Hi again. We’ve been away for a few days. Tuesday morning, we took the train into downtown Sydney and had a short holiday in the city. There’s lots to share, so we’ll break it into 2-3 blog posts.

    Any time you go into a major city, ya gotta go shoppin’. This morning, we started things at The Strand, built in 1891. This was how they built shopping malls in the 1890s. It has been remodeled a few times over the years, but efforts were made to keep as much of the original character as possible.

    While there were many high-end stores there, I (John) found myself more taken aback by the beauty and craftsmanship of this place instead of all the bling in some stores.

The next stop was the Queen Victoria Building, which the Aussies simply called the QVB.

The Queen overseeing her building

They don’t build them like this anymore, do they?

QVB’s interior has been more modernized than The Strand, but still retains hints of its original character.

One last stop to tell you about … Paddy’s Market. Just imagine the biggest farmer’s market you’ve ever seen. It fills an entire city block. There were about 100 tiny shops, a food destination with 48 small, independent food providers (no fast food here), and an incredible meat/vegetable area.

They grow them big around here.

Next post, we’ll take you to other things we did while we were in Sydney. Some of you have emailed us … thank you! We appreciate hearing from you.

While everyone was at work/school yesterday, the two of us went to the next town, Richmond. The kids lived here for the first 9-10 years they were in Australia. We had a great time just walking “high street” (the Aussies are like the Brits, it’s not “main street”, it’s “high street”). Poked our heads into a bunch of cute shops and did some shopping.

This was once the town square, now a park with a cricket pitch.

Today, April 25th, is a National Holiday in Australia and New Zealand called Anzac Day.

On April 25, 1915, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landed in Gallipoli as part of an allied expedition to capture the Gallipoli peninsula.

Much like our Remembrance Day, this day now recognizes and commemorates the contributions of all people who have served Australia in times of war.

Anzac biscuits are popular, long-lasting Australian and New Zealand treats originally sent to soldiers during World War I due to their durability. These crunchy-chewy cookies are now synonymous here with Anzac Day.

Ah, yes, remember yesterday I told you about that great cake that Noelle and Beverly made, but sadly, no picture. Fortunately, someone else took a picture.

A job well done! There’s nothing left!

Have a great weekend!!

Sorry, it’s been a while since our last post, but we’re still here and alive. It’s been a very busy week for the kids, so we have been helping a lot with shopping, cooking, and cleaning.

Though busy, Krista and Beverly did find time last weekend for one of their favorite things … jigsaw puzzles. This one was only 1,000 pieces. They did a 1,500 piece one last weekend.

Speaking of cooking, the kids have an air-fryer, and we’ve often wondered about getting one. So, we’ve been playing with theirs. Homemade French Fries, anyone?

    And about burgers, you know how we put pickles on ours. Nope, not here. Here it’s beets! Quite good actually. Either roasted round beets or a beet relish. We made a beet relish for that burger.

    Remember the stand mixer Noelle got? Beverly and Noelle had a baking day, which resulted in two kinds of cookies and a glorious chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting. (Sorry, we were too busy eating it to take a picture.)

So, not too much exciting to report this time. Next week, we have booked a hotel in downtown Sydney for two nights. We plan to visit the aquarium, Darling Harbor, and possibly the Taronga Zoo or Manly.

    Until next time, we wish you all a great weekend!!

Driving here is unique for the obvious reason that they do it all backward… well, backward to us Canadians, that is. For them, this is what’s normal.

It’s hard getting used to left turns being the tight ones and right turns being the wide ones. For me, that was one of the hardest things to get used to.

    Traffic rules are more or less similar. Here’s one difference. We can make a right turn after stopping at a red light (that is, unless you’re in Quebec). For them, this is a left turn, and they cannot do this. You have to remain stopped at a red.

We complain about our gas prices in the Lower Mainland. Get a load of the prices here.

    Let’s translate that to Cdn dollars. (Our money is very close to par.) Regular gas at $2.139 AUD is $2.10 Cdn.

    And what about diesel! $3.109 AUD is $3.049 Cdn. Yikes. I hate to think about what those diesel prices are doing for the trucking industry.

    Well, it’s still better than many places in Europe. In my homeland, Denmark, regular gasoline is currently $3.69 Cdn/liter. No wonder the Danes drive very small cars.

In yesterday’s blog, I mentioned our family’s gift to Noelle was a visit to a kitchen supply store. So, today, we went to …….

Now, that was a kitchen supply store! Very impressive. Their selection was incredible. Noelle was given a dollar amount and told to go crazy…..

…. and this was her choice.

She’s promised to make us a chocolate cake.

Mmmmmm

    We left BC with the days getting longer, and we arrived here to their Fall and the days getting shorter. Right now, it’s pretty well dark a bit before 6 pm.

    In our area there are not too many street lights, so at night it’s quite dark and there are so many stars out. Very nice.

    That’s it for today. Everyone, have a great weekend!!

For the first half of this week, our daughter is at work, our son-in-law is out of the country on a work trip, and our granddaughter is studying for some major exams coming up, which means a few quiet days for us.

    One of Noelle’s birthday presents was a free trip to a hairdresser’s for “the works”. We will have to wait and see what the “new” Noelle looks like. On Friday, we are heading to the shops to complete some other birthday presents. Noelle is turning into a “foodie” and is starting to build her own collection of kitchen hardware. So a present from all of us in my family is to take her to this huge kitchen supply store, give her a sizable dollar amount, and set her loose!

    Of course, life is different here. There are big differences, such as driving on the other side of the road, but also so many little things. One example is in the pics below:

On the left, the light switches are small rocker switches. That’s not so bad, but what confuses my poor OCD brain is in Canada, up=on & down=off. Just like driving, it’s the opposite here. up=off & down=on.

    Notice the plug-ins have switches on them, too. That’s not for lights somewhere; that’s for the plug. At first, I thought it was quite useless, but then, at home, I would often unplug a toaster or other appliance when I was finished using it. Now, I just have to switch it off.

So, just a short note today. I’ll sign off with a pic of this lovely bird of paradise in their garden. Though it’s early Fall here, there are still some great flowers hanging around.

Previously, we had pictures of the old church here. They aren’t the only older buildings here; many of the houses are from that era. I believe both of the ones pictured below are from the mid-1800s. Notice the big verandas around the house … that was their air conditioning back then. Notice too that it is very common for all yards — both old and new — to be fully fenced. In addition to aesthetics, most will keep a dog in their yard to help fend off unwanted critters.

In residential areas, your mailbox is always by the road, usually integrated into your fence. Then, the mailman (or woman) drives along the fence-line on a small motorcycle to deliver your mail.

Heritage Laws are strict here, and there are rules governing the modification of old heritage buildings. Owners are usually not allowed to alter the building’s original façade. Often, owners will keep the front façade and then add on at the rear. A perfect example is this old firehall, interestingly occupied by a heritage consulting company.

It’s Saturday here. We spent the morning helping the kids with some yard cleanup. Beverly killed 5 spiders hiding in the patio set. There was some jumping and squealing involved, but she did it. I’m proud of her. We love the floor-to-ceiling windows at Mahogany, and similar to that, the back of the kids’ house is also mostly glass.

While the kids’ house has neighbors on both sides, there’s no one immediately behind them. Some mornings there’s fog and haze … before-and-after pictures below.

They keep a small but bountiful garden at the side of the house. Tomatoes (pronounce it correctly: to-mah-toes), zucchini (courgettes), spinach, sweet potatoes, onions, & eggplant (aubergine). This is her winter garden. She will plant and grow different vegetables come summer.

And, if you’re cooking and in need of a bay leaf, just grab your scissors and cut one off the small bay tree on the patio. Fresh!! Oh, did you see the size of that spider plant.

Many of you have emailed us. Thank you so much. We really appreciate hearing from you. Have a great weekend!!

Saturday was Noelle’s official birthday party. We were joined by family friends and had a great dinner, finished off with a lovely birthday cake — chocolate, of course.

An important part of any Easter weekend is the Easter Egg hunt. You are never too old for an Easter Egg Hunt!! When the three had gone off to bed, Beverly and I hid the eggs. When Noelle was small, the hiding places were simple and usually obvious, but she’s 16 now. We were quite devious.

Even couch cushions weren’t safe from their search

The booty

Life is also different here because this is a household with pets: a cockatiel named Beaker, and a rabbit named Kasume, though more often she is just called Bun Bun. Rabbits normally have a lifespan of 8 years, but Bun Bun recently celebrated her 11th birthday. A gray hare with gray hairs!

Hey, anything good in there??

Munch, munch, munch

Just like Abbotsford and our Mill Lake Park, there are many nice areas close to their home to walk. I (John) especially like walking along the river.

Remember a few years back when Australia had very heavy rain and flooding. For many of the news reports, reporters were standing by the flooded Windsor Bridge, which was a foot or two under water.

    This is that bridge! Look at the distance between the water and the bridge. That gives you an idea of how high the water was here during that flooding.

    Have a great week!!

For most people, a major highlight when they turn 16 is getting their driver’s license. Our granddaughter was no exception. After school, it was a trip to their version of our Motor Vehicles to get her learner’s. Then, a trip to the large, near-empty parking lot at the university for her first attempts at driving. Everyone survived….of course. She did well.

    Her birthday dinner was at her favorite burger joint. Sadly, I was negligent and did not take a picture of the monster burger that this young lady had. The restaurant was located in the Rouse Hill Mall, a large outdoor mall. The picture below was just outside the restaurant. The sound was almost deafening as hundreds of lorikeets settled in the trees for the night.

    McQuade Park in Windsor, created in the 1810s, was originally the town square. Rather than being market-oriented, as most are, this was intended from the start to be a park and military parade ground. Sport activities were always important in the park, and today it has a cricket pitch, a lawn bowling club, and tennis courts.

    The left-hand picture is a statue of McQuarrie, the governor who founded the town in the 1810s and insisted it have a centrally located square. The right-hand picture is the northeast corner of the park. The building in the background with the blue roof is an elementary school, built in the 1860s and still used today.

    The southeast corner of the park has a beautiful pond. At the edge, was a small fountain, where a water dragon was sunning himself (or was it herself?).

    We had our first experience with the Australian medical system today. Most of you know that John had a cyst surgically removed from his back before we left. It was time for the stitches to come out. An appointment was made at a clinic. A nice nurse removed the stitches, and a doctor checked it. Everything looked great. Just a little healing left.

    We would like to wish everyone a very happy and blessed Easter weekend. Enjoy. We will be back next week. Maybe there’ll be some Easter Egg Hunt pictures. Never too old for that, right??

Life so far has largely been getting over jet lag — something very boring to write about. So, we thought that instead we’d tell a little about where we are.

    Our kids’ home has a lovely guest room at the front of the house, looking out onto their front garden. The second picture is a skink, a small, totally harmless member of the lizard family. They’re usually very welcome in everyone’s yards as they love eating the bugs.

    Our family lives in Windsor, NSW, the fourth-oldest British settlement on the Australian mainland. It was initially established in 1791 and named Green Hills. In 1810, the governor renamed it Windsor.

    Buildings from that era still stand. The best example is St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, which opened in 1820. The rectory was built shortly after in 1825. Both are a short walk from the kids’ home.

St. Matthews

St Matthews’ Rectory

Similar to many European churches, the church is surrounded by its cemetery. I like walking through them, reading the stones, and learning a little bit about the people and their history. One stone had three names with the same surname, all less than a year old, all of whom passed away between 1810 & 1814. A sobering reminder of how tough life was back then.

    It’s a special day here. Our granddaughter turns 16 today. After school, her mom is picking her up and taking her to get her learner’s license. Supper tonight will be at the birthday girl’s favorite burger joint. More on that in the next post.

    We’ll try to post something a couple of times a week. Please keep coming back. If you have questions or comments, please email us at beancounter34@gmail.com (John) or bluebabe59@gmail.com (Beverly).