This week it felt like we lived in Sydney. What I mean by this is that we did the things that we do at home in London, we cooked dinners, went for drinks in the city and went to a movie, the main difference being that it was sunny most days.
Every day we went to the beach in the morning for about 90 minutes. I would have a swim and Nathan would read. Then each evening we did something really fun. On Monday we went to see George Ezra in concert. Wendy who we work with is best friends with his mum so sorted us all out free tickets. The show started at 9.30pm so we went for drinks before and met Wendy's other friends who she also had got tickets for, Dean and Aaron.
The show was excellent and in a really small venue which I prefer as I find venues like the O2 so big you can hardly see the artist! George was brilliant.
Tuesday evening we headed into town to meet Charlotte. When we left Will's apartment in LA before Christmas I had accidentally taken his house keys with me to Australia, but luckily his sister Charlotte is living in Sydney and is going to visit him in February so we arranged to meet up so I could give her his key and also meet her.
It was lovely meeting Charlotte and chatting about Sydney, travelling, camp, Will and life.
Adam, a guy I went to school with has also recently moved to Sydney and he came for a drink with his girlfriend Katy. It was really nice seeing him and meeting Katy who was lovely.
We had a great night sitting in the business district outside drinking with friends, it was like London in the summer on a week night.
Wednesday we went to a great fast food place for lunch called Mad Mex which is similar to the burrito places in London like Benito's Hat and Chipotle. In the evening we packed a great picnic and headed to the outdoor cinema.
Everyone gets to the park a few hours before the film, eats food, hangs out watching the sunset and the thousands of bats flying above before the movie even begins
We hired bean bags and settled down with our picnic and wine to watch 'Taken 3' it was a great movie but the whole experience of being sat outside in the dark watching it was awesome.
On Thursday we headed out to Turramurra to visit some of Nathan's family. Nathan's Granddads brother and his wife moved out to Australia in 1970 with their 3 children Alex, Vicki and Jennie. Jennie picked us up from the train station and took us back to the family home which they bought when they first arrived 45 years ago that Vicki her husband Chris and their 2 children now live in. It was absolutely beautiful, with a really large garden and a great swimming pool too. We sat in the garden chatting, drinking and eating Indian take away. We had such a nice time we are planning on heading back again next week for another visit.
Friday was funny as although I hadn't been at work I felt excited for the weekend as Sam & Ben were at work and I knew as soon as they got home the weekend would begin. We went out for Thai food, which Sam tells me is really popular in Australia (I guess it's similar to the popularity of Indian food in the UK). After dinner the boys went back to the flat to catch the second half of the football and Sam and I walked down the road to the Coogee Bay hotel and had a drink in there, then we headed to the Pavilion which is probably the may awesome design of a bar I have even seen. There is a large bar in the middle of the ground floor and then to one side is a restaurant and towards the back is a giant games station which giant Jenga, Connect 4, table tennis etc. Sam and I sat in a swing and drank wine and gossiped it was great. We finished the evening by going up to the top bar which has only opened in the past fortnight and has a stunning balcony area overlooking the sea.
On Saturday Sam and I went for a swim in the Coogee tidal pool. It is a 50m pool that has been build into the sea but doesn't get hit too hard by waves so you are swimming in the sea but without the current pulling you around. In the afternoon we headed to the Randwick Races.
We put about £6 on each race which was fun but we didn't win. We had a nice time dressing up, having a few drinks and watching the horses. I also learnt that the 'Turf Club' was not as association for people who liked to lay turf, always good to learn something new!
Sunday was it rained all day so Sam and I went into the city so she could spend her Christmas vouchers. It was the best way to spent a rainy day.
We have 10 more days left in Sydney and still lots to see and do.