Family fun in the sun ...

Dad and Rob in charge of the BBQ

On Friday evening, I headed to Canberra to join Dad and Carla in celebrating the end of their time in Canberra with an epic BBQ marathon (11 hours of eating and drinking) on Saturday.  My brother, Rob, joined us from Melbourne as well.  We were super lucky with the weather and Saturday was just perfect for sitting in the sun (well, in the shade for many of us) and enjoying Dad's BBQ skills - the self-proclaimed BBQ King - with a few drinks.  It was sad to say goodbye, not knowing when I might see them again.

Even BBQing in the rain!

Rob explores the rocks in Sydney Harbour

Rob and I caught the train bus back to Sydney, which was a more comfortable experience than we had anticipated, since we were expecting to be on the train.  Yesterday, we went kayaking in the Sydney Harbour, which was my Christmas present to Rob.  We spent four hours on the water altogether, exploring a few of the little beaches around Manly.

Q Station beach

Waterfall on one of the tiny beaches

Our first stop was the Q Station beach where the old Quarantine Station is housed.  This is where diseased immigrants had to remain until they were cleared and able to enter society in Sydney.  We had a look around the small (and fascinating) museum before heading back out onto the water.  Our favourite beach was Store Beach with its long, empty expanse of white sand and warm, clear water.  We stopped here for quite some time, eating our picnic lunch, swimming and napping in the shade of the nearby trees (a beach with shade is my kind of beach!).

Heading into Store Beach

Relaxing on Store Beach

The second part of Rob's Christmas present is a Stand Up Paddling lesson tomorrow afternoon.  Photos to follow.  Tomorrow, I'll get back to the Tassie adventures.  Have a good week everyone!

Happy Christmas Rob!

Heading back into Manly

Chistmas time, family time ...

The whole Davidson/Kaldy gang (with a Canadian ring-in)

After just a few days in Sydney, C and I headed to Melbourne for Christmas celebrations with my family.  Christmas Eve is always a fun time in our family and this year was particularly special as everyone (siblings, parents, cousins etc.) was there, along with two dogs and one guinea pig.  As always, it was a very enjoyable night with lots of food, drinks and laughs (possibly the biggest laugh came from Grandmother being re-named 'G-Mo' and getting down with some rap moves!)  Christmas morning is just a regular day for the Davidson clan, but for C and I, it was time to start our Tasmanian adventure, which I look forward to sharing with you next week.

Slightly wonky photo, but evidence that my 'G-Mo' (grandmother) is up with the times!

(On another family note, tonight I'm off on the train to Canberra to farewell Dad and Carla as they pack up their home in the capital and begin their epic road trip from Canberra to Perth!  After my first week back at work, I'm more than ready for some chill-out time on the train and a weekend of being social)

Cockatoo Island ...

Entering Cockatoo Island

Since I've been spending a few months of each year in Sydney, I really haven't gotten to know the city as well as I could (should) have.  For a few reasons - Manly is just so lovely that it's hard to leave, I'm often busy on weekends with studying and I also visit family and friends in Melbourne quite regularly.  So, it's no surprise that I'd never heard of Cockatoo Island.  Then Mum came to visit and did an excellent job of playing tourist and giving me some suggestions of fun adventures to be had in the Sydney area.  Luckily, C arrived not long after Mum left, so I was able to take that opportunity to explore a little further afield than Manly.

Camping ... nice view of the Harbour Bridge

C takes the audio tour

By far our most adventurous trip was on the ferry out to Cockatoo Island, which sits in the middle of the Sydney Harbour.  From Mum's description, I was intrigued about the island due to the fact that you can camp there, they often stage art exhibitions and the history sounded really unusual.  Plus, the island has recently (2010) been declared a World Heritage site.  We chose to do an audio tour of the island because we're both nerds although we were both interested in different aspects of the history - C was interested in the ship building side (yawn) and I was into the convict history.  The island has also been a reformatory and industrial school.

Convict buildings

The Island Bar

Half way thorough our tour, we stopped at the Island Bar to refuel with pizza and bubbles (beer for the boy).  My enthusiasm for continuing the audio tour was somewhat dulled after several glasses of bubbly - an afternoon nap was more what I had in mind - but I tagged along as C finished the rest of the tour.  Our trip to Cockatoo Island was the main touristy thing we did in Sydney, mainly due to the small window of lovely weather.  The rest of our time in Sydney was spent inside - at art galleries, shops and cafe.  It also appears unlikely that I'll get to play tourist very often in my last few weeks in Sydney because they are jam packed with visitors here, trips away and, the not so exciting, study.

My favourite part of the audio tour ...

2011 ...

Wow!  When I think back over last year, 2011, I realise how much I did, it was huge!  It was a great year, full of challenges, surprises and so many new experiences.  Here's a recap of some of the big events of 2011 in my 'next adventure' ... 

In January, I headed to Alice Springs to visit Mum on her year of going 'walkabout' in the Northern Territory.  I was overwhelmed by the beauty in the landscape around Alice Springs.

Another watering hole

February was a sad month with the health deterioration and subsequent passing of my dear old dog, Charlie.  I was lucky to be able to say goodbye to him on a visit to Dad's just a few days before he left us.  In late February, I made the trip to Hanging Rock with some family and friends to celebrate my 30th birthday.

Hanging out with Charlie (and C)

Hanging out at Hanging Rock

In March, I returned to cold Canada where, on my first day back, I caught up with an old school friend, Camilla and her husband, on their brief trip to Calgary.  I also headed to San Francisco for a conference and catch up with my dear friends, Jolan and Arpad.  After San Fran, I followed C to Sin City, where I escaped the casinos to visit the awesome Grand Canyon.

Welcome back to the cold in Calgary

A San Fran icon

Touring the wineries with Jolan and Arpad

Grand Canyon

April was a fairly quiet month.  I spent some time working at the family's island and enjoying the delights of Salt Spring Island.

May brought another visit to the West Coast, this time to celebrate C's parents' 50th wedding anniversary.

 June was an eventful month, health wise, with a bout of pancreatitis to slow me down and inspire me to give up booze for a month.  I drove to Montana to renew my visa and spent some time oggling horses at Spruce Meadows.

Magical Montana

Spruce Meadows

Everything seemed to happen in July, as is necessary in Canada because the window for lovely weather is fairly short.  Having said that, the first major activity in July was outside of Canada with a whirlwind trip to China, where I gorged myself on my favourite Chinese foods, shopping and catching up with old friends.  July was also Stampede time and Canada Day celebrations (for us, the Millarville Races).  Calgary Folk Fest also entertained us in July.  We spent time hiking (and bear spotting).  Towards the end of the month, C and I explored lakes and wineries in the Okanagon.

Eating with friends in China

 

Drinking with friends in China

Yeeha at the Stampede

Canada Day celebrations at Millarville Races

Hiking in Kananaskis

 

Bear spotting in Kananaskis

 

Lakes and wineries in the Okanagon

In August, we headed the other direction and visited the prairies, where we saw a prairie theatre production and hung out at a friend's lake side cabin (where I discovered that tubing is not for me).

Driving in the prairies

My very short tubing experience

In September, I visited C's parents in Victoria and also bid farewell to Deadman Island.  I celebrated my last night by impressing the kids with my ability to jump off high rocks into freezing cold water.

Beautiful Victoria

A brave feat on my part

October was fairly uneventful since I was (supposed to be) staying at home working on my uni assignments.  C and I took part in the annual Calgary Stampede Cattle Drive and stayed at the Banff Springs hotel.  I also helped out at Millarville Community School.  At the end of October, I celebrated my first Thanksgiving and Halloween.

Cattle Drive

Banff Springs Hotel

In November, I headed back to Australia.  I was thrilled to be back in time for the Melbourne Cup carnival and to see my family.  After nearly a month off, I returned to work in Manly.

Stakes Day with Mum

Manly

December was a busy month.  Mum visited for 10 days and we had lots of fun adventures.   Not long after she left, C arrived for Christmas.  We had a wonderful time exploring Sydney, Melbourne and various spots in Tasmania.  You'll hear more about these adventures over the next few weeks.  And, of course, there was Christmas, which was a fun celebration of family and life.

Elton John concert with Mum

Hanging out in Sydney with C

Christmas time = family time

So there you have it, the year that was 2011.  The new year of 2012 is going to bring huge changes to my life, which stresses me out slightly but it's bound to be one big adventure.  I have only 6 weeks of work left until I will be officially unemployed.  I will return to Canada on a more full time basis and hopefully find a teaching job beginning in September.  Until then, I plan to work on my Masters thesis, pick up some casual work and work on a special project which I'll announce in a little while (and no, I'm not expecting a baby).  2012 will be the year of the unknown for me, but I look forward to sharing the ride with you all.  Happy New Year!

Christmas cheer ...

Our school Christmas tree (made out of 7 year old R's hand prints)

It's the last day of school here before we take two weeks off over the Christmas break.  The kids are super excited about Christmas and we've been having some Christmas fun this week with crafts, carols and Christmas themed Maths (the joy of homeschooling is that you can do these kind of things whereas in most schools, fun Christmas activities are a no-no).  Today, we're heading out for brunch and board games at the kids' favourite cafe before coming back to 'school' to make some Christmas cards.  We'll end the day with a little Christmas party (hopefully with bubbles for the teacher) and the much anticipated (by the kids at least) opening of presents.  I'm going to be taking a break from blogging over the next few weeks since C will be here (2 more sleeps!) and we're off on an adventure, which means I'll have plenty to blog about when I get back in January.  Happy Christmas everyone!

Bubbles in beautiful locations ...

This picture just about sums up Mum's visit to Manly last week - we drank a lot of bubbles in fairly spectacular locations, including beach side in Manly and harbour side in the city with views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.  We spent a lot of time drinking, eating and doing minimal exercise.  This week, I'm in recovery mode with lots of healthy foods and plenty of exercise before I start it all again on the weekend when C arrives and Christmas family time begins.

Sunshine at last ...

There weren't too many sunny days in Sydney when Mum was visiting, so when the sun came out on Sunday morning, we jumped at the chance to enjoy some beach time.  We began with a walk along Manly beach where we spent time watching the kids delight in the waves crashing into Queenscliff pool.  As we headed to Shelly beach for a swim, we came across Father Christmas who was arriving at the surf club to meet the little nippers.  It's the first time I've seen the fat jolly man travel by surf boat!  It was (only just) warm enough for a swim at Shelly beach but we didn't last long - the water at Shelly is normally free from waves and seaweed but due to the recent weird tides, there was a lot of seaweed being churned around in the (small) waves.  After our quick dip, we ended our beach time with coffee and cake at the Sandbar right on Shelly beach.  We arrived home just in time to watch the clouds roll in with a big storm on the way.  So, unfortunately, the sunshine didn't last very long.

Waves at Queenscliff pool

Body boarding at Manly beach

Father Christmas arrives by surf boat

He arrives at North Steyne surf club