Jailbreak!

     He's back!  He's tired but he's happy too.  The tail didn't stop wagging all day long and he wouldn't let us out of his sight.  Other than a bunch of knots on his ears, he seems to be in great shape.  After an ecstatic greeting from the kids when they got home from school, we took him for a walk by the beach.  Jackson's never been to the beach before so he was interested in it, but mostly wanted to chase the birds.  Spaniel after all.  We're thrilled to have him back!   

Climbing High

Mia's first request, when moving to Sydney was only a glimmer of possibility, was to climb Sydney's iconic Harbour (translation: Harbor) Bridge.  She'd heard from Katie how cool the bridge was and saw the pictures of it towering over the Harbour.  She knew that getting to the top of it was for her but that you had to be either 10 or 12.  The good news is that the age was lowered to 10 in the last few years, so this week marked her first week of eligibility and found the Bridge Climb at the very, very top of her birthday list.

If you look closely at the picture below (from January), you can see the small specks of people 440 feet (134m) above the harbor at the top of the arch.  Becoming added specks atop the Bridge was Chris and Mia's primary weekend goal.

Before then, however, we decided to do what is seems like many Aussies do when they can't throw something on the barbie (which we don't have, yet) and have a picnic on the beach to welcome the weekend on Friday evening.

Saturday brought beautiful weather for the Bridge Climb, so after Rachel had her stand up paddle boarding lesson down the street taught by the ex-professional snow boarder (hmm, where did they paddle to on those boards), we all headed into Sydney.  The Bridge Climb is a 3 1/2 hour roundtrip journey. They are very serious about process and safety, which is a good thing since you are standing on a scaffold only a few feet wide and hundreds of feet up. Both Mia and Chris passed the zero tolerance breathalyzer test (guess that excludes a few of you from climbing :-)) and got outfitted in their requisite lovely jumpsuits and safety harnesses.  You are latched to the bridge at all times, so it would be a very short three foot bungee jump if you tried it (Mia thinks bungee jumping from that high up sounds awesome...guess New Zealand will need to be on the trip plan).

The 11 member group climbed up the top arch facing the Opera House and enjoyed views from the Blue Mountains in the west well out into the Pacific to the east.  While we may have been 50% higher in our World Tower apartment, the outdoor, unobstructed views in all directions (including down) are pretty hard to beat.

At the top we crossed over to the western arch.  Before coming down that side, the group serenaded Mia with 'Happy Birthday' and we got to have the 'special picture' of us raising the gigantic Australia flag on the the top of the bridge.



Pretty good grip considering the flag is approx 30 ft X 15 ft



Meanwhile Rachel and Sam were having fun of their own exploring the very cool Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour and learning ever more about that favorite Australian topic, sharks!

The key take-away from the exhibit is that it isn't those of us frolicking in Sydney Harbour who need to be afraid, but rather all you who brave the streets and yards of North Carolina.  Americans are 200 (yep, 200) times more likely to be killed by a deer than a shark.  Of course, Australians are more likely to be killed by a whole raft of deadly spiders, snakes, jelly fish, sting rays, angry koalas, etc., but we can talk about that later.

Following that fun, we all met up together for a birthday dinner at Mia's favorite restaurant.  For those of you who've seen Mia put away chocolate chip pancakes at Elmo's, you'll know why it's her favorite.  Australians seem to regularly enjoy ice cream on their pancakes, whether they are for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  At first we wondered why there was such a mound of whipped butter on top, but nope, it's ice cream.  So, at Pancakes on the Rocks, Mia enjoyed chocolate pancakes with chocolate syrup topped with chocolate (and vanilla) ice cream.  Lest you think we indulge our daughter with unhealthy meals, you will notice the abundance of strawberries accompanying the dessert (oops, I mean dinner).



Needless to say, Mia wants to eat here everyday!

All this on top of Mia getting to go sailing in the harbour on a field trip on her actual birthday and see the Queen Elizabeth sail out as well as finding out she gets to represent her school at a swim meet at the Olympic Pool from the 2000 Olympics makes for a pretty special birthday week.  She would have traded it all to spend the day with her friends, but it was a pretty good week for the consolation prize.

The Big 1-0

     The blog has taken a bit of a back seat lately, as we continue to get settled.  It seems a never-ending process but we know we're making progress. 
      The big event for us this week was Mia's 10th birthday.  It hardly seems possible!  She started the day by getting lots of phone calls from friends and family in the US as she was getting ready for school (and later too).  Thanks for calling her!  It really made her feel special and remembered at a time when she is missing home a lot.  Since school starts so much later here, we took her out to breakfast before school.  Both kids order pancakes whenever they can here because they have learned that they put ice cream, not butter, on the pancakes.  And syrup!  As I left her at school, she was getting a group hug from squealing 10 year-olds shouting "Happy Birthday!"  A great way to start her day.

     Mia's school was nice enough to schedule a tall ship harbor cruise for her on her birthday so she spent the day on the water with her class.  The Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth cruise ships had been in port for two days and Mia got to see the Queen Elizabeth as it left the harbor.  There are cruise ships there all the time but apparently when the QE2 was here last time, so many people came to see it that it caused huge traffic jams.  This time, there have been signs up warning of traffic congestion for weeks.  I caught a glimpse of the Queen Elizabeth, the smaller of the two, as it headed out to sea.



    Mia ended her day playing with a new friend, having quiche for dinner (her favorite) and cake for dessert.  She and Chris will climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge this weekend as a treat for her 10th birthday.  The age minimum is 10 so Sam and I will find other things to do for a few hours.  She had a great day and is excited about the weekend.

     Jackson is going to be released Monday morning!  We are all very excited to be getting him back shortly.  He will be bathed and ready to go as soon as we can get there.  We've gotten dog food and treats and are just waiting out a few more days.  I'm sure I'll have to remind the kids not to smother him too much.

    We continue to adjust to the birds and traffic noise that wakes us up early every day.  We've decided that the reason the beach is so full of early morning exercisers is that no one else can sleep either.  So, we figure we might as well embrace it and do as the locals do. I got to see this gorgeous sunrise at 6:15 this morning.  Thanks birds ... I think.

 

Where's the Cotton Candy?

     Mia spent Thursday at a swim carnival (meet) - for school - all day.  How's that for right up her alley?  I can only imagine how daunting that would be for a child who came here internationally with no swim experience.  Instead, for Mia, it was a chance to feel confident about what she was doing, which hasn't happened a lot lately.  The kids in Years 3-6 were all bused over to a 50 meter pool about 15 minutes away in Lane Cove (where I hear Nicole Kidman grew up).  They were divided into four houses and the kids wore house colors (should I say colours?) and competed against the other houses.  Mia came home a few days ago and said her house was called Manta (said like monta) Ray.  We figured they were named for sea animals.  But she also said they were named for famous Australians and one of the other houses was Glengarry.  So we were a bit confused.  I had to laugh when I got to the pool and saw her house name was Monterey.  Ahh, pronunciation confusion!  Anyhow, Mia swam five events and did really well.  She's waiting to hear if her times will put her into the finals, to be held at a later date.  Kids who win those events can move on to zone competitions, regional, etc.


Mia's used to swimming in a 25 yard pool so this "felt kinda long" but she seemed fairly unfazed.




The kids all hung out in this covered seating area, arranged loosely by house.



      My biggest challenge here has been driving.  I find it very nerve-wracking to try to pay attention to where I am in the road, how the new car works, signs, speed limit, pedestrians, and the small feat of figuring out where I'm going.  We got a GPS (thanks for the tip MacKinnons!) soon after we arrived and it has helped tremendously...in most situations.  I find myself studying maps before I go most places to try to get a feel for the route beforehand.  So yesterday I started out to the aquatic center and realized that both the car's GPS and the new, portable GPS were talking to me, only giving me different directions!  Ugh.  I managed to turn one off and got to the pool and parked with no trouble.  I was feeling confident when I got ready to return home.  Ken, our trusty Australian GPS voice man, was programmed to take me home.  Not quite.  A few kms into the trip, I was on the freeway and Ken told me to "Stay right, then take the next exit."  OK, I can do that.   I stayed right, mind you there were 6 lanes.  He keeps telling me the same thing and I start looking for the exit sign, only to see it on the far left! I managed to get over two lanes but completely missed the exit.  That meant I had to go all the way over the Harbor Bridge into downtown - the last place I wanted to be!  Ken has exhibited this confusing behavior before and we have yet to completely figure out how to know when he's trying to mess with us.  The funny part was that as I was driving over the Harbor Bridge, he kept telling me to "Exit right, then take sharp right."  Guess he wanted to go boating.  So, we may have accomplished a lot here in a month, but I am not an accomplished Sydney driver yet.  One distressed phone call to Chris and I managed to get back on the bridge and home quite a bit later than expected.  Good thing I leave early to go everywhere! 

     With views like these at home, who needs to drive anyway?!

    

     Mia's 10th birthday is next week and she has been lamenting the fact that she won't get to celebrate with her friends.  However, she got notice yesterday that her class is going on a Tall Ship Sydney Harbor cruise on her birthday.  Sounds awesome to me!  Maybe I'll chaperone.  As long as I don't have to drive there.

Balmoral Beach

     Sunday morning I went out about 8 AM to run along the beach.  I have never seen a beach so active at such an early hour!  Folks were out kayaking, sailing, swimming, running, stand up paddleboarding, walking their dogs, reading the paper, etc.  There are several cafes along the Esplanade, the road that runs along the beach, and they were quite busy and quite aromatic.  My brain still plays a few tricks on me at times.  I saw a very cute Westie being walked and looked up thinking "There's Dana."  But no.  :-(  The north end of the beach was buzzing with kids in blue suits and caps.  They were participating in Balmoral Nippers, a program that uses activities and friendly competition to teach beach awareness and fitness.  The kids were having a great time.  We'll see if our kids can participate starting next Spring, but there is a lottery to participate.  I love that the Australians really seem to embrace and enjoy the gorgeous landscape around them. 

      Yesterday after school the kids and I went down to the northernmost part of Balmoral Beach and around the corner to look at the cool sandstone patterns.  Along the way we saw this washed up on shore.



I've never seen one of these on an NC beach!  Sam wanted to take it home. 



Looking south





This pretty building is called the Bathers' Pavillion.  It contains a kiosk for snacks, a cafe we've yet to try, and a fine dining restaurant that's supposed to be one of Sydney's best.





     The patterns in the rocks at the end of the beach were really cool and contained pools full of little shells, crabs, and some sea urchins. 



Bet they have an amazing view!



This typical Sydney waterfront view is Clontarf/Balgowlah, just north of Mosman.     

     Mia has an all day swim carnival (meet) tomorrow for school.  Years 3- 6 are bused to a 50 meter pool and spend the day doing swim races.  It's interesting that the schools do not completely shy away from competition, like we are accustomed to at home.  If I can manage to get there, I'll post photos!