Happy Birthday!

This weekend we celebrated M's birthday. She turned 8 and it was great! We had 12 little friends flip flop on over to our house for a pool party. How fabulous to live in the Southern Hemisphere where a February birthday is a summer birthday!

Marinara Mix up

When I say marinara, what do you think of? Here is what I think of....

Marinara (mariner's) sauce is a southern Italian tomato sauce usually made with tomatoes, garlic, herbs (such as basil), and onion.

Well, in Australia, that is not the case! The other night we went out to dinner with a new to town American couple to a lovely little Italian eatery. The dinner started with garlic bread and zucchini flowers. Delish! Then I had a fabulous dish of Veal while the men ordered spaghetti marinara. Now these two guys are non seafood eating, non vegetable eating kind of men. They thought they were getting a big 'ole bowl of noodles with red sauce. Imagine their surprise when what they received was a big 'ole bowl of octopus, prawns, clams and more. Oh, and little spaghetti. So, we have learned a new lesson of culture shock after two years... Marinara in Australia means SEAFOOD!

I wish I had taken a picture of the actual dish but here is one that looks similar in content!

Nana and Gipa time...

We had lots of fun with Nana and Gipa. Since this was their second visit to Sydney, we did not play tourist quite as much as their last visit. But, we still found plenty of ways to keep us busy!

Angelina Ballerina at the Opera House

Darling Harbour Water fun

Round and round at Darling Harbour

Luna Park
A day at the beach

Grown up time...
We love you Nana and Gipa!

Merry Christmas!

We were fortunate to have Nana and Gipa join us for Christmas in Sydney this year. They flew out a few days before Christmas and stayed for about 3 weeks. We had a wonderful time. Here are some highlights of our Christmas...

Christmas Eve - ready for church

Christmas Eve dinner at home joined by a good friend from church. First Monaco Italian followed by Happy Birthday Jesus cake!

Family tradition of new matching Christmas pjs each year -
this one is getting harder!

Merry Christmas!

Hatcher's Manor, The Heritage Highway and the rest of the Great Tasmanian Adventure

All good things must come to an end and that is what happened to our relaxing Tasmanian holiday after four days. Well, at least it came to an end for J. He had to fly home and put his nose back to the grindstone. Someone does have to pay for these holidays after all! We did not let that spoil our fun though... the kids and I carried on and continued our Tasmanian adventure.

We spent the next night in Richmond at Hatcher's Manor. This was an interesting place. A working apricot farm with animals and plenty of entertainment for the kids. The room we had was an explosion of pink that had its own charm is a pepto bismol sort of way.


The kids were most impressed with the animals. There were horses, goats, Larry the sheep, a chook (that's chicken for you Americans), a duck and some kittens. They were in manure heaven!


We woke in the morning and the kids immediately set off to the find the owners so they could take part in the animal feeding that morning. Our hosts were very gracious and put up with four squealing children and let them participate to their hearts content. What a fun way to spend the morning. Perhaps our next stay should be here...


After feeding time, it was time to move on to the next stop in our Tasmanian adventure! We planned to meet up with some friends from church so the kids and I started our 3 hour drive to the East Coast of Tasmania to a town called Falmouth. We made a few stops along the way.

Our first stop was in Oatlands. It was a good place to stop and stretch our legs and check out the windmill in town. We did not actually go in, and honestly the kids mostly enjoyed the playground next to the windmill. But, it was a good stop either way!


After that, we carried on down the Heritage Highway, took a right and landed in Falmouth. The house we stayed in with our friends was breathtaking and we had a fabulous two days. What a treat for me and the kids to just relax with friends and breathe in that clean Tasmanian air. It is just too bad Jason had to miss this part!



Then, all good things really did come to an end and we had to go home too. Never fear, once we got home, it was only 4 days until Nana and Gipa arrived for a 3 week visit over Christmas and New Years!

Port Arthur, Doo Town and the Tasman Penninsula

One day we took an outing to Port Arthur. It was striking to see the old convict jails contrasting with the green grass. It was the coldest day we had and there was a little drizzle making us feel like we were back in England. They have set up some great interactive exhibits that allowed the kids to learn a lot about convict life and the sort of crimes that landed you at Port Arthur. The kids were amazed that there were prisoners who did something as small as steal a loaf of bread that were sent across the world to prison.


The more recent history of Port Arthur includes a massacre that occurred there in 1996. While we were visiting the site, we had no idea this had happened and only found out afterwards in talking to our Australian friends. I am glad that we only knew of the far distant history of the place or it would have really changed our day.

The Tasman Peninsula in general is quite beautiful. The house was located on a beautiful beach with squeaky, white sand. Yes, the sand actually squeaked when we walked on it. The house was located a 5 minute walk from the Tessellated Pavement. This is a place where the water has formed the rocks into what looks like tiles. It was very interesting and hard to believe that it was just the water that has formed it.

Tessellated Pavement

This stretch of beach was also a little sea shell collectors paradise! The girls loved how many shells there were and spent hours digging through and finding their favorite ones!


We also walked around several of the other Tasman Peninsula sights. Again, the natural beauty of the area was striking!

The blowhole

The Tasman Arch

To get to the Blowhole and the Tasman Arch, we had to drive through a little town called Doo Town. This was a silly little place where every house had a name that included "doo." We all got a kick out of the names (well, most of them at least!)

and the PG-13 house...

Tasmania

Caution: Tassie Devils Crossing!

Before Christmas we took a little family holiday to Tassie. We were excited to see this lovely place that so many people talk about. It lived up to expectations for sure. It was beautiful. The weather was cool BUT... it was mostly dry. This could be a first for our family that is plagues by rainy holidays! We flew into Hobart and started our day at the Salamanca Markets. It was a fun market and the kids all enjoyed picking out a souvenir.



After that, we headed to the house we rented near Eaglehawk Neck. It was right on the beach and was suited perfectly for our family. Tasmania is pretty empty and we were very secluded. In fact, we had to shop for groceries on our way down at the nearest supermarket which was 45 minutes from the house. Fortunately, I knew this in advance and had planned our meals and had a comprehensive shopping list all compiled for when we arrived. I was quite proud that I had even thought to ask if the washing machine was a front load or top load so I could get detergent. Clearly I have learned that hard way that these questions need to be asked! Shopping done and we were ready to go.

We spent our 4 days exploring the Tasman Penninsula. We walked on the squeaky sand beaches outside the house and saw lots of Tassie Devils. Most were road kill but we also took a trip to the Tasmanian Devil conservation park and saw a few live ones as well. Stay tuned for more pictures of our Tasmanian adventures!

From the balcony of the house

Gorgeous scenery from the beach outside the house