First few days in Australia

When we alighted from the ship in Sydney, there were hundreds of people milling around the passenger terminal so we decided just to walk to our hotel, which wasn't very far away. We stopped on the way at the museum to have a quick coffee and get some wi-fi to confirm we were on the right course - and we were.

It was still morning so our room wasn't quite ready so we sat in the reception area for an hour or so and then we could get in to our 14 floor room, shower, change and dump our bags. We planned a short walk to the Lord Nelson brewpub in The Rocks area and had a couple of beers there plus something to eat.

We didn't fancy venturing far in the evening and Happy Hour was calling so we just stayed in our hotel and ate in the dining room there.

We had a full free day on Thursday so decided to take a long walk - over to the Botanic Gardens and the Domain and to the iconic viewpoint where I remember us taking a photo the first time we arrived in Australia a number of years ago:

We decided to walk right round the point and follow the shore round to Darling Harbour, past the fast-developing Barangaroo area. We were pretty hot and sweaty by now and as soon as we arrived at the restaurant area we stopped for a bite and some beers at the first brewpub we spotted - All Hands Brewing House.

A storm was forecast and, sure enough, thunder and lightning arrived in the evening. We ventured out - it wasn't very wet and the temperature was still in the mid-20's - and had a meal at the Belgian Beer Cafe.

Friday was the day we flew over to Adelaide with Virgin Australia. Kelly, Miller and Asher met us at the airport and took us over to our Air B'n'B in Westbourne Park, where Chris joined us after work and then we all headed over to their house for something to eat. One late slight complication was that the owners had decided to put the property on the market and there were a couple of viewings planned for Saturday and Sunday so we couldn't fully unpack as we needed to keep the place looking spruce. We occupied what is, effectively, the pool room, whilst the owners live in the main house:

Kelly and Chris are still house-hunting and Chris had viewed a property in Old Noarlunga so Kelly, Jo and I headed over there on Saturday to have a look at it. It's a lovely old converted cottage in a beautiful location but it probably needs some alterations to suit a young family. We'll see what they decide.

After a couple of beers at yet another local brewpub (Victor's Place) we headed back to O'Halloran Hill where Chris fired up the BBQ and we were joined by brother Matt and his daughter Abi, who'd just taken part in a charity sponsored head shave - brave girl.

On Sunday, Kelly had bought two tickets for Jo and I to attend a wine blending course at the d'Aranberg vineyard. We'd been there before when they were just constructing their modernist CUBE building, which is pretty unusual - a bit left field and funky, even more so just now as they have a Salvador Dali exhibition going on:

You'll never guess where we went for lunch - yes an adjacent brewery - Swell, which turned out to be ideal for the kids who could run around in a safe grassed area. Miller was all excited about going back to our place and jumping in the pool but this proved to be a very short-lived experience as the water was pretty cold.

This morning (Monday) it's back to school and work for most. The plan is that we'll be picking the boys up from playgroup and school - Kelly drove over here this morning and left us her car whilst she biked off to work:

That's me up to date again. It's 9:30 am now and I've been up for 4 hours already. Best go and do something now.