Diary for Bondi Burrows


Mum and Dad in Oz 2016

2016-01-16 to 2016-02-01

With just 5 days between us returning from our European trip and Mum and Dad arriving there was barely time to unpack before we were welcoming them to our new home for the first time. To add to the chaos the car had been in the garage the whole time we'd been away after I'd crashed it 2 days before our flight. Oops. They had promised us the car would be ready the day before the parents arrived - of course it wasn't. In fact it didn't return to us until 4 days after they left. We celebrated the grandparents' arrival with dinner at the new outdoor dining table. With the parents in charge of the girls while George and I were at work, we left Dad a job to do in the garden - fixing up the brickwork around the fireplace. It kept him busy for days! Tuesday was Mum's birthday - the girls set up a treasure hunt following a red string around the house to find her present - very Frozen! With Australia Day on a Tuesday George and I had taken the Monday off to make it an extra long weekend. The plan was four nights in a lovely house by the beach in Bundeena, deep in the Royal National Park. Clairey, G and Sophie flew up on the Thursday and met us at the holiday house. With the car still out of action, we squeezed Mum, Dad, Emily, Zoe and myself into a hire car. Stopping to pick up groceries on the way we had to wedge the bags into every spare nook in the car! George came down on the train after finishing work, and I met him at the station at Loftus. The house was perfect, just a minute's walk from a calm beach on Port Hacking bay. We spent the days playing on the beach, swimming in the ocean and walking in the bush. The Curtis' came down for a day trip on the Sunday, with George and AJ taking their bikes off for a trail ride through the national park. The next day we walked along the river basin and through the bush to have lunch at Maianbar beach. The cafe was set back a bit from the bay but afterwards we wandered back along the shore line at low tide, spotting crabs and wading through the river - a really lovely afternoon. All too soon it was time to pack up and head back home - and we still had the problem of not enough room in the car. So we packed Mum and Dad off on the ferry across the bay to Cronulla with directions to the train station, while I drove a wounded George home (he'd been attacked by a spider in the night and had a very sore armpit). Back home there was only one more day until Emily returned to school, and after the weekend Zoe's first day in Kindergarden came around far too soon. A very excited little girl in her sparkly new uniform excitedly waved goodbye to us, and Granny and Grampy, at the gate. Will miss my little helper at home.