City-Bay Fun Run (or Walk)

Every year 30 000 people run or walk 12km from the centre of Adelaide to Glenelg at the beach. As we missed the Race for Life this year Annabelle, Lucy & I decided that we would join Linda & her crowd for the City-Bay. We walked with Linda & Liz. Emily was at a sleepover so she missed the fun. Michael & Jonathon ran the 12 km in a little over an hour.

We set off at 8:20am and arrived in Glenelg 2hours 8 minutes later. The girls were absolute stars and enjoyed the fun of it all. We saw Lego Men, Star Wars characters, Batman, Wonderwoman and Superman to name a few.

There were lots of supporters along the way. Our favourite was the 2 old couples who had a tray of nibbles and glasses of champagne to hand out. Once we had the champagne the rest of the walk certainly went with zing.

The carrot for the children was a trip into Baskin & Robbins for scrummy ice cream. Gary then came to collect us but there wasn't enough room in the car to take everybody home. Liz, Linda & I walked the 6km back home to Seacliff along the beach.

Once we got back to Seacliff Gary served a great barbeque with lots of new recipes from his Aussie barbeque book. We washed it all down with lots of champagne - well why wouldn't you celebrate this fantastic achievement?!!!

The Show

Lucy: On Tuesday me and Annabelle had a day off school to go the show. The show was like going to the fair and more because it has show jumping, wood chopping, races, fireworks and motor bikes doing stunts. We went on the 40 year old Ferris wheel called the sky master.
Then we went on the sky flyer it's like these seats going about 10 metres high and then we spun around really fast!!! Then for lunch I had a Dagwood dog its this sausage on a stick dung in batter the a little bit dung in tomato sauce and it was really yum!!! Then we went to see the animals border collie puppies the were really cute but the were $15000 each!!! Then we went on lots of rides then we went home. But the show only on in september.

Missing you lots Lucy xxxx
P.S. Can't wait till jan

The Fraenkels Boat

On Thursday, as I was in theatre with my hand somewhere unmentionable my phone rang. Gary & the girls were out on Sally & Graham's boat enjoying cold beers. The temperature had suddenly shot up into the high 20s. I said I would get there as soon as I could.

When I left work I drove down to the beach. Graham came to the shore in the dinghy to collect me. I hitched up my dress (not very well) and waded into the sea. Then I had my first Mr Bean moment as I tried very inelegantly to hop into the dinghy. Needless to say I ended up like a dead fly, flat on my back & legs akimbo in the bottom of the dinghy! I tried to maintain what little dignity I had left as we sped across the water to the yacht anchored offshore. Once we reached the 37 foot yacht Graham asked me to throw Gary the rope which I was sitting on (Mr Bean moment 2). Once I had retrieved the rope I threw it to Gary who tied the dinghy to the yacht. It then dawned on me that I had to get from the dinghy to the yacht (Mr Bean moment 3)! Thankfully I didn't fall in the sea but my dress was so wet it wouldn't have mattered.
A few drinks later it was time to go home. I decided that I would help Graham take the yacht back to its mooring at the Marina rather than risk the dinghy again. If we forget the dinghy I'm sure I could get very used to sitting on the yacht with my beer/wine enjoying the gorgeous sunshine & watching dolphins all day......

Love Bean x

Annabelle:
On Thursday when we got home from school our neighbour Graham wanted to know if me, Lucy and Dad wanted to come on their boat with them. A little while later their daughter Lucy came on.
We jumped off the boat and swam in the sea.
Then we went to Brighton, on the boat, and saw dolphins and had fish and chips.

Lucy: On Thursday we went on Graham's boat and we swam in the sea.It was fun.

Gary had fun too xx

Whale watching

Hi Guys

Last weekend we headed down to Port Eliot with Linda & Eric to go whale watching. On Saturday & Sunday we watched Southern Right Whale mums playing with their calves. They were really close in to the shore. We saw 5 mother whales and each one had their own baby. An awesome sight!!! Unfortunately the photos aren't too great.

We've past the halfway stage of our trip down under. Time seems to be flying but we have to have a few more adventures before we come home.

Missing you all.

Lots of love
Geraldine x

Spring

We've had a very quiet week this week. After Mel left the weather became wild. We had a massive storm that caused damage to buildings & blew trees down. The waves were so huge that they crashed onto the pier. Surfers were actually jumping off the pier with their surfboards trying to catch the waves.
Sally had told us that spring would start on 1st September but with the wild storm & only a week to go we didn't believe her. Guess what? On the first day of September we woke to find a glorious sunny day with a temperature of 22 degrees. Amazing! Hopefully the weather will just get better from now on.
Not much else to report - we're just starting to plan our walkabout at the end of the year.
Hope all is well back home.

Take care, missing you all
Love Geraldine x

Sydney

To end Mel's Aussie adventure we went to Sydney. We stayed at the Old Sydney Holiday Inn which is on The Rocks - the place that the British first came to Australia. The hotel was in a great position. The view from the rooftop pool was of the Opera House & the Harbour Bridge.

We arrived late on the Tuesday night. On the Wednesday morning we tried to have a dip in the pool but it was so cold that we didn't last very long!

We then headed out to the Botanic Gardens to have breakfast with the flying foxes! Mel didn't realise what the flying foxes were at first as they were awake & flying around even though it was daytime! After breakfast we wandered around to the Opera House where we did a tour. The tour was fantastic. We even got to listen to the Australian Symphony Orchestra practising for a few minutes.

We then headed down to Circular Quay where there were a couple of aboriginal buskers playing on their didgeridoos (an English boy was heard to tell his parents that he thought they were fake!!!). We hopped onto the Manly Ferry which gives one of the best views of the Sydney Harbour. We had lunch in Manly before we headed back to Sydney.

Our next bit of fun was to climb up the pylon at the end of the Harbour Bridge - the large oblong structure at the left hand end of the bridge. In the pylon is an exhibition about the building of the bridge. From the top of the pylon you get fantastic views of the whole of Sydney - definitely another highlight.

We then went out for a drink with Chris & Dave Kettle before we met Neil's (Mel's significant other & fab karaoke DJ) brother Jason for a $10 steak (much better than the $10 pizza the previous night). Paying $10 for your steak seems to mean that you don't get much say in how it's cooked.

The next morning I woke at the crack of dawn, literally, and headed back onto the roof to watch the sunrise over the Opera House. Awesome! Once I managed to get Mel out of bed we headed out to Darling Harbour for brekkie. We then went shopping in Paddy's Markets - just a whole different world - Neil benefited hugely from the trip!

The Sydney Tower was our next stop. It's supposed to give the best views of Sydney (it used to - not since they built the skyscrapers though). Finally we wandered back to the Opera House via the Botanic Gardens. We had lunch beside the Opera House with a great view of the Harbour Bridge - well we just had to have another glass of fizz. With the glorious sunshine & the stunning views there was nowhere better to be with my little sister.

All too soon the trip was over & we headed back to Adelaide. Mel has now gone back to the UK seriously bitten by the travel bug.

Annabelle says thanks for all the great presents that you have sent out for her birthday - you're all very kind.

Time to sign off - wish I had a portkey

Big hugs

Geraldine x

The Riesling Trail

Hey Folks

Just when you thought we had drunk Australia dry we found another source - the Clare Valley! We went to Minataro (top photo) in the Clare Valley for the weekend. Clare Valley produces lots of lovely wine but is famous for its Riesling. Yes, we know - yucky German wine but the Riesling from Clare Valley is nothing like. It's dry & lovely.

So in the spirit of Masson entertainment we took the McKendrick clan and Sally & Graham cycling along the Riesling Trail. The Riesling Trail is a gravel track a bit like the Salt Line in Sandbach.

We got the bikes from Cogwebs in Auburn which is run by a lovely lady called Judy who came from Dorset. Judy didn't have any kids bikes so Mel & Lucy rode a tandem (tee hee). Sadly, I have no photos to prove this .

We didn't realise that the track from Auburn (where we collected the bikes from) to Clare was a gentle uphill which wasn't helped by the headwind!

Eventually we reached Crabtree vineyard. I think that the wine maker in Crabtree was glad to see the back of the 'Dirty Dozen' (bottom photo) after we ate all his cheese, biscuits, breadsticks, olives & drank most of his wine. Gary did buy 2 bottles of Shiraz by way of small recompense but that was all we could carry.

We then got back onto the bikes & continued uphill on to Penna Lane wines where we had a lovely lunch. After lunch & the obligatory wine we went back to the track to take the long downhill back to Auburn. Thank goodness we did the uphill sober!

Today we visited Burra which is an old copper mining town - not much copper left now though. The kids got dressed up in period costumes & put on a little show in Burra Town Hall. It was like they were tots again.

Hope you're all having fun - got to finish this bottle of Crabtree wine before it goes off!!

Missing you all

Love Geraldine x