Home Time

You may remember the whole point of my trip to Australia was for Roger & Anna's wedding anniversary Roger kept referring to it as "getting the band back together" and what a fantastic evening we had. Everyone in the bridal party was able to make it and we even had some guest stars like Adam their son and his gorgeous wife Judy along with Dianne's husband Maurice. There was a lot of talking, eating, drinking and laughing. It was a perfect night and another cherished memory. Plus I got to spend extra time with brother Pete who stayed an extra day so I didn't have to make time to get to him bless him.

Of course, that's not all I did. It was an actioned packed fourteen days I can tell you. 

I had a great time staying with my niece Abby and her extremely tolerant husband Greg for putting up with me not Abs!. Staying with them means I get to see my sister Lynne and have quality time with the next generation. Teddy is just a star and is clearly revelling in being the "baby" of the family. 

Roman is really into his "dance parties" and we had a very good time listening to Bruno Mars, again and again and again. Apparently four year olds never tire of hearing the same song. I have to admit though dancing around the lounge room, singing badly was very liberating for me. It reminded me of the things I used to do with his Mum when she was little and their Uncle Warren. 

Speaking of Warren, I got to spend some quality time with his partner Jess who is totally awesome and the latest addition to the family Molly. Oh my, but she is the most gorgeous baby of course. I'm just thrilled to have another girl in the family. I have six nephews but only two nieces and girls are way more fun to dress up.

Obviously no trip is complete to Oz without spending time with Rhys, oh and his Mum and Dad of course. Actually it was Michael's birthday during my visit and it was nice to be able to share the day with him not to mention the dinner at Healesville Hotel. I think I'm safe in saying that Joan's and my favourite place is the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie - a must visit. It's just so relaxing here.

On this trip I also got to stay with Adam another of the six nephews and Judy. They completely spoiled me by taking me to dinner at Movida Bar de Tapas how cool does that sound. Dinner was amazing and just the other day I saw it was voted number 15 in Australia's top 100 restaurants. Adam made me stay up late drinking whisky bad man whilst Judy & I were much more civilised at Brunetti Cafe.

But of course, I'm left with visitors guilt - I didn't get to Sydney to see Gareth another nephew and his partner Jara. They will just have to go to the top of the list for the next visit of course I'm not sure how thrilled they'll be to hear that but hey, that's what Aunties are for.

I just can't believe how easy it is not to see someone for forty years and just chat to them like it was yesterday and now be FB friends. Thanks to the "blogging" ladies who let me join in their retro film evening complete with Prosecco. Thanks everyone who put up with me put me up. I feel so lucky to have been able to go. No matter where I go in the world as soon as I land in Australia, I know I'm home. It's so familiar even after all this time away. And who knows, maybe next time, I might even bring Mr John.

Up, up and away!

As you're reading this, I will have landed in Melbourne for a lovely two week catch up with family. It was a rather hastily organised trip a couple of months ago and not at all on the original schedule of "Things to Do in 2015" but when I got a message from my sister-in-law about a small party in April I knew I had to do everything I could to get there.

You see Anna has been married to my brother Roger for 40 years this Easter Saturday. Can you believe that this is where I tell you Anna was 5 when she walked down the aisle, I can't believe it and I was a bridesmaid.

Of course Mr John was already booked to go to Hong Kong for the rugby 7s which is on over the weekend. He also gets to spend some quality time with Ross. Which brings me to the point, you see Roger and Anna have decided to have a dinner with just the bridal party. 

April 1975

They wanted to celebrate and do something different but not have a massive party. So now, with me on my way, that's the whole party having dinner and a small sherry ok, so maybe a large sherry!!

So here we all are looking fabulous I'm the short one. The "after" photo should be very interesting and I promise I will share it with you.

So don't forget over the next couple of weeks to check out Instagram where you'll be able to see what I'm up to.

Aria Restaurant

Although Mr John had given me a set of Bose headphones for my birthday - which may not sound romantic / special but which I had asked for and totally love - he organised a fabulous dinner for us in Sydney as my birthday treat.

Aria Restaurant is owned by Matt Moran, a well known chef in Australia, and is situated right on Sydney Harbour.  From our table you could see the bridge and the Opera House, it was just amazing.  The food and service was also fabulous and I couldn't get over how full the place was - what happened to the global recession??  We'd actually taken a pre-theatre booking as we had an early flight the following day.  


So here you go, to whet your appetite, Mr John had scallops then lamb followed by chocolate.  I had oysters then lamb followed by peanut butter and jelly.  If you check out the photos below, you'll see the descriptions - heaven on a plate.

I was a little concerned they might rush us out, being an early booking, but it couldn't have been more relaxing.  I would definitely recommend here for anyone who wanted a special dinner as the surroundings inside and out were stunning.

That's all folks, or is it?

We've arrived in Sydney and Mr John has booked us into the Hilton Hotel.  He's also booked us into Aria restaurant and there's not a lot of time (though just enough) between arriving and the booking.  I'll tell you about the restaurant in my next post as it deserves to be spotlighted and not mixed up with everything else.

The hotel is on George Street and that's where you will find the Marble Bar underneath the hotel.  It was built in 1893 which, by Australian standards, is really old.  There was an excellent band playing and Mr John was mighty impressed (so was I quite frankly for remembering it was there).  So we had some cocktails (Mr John seemed to think he was James Bond and ordered a Vesper) and I did a bit of singing - to myself you'll all be glad to know!

It's an early start for our flight and so it wasn't too late a night but it was a fabulous way to end an amazing holiday.  Our suitcases have had "heavy" labels on them for the last couple of flights but fortunately we are still within our baggage allowance.  We've stocked up on things you can't get anywhere else and are hopeful the chocolate will stay in one piece until we get to our fridge (because we have two nights in Bangkok when we get home).

So thank you to all our friends and family for sticking to our dietary requirement of NO RICE!!  I'm sure you've all noticed what food, drink and good company means to both of us. 

Brisbane City

My sister Anne and her husband Graham really got "the rough end of the pineapple" as we say in my country.  They visited us in the UK last year for the Olympics and so we got to spend lots of time together.  The consequence of this was we only gave them one night and they had to come to the city, which is over an hours drive from their house.  Their instructions to us were that they would take care of everything and boy did they.

We had a two bedroom apartment on the 31st floor in the centre of Brisbane city.  It came complete with balcony which gave us glorious views over the city and a great place to drink champagne whilst watching the afternoon thunder / lightening storm.  A bonus for me (and my female readers will understand) was that I got to wash our underwear! 

We had a lovely lunch at Southbank which has the city Beach - I know, amazing right.  And having watched the storm come and go, we headed out on the City Cat (aka river bus) to go for dinner.  We ate at the Watt restaurant and bar and the food was fabulous.  We even had a possum and its baby walk through the open air restaurant but we were all so surprised there's no photographic evidence! 

We really can't thank them enough for their forethought and planning skills (though I suspect Anne is flying on Grahams coat tails).  And so it was a sad farewell to the last of our hosts with only one more treat in store....

Beautiful one day, perfect the next

I must say the warm weather was a welcome change after an unusually chilly Melbourne.  We're here to see my very dear friends Rohan and Debs.  I first met Rohan when I was 17, so that was a little while ago, Debs a couple of years later and I was just shy of 21 when they got married.  I'm actually godmother to their three sons Kristopher, Ashley and Matthew.  I'm not quite sure what has happened, being such a young person, but somehow not only have Kris and Ash got married but they have children!  That can't be right? 

Having got some "grown up" time on Sunday night the entire family descended on Monday for family lunch - traditional Aussie BBQ, one of our favourite meals.  Although Rohan is hoping for a new BBQ from Santa this year, he produced a phenomenal feed.  I was completely overwhelmed by the fact that all three boys and their families took time out of their very hectic lives to come and have lunch with us.  The children were a treat and so well behaved.  We all desperately tried to get a photo of the three of them - Samuel (2), Hamish (2) and Evelyn (4 months) - but you can imagine the chaos that ensued!  So as you will see from the photos below a couple of two are now an extended family of eleven - I blame Rohan.

It has been so long since we've seen these guys that our time with them seemed cruelly short and yet again we didn't want to leave....but it was time....

The big smoke

As always the welcome was warm at my brother Roger and his wife Anna's house.  It has a fantastic Victoriana shop front and they have converted it into trendy city living.  They are close to all sorts of amenities - pubs, bars, coffee shops, restaurants - and all within walking distance of the city itself.

Through the goodness of their hearts we also managed to catch up with nephew Adam and his lovely wife Judy.  Now Anna has an Italian background and makes the most amazing pizzas.  Apparently she does have long "sabbaticals" where she doesn't make them but thankfully she agreed to our request.  So we had a fabulous evening with home-made Pizza which included a white chocolate and strawberry sweet pizza which was absolutely divine.  I even managed to secure a piece for morning tea the following day!

Having enjoyed a fabulous meal at the Three Crowns pub, a trip to the Drunken Poets bar the following day which is opposite the Victoria Market (Mr John's favourite food shopping place) was an additional treat.  Mr John also managed to catch up with his Uni friend Chrissy for lunch so a pretty successful trip all round. 

And then Sunday dawned, more packing and a hearty brunch and some sad goodbyes.  We didn't want to leave but the end of our holiday was approaching and so we moved on to Brisbane.

Spa luxury

What an amazing time we've had with Greg, Abby, Roman (who's very nearly three) and baby Ted who was born in June.  We took some extra time here so we could enjoy being with the children as Roman was only four months old last time we saw him.


Sitting on the balcony looking down on the pool it was like being in a resort!  I can't believe Mr John went for a swim as it was quite cold (around 17 degrees Celsius).  The funniest thing was every time he got out Roman, who was wearing wellington boots, jeans and a jumper, kept telling him to get back in - which he did - three times! 

We also got to catch up on Aussie kids TV.  What I don't know about Chugginton just isn't worth knowing.  Watching one morning, a graphic came up saying "Let's sing" so I suggested to Roman we do this.  His very prompt and loud response was "no" with his hands over his ears.  As if this wasn't bad enough Mr John, who is very nearly tone deaf, got a resounding "yes" on asking the same question.  You wait til his 21st birthday, I'll get him back!!

Whilst we were here we managed a train trip to Melbourne city to have lunch with Greg and a little souvenir shopping.  We went to this great Mexican place where you constructed your lunch - a little like Subway.  I even got to cook during our stay which was a treat for me as I love to cook and not having a kitchen in Thailand is a little frustrating.  I made a fish pie, one of Mr John's favourites and Abby seemed to enjoy it too.

It was also great to see my sister Lynne who laid on a huge spread for Sunday tea and nephew Warren who, bless him, turned up and was very sociable despite having had a big night the night before.  Got to love that sort of family commitment.

And then all too soon it was time to leave and yet again we were reluctant to move on but it was time for the city....

At the seaside

Well technically, it's the peninsula but the coastline is amazing.  Spending time with Pete is always a hoot and he and Mr John have been whiskey testing!  The weather has been pretty kind which is always a bonus in Victoria.  There's some amazing things to see and do here and it's not far from Philip Island which was hosting this weekends MotoGP.

We spent a decedent afternoon at Max's Restaurant at Redhill Estate.  I had the lamb followed by the beef and not a grain of rice in sight!  They also have their wine recommendations on the menu which you can order by the glass - a genius idea if you ask me!  A lovely birthday treat from Pete. 

And all too soon it was time to move on and yet again I didn't want to leave....but now we're off to the burbs.

In the country...

Rhys & Mr John

What a time we've been having here staying with Michael, Joan and Rhys.  It's been great hanging out and seeing all the wildlife that frequents the various birdfeeders in the garden.  This visit has been enhanced with our first trip to the Yarra Valley Chocolatier - a must do if you're ever in this area of Victoria.





We had a fantastic dinner at the Healesville Hotel courtesy of Joan and got so full none of us could fit dessert in!  We had excellent coffee at the Blue Turtle cafe where Rhys served us as he works there Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings. Mr John commented he'd never had his waiter sit down and join him for coffee before.  As with our previous stop, this visit was all too short.

The eagle has landed

Drew helps lay the table

We had a pretty good flight from Bangkok to Sydney, though not a lot of sleep was had.  Still, we arrived to a glorious sunny day.  We stayed in Erina, which is near Terrigal on the central coast and had a fabulous time with Sam, Andy and Drew.  The weather on Sunday was amazing - 37 degrees - but the wind was really strong.  We thought about an ice-cream on the beach but Mr John, quite rightly pointed out, it would soon have a sand coating.

Terrigal beach

I've not been to this part of New South Wales before and the area is really picturesque.  We enjoyed fish and chips near the sea on Sunday night and they were really good. Having selected Mr John for bedtime story reading on Saturday, Drew turned to me on Sunday evening and advised "it's your lucky night" as it was my turn to do the reading!

We had a fabulous time and I believe we may have put on the 5kgs we'd lost in Thailand just by the meals over the weekend.  Sam did an amazing BBQ and we were joined by Angela, Barry, Marline and Mick who provided excellent company.  A cooked breakfast was greatly appreciated too.  Our time here was all too short and we were sorry to wave goodbye on Monday, but there's plenty more places to see and people to meet.