Jigsaws and Jellyfish in Sydney
Arriving at Sydney airport, it was so lovely to see Hannah, Ollie and Emily. They came to pick us up and as it was a beautiful sunny Sunday, we headed straight to Balmoral Beach where we met Tovah (Hannah's sister) for some fish and chips and a play in the sand with Emily. Emily was pleased to see us and wasted no time in making sure Mark was covered in sand from head to toe. I think Hannah and Ollie were enjoying not being the target of Emily's exfoliation treatment! Hannah was impressed with Mark's sandcastle making skills and managed to reach a maximum of five intact castles before Emily flattened them.
It was interesting to see that although Em had changed little over the last month, Hannah's bump was certainly more noticeable. I even felt the little kicks of the tiny baby.
As we had already ticked the boxes of the typical Sydney tourist activities so we just enjoyed spending time at home with the 3.5 Barritts. Kicking back in Manly was a welcome respite from the non-stop adventure in New Zealand and was an opportunity to recharge the batteries. Not having laundry facilities in the campervan meant we arrived wearing our last remaining clean clothes, but Hannah kindly let us takeover the washing machine (for once, Mark did all the laundry whilst I caught up with my best friend).
One of the highlights was taking Emily to Taronga Zoo. She is completely obsessed with penguins, especially Rockhoppers. As I hadn't seen a Koala or Kangaroo before, I was nearly as excited as Emily and snapped away like a Japanese tourist. See photos below. We stopped off for a bite to eat and a quick coffee, whilst taking in the magnificent views over Sydney harbour a cheeky Kookaburra swooped in and stole our food. We saved the penguin enclosure to last and Emily was in her element watching the little penguins swim.
Whilst us ladies were at the zoo, Ollie had kindly taken the day off to take Mark mountain biking around Manly Dam. Unfortunately the recent rains meant the trail was closed, so instead they did a tour of North Head and Manly, stopping off at Ollie's favourite coffee shop. After the Zoo and cycling we all met up and the Baritts treated us to a late lunch at a top restaurant overlooking Sydney harbour. Because Hannah and Mark were having dessert the waiter brought over a treat for Emily - a huge cookie loaded with Smarties. Her face lit up, but Hannah wasn't so sure about the impending sugar overload, so I stepped in and saved the day by gobbling at least half the cookie.
When not visiting the Zoo or local park Emily spent most of her time playing with Mark. They did a lot of jigsaws together, but Mark was the most excited of the two when Hannah came home from the library with a new Thomas the Tank Engine DVD. Particularly as this DVD was the original series, not the animated ones Emily was used to watching.
Last time we were in Sydney (New Year 2010) the weather was pretty poor, this time we were treated to glorious Sydney sunshine each day. We made multiple visits to the beach, but on the last afternoon I got stung by a Portuguese Man o' War (aka Blue Bottle). We had only walked in up to our knees when I felt the sting, At first it wasn't too bad and could walk around, but it got progressively worse and became one of the most painful things I have ever felt. How unlucky!
That night, Hannah baked homemade pizzas and garlic focaccia and we washed it down with the beers Ollie had bought from the local micro brewery. Yummy! It was emotional saying goodbye the following morning as I knew it would be a while until we saw them again. We had a wonderful time, thanks guys for a lovely week and your generous hospitality. Really looking forward to seeing all four of you at Christmas.
