The Blue Mountains

Our Road Trip To Katoomba
Having taken recent delivery of our new car, we decided that it was about time to take it out for a long run that would enable us to see a bit more of Sydney and the surrounding areas. We’d also recently purchased a Sat Nav, so thought that this was an ideal situation in which to try it out. We decided that a visit to The Blue Mountains would be perfect and it was something that we had wanted to go and see for a while now.

The Blue Mountains were originally called the Carmarthen and Landsdowne Hills. They were named by a European settle and the first Governer of New South Wales, called Arthur Phillip around 1788. However they are now commonly known as The Blue Mountains due to a blue tinge that can be seen over the mountains. This is apparently caused “by mie scattering which occurs when incoming ultraviolet radiation is scattered by particles within the atmosphere creating a blue-greyish colour to any distant objects, including mountains and clouds.” Some stories suggest that the colour is caused by light reflecting off the vapours from the eucalyptus leaves.

The mountains have a long and interesting history with Australian Aborigines being the first to inhabit the mountains, difficult first attempts to cross the mountains, a gold rush, railway history, not to mention the fact that the transported convicts thought that if they managed to escape and cross the mountains they would be free men and arrive in China! This link will give you more detail on the Mountains’ history.
http://www.bluemts.com.au//tourist/about/history-detail.asp

The drive up was lovely (we took the scenic route, had the roof down and blasted out some good tunes on the stereo) Adam even persuaded me to do a bit of a bush walk along a track, part of the way up! It wasn’t something that I was overly keen to do as there had been lots of news reports on the tv recently about lost and injured bush walkers. I certainly didn’t fancy becoming the next news story, although Adam reassured me that we would be fine! The other problem is my fear of all things creepy crawly and snakey! I’m doing all I can to avoid situations where I may have to come face to face with these creatures (many of which are deadly here in Oz!) This I felt would not be a situation where avoidance would be easy! But I went anyway and managed to survive unscathed!

Our Bush Walk

After our little Bush walk we carried on up to Katoomba to a viewing point where you can see spectacular views of the mountains and see the famous 3 sisters. Whilst at the visitor centre we just had to have our photo taken with a giant cuddly koala, we also got something to eat overlooking the mountains before we had to make the journey back.
http://www.bluemts.com.au/tourist/towns/Katoomba.asp

Kookaburra In A Tree In The Car Park

In The Visitor Centre

View At Katoomba Of Three Sisters

Loose Lips

Interesting Use Of Language On TV
In the UK we have a thing called ‘The Watershed’, which prevents certain language and content being shown on the TV before a certain time in the evening. Basically, sex, violence and swearing don’t happen until children are thought to be tucked up in bed asleep. That isn’t the case in Australia, instead they show a rating (a bit like film ratings) before the programmes are due to start.

However this is not what I want to focus on in this blog entry. What I want to talk about is the language used on the TV all throughout the day. It’s something that Adam and I have found very amusing and at times we’ve questioned each other as to whether we actually heard correctly!

Bloody (hell, great, awful etc) – A favourite from what I can see on Aussie TV. Bloody is a word which is used on a regular basis by presenters, interviewers and interviewees. This word is brandished about so readily that it seems to be part of everyday ok language to use. Whereas the slightest hint of a ‘bloody hell’ would immediately call for a swift apology to viewers in the UK, this word is used without the slightest flinch or read face.

Pissed – This was probably the word that had Adam and myself shocked and amused by its usage. I was very happy to see that one of my favourite TV shows in the UK (Strictly Come Dancing) was indeed also made and shown in Australia. As we settled into the show with a guy who used be in Neighbours doing Brucie’s job, it suddenly happened! The Judges were due to critique a celebrity. I wonder what comments they could possibly come up with? We waited with baited breath for the first Judge to speak and what did he say?!
“When I found out earlier today that you were going to be doing a Salsa, I nearly pissed myself!”
Yep that’s right, he really said it, and the show just continued. No apology, no sharp intake of breath, nothing! This was 6:30 in the evening on a Sunday night, very amusing and a source of great hilarity and surprise for Adam and myself.

Bollocking
On the Australian equivalent to ‘This Morning’ – ‘The Morning Show’ they were discussing Whitney Housten’s come back gig in New York, Central park when the word ‘bollocking’ was used. Again no flinching, no red faces, no need to apologise to the viewers! I believe they were referring to the hard time Whitney received in the press after her loss of voice (not great for a singer!) during the come back gig. Instead of saying hard time they said that she “got a bollocking from the press…”

This has now prompted us to keep a record of interesting language that we hear being used on the TV during the day and early evening. We’ve also recently heard ‘knob’ not in the door knob sense of the word, ‘pretty buggered’ and ‘tits out’. We will endeavour to keep you updated on any further language usage that we hear.

We’ve also noticed lots of Aussie slang being used. What’s wrong with this, I hear you cry? Well nothing really except that when you hear the supposedly prim and proper news readers using it during their reports, it sounds rather amusing. Aussie slang is common place across adverts and TV shows. These include and must be read in an Aussie accent for full effect;
“They ‘bagged’ a point in the remaining seconds of the match.
“It was a ‘ripper’ of a match.
"They 'copped' a bad one"
“He’ll be right” (instead of he’ll be alright)
“Mate”
“What a ‘ripper’ picture”

Stop Press! Strange Vegetable Alert!

Wacky Vegetables
I’ve just been watching the TV and to my astonishment I saw an advert for a supermarket (Woolworths, not to be confused with the now defunct Woollies in the UK). They were advertising special offers for fruit and vegetables. To my amusement the guy started to push the vegetable ‘broccoflower’! No, you’re not reading this wrong and no, I didn’t hear it wrong. Apparently it is a cross between broccoli and cauliflower! It looks very similar to a cauliflower but instead of the white central part it’s green and looks like a mix of broccoli and cauliflower florets!

Perhaps I could invent some interesting cross fruit and veg possibilities! How about;
Grorange – a cross between an orange and a grapefruit
Piwi – a cross between a kiwi and a peach
Rapple – a cross between an apple and a raspberry
Carnip – a cross between a carrot and a parsnip
Enough! I’m getting a little bit carried away and beginning to worry about how sad I have become thinking about possible vegetable and fruit cross breeding! Anyone else know of any cross veggies or fruits? I suppose it’s the same idea as a labradoodle (cross between a Labrador and a poodle!)

Ridiculous Road Rules (The police slip up!)

Yes, this is really true!
It was reported on the news today that a bogus ‘no left turn sign’ had been erected at the end of a Sydney street. Police had apparently been strictly enforcing this new sign since earlier this year! The strict enforcement had caused many innocent drivers to be fined and have points put onto their licence!

Residents of the street had been petitioning for years to have a ‘no left turn’ sign to stop the rat run that forms in the morning along their road. There is also a school and a nursery down the road and residents have been worried about the safety of pedestrians.

The Headteacher of the school was interviewed saying he thought it had been a long time coming and less accidents had occurred since the signs appeared. He even said that the children of the school had thanked the Mayor for the sign and the Mayor had readily accepted the thanks!

Police have now sent a message out to all drivers caught, to say that they can come and get a refund and lose the points they received on their licence. There is now an investigation going on to find out how the signs got there and who is responsible. They will possibly be charged with being a public nuisance! Quite ironic when you think about it!

Driving Around

Ridiculous Road Rules
On our return to Sydney we decided that we needed to rent a car before we are able to buy ourselves one. The location of our apartment is really good for the ferry stop to get into the city but not so good for getting anywhere else as it’s not near the food shops, gym or bus stops like our last apartment was. We also new that the car would come in handy for transporting all the new stuff we would need to buy for our as yet unfurnished apartment.

Lawrence (Adam’s work colleague) and his wife Kuben currently hold the record for the number of tickets/fines issued for breaking the rules of the road. I really hope that we don’t over take them. After the first couple of days of having a car it looked like we could come close!

On only the second day of having the car we were issued with a parking ticket! What a way to start! We haven’t actually worked out how to get into our apartments garages yet so had to park on the road. To be fair to us, there were other cars parked along that stretch of road so we thought that it would be fine. Obviously not! There were no road markings like our lovely double yellow lines to warn us not to park there, only a stupid little sign that was not very clear or easy to see. Apparently all the cars behind us were parked ok we were just one space too far!! Luckily we discovered that a space had opened up in front of our apartment and in the middle of a row of cars. No possibility that this could be a no parking Zone! So we hopped in the car drove it over the road and reversed parked it (oblivious to our next road faux pas!)

The following day I was returning home from having visited Adam for lunch in the city, when a man called out to me “excuse me, is your car the Falcon?” Urrmm, is it?! I turned round squinted at the name on the car and replied “yes it is.” This very kind guy then proceeded to tell me that he had noticed the car yesterday and wanted to know whose it was so he could warn us about not parking there because of a fine. I told him that, sadly, we had already found out about that! He then told me that I should move my car again as he had just seen the ranger drive down the road and he was sure he would be back to give me another fine! “Why would he fine me?” I asked. “Surely it’s ok to park here, look at all of the other cars!” He then told me that I was ok to park there but I had to turn my car around so that it was facing the other way! I had to ask him to clarify what he had just said as it sounded so bizarre, I wondered if perhaps he was having a joke with me to get us back for winning the Ashes (they aren’t happy about it, it’s been doom and gloom on the TV) He chuckled and told me that I had been living in Europe for too long! I told him that I was a European and had only just moved here. He said look at all the other cars in the row… my goodness they were all facing in the opposite direction to mine! He then told me that you have to park facing the same way as the flow of traffic! I promptly thanked him very much, got in the car and turned it around. Pheww, I had managed to avoid another fine! Note to ones self – Go and buy a highway code and spod up on the crazy road rules!

Even Aussies can find parking rules and regulations confusing! Whilst speaking to one of Adam’s work colleagues, I found out that he also finds the parking rules and signs difficult to understand. He even told me that you can get fined for parking the wrong way in a space! In some places you have to go in forward and in others you have to back in!!! Who knows the reasoning behind this?

A confusing Parking sign. Apparently 4P means a limit of 4 hrs parking time

This is 'angle parking' Here the sign tells you what angle to park at and whether you should reverse in or go in forwards!!

Just while I’m on the subject of ridiculous road rules I wish to have a bit of a rant about turning right! They don’t seem to like doing it over here! Nearly every right turn is forbidden with a big sign. The problem is it’s not marked on any of the maps, so navigating your way around a new route is a nightmare! To make matters worse some of the right turns are only forbidden at certain times of the day, so it can get really confusing.

I’ve also heard that they’re really strict on speeding and are not afraid to slap heavy fines on you and ban you from driving! With this knowledge I am desperately trying to persuade Adam that we don’t need to buy a high performance sports car that he can bomb around in as he’s likely to pick up lots of fines! I’m not sure how successful I will be. We’re going car shopping at the weekend, so we’ll see what we end up with!

OMG!!! Adam has just informed me that every bank holiday weekend and ‘special’ dates are known as ‘Double Demerit Days’. This means that any driving offence committed during this period will incur double ‘demerits’ (the equivalent of points on your licence in the UK)!

You’ll be glad to know that we have worked out how to use the garage now! Thankfully so far we have managed to avoid any more fines (fingers crossed!)

Unfurnished Apartment = Very Empty Apartment!

Ikea (Purley Way) Nightmare Deja vu!
If you mention the words Ikea and Purley Way to Adam, he will break out in cold sweat! Why, you may well ask…well until you have experienced it you can not comprehend the full horror. I, myself love shopping, whether it’s for clothes, shoes, bags or home stuff, however I also quiver at the thought of Ikea on the Purley Way in Croydon. This is why…

• The traffic is horrendous. A journey which should only take about 15 mins can take up to an hour when it’s really busy (it’s almost always busy!)
  
• Ikea is always packed full of people who think nothing of ramming their trolley into the back of your leg!
  
• The sneaky company have set out the shop so that you have to walk all the way round the whole store to get to the part you need and to be able to pay for your items (clever on their part but bloody annoying if you only need something from the end!)
  
• It’s a nightmare to find the furniture you’ve chosen once you get to the warehouse and end up walking up and down endless aisles looking at bizarre furniture names and codes.
  
• Finally, the queues to pay always seem to snake all the way through the warehouse (at least a 20 min wait)
  

Why on earth did we go back more than once I hear you say?! Well, Ikea’s stuff is pretty good for when you need to set up home. Most stuff you need is under one roof, it’s pretty good value and if you can fit it in your car it’s ready to go to your house immediately, without having to wait for weeks for an item to be ordered and delivered to you.

Why am I talking about Ikea in Croydon then? On our arrival on Sunday morning at about 6:00am we decided that we needed to get some essentials for the house to enable us to eat decent meals and clean! Funnily enough it was Adam who mentioned the ‘I” word. We decided that after a few hours sleep in our apartment we would be ready to tackle Ikea. Surely it couldn’t be anything like Purley Way, surely that was just a one off! Yeah, right!

Our first task was to navigate our way their. Armed with a map and Adam’s blackberry (we had Google map directions on it) we set out. How hard can it be to follow some directions and a map?! Erm, it turns out it was actually quite challenging. I like to blame the jet lag and the fact that the sign posting wasn’t overly clear at certain points. We made it there eventually though.

Now we had to navigate the car park. It seemed that every body in Sydney was at Ikea and we had to go right up to the top level of the car park (level 9). The next issue was the lift! Who would have thought that a lift could be such a problem?! We even experienced lift rage later on in the day when trying to return to our car. Not only was every lift full all of the time, it made no sense as to the floors the lift was going to. It would go down when you pressed up and the doors would randomly open and close!

Finally we made it into Ikea. We decided that it would be the perfect place to buy most stuff for the kitchen like plates, bowls, glasses ironing board etc. Just like in Croydon we had to tramp all the way round the store before we got to the place we needed. We piled our trolley up high with everything we needed and proceeded to the check outs. Thankfully the queues were relatively small for Ikea and so the wait didn’t get to the Purley Way extremes.

By this stage we were flagging a little but needed to forge on for the rest of our shopping. Luckily the Ikea was part of a shopping mall, so everything we needed was under one roof. We returned the trolley load to our car and continued our shop. ‘Bing Lee’ (a name for an electrical shop which Adam finds very amusing due to the adverts on telly) was our next stop for a Dyson, kettle and toaster. Finally we needed to get our food supplies. It almost felt as if we were in the game show ‘Supermarket Sweep’ only without Dale Winton (thank God!) I’ve never done a food shop in quite such a quick and urgent way. By this stage Adam and I were flagging and desperately needed to get home. Thankfully we were able to successfully navigate our way home without any detours! Job done!

Ikea Sydney

(The Biggest Ikea in the southern Hemisphere, but not quite as big as Croydon's!)

Moving House - August 09

Our New Apartment
Those of you who have been following my blog will know about the issues we had with our original apartment in Mosman. Well, just to recap and to cut a long story short… it turns out that the landlord had no intention of moving any of their ‘crap’ out of the apartment. So we quite openly told them that our intention was to move out as we felt they had miss sold the apartment to us. We also told them that we did not expect to pay a penalty for moving out before our 6 month contract had finished

All of these discussions took place relatively close to the time I was due to return to the UK (sod’s law, don’t you know!) but Adam was adamant that he did not want to stay in the apartment any longer than we had to as he did not “want to pay for them to store all their crap!” I have to say, that I did agree with him, however did not want him to have to deal with finding a new place and moving all on his own.

Anyway… we had a look on line and picked out some possibilities for viewings. Before we could actually arrange any viewings it was time for me to leave Sydney to return to the UK for a long awaited Take That concert, two 30th birthday parties, a christening, lots of catching up with friends and family and a wedding in Ireland! (Adam was due to come out later for the wedding in Ireland)

Adam got straight to it and found a new place really quickly. He sent me lots of photos to look at so that I could have final approval on the place! He also said that he had opened every cupboard and drawer in the place to check for ‘Land Lord’s crap’ and had happily discovered that everywhere was empty, Hooray! He also thought that the estate agent must have thought that he was some kind of cupboard and drawer weirdo as he did check every one!

It seemed that everything was perfect, but it wouldn’t be real life unless something was sent to try us or make life just that teeny weeny bit more tricky! Unfortunately we weren’t able to find another furnished apartment (as these are few and far between) so Adam was due to move into our new apartment without any furniture or kitchenware, oh dear! Luckily the apartment came with a built in sofa, so we decided that all Adam needed was a bed, knife fork, spoon, plate, bowl and mug. So off he had to toddle on his own to make the purchases.

Adam then came to the UK for the wedding in Ireland after a few weeks in the apartment on his own. It then became time for us both to return to Sydney and the new place. It suddenly dawned on me whilst on the plane, and having been given the passport control form, that I didn’t know where I lived! Obviously Adam filled me in on the address so that I could fill in the form, but that was it!

Once we arrived at the apartment I was really pleased to see that it was in a really nice location, the view from the terrace was lovely (we can still see the opera house and the bridge) and the space inside was great. Adam had also done a really good job to unpack some clothes and pictures to make it feel more homely.

A big thumbs up to Adam… The hubby done good!

The 'Snug'

The Kitchen

Our View

The Lounge and Dining Room Area

Bedrooms

Poker Night - Chez Smith

Bex - The Card Shark!
Adam organised a poker night at our apartment after most of his work mates expressed a desire to have a pizza/poker night. So all of the team descended upon our apartment for 'the big game'.

Initially Jen and myself, being the only girls, decided that we'd keep ourselves occupied with a chick flick and a few glasses of wine. Our husbands' however had other ideas! Yep, they stumped up the $20 stake money for us each and told us that we were in! Oh God! I haven't played poker in ages, normally get impatient and end up betting wild crazy amounts of money to keep it interesting, only to lose it all! To make matters worse I can't remember anything about what makes a good hand! Jen has never played before, so is in an even worse position than me! Could this be a cunning ploy to lure us in and spit us out?!

Determined we were going to give it a good go we looked up the poker hands on line, tried to commit as much to memory as possible and had a practice round to ease us in. The game was now for real, with only a slight pause in proceedings for pizza. As the night went on, people were having to buy in for another $20 (the betting was rather crazily high in the beginning) Slowly but surely, one by one the players began to drop out as all their stake money and other buy ins had been lost. In the end Adam, Jen, Sam, Ross and myself were the only players out of 9 to take any money home.

It turns out that I actually did rather well considering my initial reluctance to play! I in fact was the ‘big chip winner’ and managed to win $120 profit! I had a rather big smile on my face as the chips were being counted and Jen and myself found it rather amusing that the two reluctant lady poker players actually ended up doing pretty good!

Crazy Gym Equipment And Other Adverts!

Adverts On TV

Since being in Sydney I've noticed that they are all obsessed with keeping fit. Ok, I know I can't talk and am also obsessed with the gym and personal trainer at the moment, but at least I'm not fooled by the cheesy American adverts for gym equipment (that actually look like instruments of torture or complete jokes - a la 'The Apprentice' exercise machine task) that claim to give you the body of a model after just a few workouts! To make matters worse they actually have something called 'Advertorials' during TV shows that advertise all manner of crap including these exercise machines!

Imagine that you're watching a programme just like the UK's 'This Morning' (Here it's called 'The Morning Show' on channel 7) And as you're watching, Phillip and Fern's Aussie counterparts suddenly become the equivalent of QVC presenters and launch into an 'Advertorial' with other actors/presenters to advertise crazy products, only idiots would buy! To name a few...

Exercise Machines

(I've added links so you can watch and laugh at the adverts/advertorials!)

• Cardio Twister http://www.cardiotwister.com/
• Ab Circle http://au.video.yahoo.com/watch/4816694/12850855
• Aero Pilates Performer XP http://au.video.yahoo.com/watch/4816693/12850819

Other Random Crap!

• The Snuggie https://www.getsnuggie.com/flare/next?tag=os
• H20 Steam Mop

I've also posted a link to the 'The Morning Show' Site where you can watch all the hilarious 'Advertorials' that have been aired recently! Go on ... you know you want to!

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/the-morning-show/advertorials/-/page/2/

Fashion Freaks!

Spotting Awful Trends On The Street

I really like looking at what other people are wearing. It allows you to pick up some really good ideas as well as make you think 'Oh my god, what were they thinking?!' I've noticed some terrible 'Oh my god, what were you thinking?!' mistakes on the streets of Sydney recently.

Firstly, what is it with men and skinny jeans?! It looks fine on women, as long as they're not on the porky side, but it just looks completely wrong on men. For a start it looks jolly uncomfortable in certain areas of the anatomy and I just don't think it looks attractive. What's more and even worse is the man who wears his skinny jeans half way down his crotch so you can see an underpanted bottom and underpants in full view out the top of the waistband. It actually looks like the guy has got dressed in the dark and mistakenly put on his girlfriend's jeans because they're too tight and far too short in length, that they have to wear them so low slung (God I sound old!)

I saw a particularly horrendous example of this fashion no no on the bus into Sydney city centre. Sadly I didn't have my camera on me so there is no photographic evidence. I tried my best on google images to recreate it, but failed miserably. Any way this guy literally had his waist band around his crotch. The jeans were so tight they looked like they had been sprayed on and he couldn't sit down, he actually opted to stand! His t-shirt and jumper were therefore too short and he kept trying to pull them down to cover his underpants!!

The next fashion nightmare I spotted was whilst I was walking around the city. As well as enjoying looking at the clothes people are wearing I also love looking at the shoes they're wearing. I didn't however enjoy looking at this particular pair of shoes! The were just like gloves for feet.

After further research on the internet, I found out that these things are the next new thing in sporting footwear! They're called 'Vibram Five Fingers'. I know I certainly won't be wearing them. If you like them, and I very much hope you don't! You can find out more on the web site.

http://www.fivefingers.com.au/public_panel/index.php

Mad Money!

Getting Used To Aussie Money

As you will probably know from going on holiday, it can take a bit of time to get used to a different currency. What does each coin/note look like and what is its value? I feel pretty secure now in knowing the different values of the notes and coins and what they look like. It now means less embarrassing moments in shops, rooting through my purse, trying to find the correct coins or notes to use.

I did suffer one embarrassing moment when I was out shopping very early on and whilst I was still settling in and getting a feel for everything (Well that's my excuse anyway!) I had gone into the city and wanted to find some nice cards to send to Laura and Emma. I found the perfect cards in a book store (the books here are astronomically priced, by the way. I will be stocking up back in the UK and possibly via Amazon, if I am able) One was a card with cupcakes and bears on for Laura and the other, a card with some rather fancy Christian Louboutin esq style shoes on the front, for Emma. Feeling very pleased with my self I set off over to the cash desk to pay. Now each card was priced at $5.99 so a total price of $11.98. Perfect, I've got $12 cash on me. After I paid for the cards, I waited patiently for my receipt and change. I got the receipt, but no change! What's going on? I ask for my change...

"you don't get any change!' was my reply.

"Surely, I'm owed 2c change!' I said.

"We don't have coins lower than 5c' I am told.

"Oh, right. I reply in dismay. Spot the English Pommy eh!

How very bizarre! Why on earth would they advertise something as 99c and you not be able to pay the exact money or get the correct change! No wonder Australia rather smugly announced the other day that they have officially not gone into recession, unlike the rest of the world. Obviously not, if they're managing to keep all the change owed to poor customers all over the country. I bet it really mounts up. Why not just say that the blinkin' cards are $6 each instead of $5.99?! Note to myself - Pay by card, at least then you are charged the correct amount and end up saving money!

Just in case you wanted to know a pub quiz fact, apparently they did have 1c and 2c coins, but phased them out in 1990! Below are pictures for your own reference and a web link to a page that will tell you all about the history of money in Australia.

http://www.aussie-info.com/tourist/money2.php

The Domestic Goddess Does It Again!

Baking Gingerbread Bears

Don't worry, I haven't made any more mistakes with weights and chicken! I am in fact very pleased with myself right now. Adam and myself recently bought and ate a gingerbread man each from the little deli shop over the road. It was very tasty but at about $4 per gingerbread man I decided that I could probably do just as good a job but for a lot less. Possibly a case of 'famous last words' but I thought that being the 'Domestic Goddess' that I am, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Armed with my ingredients list I went to stock up on the few bits and pieces that I needed and also to buy some gingerbread men cutters. Knowing how much 'crap' there is in the kitchen, I felt certain that I wouldn't need to buy a rolling pin. There is after all every kind of utensil, dish, bowl etc that you could possibly think of (some of which, I'm not actually sure what they are supposed to be used for!)

Once in the shop, I found all the ingredients that I needed and then went to look for the cutters. I couldn't believe it, they didn't have any gingerbread men cutters! However, I was soon able to overcome my dismay when I noticed some teddy bear cutters! Fantastic, I can make gingerbread bears :)

Once home, I began to measure out and organise my ingredients and equipment. No bloody rolling pin, would you believe it?! I had to nip back out over the road to buy one. Anyway... the recipe was pretty straight forward to follow and I remembered the greasing the baking tray and coating it with a light dusting of flour trick that mum showed me when I was little.

The recipe seemed to make rather a lot of bears but that's ok, because I'm going to send some into the office with Adam. He tells me that they will be gratefully received and eaten.

Hobnobbing At The Gym (No Not The Biscuit!)

Training At the Gym

I'm becoming a regular gym bunny at the moment, and hopefully it will last this time! Having had many, many failed attempts at a fitness regime in the past, I've actually lasted longer this time than any other! Ok, ok, I know it's only been about 4 weeks but I've been having 2 sessions a week with a personal trainer and 1 or 2 a week on my own! No longer am I waking up, the day after a session unable to walk up and down stairs. Adam even thinks I'm getting pretty hardcore with the stuff I'm doing at the gym. Hopefully the results should start to be visible fairly soon. I can definitely notice a difference with my ability and fitness level at the gym, now I want to see toned bits!

Any way, you'll be asking the question, why 'hobnobbing at the gym' for a title? Well... I was in the gym this morning for my normal Monday session with the trainer. I was probably about 1/2 way through my session and in the process of doing some exercises with some weights when somebody caught my attention. Huummmmm, I thought to myself as I continued my exercise, I'm sure I recognise that person. As they walked closer, I knew exactly who it was, and just like any star struck person would do, I stopped my exercise and exclaimed to my trainer "Oh my god, it's Tony from Home and Away!"

"Who?" she said.

"Tony, you know, from Home and Away?!" I replied

"I don't watch Home and Away." She said "but we do get quite a few celebs working out in here."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Holden_(Home_and_Away_character)

As I continued my session I made sure that I was able to make secretive glances over towards 'Tony' to check that I wasn't mistaking someone else for him. Nope, definitely him. He looks a lot shorter in real life and, dare I say it a little older. To be fair who does look their best when at the gym sweating it out?! Maybe I'm being a little harsh. I know I'm certainly not at my most attractive when in the gym.

Anyway, I hope to be able to do some more celeb spotting at the gym in the future. It may have to be Home and Away spotting as I'm not really clued up on any other Aussie celebs apart from Neighbours actors and they're based in Melbourne. I'll keep you posted, although I'm pretty sure that I won't be seeing 'Alf Stewart' in the gym any time soon!

Sydney Fashion Weekend

@ Royal Hall Of Industries, Sydney

Jen had very kindly organised tickets for herself, Kuben and me to go to 'The Sydney Fashion Weekend' on Saturday 16th May. The three of us were really looking forward to having a really girlie day, with a fashion show and shopping spree. Sadly, Jen fell foul of 'the stomach bug' that has had devastating effects on Adam, his work mates and their wives ( so far, I've managed to avoid it!)

Kuben, her daughter and myself set off without Jen to shop til we dropped and immerse ourselves in everything that is fashion. I really enjoyed the fashion show, even though I didn't recognise any of the designers (most were Australian) There were some fantastic dresses and also some rather 'interesting' fashion ideas, that are probably best left on the cat walk!

After the show we were all set for shopping! There were all kinds of different stands that you could visit;

• Clothing
• Shoes (my particular favourite)
• Bags
• GHD straighteners
• Makeup/Cosmetics
• Swimwear
• Champagne bar (another favourite)
• Accessories

Having picked up a map, we decided it was probably best just to snake up and down each of the walkways, so that we didn't miss anything. This also conveniently enabled us to stop off for a champagne break half way through! We were all surprisingly restrained! Kuben bought a bikini for her daughter, I bought ... yep, you guessed it, a pair of shoes and we both bought Jen some nice smellies from LUSH.

New Training Regime

Wednesday 13th May

Today was the start of my new training regime. In the past I could use the excuses that;

• It takes too long to get to the gym (at least a 40 min round trip in Croydon traffic)
• I'm too tired at the end of the working day to go, I just want to relax!
• I'm too busy, I've got marking, planning etc to do.
• It can be really boring pounding it out on a treadmill

I've now decided that there should be no more excuses as to why I am not regularly exercising. I certainly can't use any of the above excuses any more as, I no longer work and the gym is very conveniently next door!

Our street. Our building is on the left opposite the crossing, the gym is in the blue building on the left.

Adam and myself joined the gym last week and promptly signed up for an introductory personal trainer package. This package gives you three 1/2 hour sessions with a personal trainer. The first session includes a consultation and a test of your fitness (oooh err)

Before we joined the gym Adam and myself decided to invest in some training gear. There just so happens to be a very handy shop a few mins down the road from our apartment that analyses your tread and measures you up for trainers specifically to fit your training needs! Adam suggested that this would be a good idea for me as he had, had a similar thing done in London. As most of you will know, I love shoes, so I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass me by, even if it was only for trainers and not Christian Louboutin shoes! We also kitted ourselves out in the sports shop at Bondi Junction with various gym/training gear.

The time had arrived for me to meet my personal trainer. Her name is Jenny, she moved over here from the UK about 6 years ago and is very nice. Anyway... we had arranged to do the first two 1/2 hour sessions in one go. Jenny suggested that this worked well as you didn't really feel like you'd done a full work out after the consultation and fitness test session. I said I was happy to go with whatever she thought was best, after all, she is the expert.

The consultation and the fitness test consisted of a talk about what I wanted to achieve from joining the gym and in theses sessions, any medical problems and what kind of exercise I had done on the past (In my case, the very distant past!) She then had to measure my height, weight, waist and hips. Followed by seeing how many sit ups I could do in 1 min, how many press ups I could do until I couldn't do any more (not many) measuring how far I could reach forward to my toes when sitting on the floor with straight legs and finally measuring my resting heart rate and then my heart rate again after 3 mins doing vigorous step ups on a step. Apparently using all this information will enable her to calculate my fitness age or something like that. I think I find out at the next session. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it won't be too horrific!

Once that was over we started on a work out. The workout consisted of squats (which make you look like you're doing a poo) with weights, lunges with weights, pushing and pulling against the trainer, an alternative to sit ups, which works all the tummy muscles including a deep one, which I can't remember the name of. This consists of lying on your back, drawing your knees up and back down again in a controlled fashion. I also had to lie on the step and have hand weights to raise up above me and back to the sides of my body in an almost semi-circular path. I also had to hold myself on my forearms in a plank like pose, which is really hard! Finally we finished with stretches. And these were stretches that the trainer helps you with, so they push your limbs for you. A bit like what you see the physios doing to athletes and footballers.

I finished the session feeling rather pleased with myself. I felt good and I felt as if I had been pushed to work as hard as I could. My trainer also commented that I had really good control when doing the exercises and that I carried myself well. She also said that I picked up the exercises really quickly, which some people find hard, especially when having to co-ordinate arms and legs together. Gold star for me then please :)

Thursday 14th May

I woke up this morning not feeling so pleased with myself! Oh my god, every muscle in my body was in pain when I moved! And not just the 'oh dear I feel a little bit muscle achy because I did a bit of exercise' this was mega. Never have my muscles felt like that, even after a particularly strenuous hour long ballet class with Mrs Gray (In my youth, granted). It was so bad, that walking up and down stairs was a serious problem. Even a hot bath didn't really manage to ease the pain!!! I'm hoping tomorrow will bring relief! It had better sort itself out soon because the next session is on Monday. The good news is that it can only get easier the more I do. It also shows me how badly I needed to get back into it. Don't want to become stiff and creaky before my time!

Botanical Gardens And Other Bits - Sydney

Saturday 9th May

Adam decided that a trip into the city was called for today and for a number of reasons;

1. To buy an electric guitar (For Adam, not me. He's decided to take it up again)
2. To get some lunch by the harbour
3. To have a walk through the Botanical gardens
4. To pick up a code Adam needed from his office (It also meant I could see inside the office)

We had a lovely lunch at the Guillian Chocolate Cafe on Circular Quay. (I realise that I seem to be constantly talking about food! Whether its making it or eating it! I can assure you that Adam and myself still have a completely balanced diet and are definitely not in need of 'Over Eaters Anonymous') Anyway... We both had a light lunch. For myself - A roasted vegetable quiche and salad. For Adam - A mozzarella, tomato and Pesto baguette. Ok, ok, so we cracked and ordered dessert, but only one to share and it did consist of lots of fruit. We had a lovely Fruit plate with a chocolate dipping sauce. Definitely one to try if you can.

After lunch we walked over to the opera house and into the Botanical garden's entrance. It really is a huge area. You could spend an awful lot of time wandering around or just sitting on the grass having a picnic or relaxing with a book (Checking for any hidden creepy crawlies, like spiders, of course!)

Little did I realise, but Adam had a secret agenda in the gardens. One that he thought was best kept secret from me, because if I had known about it I wouldn't have gone anywhere near the particular part he wanted to visit! We stumbled on it by accident. Adam suggested that we have a look in the shop for postcards for our parents and he said he wanted to get a map. Once outside the shop he said that he wanted to find 'The Palm Grove' I said we were already there and pointed to the sign. I then asked why, and sadly found out. Up above in the trees were thousands of bats hanging from the trees. Oh my God, it was horrible. They were everywhere and it looked like something out of a horror movie! Adam loved it and began clicking away on the camera. Apparently the bats are a pest and are steadily killing off some of the garden's oldest trees. The bats strip off all the foliage from the trees and end up killing them. All the bat poo apparently stinks too. Luckily we didn't get that close. This link gives you more information on why they want to move the bat colony.

http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/welcome_to_bgt/royal_botanic_gardens/garden_features/wildlife/flying-foxes/Flying-fox_relocation