Rain, rain go away...

Wendy and Porch (Canadians, eh) arrived in Sydney last Wednesday from their criss-cross adventures around Oz. On a very wet Saturday, we took them to the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the Rocks. The rain kept most of the tourists away which made it a crowd-free tour!





Heaps of interesting things for tourists to see in Sydney...

INXS

I went to see INXS play on Monday night with Natalie Macky in the Gong. Canadian JD Fortune is their new lead singer who was picked from the reality tv show Rock Star: INXS last year. JD's last known Canadian address was Oakville, Ontario! Not sure if living in your car counts as an address though.

INXS played a mix of old and new but finished with the best of their old which the middle-aged crowd appreciated!


Met up will Vic, Liz, Nick and Di for a beer before the concert.


Special thanks to Andrew Macky! I don't know many husbands who would lend out their wives for a concert AND take care of the other bloke's kids!

Footy for Father's Day!

Adam finished his AFL season a few weeks back and was anxious to see the big boys play the game. One of Adam's teammates, Nelson, barricks (can't use the word root in Oz!) for the Sydney Swans! Nelson's dad, Anthony, invited Charlee, Adam and me to the last regular season game on Sunday at the Sydney Cricket Grounds. It's a family affair for most Swans fans - Anthony regularly brings wife, 3 kids and parents to the games. Sunday also happened to be Father's Day in Australia so it was especially fun to be there with Charlee and Adam.


Aussie Rules Football is a combination of soccer, basketball and rugby. The object of the game is to kick the ball through the 2 tallest uprights for 6 points (that's when the goal judge draws out his fake guns a la John Wayne and pretends to shoot them!). Should you miss the tallest ones but at least get it through the two shorter but wider ones you get only 1 point. Needless to say the fans only appreciate the 6 point goals and moan about the 'behinds'. You can only pass the ball by hitting like an underhand volleyball serve or kicking it to a teammate. Should the teammate receive a pass that was kicked to him, he gets a free kick from where he 'marked' the ball. If this spot is close enough to the uprights, he tries for a goal. It's amazing to see how accurate these guys are with their feet - both passing and scoring - while being chased and tackled by the opposition!

Nelson and Adam ham it up at half-time!


These stands are the oldest part of the SCG - built in late 1800s!


The best part of the day for the kids is the end of the game when they all storm the field for a kick around!


In the end, the Swans totally dominated the last place Carlton Blues to secure 4th place overall. 21 goals and 6 behinds for the Swans and only 6 goals and 8 behinds for the Blues!


Kids - Nelson, Jordan, Adam. Big kids - Dave and Anthony
Thanks for an entertaining afternoon Anthony!

Back to the Beach!

The weatherman said it would be 26°C on Saturday so we couldn't resist the urge to head back to the beach. Cronulla Beach to be exact!




DUNES!

Incredible sand dunes that we've overlooked in our previous visits to Cronulla. The kids wanted to sprint to the top but found sand to be harder to climb than snow!

These two young sheilas were 'tobogganing' down the dunes on their boogie boards and were nice enough to let Charlee and Adam have a go. We'll definitely have to return with our own boards! Look closely and see Sydney centre in the background.


Just enough clouds to give us a picturesque farewell!