Have a happy new year

We're just getting ready for our little overnight stay in a friend of a friend's house in Kirribilli. We are going to have such a fantastic view of the fireworks in the harbour tonight, I can't wait. I'd better figure out how to take pictures of fireworks with my camera! Mia's got her little party dress ready and is looking forward to playing with her new friend Ben.

Damien went for a run this morning over to the Opera House and he said he saw lots of people preparing for tonight's festivities. New Year's Eve doesn't usually mean anything to me, except expensive cabs home but this year it will be a lot more fun and special as it heralds a change of life for us all.

I’ll scream and scream until I’m sick!

Mia has started to scream really loudly for some reason, usually when Damien plays peek-a-boo with her, she’ll just scream at a really loud pitch. Ouch! So of course whenever she does it, we take her into the room next door to the noisy neighbours so they can enjoy her screaming too!! Ha ha

We had our lunch sat in an area which is part of the Royal Botanic Gardens right next to the Opera House today. Another glorious day sitting in the shade and enjoying our surroundings. Sorry, if I’m boring you now. We gave Mia her lunch, and she enjoyed blowing raspberries as soon as the food entered her mouth, so consequently the food ended up all over my legs, all over her shoes and basically whatever direction she happened to be facing at that time! Ooh she’s a mischievous little thing sometimes. Mia was fascinated by the many seagulls that hang around in the hope of getting scraps of food. They get increasingly close to you, until you have to get up to shoo them away, but they come back again so it’s a complete waste of time getting up in the first place. If you waft your hand at them, they just think you are throwing food at them and a load more of them turn up. Mia had a great time, waving to people and trying to get her new hat off and playing in the grass.

We wandered over to Hyde Park and took the underground travelator over to an area called Woolloomooloo and then came back again. The travelator is decorated with a mural called ‘tunnel vision’ and is basically a mixture of contemporary and Aboriginal art.

Put that tongue away!

Well Mia has learnt a new trick today, I poked my tongue out at her once and now she won’t stop sticking her tongue out. It’s just there the whole time. She is dribbling everywhere and still trying to blow raspberries ALL with her tongue sticking out – it’s hilarious.

Our stuff we sent by air freight has arrived today. So Mia now has her walker, baby changer, cot and highchair. We are leaving the cot, changer and highchair packed though as there is no room for the cot and changer and we may as well keep using the highchair we’ve got already.

Damien did some work from home today and I took Mia out for a walk to the shops to look at the stuff in the sales. She really wanted to see what was around!! Then we went over and sat in Hyde Park by the fountain, to have lunch. It’s another glorious day today, I think I could get used to this weather!!

When we got back, Damien took Mia for another swim in the pool. She really loves splashing around in the water, so I think we are going to take her for some infant swimming lessons. There are classes in the North Sydney Olympic Pool that sound good.

Yesterday we went over to Chatswood to get Mia her new car seat. I took the bus with Mia, whilst Damien drove over there. The car seat we have is just not safe for her now, as it only fits in the front seat and we can’t turn the airbag off, so we just didn’t want to take the risk with her incase we had an accident. Too be honest, we probably would’ve been safer in the car than taking the bus anyway. There were no spaces to put the pushchair as the buses were rail replacement ones, so just had to leave her in the aisle with me holding onto the pushchair for dear life, even when the bus driver broke violently and we nearly went flying. Not a nice experience. Anyway, we had a look around a shopping centre called the Mandarin Centre and then went into the Westfield Mall. We got her forward facing car seat and put her in it in the back. I can now sit in the front of the car at last. It was great for all of us, as Mia seemed to think it was hilarious that I kept turning round to look at her. Not sure what she found so funny but she couldn’t stop laughing. Giddy girl.

Mia's first Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas this year and Mia seemed to enjoy it. We were up at 6am (Mia’s usual waking time now, we can’t get her back to getting up at 7am for some reason) anyway she was really interested in all the presents, all wrapped up. We gave her one present to see what she would do and she just looked at it quizzically, so we helped her to unwrap them. Obviously the wrapping paper was of great interest to her and she started to rip bits of it. She did quite well for presents, we got her some stacking blocks, an old style telephone with moving eyes, some clothes and shoes, a couple of pushchair toys and a moving train with lots of animals on it. I think she likes the train the best as it makes lots of great animal noises!

We had quite a busy day really and perhaps should have stayed at home a bit more so that Mia could play with her presents but instead we drove over to Cremorne Point to see Michelle, whose friend was having a get together at a flat where she was house sitting. The views from the flat were fantastic, really close to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. We didn’t stay long as we got there quite late, we then drove over to our friend’s house before driving back down to Lavender Bay where we met some of Jonny’s friends and had a Christmas day curry!!! We had crackers and party hats and even Mia kept hers on for a little while. Then we drove over to Double Bay where Michelle is living and had a walk around. It’s a lovely area. By that time it was gone Mia’s dinner time and we had to get home to feed her. So all in all a pretty hectic and different Christmas day. I think next year we’ll just spend it at our own place and invite people to ours instead.

The sales start today in Sydney, I think they have twice yearly ones and they go on for quite a while, so you can imagine how busy it was in the city today. Really not a day to go hunting for a car seat for Mia. We could hardly get the pushchair through the crowds, it was horrendous. So we gave up and went for a lovely stroll around Darling Harbour where it wasn’t quite as busy. It was another lovely hot day and we really enjoyed just walking around, relaxing, spending time together as a family, especially after our stressful few weeks before the move over here. We feel like we have finally landed now. This is what the move was all about, more time having fun together outside.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all!!

All wrapped up

I've wrapped all of Mia's presents now. We didn't go too mad and buy lots of things for her as after all she is still too young to know what is going on. I'll tell you what she got when Santa has been, hopefully he'll make a detour and find us on the 10th floor.

Today we did the last bits and bobs of our Christmas shopping and then went over to Woolloomooloo through the Royal Botanic Gardens and had a pie from Harry's Cafe de Wheels. We went there last time we were in Sydney, so just thought it would be nice to take Mia along this time.

Mia’s first steps

The big news for today is that Mia took 4 ½ steps all on her own. She’s done a couple of steps before but this time she seemed to hold her balance a lot better. She is just getting stronger and stronger by the day. It’s great for her as she was getting a bit frustrated at not being able to get around under her own steam. She is still not quite crawling yet either but sometimes she nearly gets there, does a little wobble then flops down on her belly.

Oh and we discovered a dead cicada on our balcony today – and yes I’m sorry I took a picture of it for you!!

We took Mia swimming in the apartment pool yesterday afternoon. She was a little bit wary at first and was holding onto me for dear life then gradually she begin splashing, then before you know it, she was laughing and smashing the water covering both me and Damien and absolutely loving it. She seemed to like it when one of us held her on her stomach and the other swam up to her. All you could see was this big toothy grin and two little hands smashing the surface of the water.

We are getting quite excited now for Christmas especially as it is Mia’s first one. We’ve got loads of presents for her and we can’t wait to see her little face when she starts to open them. I know she will only be interested in the wrapping paper but that’s fine. She just loves bits of paper.

Unit hunting

Yesterdays flat hunting went quite well. We had a look at three different units, one in Waverton, one in Neutral Bay and one in Cremorne. Over here real estate agents have an inspection time in which people can come along and view the units up for rent. Usually there is only a 15 minute inspection time and you inspect the property at the same time as other people who are interested in renting it as well. It's a little different to the way the UK do it but it creates a feeling of competitiveness if the unit is quite desirable. The one in Waverton was not to our liking. It was on the 3rd floor and there was no lift and it looked quite shabby with no views. The Neutral Bay was quite promising. It was a town house with three bedrooms, en-suite and a double lock-up garage which had all been completely renovated. The one in Cremorne was fantastic, massive rooms and the most fantastic views. It was on the 12th floor and you could see right over into the harbour. It was quite near Military Road as well, so that would have been great for shops, the only problem was it was a little bit too expensive for us. But we wanted to see what you could get for the money.

We all went Christmas shopping early this morning. It was great as we were at the shops at 9am because we live in the city now, so no messing around on public transport. We live literally round the corner from the main shopping centre. We bought quite a few presents for Mia’s first Christmas. It’s great shopping for toys for her for Christmas at this age because she doesn’t have a clue what’s going on. Obviously as she gets older I’m sure we’ll have all the tears and tantrums when she doesn’t get what she wants.

We managed to find a pair of shoes in a size 3 for her; they are soft pram shoes really but look like trainers. I think she loves them!!

We stopped off for coffee and Damien took her for a little walk in them, she kept staring at them at first and then managed to undo them in the first minute of wearing them!

New flat new start

We've moved over to the city apartment now and my god what a difference. This place is so lovely and clean, it's so nice to feel carpet under your feet again instead of dirt and dust on old floorboards. At least Mia can now sit on the floor and roll around to her hearts content. We were playing on the floor yesterday in the old house in Mosman when I went to put my coffee cup down and sitting right next to me was this massive, and I mean HUGE, cockroach just lying on its back wiggling its legs. Naturally I screamed and jumped up, moving Mia out of the way. Urrgh, she had literally just been stood right where it was only seconds beforehand. Maybe it was there then. Aaaarrgh, I daren't think that it might have crawled over her little toes. Poor thing. Anyway, I left it for dead for the owners to discover. Nice little present from us.

Our new apartment is on the 10th floor and has a balcony, not many of them do in this block, so we are quite lucky really that this had only just become available. We had sushi and champagne last night to celebrate and breathed a huge sigh of relief that we are not spending Mia's first Christmas in that dingy, old house.

We are going to go exploring the city again today and do a little bit of last minute Christmas shopping. Being so close at least we can get to the shops pretty early before all the mad hustle bustle of it being the last Saturday before Christmas. I have also lined up three apartments for us to go and have a look at, to see if we want to rent them when our term runs out on this place in three weeks time. Most of the real estate agents are off on holiday from now until 7th January - so no panic then!!

I've added some photos of our move from Barnet to Sydney on Picasa.

From Barnet to Sydney

Just click on the link above to see them.

On the move again!!

Well, the good news for today is that we are on the move. After my complaint about the house and rant at the agent, Damien’s company have found us some ‘proper’ executive accommodation to live in for a few weeks. I can’t wait to move. Apparently we can make use of the pool and gym there as well – oh just remembered my trainers are on a ship somewhere on their way to Australia!! We are going to have a look at the place tonight and hopefully move tomorrow.

Apparently the owners of the house we are staying in were told to de-personalise the house – does this look like de-personalisation to you??









Oh well, I’m not going to go on about it too much as I’ve probably spent my whole time here moaning about the smell in this house and feeling disgusting, so now I can enjoy my time in Sydney. Apparently there are a few job vacancies at ABC, so I think I will get my CV ready. Mia still hasn’t got a place at a nursery yet but she is on a waiting list at four centres, so hopefully she will have a place in February. We’ve still not heard from our dozey estate agents back in London about renting out our property, so that is a headache for us at the minute as we don’t want to be in a situation where we are paying rent over here and a mortgage back in London.

Exploring the City

I've had a good few days exploring the city. Caught the ferry from Old Cremorne Wharf into the city today. I’m not sure I’ll tire of seeing the Opera House and Harbour Bridge on my way in!!

Damien has had a hectic first few days at work. He has been given his own office and he has got so much to learn that I think his head might explode! He seems to be really enjoying it, so much so that he has already had his first overnight business trip in his new job.

Me and Mia went into the City to do a bit of Christmas shopping and my god was it busy. Sydney doesn’t really seem very keyed up towards babies though, as it was a nightmare trying to find baby change facilities and a few of the shops were quite jam packed with all their merchandise that it was really difficult to negotiate a pushchair around it all. We managed it though and I attempted to buy Mia her first shoes because she constantly wants to walk, so she needs something on her feet to stop her feet getting dirty. I got her feet measured and they are a size 2 ½, only tiny! Most first shoes start at size 3, so think we will have to wait a bit or just get some soft shoes for her. There was some really cute shoes around though, so not only will I love buying shoes for myself, I've now got another little person to buy shoes for!!

First weekend in Sydney

Had a great weekend. We caught the ferry over to the City on Saturday and took in the fantastic views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The walk to our ferry wharf is beautiful, it just made us realise that this is one of the reasons we moved here. Fantastic views, lovely walks and a peaceful, relaxing atmosphere. There are so many yachts on the bays around here, it’s beautiful to see them all. We got to Circular Quay, had a ice-cream and met my cousin who lives in Sydney. We walked around Darling Harbour and just caught up on some gossip and took in the views and had a few drinks along the way!!

Mia had a really good sleep on Saturday night, so I think she is getting over her jet lag. Her two top teeth are coming through as well, so she has been like a tap you can’t turn off, just constantly dribbling! Poor thing, she’s had a lot to go through, what with the moving out of the flat in London as well, but she has just seemed to take it all in her stride. She seems more normal again today, we are getting the real Mia back again. No more grouchy Mia.

We met our friends Jon and Claire today, they have a 7 month old called Ben, who is the cutest little boy. He’s adorable. I think him and Mia got on quite well, they were sharing toys and dribbling over each others cups! Mmm lovely. We had brekkie at a place called George’s Heights and then we headed on over to Balmoral beach before it began to rain. Only a drizzle, it is still warm though.

We've landed!

We made it here in one piece, well physically we are all in one piece, but mentally, I’m not quite sure. It’s all a bit surreal at the moment, it hasn’t quite hit us that we have moved to Sydney, it just feels like a holiday at the moment.

All three of us are unbelievably jet lagged as well, as we didn’t get much sleep on the two flights at all. Mia was fantastic on the London to Hong Kong flight. It was a 12 hour flight and she must’ve slept for about 4 hours of it but the rest of the time she was on good form, smiling at other passengers and messing around with the headphones and television. The bassinet that was provided for her was too small for her to turn around in when she lay down, thus she couldn’t get herself to sleep in it, so she ended up sleeping on my seat with me not being able to sleep a wink!!

Flying business class is definitely the way to go. The seats were huge and just being able to stretch out your legs makes all the difference. Plus you have so much privacy you can actually forget you are flying! The air hostesses were brilliant, really helpful with Mia and letting me and Damien eat in turns.

We are a bit disappointed in the accommodation that has been provided for us. When we got there, the dishwasher was full of dirty dishes, pots and cutlery. The kitchen sink and the work surfaces had not been cleaned. Then when we went to put our clothes away in the wardrobes and drawers we found the owners clothes in there, as well as a load of knickers and tights!! Very strange. There are lots of pictures of the family all over the place as well, it really feels like we are squatting in the place or at the very least staying with some long distant relative we’ve never met and they’ve disappeared for awhile.

We hardly got any sleep last night at all. We didn’t realise there was a phone in our room, which woke me up and then Mia woke up a few times most of the night, so I eventually had a couple of hours sleep at 7am.

We met our friend Jon, had a coffee then went off to explore the area. We went over to Cremorne and then walked to a lovely place called Mosman. The shops are great over there, so many kids shops. I think it is a bit like Crouch End or Muswell Hill (if you live in London).

All Packed Up

All our stuff is now packed up in a huge container. The guys from the removals company were like Tasmanian devils, everything in sight was packed up in a flash. If I hadn’t kept a tight grip onto Mia then she would have been whizzed into a box and shipped off too! It was brilliant having someone else do all the packing for a change.

We actually had a prospective tenant come round to have a look at the flat, even though all the rooms were full of boxes – stupid estate agents. Anyway, apparently she wants to come back for a second viewing. Keep your fingers crossed.

So now we are in the Sheraton Heathrow hotel in one of the club rooms. Very nice they are too. So that means free internet access and free beers/wines and buffet food. Mia has gone to sleep, so hopefully she will get as much sleep in the bank before the long, tiring 21 hours flight ahead of us.