Annual events

The weather over the last few weeks has been great - blue skies and not too hot - although it looks like a change is coming this week for the start of April.

The weekend saw two annual events taking place, the first of which was Earth Hour, where everyone is encouraged to turn out the lights for an hour at 8.30pm as a form of protest about climate change. This first took place in Sydney two years ago and has now become a worldwide event with many cities taking part. Our contribution was to play an atmospheric game of Cleudo by candlelight, which Caroline won again as usual!

Then on Sunday was the start of the Formula 1 season with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. It was run as a 'twilight' race this year with the race starting at 5pm to make live coverage in Europe at a more acceptable time, but I still managed to miss the start as I was delayed getting back from a business event I had agreed to do in the afternoon.

Coverage of the race here is on Channel Ten and they devoted 6-7 hours of solid coverage each day over the weekend to include all the support races and build-up. However, the actual race uses the UK commentary team - which is contracted for the season - and this is now back with the BBC team after quite a few years from ITV. Of course watching it on TV isn't the same as being there (but has some advantages) and so maybe I'll try to go and see it live next year...

Autumn

To mark the official start to Autumn here, this is a photo that Sue took on Friday morning as we are currently getting up soon after sunrise, although this will change again in several weekends time when the clocks go back (a week later than the UK's go forward).


We had a quiet weekend at home as Laura was recovering from having her 4 wisdom teeth removed on Thursday - she's feeling very sore at the moment but doing well and the 'hamster cheeks' haven't been too bad.

Camping in the Hunter Valley

After two and a half years in Sydney it was becoming a little embarrassing to admit to not having been to the Hunter Valley yet - the premier wine-producing region of NSW about 2 hours drive north of the city. However, we can now cross this location off our 'visited' list.

I think our reluctance to go there has been the unsurprising lack of interest on the part of the girls. There are no theme rides, beaches or shops there - just rolling countryside and vineyards - so who can blame them? Anyway, our opportunity arose this weekend, as Laura and Caroline were busy and Rebecca had been invited out on both days, so we had a blank canvas – perfect!

The weather forecast was great, which gave us the prime opportunity to try camping so we loaded the car up on Saturday morning with my 'birthday tent', sleeping bags, the Eskie and our bikes and we set off for Cessnock, the gateway to the wineries.

On arriving, we headed for the Tourist Information Centre, only to be told there were several events on over the weekend and we’d be lucky to find accommodation, even at the one campsite. Slightly worrying news, so we immediately phoned said campsite and were offered a spot for our tent, no problem. Scare-mongers!

We then drove to the Hunter Valley Gardens, parked the car at the end of the car park, changed into our cycling gear and unloaded the bikes. The sun was beating down from a cloudless sky, with no shade. Mad dogs and Englishmen? Undeterred, we set off to explore the local roads and vineyards. The first hour was very hard, as we had to contend with a very bumpy, busy road and a strong headwind. Things improved after that when we turned off the main road, and the rest of the ride was on quieter roads which were very pleasant. Traffic was minimal, but sadly the hills weren’t as gentle as we’d hoped!

The views were very pretty, if a little twee. Beautifully manicured vineyards and olive groves filled the valley, overshadowed by distant hills. Every few metres we’d come across yet another offer to visit the cellar door and buy some wine. Eventually, our water supply having dwindled and with several kilometres to go, we succumbed. Our port of call was a small, boutique vineyard, where we were plied with four different wines but also lots of cold water, which tasted far superior! Three other parties were there too, so we managed to slip away without purchasing – could have been a little tricky carrying wine on our bikes!

We got back to the car safely and made our way to the campsite. There was nowhere else we could have pitched our tent and unfortunately we were in Cessnock on the same night as a Rodeo Event and concert was going on in the showground next door. Nothing against country music, but the AC/DC the roadies played loudly until 4am wasn’t very pleasant (although Clive was humming along)!

The night was a great test of our aptitude for camping. Clive was a whizz at erecting the tent on the solid ground and didn’t give the neighbours anything to laugh at! Stage One a success! We should have unloaded the picnic table before returning the bikes to the boot, as the Eskie wasn’t really big enough for our food and wine, and a portable BBQ would have been more Aussie, but we still had a very enjoyable evening meal sitting in the dying heat outside our tent until the sun went down at 8.00pm.

I’d like to say we then enjoyed a fantastic night’s sleep before waking with the birds at dawn. Well, the second part is true, but what with the heavy rain storm for several hours, the roadies partying until late and the very thin bed rolls on the very hard ground, we got very little sleep. Emerging from our tent the next morning and catching snippets of conversation from nearby campers, it seems we were not the only ones to suffer! All in the nature of camping I suppose, but I’d like a thicker bed roll next time please!

After a hot drink in McDonald’s (there was nowhere else!), we drove to the McWilliams winery nearby and purchased a case of 6 bottles after the very interesting tour. Then, sadly, it was time to wend our way home, this time along the Great North Road, built by convicts two hundred years ago. A lot quieter than the F3, and very pretty, but we eventually cut back onto the motorway so we could get home in time to read the papers! I’d like to say the girls all missed us dreadfully, but luckily, they hadn’t. Another successful mini-holiday by the parents!

Coldplay

We had a rare 'family outing' last night when the five of us headed off to the Acer Arena to see Coldplay - the first of 4 shows they are playing in Sydney. It's unusual to find a band that we would all enjoy, which is probably why the music critics like bashing Coldplay's music, but they can certainly draw in the crowds, which must be doing something right!

The evening traffic wasn't too bad until the got nearer to the venue when we had some queuing and we found out seats halfway through the first support band. We were seated on the front row of the balcony, so quite high up but a good view of the stage. The girls would have preferred to be on the floor of the arena but they had to stick with the 'oldies'.

There was a second support band and then a good build-up for the entry of Coldplay which got the packed arena off to an enthusiastic start. The whole show was excellent, very slick performance from the four band members and some great music and lighting. At one point they all left the main stage and stood on a small stage in the seating area right below where we were sitting to perform some acoustic songs.

This is the review of the show from the Sydney Morning Herald.

The girls took plenty of photos and videos from the show, with a couple below:

Sydney bike ride

Yesterday - to celebrate the start of autumn - Clive and I set the alarm for 7am (not easy after a dinner party with friends the night before and a lively house party nearby that only quietened down at 4am!) and crawled out of bed to drive to Manly with our bikes in time to catch the 8.20am ferry to Sydney. This was for our 4th ride with the Northern Beaches Bikers, and each has been very enjoyable, exploring cycling routes that we hadn't done before.

Today’s ride started at Circular Quay at 9am and the 30 minute ferry ride was a real treat, showing off the harbour in the early Sunday morning and the 2 cruise liners resting there, at their best in the morning sunshine. There were 13 of us on the ride, mostly veterans of the group, but a new girl from Bondi was joining us for the first time so Clive and I weren’t the only ones not in the 'group uniform' of bright yellow polo shirts!

Cycling away from the Quay, we headed for Sydney Harbour Bridge to cross back over the harbour. There is a dedicated cycle track on one side of the bridge (the walking track is on the opposite side with 6 lanes for traffic and a railway line in between) and we rode over in single file, trying to enjoy the view without crashing into the railings!

From there we meandered into North Sydney and Cammeray, where we stopped at St Thomas’ Rest Park, the first burial ground on the north shore. It’s a beautiful oasis of calm just set back from a major road and contains the remains of some of the first residents of Sydney, many of whom developed the surrounding suburbs – there were members of the Woolstonecraft family, the Blues family, and even the graves of a James Cook and a Florence Nightingale! In the centre is a Pyramid-shaped tomb containing the Berry family, the first white owners of the land (after the Aborigines, of course).

After Cammeray we headed to the north of Cremorne, Mosman and Balmoral, riding along quiet residential streets and cycle paths and stopping for a welcome drink at a cafe overlooking Middle Harbour at Spit Bridge. It was then just a long gentle (!) climb up the hill the other side of the bridge and then a leisurely downhill glide back to Manly. We had travelled about 35kms but still made it home for lunch, which was great! Looking forward to the next ride already!