Last week in (our beloved) Sydney


In Sydney Harbour... the yachts will be racing on the crushed diamond water under a sky the texture of powdered sapphires.
It would be churlish not to concede that the same abundance of natural blessings which gave us the energy to leave
has every right to call us back.

[Clive James, Unreliable Memoirs (1980)]


Last week in Sydney, and we therefore had to benefit the most we could from beachlife. Sometimes in big waves (Freshwater), sometimes in calm waters (Manly bayside). And sometimes just home in the pool.



We also took the Manly ferry together (which Troels' otherwise takes every day to go to work!), both for a trip into the center of Sydney, but also just for the sake of the lovely trip itself. Storm and Astrid have a ball onboard, first with the swaying as we pass the opening between the heads to the Pacific Ocean, then with all the sailing ships around the ferry, and lastly with the skyline of Sydney.



Otherwise the days pass with work (Troels) and play (Storm and Astrid). The family in the upstairs part of the house also have a 4 year old daughter (Mattea), whom Astrid has been playing with. She is very talkative but equally sweet. We also take trips around the city, one time to "The Rocks" visiting the market there and enjoying the great views (the Sydney Harbour Bridge with flags at halfs in solidarity with New Zealand) and the observatory. A great thunderstorm passed over Sydney, drenching everything including birds that took shelter wherever possible. This little fellow was sitting quietly on the ground, as Troels walked down the hill on his way to work.



As a farewell, we visited the Hunt family twice in the last week. First for dinner on a Thursday evening, where Clare was in the pool with the kids and Darryl cooked a great four course dinner. And Saturday morning we were invited for brunch (with eggs Benedict and other delicious treats), which was at the same time a great "family reunion", as both Natacha and Rachel were home, and Tine was back from her trip. It was thus the whole Australian "family" with stand-in grandparents and aussie aunties. Storm and (in particular) Astrid got to say goodbye to Jessie, while we all got to part on a high note, thinking about when we'll see each other again. Hopefully (in fact, surely), it will not be another 12 years!



A view of our street after the rain.