Antipodal Adventures
Weekend road trip
Sunday 23rd March 2014
Last weekend we decided to explore a bit more of New South Wales. Someone had told me of a drive along the coast to the south which was nice, so we decided to go a short distance along it, have a leisurely drive and stop where we wanted.
I took the first driving shift, heading through the city to get out of Sydney and on to the open road. I think Kym was sorely regretting (a) lending us her car and (b) coming with us by the end of it! I am still in London driver mode - which just doesn't work out here! It is actually part of the law that once you signal, any car behind you in the lane you want to get into HAS to let you in. I mean, WHAT?!?! I don't have to risk life and limb by aggressively pushing myself into a tiny gap, forcing the other driver to either slow down or risk crashing his car into me? Nope, sorry, I just can't process it....
Anyhoo, we then got out into the national park, which was lots of lovely windy roads out to the coast. We stopped in a town called Cronulla for brekkie by the amazing beach there. We then drove along the coastal road and stopped for a few piccies...
On Britishness and weather and zoos.
Tuesday 11th March 2014
After a long week at work last week and much wailing and gnashing of teeth regarding a recent Windows 7 update, I determined to fully enjoy last weekend and get some sightseeing done. I decided this regardless of the predicted bad weather on Saturday - after all, am I not an Oates? And do not Oates's brave all weather conditions in order to enjoy a day out? And drag all others (Jan) with them? Why, yes! Yes, they do!
The weather here last week was mainly rainy with the odd interspersed thunderstorm of biblical proportions. Sydneysiders get almost as overexcited about the rain as the British do about the snow - and multiple "severe weather" warnings go out on the television and radio for what the British would consider a light shower (judging by recent UK conditions, anyway). These storms usually only last a couple of hours, however heavy they are. That's right - TWO HOURS! Not two days or two weeks or even two months! And - and - it's warm before, during and after the rain! Whowuddathunkit?!
So being an Oates and a British person, I thought, "Pah!" to the clouds and rain, "I will wear my jeans and take my fleece and enjoy my day trip out".
STUFF!
Sunday 9th March 2014
We are very happy to announce that as of 10am on Thursday, 27 February we became the loving owners of ALL OUR STUFF! Yes, it finally overcame high drama in London, high seas over here and then the high-ly annoying customs red tape in Sydney before making it safely to our flat. Jan stayed home to welcome the new arrival:
It was actually a lot less than we had imagined. Now all that was left was to play the good old, "What on earth did we pack?" game. It has been three months since we left - and who knows what went into the boxes in the madness of those last few days? It was just like the Christmas we never had! And it turns out we were sensible and only packed the absolute essentials:
