Sydney

We recently went on a holiday* to Sydney and Hobart. We spent a week in each city visiting my folks (My Dad is in Sydney and my Mum recently moved to Hobart).

It's a strange feeling going back to Sydney.

I spent 28 years of my life living in Sydney but have spent the last 2 years living in Perth.
I love Perth, I'm so glad we moved here, it's definitely my home now and I have never had the slightest sense of regret about leaving Sydney until, of course, I went back.

Sydney is such an amazing city. I would be lying if I said that I didnt get stabbing pains in my heart thinking about how much I miss living there. (Okay, well maybe it was not quite that dramatic but you know what I mean!)

I didn't actually get much time to visit any of my old favourite places as my dad is very ill and I spent most of my time visiting him (He had not seen Sophie for almost two years and had not met Henry yet so it was lovely for them to see their Opa) but I really hope to go back to Sydney soon and spend hours wondering around my old haunts.

*I'm not really sure that you can call it a holiday when 48 hours before you are due to fly out your husband calls from work and says "I now have to go to Hong Kong for 3 weeks INSTEAD".. I don't think flying around Australia with two kids on your own counts as a holiday does it?!  No, probably not.

Esperance (Paradise)

When we drove across Australia in March last year we stopped at a little place called Esperance on the south coast of West Australia for a few nights.. and it was there that we found paradise.
If you ever happen to be near Esperance you must visit Cape Le Grand national park. These photos were taken at Hellfire Bay and I have not retouched them in any way.. this is actually what it looked like!
AH-mazing! I still have dreams about this place!

Rosie's

A few months ago we spent the day at our friend Rosie's place in the country.
It was the most adorable little cottage I have ever seen..















Can you believe that it is actually one of the oldest buildings in Western Australia? It was built around 1830.
Amazballs.

Ooh la la

Sophie could not believe her eyes when breakfast was delivered to our room this morning.
She actually said "Ooh la la".
(I think we have been reading too much 'Fancy Nancy' lately!)

The return

Well, here we are.. back in Sydney!
Tom had to come over for a week for work, so Sophie and I thought we would join him.

Other than hanging out in our fancy hotel, I plan to..

Visit my favourite cafe (Gertrude & Alice),
Walk through The Botanical Gardens,
Spend hours in Kinokuniya,
Eat delicious things from the Bourke St Bakery,
Play at Centennial Park,
Have dinner at Bill & Toni's and
Visit my family, of course!

Amsterdam...

When Sophie was 6 months old we spent two months in Europe. We spent most of the time catching up with Tom's friends in France (He lived there for a year when he was younger) but were lucky enough to squeeze in a week in Amsterdam.

My dad is Dutch (from Utrecht) and I felt so at home in Holland.
Maybe if we save our pennies hard enough, we can make it back there one day..

Wine and Horses

One of the nicest things about living in Perth is that every weekend we head up to Tom's mum's place in the Swan Valley, about 40 minutes drive from the city.



A few years ago, Tom's mum and step-dad bought half a vineyard and because Tom's little sister rides horses, they built a huge stable block and there are 12 horses on the property. They also built a little 2 bedroom cottage that overlooks the vines on one side and the horse stables on the other..
We usually head up every weekend and stay for a night or two. It's SO lovely..



Sophie wakes up early in the morning and hops in the tractor to feed all the horses with her Granny, then collects fresh eggs from the chickens for breakfast.



There are so many reasons why moving to Perth feels like the best decision we ever made.. and coming up here certainly is one of them!

Road Trip

Well, we made it!

10 days and 4800km later...

Goodbye Sydney..

Today, we packed the car, said goodbye to Sydney and headed towards the sunset..

We will drive 4000km over the next two weeks until we reach our new home..

In Perth..

Growing up..

Sophie and I went and met Tom in the city for dinner last night. We are having alot of fun playing tourist in our own city before we leave.. We even went for a ride on the monorail!



I love this photo of Sophie, she looks so grown up.. I can't believe she is 3 already. Sigh.

Happy new year!

I hope you all had a wonderful new years. I am so excited about 2011.. Its going to be filled with BIG adventures.. Driving 4000km across the country, setting up house in a new city and most importantly, having another baby.. I can't wait!



We had a beautiful day today at Balmoral beach. hopefully this amazing weather stays put until Tom goes back to work on Tuesday.

Wishing you all an incredible 2011!

A (literal) sea change

I had planned on getting back into the habit of blogging again daily since I am now feeling sooo much better and over the worst of the morning sickness and fatigue. But I have just been so busy trying to get all our home-made christmas presents made and send off in time, and I have been very busy making a life changing decision..

In March next year (which is only 3 months away).. Tom, Sophie, the bump and I will be saying goodbye to our home, our friends and our life in Sydney and moving to sunny PERTH!!!

It is a move that we have thought about on and off over the years and we have finally decided that we are going to do it. Tom's family are all in Perth and have (of course) been encouraging us to make the move for years..

I think it's going to be one of those things where we will look back in a few years and say "Why didn't we do this sooner"..
I hope anyway.


Tom, Sophie and me in Perth 2008

My week..

A day at the beach..


The bump..


The rainbow butterfly..


One of my favourite things about summer..


Bar Italia..


A trip to the city..




And one very organised mummy.. (or not)


Does anyone else have their entire life scribbled on bits of paper?