

Forgot to post these from the other day. We were still suffering from jet lag and waking up at ridicluous hours...anyway, the one day we woke at 3:00 and decided to take the dogs on the scooter over the Chase...here's the results...they loved it!

Needless to say that afterwards, Chief was the one doing all the sleeping, while Indi was bright as a button...surprise, surprise...

Back to the present...I'm back up in Rugeley as I'm helping my Dad knock down some walls in his house. Very therapeutic I must say...

Jobsworth's...

Well we got rid of the mattress at the tip...it was never going to be a long term thing but it's a shame as the dogs did love it...

Had a bit of a lazy day today really...took the dogs round Radlett this morning and this evening and in the middle had some Sunday lunch. Quiet but nice...

Yesterday we took the dogs round Aldenham Country Park. We managed to avoid the ridiculous £4 car parking charge by parking in a nearby lane and walking in. As we were cutting through what is supposed to be the perimeter, one of the wardens came racing up in his new van and berated us for breaking down the "hedge". Now, I have three problems with this:

1. There is no real hedge, moreover just a straggly series of bushes and we certainly did not "break through" anything.

2. There is supposed to be a Public Footpath running through the park which it appears the hedge blocks off very nicely. (We have old maps denoting this right of way).

3. The car park charge of £4 is extortionate. I don't mind paying £1 or £2 but £4 is farsical. I guess they are trying to cover the costs of the small farm there. This is something to be applauded but for regular walkers who have no interest in the farm, why should we subsidise it?

Anyway, rant over...

Last night we went out to Marisha, a restaurant in Radlett. We've been before and this time it was as nice as ever...healthy eating not going well...

Are we sitting comfortably...?

We're having a new mattress delivered for the spare bed in Radlett as the old one is just rubbish...we thought we'd let the dogs have a few days with it before chucking it...I think they liked it!

Going the wrong way...

10, 12.0...perhaps its just a blip...


Watched Gordon Ramsey on the TV last night...he's doing his kitchen nightmares thing in the USA. I thought the Uk were bad, the US ones are terrible...do they not know he's coming? Why wouldn't they clean up beforehand?

The diet...well, sort of...

We've decided to go on a bit of a health kick...we've been basically living like lord's for the last six months or so and have really put on some weight. I think that by keeping my weight loss on the blog should motivate me to keep losing...hopefully! So, today its.........................................10, 11.8

Back home...

Well we're back and its miserable...it hasn't stopped raining for the last week or so. I've been trying to get round to updating the blog but its been a bit of a struggle to get motivated. We spent the first week back up in Rugeley then went down to Radlett for the next week, coming back up to Rugeley for the 16th as SJ's parents have returned from their 6 month stint in NZ.

We went out for a meal in The Terrazza, an Italian restaurant in Rugeley that just has the most amazing food. We're now back down in Radlett for the next week or so. Plans for the weekend are a little vague at the mo. R & J were supposed to be coming down but their plans have changed. We have asked SJ's parents if they fancy coming down but have yet to hear back. I'm sure we'll end up doing something...

On a separate (more depressing note), I heard today that Heath Ledger had died...what a tragedy, he was a great actor and looked destined to go on to great things...

NB...They're not my pictures above so if anyone has copyright on them and wishes me to remove any, let me know and I will...

The final day

Well, today is our last day in Sydney. We packed all our stuff up and piled it all into the rental car, said goodbye to V and headed into town for a last look around. Our flight wasn't until the evening so we were able to have lunch at Doyle's - right opposite the Opera house and probably the best seats in the restaurant. We headed over to the airport about 3:00 to catch our plan at 19:00...

The calm after the storm...

Today was a quiet day. We went into Manly to McDonalds for some much needed hangover food. We took it up to Governor Philip's lookout and ate our big Macs overlooking Sydney. We picked up some wine from the drive-thru Bottle shop and headed back to V's. V cooked up a BBQ for tea and G & M came round. A quiet night really considering it is our last one in Oz...

Malayah & Jaeger bombs

A good night had by all I think! We went into town to a restaurant called Malayah in Darling Harbour...good food, lots to drink and then Jaeger bombs! These are shots of Jaegermeister in Red Bull and were quite lethal. We got back in about 3:00 and are all feeling a little worse for wear...

The Rocks

We spent breakfast in Crows Nest, a small suburb in Northern Sydney - surprise, surprise, Eggs Benedict again! SJ had arranged to have her hair done at her old hairdressers later today so we headed down into Sydney for a look at the opera house, bridge etc. We drove down to the Rocks which is right on the waterfront to have a mooch around. Whilst we were there we popped into Ken Duncan's shop - he's a photographer who sells some high quality prints. We bought one of his prints entitled Sapphire Pool. Its magnificent! Included in the price was the cost to ship it to the UK and it arrives in February.

Whilst SJ had her hair done, I did a spot of shopping in George Street, the main shopping area in Sydney. I also popped into the QVB building where they had a fantastic Xmas tree decorated with Swarovski crystals.

I then caught a cab over to Newtown where SJ was having her hair done. We then headed back to V's to get ready for a meal out in Darling Harbour.

Sydney...here we come...

So we drove back up to Sydney today...we had a seafood medley at Nick's...it was good but not as good as it could have been I reckon. Anyway, we then met up with V for our last residence of the trip. We had a quick look around Sydney, planning to make more of a trip the next day...

Hole in the wall

Arrived safe and sound at V & L's down in Nowra. Had a reasonably quiet night - lots of wine and a BBQ anyway! This morning we woke up nice and early and headed for a day at the beach. on SJ's wall is a picture of a beach called Hole In The Wall Beach. This was originally because there was a hole in the wall...latterly the "roof" of the hole has collapsed, this leaving the "gap" in the wall. Anyway, its a very picturesque spot and we spent a good portion of the day there. Afterwards we headed into Huskisson, aka Husky in Jervis Bay for fish & chips and a scout round. This is actually where SJ had originally bought the picture from.

Tonight we went into Nowra town for...wait for it...an Indian! It was actually very, very good, just a bit strange!

Nowra and the bush

Today we had brekkie at Bather's and then left G & M's and headed South to a little place called Nowra. It was about a 100km's or so drive and took a good couple of hours to get down there. On the way, we headed into the Royal National Park for a brief look at the local scenery - its very different to Sydney, almost suprisingly so. Its pretty much all gum trees and very, very dry. You can see where there have been bush fires and to be honest its no surprise that they start in the first place - the whole place is like a tinder box...

As we approached Nowra, we stopped off at a town called Berry. This is quite a cute town but not really my cup of tea. There's not a great deal there aside from a fantastic wine shop!

Balmoral

New Years Day is always a little strange but spending it on a beach in 30 degree heat is absolutely bizzare! We got up pretty early and walked down to Balmoral beach where we spent the day just lazing around. Its a very pretty place and very expensive. Bathers Pavillion (a building on the beach) is one of the most expensive places to eat in Sydney apparently!

It was interesting to see the old shark nets in a state of disrepair. They are not now maintained, the feeling being that they're not much use anyway!

The night was spent eating pizza and kebab's...not a bad start to the New Year!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne...

New Year in Sydney is something everyone should do in their lifetime! IT WAS BRILLIANT! We headed over to meet up with G & M in Balmoral. They also had some other friends, A & M staying with them from Phoenix, Arizona. A wasn't feeling too good so he decided to drive into town. We'd arranged to go to a girl's apartment that overlooked the harbour etc. She was a friend of M's. Anyway, the venue was superb - we had a great view of the city and the fireworks were amazing!