Summer heat

It's been a particularly hot weekend, especially on Friday and Saturday when the temperature was in the high 30's and this coincided with the 2-day 'Big Day Out' music festival at the Olympic Park. Caroline went on Saturday with some friends and just managed to last the whole day although the afternoon and evening did start to get cooler. Her main incentive was to see the headliners, Muse, in the evening, who didn't disappoint apparently!

We had a quiet weekend, partly due to the heat but also because Sue has got shingles! She seems to have caught it early and got some drugs from the doctor to try to suppress the initial pain, but she's not feeling great at the moment.

Laura's birthday

It was Laura's birthday on Sunday and her departure from teenagerdom! She'd been out partying on Thursday night and again on Saturday, so by the time her birthday arrived she was feeling quite tired, but managed to get up early before Caroline went off to work for several hours.

The plan for the afternoon had been for us all to go to the city and enjoy one of the jetboat rides around the harbour. However, the weather wasn't looking good, with thunder rumbling around at lunchtime, but we decided to go and see what it was like later on. We arrived at Cremorne to catch the ferry, but the one we expected didn't stop as it was jammed with people coming back from Taronga Zoo. We had to wait for another 30 minutes but as it was cool and windy we decided to head home and try another weekend soon!

Spent the evening playing some games, eating and going to bed early!

NSW business sponsorship

I received confirmation of renewed sponsorship from the NSW Dept of State and Regional Development yesterday. This is the first stage of applying for a full residency visa, and the sponsorship is required for the visa I will now be applying for, as I've reached the required targets for turnover, net assets and employees over the past 12 months.

This latest process was similar to that which I went through 4 years ago when we started the whole visa application process and it took about 3 months to get the confirmation, which included a site visit last week to my office - just to confirm that the business did exist! I think the guy who came to see me was very impressed by the shiny modern office building that I'm now based in.

So I can now start the full visa application to the Federal Government - let the multiple form and paper collation begin!

Dog sitting

Only 2 days to go before the dog goes home! I must admit, I’ve grown quite fond of him as the days have passed, but not really to the point of not wanting to let him go – there have been too many ‘accidents’ for that!

He’s a lovely puppy though, and has made us all laugh with his antics, especially when chasing his tennis ball and forgetting to stop at the wall, or barking outside each girls’ bedroom door to wake them up in the morning! At the end of the day though, it’s like having another person to look after and be responsible for, 24 hours a day, and that’s what we remember from our dog-owning days. We’re not going to miss the early-morning walks too much either!

The weather has been improving this week and we’re back to complaining about the heat. The sea’s warming up nicely too and Clive and I will probably go for our first dip of the year this weekend. The girls have all been in already, of course!

Clive’s coming to the end of his first week back after Christmas, and is ready for a break already, and I’ve done a couple of unpacking jobs for the company I have been working for since November. One was for a lady who told us her husband was a chef and therefore she didn’t know where anything should go in the kitchen, she’d leave it up to us. I was working in the study initially, unpacking what must have been 100 cookery books, including Larousse Gastronomique, so I decided that this was no fast food restaurant chef!

Then I came across his name in a book, and although it sounded very familiar, I still didn’t recognise it. It was only when I’d moved on to the bedroom and saw their wedding photo that I realised the man in question was a judge of Masterchef Australia, a program we’d all lapped up last year! He didn’t appear before we all finished for the day, but I felt like I was unpacking the house of a friend – didn’t tell his wife that though!

I’ve got a job tomorrow in the new home of a business magnate. I don’t think I’ll ever need to hire an architect in future, I know exactly what works and what doesn’t in homes now!

New Year's Eve

We've had a good holiday week at home - the weather hasn't been great but we've been able to relax and also get in some bike rides and walks along the coast. The walking will be a higher priority over the next week or so for all of us, as we've agreed to look after a friend's dog while they go away - a small black and lively puppy called Ozzy, who is some sort of spaniel / poodle cross.

We weren't sure how well he'd settle in the house and therefore we had turned down 2 invites for NYE drinks to look after him (and all the girls had other plans), but in the end Ozzy seemed worn out from the day's exertions and went to sleep about 10.45 and so the two of us decided to head down to the harbour to watch the fireworks.

After a wet start to the day, NYE turned out warm but overcast. We drove to Cremorne and parked about 20 minutes walk away from the harbour, but there were quite a few other groups heading there. We arrived with about 15 minutes to wait and it didn't seem as crowded as previous years, either due to the earlier weather or the higher level of police and banning of alcohol this year.

However, there was a good atmosphere and the fireworks didn't disappoint - after quite a low key start, the last half of the 12 minute display was very impressive and some great effects along the bridge. We then walked back to the car and were home by 12.45 to a sleeping dog - and fortunately there aren't any local fireworks to have woken him up as you can't buy them in the shops here.