Rod Stewart hits town

Sue and I went to see Rod Stewart perform last night - a delayed birthday present for Sue. We drove to the Olympic Park through heavy evening traffic and a violent thunderstorm with torrential rain as we neared the venue, but it all cleared as we walked to the Acer Arena.

It was definitely a 'mature' audience for the show, although we spotted some people who were younger than us! This was the first time we'd been to this venue, although both Laura and Caroline have been here before - it's a very spacious, modern indoor stadium with good seating and views and was used for gymnastics and basketball in the 2000 Olympics.

After the support act, Rod come on and played for over 2 hours, with a 15 minute 'breather'. He put on a good show, with all his greatest hits and he still has a great singing voice, although at the start he was getting a bit drowned by the band. He also did his trademark kicking of footballs into the audience, with some unseemly grappling for the balls by the crowd!

Queen Victoria arrives

A busy weekend, helped by the return of summer weather! On Friday evening we all went to Balmoral for a 'fish & chip supper' on the beach as a delayed birthday meal for Caroline (as she had been out at a school dance on Wednesday). There was a lovely atmosphere along the beach as the sun went down and the lights came on at all the houses on the hillsides overlooking the sea.

Then it was an early start on Saturday morning - just for me - as I decided to go and watch the new Queen Victoria liner arrive in the harbour for the first time. I reached Kirribilli by 5.30am and walked over the bridge where people were starting to wait the arrival of the ship, although there was still plenty of space at that time of the day.

Soon after the sun started making an appearance the ship appeared behind the traditional fire boat spraying water into the air. The Queen Victoria made slow progress up the harbour and eventually docked at Circular Quay at 7am - it's certainly not as big a ship as the Queen Mary from last year, but still an impressive sight and lovely to see at that time of day as the sun rose over the harbour.

I was back home again by 8am ready to start a 'normal' day and it was a long one as we had friends around for a meal in the evening which went on until 1am. Sunday was also hot and sunny so Sue and I spent some time snorkelling at Shelly Beach after taking Rebecca and a friend to Manly. The sea was busy with snorkellers and scuba divers and there was quite a swell, which made it interesting, but there didn't seem to be as much activity in the water as the previous swim we'd done at this beach.

In the evening Sue and I went to Cremorne Point on the harbour to watch the 'historic' passing of the Queen Victoria and QE2 as the former left the harbour and the latter (which had arrived early this morning) swopped berths. It was also the last visit of the QE2 to Sydney, which is due to become a floating hotel in Dubai. The water was busy with boats and there was quite a crowd on the foreshore to watch the event which took place bang on schedule at 6.30pm.

There are more photos from the liners' visit here.

South Head

The weather has improved over the past week but it's still not the hot and humid summer weather that we were expecting in February. Sue and I walked to a Thai restaurant near the girls' school on Friday night which was a pleasant evening and the sky was clear following an overcast week and the constant threat of sudden downpours.

Saturday was spent driving Rebecca and Caroline to see friends - Caroline went to see her friend in Hornsby which is about 45 minutes drive away, so when we all went to pick her up in the evening we took a detour to a nearby gorge in the bush which was quite impressive, although we didn't have the time to venture far along the track which follows the river.

On Sunday Sue and I drove across the bridge and out to the east of the city to the area around South Head. Apart from going to Watsons Bay for lunch on Sue's birthday we hadn't really explored this area yet, so spent a few hours walking around the point at the southern entrance of the harbour. There are some impressive cliffs on the ocean side and then a series of sheltered harbour beaches on the opposite side of the Head, plus the usual collection of luxurious houses overlooking the water!

There are some more photos here.

More rain

Despite this month supposedly being the hottest and most humid month, the rain and cool weather has continued over the past week, with some heavy downpours causing local flooding and powercuts just up the coast as trees have also been blown down. There was a brief respite in the middle of last week but then the end of the week and Saturday were wet again. The Sydney dam levels are now at twice the level of last year and the new desalination plant that's being built to the south of the city has been flooded! (Here's some coverage from the news).

Sunday was a better day and so Sue and I drove to the city in the afternoon to visit the National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour as we hadn't been insider before and there were several exhibitions on which we wanted to see - it's an interesting and well-laid out museum and we could have spent more time there, but the car was on a meter (and we couldn't remember which street it was parked on!). However, on the walk back to the car we detoured through Star City to have a look at this large 'entertainment centre' and casino.

Laura's house party

Friday night saw Laura's 18th birthday party take place at the house and, to our relief, it all went off well and she enjoyed it. The day had been wet after a very hot humid day on the Thursday, but the evening was dry so we had the veranda and downstairs room used for the party and there were just over 30 of Laura's friends attending. The neighbours had been warned and we also had peace of mind with 2 'security' guys at the top of drive in the event that we might have had any gatecrashers, but they had a quiet night.

The rest of the weekend has been wet again although there was a spell of sunshine on Saturday afternoon so Sue and I had a walk along Curl Curl beach and sat for a while watching the rolling waves come crashing in at the cliffs on the south end of the beach. We then spent the evening with Laura at her friend Nicola's parents, as this was their last weekend here before they return to South Africa this Friday.