Moving back to Aunty’s

After getting back from Hunter Valley, we have mostly been saving money ready for our trip away. So every weekend was at the beach, enjoying the Sun and the sea. Also packing..

We have now moved back to Zenas Aunty Gails and Uncle Rogers place in Frenchs Forest. Just 30 minutes walk from where I work, and a bus into the city for Zena. Its real nice of Gail & Roger letting us do this.

Moving back allows us to sort out what we need, and what we don't. Zena has already done a bit of a sort out. I need to sort out my things as well, before I courier back my snowboard bag to the UK with all my spare stuff.. Its going to be a issue though. Ten months away, and you soon accumulate rubbish.

For instance all my books.. What am I going to do with them?? How I am actually sorting this out is with BookCrossing. What is BookCrossing?

bookcrossing n. the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.

I had gone and bought about 10 fiction titles from Vinnies a couple of months ago. I finsihed them all by Friday. (I know.. I read too quickly.. Some people tell me I never took it all in. Believe me, if I am reading for pleasure then I did...) So I labelled them all up and dropped them all off on benches along Manly Sea-front. Then I went to the shops.... On my way home, I actually watched one kid about 15, read the back of one of my favourite books [Bryce Courtenay - The Power of One], realise its free and then put it in his bag!!

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Hunter Valley

  Stonehurst Wines - Hunter Valley 
  Originally uploaded by jezarnold.

I don't know if you know this, but me and Zee are coming up to nearly 5 months in Sydney. Do you know how many times we have actually left the city limits?

Once. Last weekend!

Don't think thats a bad thing. The whole point of staying in Sydney is to get to know the city. Its amazing, and we could definitely live here. That was the whole point of coming here. Plus, we had to save money for our trip up the East coast, Fiji and the USA which is coming up soon.

Anyway with Zenas Birthday last Wednesday and Valentines day the following Tuesday, we decided to spend the weekend in between by going up to the Hunter Valley. This is a wine making region, two hours north of Sydney famous for its Semillon and Shiraz wines. There are lots of different regions of Vineyards in Australia, with the Berossa and Clare Valley's some other famous places.

The Hunter Valley is pretty amazing. We booked ourselves into a great little cottage, on the Stonehurst Vineyard which is between Wolombi and Cessnock. The Lower Hunter Vineyards are about 30kms away, and as we didn't want to drive our hire SmartCar past our limited K's, so we got a Wine Rover to use. $25 each, and it was like a personal taxi around 10 different vineyards!!

We started off by trying to find a white wine we both liked, and eventually settled on not too dry and not too sweet, a Sauvignon Blanc! Then instead of doing what (apparently) a lot of Tasters do, and try ALL the wines in every vineyard and then collapse drunk on the floor, we decided to limit it to Red Wines. Especially what we can get back in the UK.

or as Zee also decided, what her favourite fortified wine was :)

We eventually found our favourite wine, a Chambourcin from the Stonehurst Vineyard. We had a great time there, and would definitely recommend it.

Finally; the monthly email is coming soon.. I am getting close to 100 comments on the blog.. who is going to be 100? Sy and Johno, keep trying by sending double entries :) lets see some comments People! I dont write this blog for fun you know... Please also spend 30 secs, by clicking on the adverts on the right hand side!! Thanks

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Zenas Birthday Party

 

On Friday night, Zena, me and all our friends in Sydney went out to celebrate Zenas Birthday.

After a few drinks in Manly Skiff Club (where we saw the Australian Cricket Team get beaten again!! this time by Sri Lanka), we headed into Manly to Ceruttis. Great little club, even though its pricey... By the end of the evening Zena was a little worse for wear!

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Happy Birthday Zee

Happy Birthday Zee!! I love ya x x x

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Surf Lessons

Zena got me this great xmas pressy.. SURF LESSONS!! I finally got around to using it the other day, and had my first experience at surfing on Manly Beach.. The lesson was 2hours long, and included the use of a big foam board, and a wetsuit/rashvest. Basically had a warmup, and then was taught how to jump on to a board, and then they said, "Right lets get in the water and give it a go!!" (or i could have looked here...!!)

So after i swallowed half the ocean, and spat it back out.. I finally managed to stand up. For about 10 seconds... then i fell in again!! It was real fun though!Gonna try it again (otherwise I will never hear the end of it from Lanners) .. it should be cheaper than Snowboarding (once I have a board and wetsuit) dont have to pay for a liftpass!! More photos at Flickr

Also here are this years Superbowl Adverts on Google Video

Also have created an account at 30boxes.com - its a brilliant online calander. Works really well. If you want to view friends/family schedules, without the world seeing then come and create an account and ask jezarnold to share..

Finally .. I am coming up to 100 comments on the blog!! Who is it going to be? lets have a little contest.. what shall we see as the prize?? postcard from Oz??

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Zenas Birthday (5 days to go)

Zena is catching up with me on the ageing gracefully game.. She is 29 next Wednesday. We have planned a joint birthday / Valentine trip to the Hunter Valley for next weekend, which is going to be great!

We are going to Gail & Rogers house for Zee's birthday, and are going out to celebrate on Friday.. Should be fun!  .. post a comment here!!

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Lost

Have been waiting for ages for this show to come out!! Yep.. The second series of Lost started last night in Australia, with the episode "Man of Science - Man of Faith", and we finally discover whats down the hatch!!

US viewers have had Lost since September 2005, and are on episode 13 already.. This show is really good, for those of you who have not watched it.. They are a hundred fansites on the net, but this is one of the best!

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