Wacky World

Here are some really good things I have heard and seen recently:

I just tried to go into my friends website and his left this message:  "This site is currently offline but you are online so I guess you're doing better than this site."

Today at work the girls were talking about having given up smoking and drinking etc. and one of the girls turned around and said when a friend of hers is told he must give up smoking and drinking he says: "I was put on this earth for a good time, not a long time!"

Shopping

Terri just reminded me that I need to get something to wear for the wedding, what an excuse to go out and buy something nice and the problem is the wedding is in 3 weeks time, which doesn't really give me much time to find something.

Tomorrow I am having dinner with all my Irish mates in town and then meeting up with some other Irish mates later, and guess what by next Thursday I will be Irish too ... but that is a whole new long post that I will get round to once all the formalities are over.

Now where to start ????

Weddings

Yay, at last our 2nd wedding invitation in 7 years, when we first arrived in Ireland we were invited to Derrick's boss's wedding down in Kilkenny and now we have been invited to my friend Damien's wedding in October, I'll say it will be awesome - They are getting married at Darver Castle and with D's new Camera I'd say we'll get some nice photos, so watch this space ...

Daily Dilbert

World Guinness Day !

Today Guinness will be 250 years old, it's a milestone and I guess I won't be around for their 300 year celebration!

1759


It begins with a signature.

Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000-year lease on a disused brewery at St. James’s Gate, Dublin. It costs him an initial £100 with an annual rent of £45 – this crucially includes water rights. The brewery covers four acres and consists of a copper, a kieve, a mill, two malthouses, stabling for 12 horses and a loft to hold 200 tons of hay. Arthur begins brewing porter and ale.

Last year was my first visit to the Guinness brewery when my sister came to visit, here are some of my own Guinness photos.
 

By the way there was a petition on Facebook to declare today a public holiday, but seems only South Africa got it right, but they called it Braai Day - so hope everyone is enjoying their braai's and having a Guinness or two as well.

Folks

I have a list of folks I know...

all written in a book,

And every now and then...

I go and take a look.

That is when I realize

these names...they are a part,

not of the book they're written in...

but taken from the heart.

For each Name stands for someone...

who has crossed my path sometime,

and in that meeting they have become...

the reason and the rhyme

Although it sounds fantastic...

for me to make this claim,

I really am composed...

of each remembered name.

Although you're not aware...

of any special link,

just knowing you, has shaped my life...

more than you could think.

So please don't think my greeting...

as just a mere routine,

your name was not...

forgotten in between.

For when I send a greeting...

that is addressed to you,

it is because you're on the list...

of folks I'm indebted to.

So whether I have known you...

for many days or few,

in some ways you have a part...

in shaping things I do.

I am but a total...

of many folks I've met,

you are a friend I would prefer...

never to forget.

Thank you for being my friend!

Daily Dilbert

On our intranet site at work we get daily Dilbert so I thought I would share Monday and Tuesday with you:

News Update

Wow, we have been home 4 weeks tomorrow and it really has flown, I managed to have 3 of those weeks at home just catching up and getting life back to Normal. Emily started school on the 31st of August and is really coming along fine, it's almost as if she is a new child at school - she seems to be listening and behaving. Her day now is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. so it is rather long and the days they have swimming they only finish at 3:15.

I decided to get straight back into the job thing and with the recession in Ireland I was a bit worried, I sent my CV out and of course there was nothing out there for me, so luckily I contacted someone I knew and within a week, I had an interview and an offer of a contract. I started there on Friday and I must say I am so happy, it is a company that I really like, I like the way they do business and the directors are just so nice. The location is really nice as well albeit it a bit far, I climb on the M50 at about 8:40 (after spending 10 - 15 minutes in traffic on a journey that is only about 2 km's from our house to the M50), then by 8:55 I am taking the Bray / Greystones exit to the company, 15 minutes to do about 15 km's. The company is located in Co. Wicklow which is South of Dublin, so I am travelling away from the city passing rolling green hills with sheep and cows and towards the Irish Sugar loaf mountain.

My hours are from 9:00 to 14:00 so I leave there at 14:00 to pick up Emily from school and we only get home at about 15:30 - 16:00 depending on traffic, so it has been pretty hectic, but I am enjoying it so far - I might sound very different in a month’s time.

Other than that we are concentrating on getting the house and garden sorted, so no holidays for a little while although I was looking at Cyprus today and wondering when we could squeeze a trip in, so who knows ... watch this space!

Other than that we are all well, Derrick got right back into the swing of things and is working really hard, we just can't believe that it is only 3 months to Christmas now, which means that the social life will be hectic over the next few months.  Will keep you updated.

A Reason, A Season, A lifetime

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime..

When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person..
When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support,
to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.
Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.

They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons,

things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson,
love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Tahiti Revisited

Well if you read my post on our 4x4 adventure in Tahiti, this picture is taken from google earth if you go into google earth and call up tahiti and then zoom in on the volcanic mountains, you will see the road or what should be a road that cuts through the middle of the Island, the road to hell ... it starts at Papenoo and comes out somewhere close to Papara.

Boys, Boys, Boys

Wow well there must be a baby boom in 2009 and at the moment it all seems to be boys!  My friend Tracy's sister had a boy at the begining of 2009 and then my neice Tasha had a baby boy, then my friend K gave birth to a boy in May and C had a boy on the 1st of September and now my friend Wendy in Oz had a bouncy boy yesterday morning, that's 5 boys so far. 

My other Friend Wendy in Cape Town her sister is expecting a boy and thank Goodness Larissa is expecting a girl in October ... where did all these boys come from! 

The boat that rocked

The great thing about flying is that you get to see all the latest movies, I manged to see 17 again, and a whole host of other movies including Hana Montana but one movie that I thoroughly enjoyed and want to go and see when it eventually comes to the cinema in Dublin is "The boat that rocked", here is the trailer - anyone want to go with? 

Robbie Williams New Song - Bodies

Hotel Surveys

Have you ever filled in those hotel surveys?  I do every now and again, I noticed in my in box while I was travelling that there was one from the Radisson Hotel in Tahiti and I kept meaning to go online and fill it in but decided that I would do it once I got back as I would have more time.

So the other day I duly filled in the survey, now trust me I have complained on surveys before especially the one I got from the hotel in Nottinghill 5 years ago, where the room was practically falling apart, and never even got so much as an apology.   Anyway I filled it in thinking it will probably just be thrown on the pile with the rest of them, I filled it in honestly and then afterwards thought maybe I shouldn't have complained about the arogant pool boy.  As you know from my post on Tahiti, I also complained about the price of food in the hotel.  However for ratings of everything I give them a 4 or a 5, 5 of course being exceptional.

So to my surprise this morning I had an email from the manager at the hotel in Tahiti and here it is:

Dear Rose-Marie:

 Firstly we wish to thank you for taking the time to complete a survey regarding your recent stay with us.

We are sorry to hear that you were not offered our breakfast a la carte menu for your child while dining in our restaurant, which would have best catered for his or her needs. Therefore as a token of our apologies, we have refunded your credit card for the amount of 2,950XPF which is the value of a child's breakfast buffet for the two mornings of 9/7/09 & 10/7/09.

 

On behalf of our entire staff here at the Radisson Hotels & Resorts we thank you for your business and hope you have returned home with some beautiful memories of French Polynesia.

 

Sincerely,

Christopher Turner

Room Division Manager

Hotel Radisson Plaza Resort Tahiti

(689)488888

They even went to the trouble of checking to see which days we were charged for Emily's breakfast and have since refunded us, now that is 5 star service ...

My Graduation

So all the studying finally paid off.

New Year at School

Emily went back to school today for the new year, it was a miserable rainy day but she was so looking forward to seeing all her friends ....

South Africa, Final destination on the Round the world trip

Jozi

It’s apparently no longer referred to as Jo’burg by the youngsters, but now known as Jozi – well in actual fact I think I only went into Jozi once on this trip, but I will start at the beginning.

So we boarded the plane from Perth and I was not feeling well at all, I spent the whole 12 hour flight sniffing and sneezing and I couldn’t breathe, and of course with the swine flue epidemic going around people were looking at me as if I was a leper. We arrived in Johannesburg ahead of schedule and for once we did not have to wait to long for our bags, hence our chauffeur (Derrick’s dad) only arrived about half an hour after we landed. Now I could go into depth about the rudeness of the custom officials at passport control, but I don’t want to spoil my memories.

It was great to see D’s folks after more than a year and of course Emily was ecstatic, the ride back to their place did not take too long. Derrick’s brothers and family popped in to say hello to us which was nice but by Thursday morning, all three of us were down with some kind of virus, Em was so bad she could not get out of bed, so off to the doctor with us before we picked up the hired car.

No sign of swine flue, however we all had something different which seemed weird, but then he is the doctor and not me. Thursday and Friday we spent trying to nurse ourselves back to health.

Saturday my dear friend Gwen came round, she was up from Richards Bay, so we went shopping together, the great thing about a best friend is that it doesn’t matter how many thousands of miles are between you and how seldom you see one another, they are a part of you every day and it’s as if nothing has really happened since the last time you saw one another. After shopping we picked up some dinner, then fetched D and Em and went off to see Gwen’s beautiful new home.

Sunday was a family braai at D’s brother’s house and all the family turned out, aunties, cousins, nieces, nephews etc. We had promised Gwen that we would come and visit her down in Richards’s bay, so the previous week the plan was that D’s folks would come with and stay in a B&B while we stayed with Gwen, so after the braai we went home to pack for our journey down to Richards Bay the next day!

Richards Bay

Monday morning (10th August) and we were off to the sea, it was actually weird having to drive 7 hours to the sea as for the past 5 and a half weeks every country and city we had been to was on the coast. We left at 9 and finally arrived in RB at about 6 or 7 so the 7 hour drive had taken about 10, Gwen had flown down to RB but because of the wind they had diverted the flight to Durban and she was now having to drive up from there. We had the key to Gwen’s apartment with us, so did not have a problem getting into the apartment. Gwen went straight to the office so we did not see her until 6 a.m. the next morning, when she showered and changed and went back to the office.

We decided after all the hours in the car yesterday, to which I must add that Emily was an absolute star, (she definitely has become accustomed to travelling and is the best travelled child in the world), we decided to treat her to a morning at the beach, the weather was good about 25 or so degrees and hardly any wind, so off we went to the local strand near the harbor. Emily had loads of fun playing in the waves and made a friend, by then we were all hungry and headed to the “Dros” at the waterfront for lunch. Later we did some shopping as I decided to make Gwen her favorite Macaroni and cheese for dinner and what was left over we froze for meals for her.

The next day was Wednesday and the hottest day since we arrived, the temperature today went up to 31 degrees (in August which is winter), we had decided to do Hluhluwe, we had a nice day however it would have been better had we stayed over in the reserve. We managed to see a few animals and birds and Em even started making a list of all the animals she saw. After getting back to Richards Bay, Gwen had to work that evening so we decided to go to the “Dros” for dinner again, it was a really good choice as they had a kid’s area with TV games and a pizza parlor where they could make their own pizzas. We had a really enjoyable meal and we never saw Em once for the whole two hours we were there, except of course when I went to check up on her.

On Thursday morning we headed down to the beach, however the temperature had dropped almost 10 degrees and the wind had come up, making it very uncomfortable on the beach, even the surfers were standing around contemplating rather to go home. So we headed back to the townhouse and then spend the day at the local mall having lunch and shopping. That evening Gwen treated us all to dinner at the local Portuguese Restaurant down by the waterfront, which was absolutely divine.

We had thought about staying for the week-end, but decided that as Gwen was going home for the week-end and the folks were going to we would head back to Jo’burg. Once again Em was an absolute star in the car; we left at about 9 a.m. and then stopped in Newcastle for lunch and did the final stretch back to Jozi through Memel, and arriving back just before it got dark.

Back in Jozi 15/08 to 26/08

We were back in time for Emily’s cousin Melissa’s 6th birthday party. The kids had loads of fun, then later that evening D & I met Gwen & J at Monte Casino for dinner at John Dory. The next week we spent doing regular things like seeing the optician and also being a tourist in our own country, we went to Lory Park Zoo in Midrand which was fascinating. Went to the theatre at Monte, to see the UN Comedy show with some brilliant comedians; the best of course being a South African call Trevor Noah. Emily spent the night at her cousin and managed to break their glass coffee table that they have had for over 20 years. We went to the flea market at Hartebeespoort dam, the Oriental plaza in Jo’burg, the Organic market at the Waldorf School in Bryanston and as luck would have it, I stopped writing notes on the Sunday the 23/08 and for the life of me can not remember what happened the next 3 days.

Old Friends

I do however remember that we organized to meet up with some old friends, new friends and some family members at “Cobblestones pub” at Monte Casino. When we arrived Mario and Paula had already been there for 2 hours, Paul and Denise were there, I had not booked anywhere but Denise managed to get hold of the manager who gave us an area upstairs, albeit a smoking area. Slowly the rest of the crew arrived, Trevor & Kirsten, Charlie, Shemila who is my old friend from Barclays bank, Len & Lisa who we had only met last December in Ireland. My niece Samantha and Michiel her husband and of course Paul and Elliot who I met about 3 years ago on Skype and it’s a long story so I am not going to tell you here. I was so ecstatic to hear that Paul & Elliot are getting married in October, and recently heard that my niece is now expecting her 2nd baby.

It was so nice catching up with old friends but all too soon it was time to leave, even though Charlie kept us talking near the garage till 2:30 in the morning.

Wednesday Morning 26/08 arrived and it was time to pack, take the car back and catch our flight back to Ireland. Derrick was ready to go home and had said so a week earlier when we had an altercation with a mini bus taxi in Fourways, I however could have stayed another month, but it was time to be heading home and get back to our normal lives, after an unforgettable wonderful holiday that I will remember forever!!!

Emily already talks about going to visit her friend in Australia and her cousins in Africa, so I guess the travel bug has already bitten her and she doesn’t mind travelling 12000 miles to visit friends and cousins in the Southern Hemisphere, however she did mention wanting to go back to Disneyland, to which her father has already agreed.

Well I guess this is the end of our Round the World trip, maybe one day when we win the lotto we may be able to do it all over again!!!

Cobblestones Pub, Monte Casino - 21.08.09

Bunbury & Perth, Western Australia

Date: 26th July to 4th August 2009
Accommodation: The Botha's Residence in Bunbury and The Stone cottage Fremantle W.A.
Weather: 20 degrees and above most days
Rain: Hardly
Season: Winter
Agenda: Visit friends and see the Bon Scott Statue in Fremantle for Derrick


The flight from Sydney to Perth seemed long, but eventually we were flying over Perth, looking out the window it just seemed so different from my first trip to Perth. I had visited Perth in the February / March of 1998 and as Perth have a winter rainfall, it was hot and dry reminded me of Bloemfontein in winter, flat and dry. So this time it was quite beautiful seeing it all green and lush.

It was overcast when we arrived and we had been told that there had been a week of rain the previous week, but we were there to visit friends and it did not really matter what the weather was going to be like.

Dave was at the airport to meet us; we had not seen Dave since September 2003 at Liesl and Jay’s wedding. It was good to take up where we had left off, and I really think you can only do that with real friends. Now for the 2 hour journey down to Bunbury, it was a long day what with the early rise, flight and then journey and also time difference, after flying back in time all the way to Tahiti, we were not having the opposite experience of flying forward in time.

We arrived down in Bunbury and Wendy & Dave’s new home, they had moved a couple of times after settling in Perth and decided that Bunbury was the place to live. I should back track a few years though, in 2001 Dave and Wendy came to visit us in Ireland and when they left had said that it was now our turn to visit them in Australia, and then every time that Wendy phoned she would ask me “so when are you coming to visit”, we initially promised 5 years but it took almost 8 years to get us there.

Anyway back to the story, we arrived in Bunbury to find Wendy, bump and Danielle who is the cutest little girl ever! Wendy had made us a welcome dinner, but little did I know that from then on I would be doing the cooking, not that I minded in the least, having not had to cook for over 3 weeks, it was a welcome change to get into the kitchen and enjoy some home made cooking.

After dinner we were soon all in bed, the plan was to spend Monday to Friday in Bunbury and then go up to Perth on Saturday and stay in a rental house in Fremantle. So Monday arrived and Wendy who was almost 8 months pregnant at that stage took us all over Bunbury, on the way back from town we stopped next to a field of kangeroo's, Em had not seen them in the wild before and neither had Derrick. 

Then the next day was a trip down Margaret River which is a bit like the Midlands Meander where you can stop at various places where they make things, wine farms, chocolate farms, ice cream, coffee, liqueurs etc. The rest of the week we just took things as they came, shopping, beach – we saw the most amazing sunset on our ride home. Dave & Derrick built a camp fire on the beach with Danielle and Em and they loved it. Friday, Wendy and I relaxed while D&D took the girls swimming, to the park and then fishing.

Saturday eventually arrived and we had to say goodbye to our lovely home in Bunbury, I forgot to mention that their house was in the sticks, so the stars in the sky were so beautiful. Off we started on our journey to Perth, stopping in Mandurah for coffee and cake on the way. You know I don’t know what it is with pregnant ladies but if they feel like cake, then everyone has to have cake … spread the guilt is it?

We got up to Fremantle at about 12:00 and could only check into the accommodation at 14:00 so last minute, we parked in Fremantle near the market, Dave took the girls to the park and Wendy, Derrick and I went to the market. We then met up with Peta for lunch on the wharf, it was so cool as I had not seen Peta since she left Ireland in December 2002, long story but when I heard Peta was moving to Perth I put her in touch with Wendy and they have been friends ever since, I worked with Peta at the Building Society for a few months and we all went to Brussels for an amazing week-end back in ’02, after catching a quick bite, we headed over to our accommodation which was just up the road.

We had plans to go to Zelda and Rawden for Dinner who I had also not seen for years, her son is already 9 and I have never met him. So after a quick drop off of the suitcases we made our way over to Z. When we go there Rawden was busy preparing the brain and we all sat around and chatted. A wonderful evening and food was had and we promised we would see Zelda and Rawden on Tuesday before we left.

Sunday morning we had planned to meet some of our other friends at Zephyr in East Fremantle, Carol who also worked with me at the Building Society but in 2005 or 2006 can’t remember now, Carol was originally from S.A. as well. Peta also joined us and so did Graham & Colleen whom we last saw in SA when Emily was a baby. It was so good catching up, however the time was just too short as Dave wanted to take Derrick to the wildlife park and he also had to drive back to Bunbury for work the next day.

So hasty goodbyes were said, however Wendy and I had decided we were going shopping instead of the Wildlife Park and Carol and Peta decided to join us. We had lots of fun going in and out the shops and then went and had a coffee, we soon said goodbye to Peta and Carol and headed back to the house in Fremantle.  We had said to Graham and Colleen that we would go up to their place on the train in the evening, but by the time D and Emily got home, Emily was exhausted.

Before I go any further I must tell you about the house in Fremantle which was originally built in 1880 as the police station quarters and is call “The Stone Cottage”, it was a lovely house which I wish we had more time to enjoy, with 3 large bedrooms and wooden floors that were probably the original floors. They creaked every time you tried to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It had a lovely back garden, which we never got to enjoy.

The only complaint was the kitchen was minute and the bathroom was the old bath tub with the feet that had an overhanging shower, which trickled out water very slowly. Also the toilet was separate, however it was attached to the bathroom so if someone was showering there was no way you could use the toilet, but we managed somehow. It really was lovely though.

Sunday night and Wendy offered to have the girls while her and Peta caught up on some girl time and Peta dropped Derrick and I down by the wharf, so we ended up going on a date, in the first time in who knows how many years, we originally started dinner at one restaurant and ended up walking out and then went to a fancy restaurant called the Mussel Bar, it really was very nice. I taxi “Peta” then picked us up later.

Monday arrived and we had decided to take the ferry into Perth, I had done the Ferry ride before but it is always good, it takes about an hour from Fremantle into Perth along the Swan River and you pass all the affluent houses owned by millionaires. After arriving in Perth we split up and Wendy went to meet a friend, and we met Graham for lunch and then just did some shopping – we all met up then and took the train back to Freemantle which took no time at all. The train passes through Subiaco where the Rugby stadium is.

We were then invited to Peta for supper which turned out to be a wonderful evening with lots of yummy food again.

Tuesday and our last day in Perth, Wendy had to make her way back to Bunbury and so Zelda so kindly offered to fetch us and take us back to her place as our flight was only at 23:00 that night. We first went down to the wharf again, we had coffee and Derrick took his photos of Bon Scott, and we said our good-byes to Wendy and Danielle, who knows when we will see them again.

Zelda took us to Kings Park to see the view of Perth and then to Hillary’s beach where se treated us to lunch at the Dome, from there we went back to their house and just chilled out, it was so nice to catch up with Zelda and Rawden and we promised we would stay with them the next time we came to Perth. Zelda then went and got dinner, a stop and Nando’s and the Pizza parlor and after dinner took us to the airport. By the time I got to the airport I was feeling very bunged up and sneezy, I think I was getting sick.

This is a photo of the sunset taken at the beach in Bunbury! There are just so many beautiful photos I want to add to this post, but it just takes too long, so if you want to see them they are all on facebook.

I don't think I will forget Sticky Date pudding for a long time, it seems to be an Australian tradition!

Sydney, N.S.W. Australia

Date:  22/07/09 to 26/07/09
Accommodation:  The Menzies Hotel, Sydney
Weather:  25 degrees,
Rain:  Cool wind every now and then and a bit of rain
Season:  Winter
Agenda:  See the sights that Sydney has to offer in 3 days

After experiencing the cooler weather of New Zealand it was a welcome change to arrive in Sydney and it was 25 degrees.  Our experience leaving Auckland was not one I care to remember, maybe it was because we were up at 6:30 a.m., we dropped the hired car off and Emily was inside playing with the toys, when I rushed her out to the van which was going to drop us at the airport she left all her new stickers behind.  Then the lady at McDonalds at the airport was so rude to her, I still threatened to report her to someone I knew personally at their head office, which I haven't yet. 

Thank goodness the flight from Auckland to Sydney was only 3.5 hours as the plan was maybe one grade up from an old Dakota (exageratting of course).

We arrived in Sydney and I am not sure what it is about Sydney, the fact that I love it and hate it.  My father lived in Sydney back in the 20's and it has some kind of familiarity about it that I love, but the taxi drive ripped us off from the airport to the hotel, charged us $66, this happened to me once before in Sydney in 1998, so I was really pissed off, but we were so tired that I did not feel like an argument with a foreign taxi driver.

The hotel was brilliant, right in the centre of town, once we had unpacked and settled in we went on the hunt for somewhere to have dinner.

The next morning we started our sightseeing, after breakfast at the hotel we wound our way down to circular quay to take the ferry over to Manly, as I had been to Sydney D was leaving me to be the guide however I was hoping to see things I had not seen before.  So we took the ferry over to Manly, walked down to the beach, had lunch and got the ferry back.  We then walked over to the rocks, and back to the hotel where Emily and D went for a swim while I caught up on some emails.  We were all tired so room service was the order of the day and it worked so well that we ended up having room service every night after that.  Our friend Melina phone and we made a plan to meet up on the Saturday.

The next day was Friday and we decided that as time was limited we would do the hop on hop off bus round Sydney which included a trip to Bondi beach as well.  This is definitly the best thing to do as it gives you an overview of what the city has to offer.  I realised that Sydney had changed quite a bit since the last time I was there, in 1998 they were gearing up for the 2000 olympics and by now the monorail was in place and the whole Darling harbour area had changed. 

As time was limited we did not get off the bus at any stage except of course to change buses and go to Bondi, I had not done this on my previous trip so was really looking forward to it and I was not dissapointed.  After Bondi I really thought I could live here!  We walked along the sea front passed all the shops and then headed down to the beach, when Em saw the sea, the shoes, jacket and everything came off and she sprinted down to the sea, well needless to say by the end of it all we had one little girl who was soaked from Head to toe.  We took her dress off and put her jacket back on and D tried to dry it in the wind on the bus on the way back.

By the time we got to the stop close to our hotel, both Em and I needed the toilet.  There was a place we had been eyeing out round the corner from the hotel, called "Max Brenners Chocolate Bar", I thought they would probably have coffee if not a hot chocolate would go down fine, so we rushed in found the toilet and then met D back in the Chocolate Bar.  Well yes Ma, Willie Wonka is real!!!  The place was packed but we managed to find a table, the menu was CHOCOLATE in any shape form or size.  I wanted Em to have some healthy food, but the strawberries were $1.00 each, then there was a frutti tutti waffel which came with Bananas, Strawberries and ice cream.  I knew that Em would not eat the waffel but at least she could have the health stuff, so I ordered 1 Tutti Frutti Waffel, 2 small bowls of dipping chocolate and 2 cuppaccinos, well talk about chocolate heaven, it was a bit of an overdose - even the cuppacinos needed no sugar for D as they had put chocolate on top.

Saturday we wer up early and after breakfast headed down to the camera shop, D wanted to get a new camera before Lawrence came to pick us up, so needless to say we were there for about an hour while the sales man did his stuff, but at the end of it he walked out with a brand new Nikon D300 for a lot less money than what it would have cost him in Ireland, I was almost the proud owner of a new Cannon digital camera / camcorder, oh why oh why did I say no!!!  No sooner had D taken his purchases back to the hotel and Melina, Lawrence and Alex arrived.  It was so good to see familiar faces that had not changed in over 13 years. 

Melina had pre booked ticket at the Wildlife park at Darling harbour, so we headed there first.As with all the tourist attractions, they took our picture and then we headed inside, first stop was all the spiders and reptiles and then onto cute and cuddley's, after our walk through the park, we were treated to a wonderful lunch at Wagga Mamma and then off to the Lindt Chocolate shop for coffee.  Lawrence then drove us out to a Nature reserve where you can see the view over the bay of the heads, (I did not write down exactly where we went so will have to investigate it) actually you can read it up here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Heads.

After that they took us to their beautiful house and Lawrence went out to get dinner.  We sat and chatted over a glass of wine, Em took a liking to Alex and spent time playing computer games with him, and all too soon it was time to head back to the hotel as we were leaving for Perth the next day.  The generosity and kindness that our fellow Premier friends had shown us was so overwhelming.

So back to the hotel for a good nights sleep and then a 5 hour plane trip to Perth.

By the way please excuse any spelling mistakes in this post, but the new blogger won't allow me to do a spell check or for that matter backdate this post!