Queen Mary 2

Well this morning at 6.20am I got woken up with a very loud horn! so I had a look outside my window and there was the Queen Mary 2 parked right in from of me! It is docked right along side the finger Wharf next to our favourie pie shop ( Harrys).....


This photo is taken from a news website, just to show you how big it is:



And this gives you the front view, our apartment is just in front of those teracotta apartment block:

Now this is a photo I took from our balcony, you can see how close it was and now you can imagine how loud its horn was!!!!

Birthday fun......

Well at the weekend I turned 28!! Thanks to all my family and friends for the lovely cards and gifts I received, I truly was spoilt!

Yes that's a "happy birthday" made of marshmallows!

I had a lovely birthday weekend, Ali took me out to a local fish restaurant on my birthday called the Sardine room, it was very yum ay! then on Saturday we were suppose to be going lawn bowling but because the weather is very unpredictable we decided to have a few people round for drinks and then head out to the Classy Kings Cross!!

Whats a party without mini sausage rolls!!

Me and my lovely surprise cake, and yip that's t light candles!!

My face on discovering the t light candles

very delicious chocolate mud cake!

Not to sure what I am laughing at!

Me and Mo

Me doing something with a fan!

Ali and Murray

Shark attack Update.......

Turns out that the Shark attack in Bondi a few weeks ago was confirmed to have to have been a great White...scary...

Tests this morning confirmed a great white was responsible for the attack on surfer Glenn Orgias at Bondi Beach on February 12.

Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said Government scientists had made the identification after studying photographs of the surfer's wounds.
“I can confirm a 2.5m great white shark was involved in the attack,” he said.
“Sharks of the size that was involved in the attack on the Bondi surfer are starting to change their diet from being primarily fish-based to feeding on marine mammals such as seals and dolphins.
“Note that in almost all cases, great whites tend to release the person after biting - probably as they don't recognise the taste.
“Twenty-one great whites have been caught in the nets off the south Sydney beaches since 1990 and occur almost year-round.

Would not fancy this bad boy coming after me!!!

Outdoor Cinema

After a week and a half of rain we thought surely it was going to come to an end! well we were hoping as we had booked to go to the outdoor cinema at Mrs Macquaries Point ( right opposite the Opera house) and booked the tickets way back in December as they sell out really quickly. We managed to get tickets to see Yes man! Wednesday arrived and lucky for us it was a really nice day!

on the way to the cinema
The cinema screen
The set up was so good, there was a restaurant and a cocktail bar!

It was so nice to sit outside watching the movie with the city skyline and opera house in the background! The film too was really good, so defiantly recommend it!

RAIN!

Well we have no idea what is happening to the weather! Last week it was so hot and this week non stop rain! This week was pretty much working then home and watching  24 box set ( thanks to Murray and Mo) its so good!

So Sat arrived along with the Good Vibrations festival, or more like wet vibrations!! just to set the scene here is a picture of the rain from our balcony!:

So armed with waterproofs we decided to go for it! I honestly felt like I was back in Scotland and getting ready for T in the Park! We looked at the line up and concluded that there was no one we were really keen to see until tea time so we headed to Paddington for dinner and drinks!

Ali and Chris enjoying a beer in the paddington inn

Then it was time to brave the rain and cold so we headed to the festival!:

Ali

Chris, me & Ali

This is what we saw when we got there....look at that grey sky!

Taking cover in the Bacardi tent!

Fat boy slim finished off the night

Me and my umbrella

The final Lazar show, that was kind of cool in the rain!!

All in all it was a pretty good festival!

Another Shark attack...Bondi this time!!!

Shark tried to 'rip off' Bondi surfer's arm

Article from: The Australian

FATHER-TO-BE Glen Orgias was surfing at the southern end of Bondi, where the locals surf away from the tourists, just on nightfall when the second shark attack in as many days occurred.
"The shark just latched on to his arm. He started screaming 'shark'. The shark was just ripping into his arm, trying to rip his arm off, thrashing about in the water," Mick Marjonovich, who was only five metres away from the attack on Thursday, told surfing magazine Stab.
As several surfers managed to get to shore, the water became red with blood.

Victoria Bush Fires

It really has been a tragic week in Australia for all the poor people in Victoria who have been affected by the bush fires, There has been so many lives lost, homes destroyed and animal hurt- our thoughts go out to them all. The campaign though out Australia to raise money has been amazing!

This is a victim of the fires, poor Sam the Koala:

One wee Koala being helped:

Shark Attack in Wooloomooloo

Could not beleive it this happened last night right next to where we stay, you can see the base from our window! not to mention next to our favourite pie shop!

Navy diver loses hand in shark attack at Woolloomooloo in Sydney Harbour

Article

THE sailor savaged by a shark in Sydney Harbour has been named as Able Seaman Clearance Diver Paul Degelder.The 31-year-old lost one hand and part of a leg in the incident shortly before 7am at the navy base near the iconic Harrys Cafe de Wheels at Woolloomooloo.
Seaman Degelder - of the Royal Australian navy’s Clearance Diving Team 1, based at HMAS Waterhen at Waverton in Sydney’s north - was carring out an anti-terrorism exercise off the HMAS Darwin docked at Garden Island at the time.

They reckon it was a Bull shark!!!

hot hot hot!!

Last week had to be the hottest week since we have arrived! I mean 7 days of being in the high 30's!! I never thought I would hear myself say this but I was actually glad to be at work every day in the Air con!!!

The highlight of our week last week was going to see Razorlight at the Metro, it was a really small venue so we could see them perfectly! Apparently it was there first ever gig in Australia! That kind of makes sense though as we managed to get tickets no problem!

You can kind of see them, oh and my hands!

Razorlight again

On Sunday we headed out to Manly to see our friends Muz & Mo, we travelled with them for a few months in South America so great to reminisce on all the travelling stories. We took the bike to theres checked out there new place then walked to Shelly beach and all the way back along Manly beach! luckily it had kind of cooled down a bit by then!

Manly Beach
Anna and Mo walking along the beach

As we were walking along Manly beach we saw these sand sculptures,thought they were pretty good!!!

How the blog begins......

As you will all know....We left Aberdeen in October 2007 and traveled to the most amazing places then landed in Sydney May 2008 to set up home! Part of my NY resolution was to set up this blog so that we can keep in closer touch with family and friends! I knew it would be a task and a half to start from the beginning... so I thought I would give a quick run down and then start from now! Feb 09 although thought I would fill you in on Xmas and NY as it really was the best time! So here goes...

• Arrived in Sydney 5th May 2008
  
• Ali proposed 6th May 2008, I was obviously over the moon :0)
  
• then is it was major job hunting as the thought of eating beans on toast every night was staring to fear me!
  
• I got a job at a magazine company and Ali at a German Crane company
  
• July 08 moved from our first very small flat in Kirribilli to Wooloomloo
  
• Nov 08 My mum came to visit

• December was party season and getting ready for all our good friends arriving.....

Christmas and New Year 2008

Along with Xmas and NY came good friends to Share it with, first to arrive was Gordon and Laura on the 16th December, we went out for dinner and enjoyed a drink or 2!!

Enjoying a few drinks in the loft

Ali and Gordon having a dance

The day after......

Then on the 22nd of December the O'Neill clan arrived being Shanida, Ryan and baby Mia... Then it was a mad dash to get everything organized for xmas! we started as we meant to go on though with dinner and a few drinks at Bungalow 8 on xmas eve.

Bungalow 8 on xmas eve

Midnight on Xmas Eve

Xmas morning started off with champagne breakfast:

Followed by Mia trying on her Mrs Clause outfit and the opening of prezzies:

Since it was such a nice day and the Oz tradition was to go to the beach we decided to have a trip to Bondi!

Mia trying her hand at being a life guard!

Girls at Bondi

Mia's first dip in the sea!

After our tip to bondi beach we enjoyed a shrimp and steak bbq accompanied by lots of lovely red wine! Boxing day we managed to get up and headed to Randwick for a day at the races....so much fun!

This is Horris the huntsman that decided to visit for xmas...he made everyone run up our 4 flights of stairs at top speed!!

The plan for New Years eve was to have picnic in the Domain, watch the 9pm fireworks and then head home to the flat to watch the midnight fireworks! so we got up and the boys headed down ahead of us to get a good spot. They must have been away only 30 mins when they phoned to say that people had be in the line for 2 hours and still had a way to go!!! so we quickly decided we had to rethink! so we headed to Manta ( down by finger wharf) for a few cocktails! then low and behold in walks Paris Hilton!!! she is so thin!! after that we all headed back to the Tilbury hotel for a few then back to the flat for the fire works...they were amazing!
Gordon, Ryan, Mia and Laura enjoying a drink at the Tilbury

Ali handy work with his new camera!

Mia managed to meet a few stars on her first holiday...the other being Russell Crowe! we spoted him and his family having a dip at the local swimming pool...we were not going to disturb him but then he headed off to the wharf for a quiet beer and he insisted he had have his photo taken with little Mia...well it kind of happened like that!!

Mia and Ali enjoying a milk shake

We had a brilliant time with everyone over the festive period, we went to the beach, Taronga zoo, Watson bay, Sydney fish market and enjoyed every minute if it! Can't thank our good friends enough for coming all that was to help celebrate our first xmas in Oz!