Wild weather

Autumn has been coming to an end with some wild weather over the past week - heavy rain showers and strong winds which have been lashing the east coast. Northern NSW has been suffering badly from the worst flooding in years, so Sydney has got off relatively lightly, but the beaches have been taking a pounding and lots of sand is being washed away.

We went down to South Curl Curl on Saturday afternoon to join quite a few sightseers watching the waves smashing against the rocks and creating very churned up surf. It certainly wasn't a day for surfing, although in the news that evening there was film of some people surfing on a beach inside the harbour, due to the swells coming through the Heads.

We did see some police and helicopter activity at the north end of the beach and have since learnt that 3 boys had to be rescued after 'chain surfing' - holding on to the chain fence surrounding the sea pool as the waves crash over them! Doh...

Yarramalong bike ride

We’re having a fabulous autumn so far, with lots of sunshine and midday temperatures in the mid-20s after cool mornings. There are some beautiful deciduous trees around, with leaves which look very colourful against the brilliant blue skies and, because frost is rare, they tend to stay on the trees for much longer than in the UK. It’s not quite New England, but it’s very pretty!

Clive and I enjoyed a lovely day on our bikes yesterday. We drove up to Tuggerah (just over an hour north from Allambie Heights) to meet other members of the Northern Beaches Bikers and set off with them along the Yarramalong Valley road. This road is sealed and bordered by fields and rural properties, many of which are raised up on mounds of earth (the area is prone to flooding). We were to ride along this fairly quiet road with undulating hills for 22kms to a coffee shop, before riding the same road back.

Those who were feeling energetic could take a detour into the Ourimbah State Forest and ride along steep dirt tracks for an additional 10kms or so. Of course I didn’t, but Clive gave it a go, along with the ride leader, a South African lady, and 3 other men. Thankfully, all survived and we sat and had coffee together, along with bacon and egg rolls (Clive), walnut and date slices (me) or Rocky Road (an Australian ‘cake’ we’re not too keen on, consisting of melted chocolate mixed with marshmallows and nuts – in this case, locally grown Macademia nuts which were apparently delicious!).

The ride back was as enjoyable as the outward one and I was in heaven with horses everywhere, beautiful bellbirds singing in the trees and a pair of eagles soaring overhead. The final 2kms were hellish, uphill all the way which was very difficult on tired legs, but we made it! It would have been great to write that the girls had prepared dinner for us when we got home, but sadly, they were all too busy ‘doing other things’!

Caroline passes her driving test

We are happy to report that Caroline passed her driving test today, at the first attempt! We felt she was more than ready, having completed her mandatory 120 hours (including 20 at night), compared to the 50 that Laura had to do before her test. However, anything could have happened on the actual day to scupper her chances of success but luckily the weather was fine and she wasn’t too nervous.

We’d checked all the lights the week before, so were very grateful to a lady who followed us up our road the day before and stopped to tell us a brake light wasn’t working, giving us just enough time to fix it before the test! The examiner took her to a suburb we had hardly ever driven in and she spent very little time in Belrose, where most tests take place, but she coped OK and passed with no problems.

So now there are three of us fighting over the one car! Oh well, just three weeks before Laura’s off to the States, so that will make things a little easier!

Mother's Day

It's been a weekend of contrasting weather, with some good sunshine on Saturday which got us down to a beach for the first time in what seems like ages - we had a walk along Collaroy in the afternoon and it was good to feel the sand again. The sea is also still quite warm at the moment, but we didn't venture that far.

Sunday was Mother's Day here and also an early start for us, as Rebecca had another 8.20 kick-off, so we had to be at the pitch at 7.50. It was also pouring with rain and the whole match was unpleasant for the teams as the rain came in heavy showers throughout and the ground is also quite exposed. However, we were fine as we sat in the car and were able to watch the match through the windscreen wipers! They won 3-1 by the way....

The rest of the day was better and we had a 'sort of' family day, although Caroline was working for some of it and I had a squash game in the afternoon. The three girls then cooked up a meal in the evening - a course each - which was very good and a real treat for Sue.

Autumnal sunshine

After a cool week and some torrential rain on Friday evening, the weekend has been lovely with blue skies and warm autumnal sunshine. On Saturday Sue and I had a good walk along Manly beach from Queenscliff to Shelley Beach which was lovely and good to see lots of people out enjoying the sunshine.

On Sunday we had another early start for Rebecca's football which was up in Avalon, about 30 mins drive away and her team had a good game after a poor start, winning 3-1. We then had to take Laura into Sydney for a briefing meeting she had with Camp America, as she now has a date to go to the US in early June, but still doesn't know which area she'll be placed in - apparently she'll know once she arrives at Newark.

While Laura was in this meeting Sue and I had a walk through Hyde Park - where the Sunday 'speaker's corner' was in full swing with lots of different groups laying out their protest / cause tables - and then down Macquarie Street to the State Library of NSW. We hadn't been here before and it was an interesting building complex, with a number of exhibitions - winners of a photographic competition and one about Charles Darwin's visit to Australia. We eventually picked Laura up and headed home again.