Last weekend we enjoyed some late summer sun (a break in the rain) and met up with friends for a ramble through the park. We're delighted that our cousin Vicky moved to Sydney over a month ago and we've been on lot's of adventure's with her already, from towering heights to crocodile encounters , and from delicious dinning to rainy festivals ! I'm definitely taking advantage of her rule not to refuse anything in the first 6 months of moving here! We met up with Skye, Steve, Jacie, Bruce and Lise for a walk along the river in Lane Cove National Park. There's an interesting tale to how Skye and I met, though I guess not too obscure to those who know Skye well, as her friend Bruce guessed it first time! Whilst volunteering in India Skye befriended a British volunteer, named Alex. Alex, coincidentally, has also been a friend of mine since secondary school. Later Skye came to live in the UK, while I was living in Cambridge, but I still had the pleasure of meeting

The east coast of Australia has had a pretty good drubbing of wet weather over the past couple of months. We've been to four outdoor festivals this year and of those four twice we've been caught in a torrential downpour. Check out our festival picture summary below. Sydney Festival Week 1 Opening night of the Sydney Festival looks clear enough. As the crowd swells police move in to cordon off the area As darkness falls the police give up and the interlopers move in The headliner, Manu Chao, draws a huge crowd Sydney Festival Week 2 The clouds built throughout the afternoon And then broke after sunset Fortunately, everyone in our party was well prepared Well, everyone except us perhaps. Only one umbrella! Doh!   Sydney Festival Week 3 The Festival ended with the 1812 Overture, fireworks and clear skies. Yay!   Tropfest It was hot and sunny when we got out to the domain about four. Dark clouds built as the movies began to roll. By the thi

On the 1st of January 1901 the six British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia became states of the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia. The process of Federation had taken some twenty years of debate, argument and much feet dragging. Now the question was, what city would be the capital of the new nation. The two big contenders, Sydney and Melbourne, were fiercely competitive and there was a stalemate in the capital decision. In a very parental move, the decision came down in 1908 that neither of Australia's major cities would get the seat of federal power. Instead, a new capital city would be established somewhere in between. Jean with Lynn last year Lynn, a long time friend of Jean's family and de facto aunt who lives in Sydney, asked us a while back if we would be interested in riding down to Canberra with her for the weekend. She was visiting some family in the city and would be happy to ha