Heaven on Earth

I've always thought of Stradbroke Island as 'Heaven on Earth'. It's an island off the coast of Brisbane, in Moreton Bay. It's only accessible by water taxi for people, and a barge for your car. It's a large island (about 80kms long) but has only 3 small settlements. As a family, we have been visiting Stradbroke Island since I was about 12 yrs old. Everytime I come back I am flooded with memories.

This trip to Australia, we got to visit Straddie for 3 days. Our last visit was about 4 years ago, when Zoe was 3 yrs old. Everytime I come here, I re-live my childhood. It was great to show Zoe some of my favourite places on the island - the walk around the headland and look for marine life, to sit and listen to the blow-hole and watch for turtles and walk from Frenchman's beach to home along the beach and rocky headlands. The Island didn't disappoint - we watched some large rays off the headland, and saw some turtles around the blow-hole. It was low tide when we walked along the beach, and Zoe and her cousin Tess collected shells and discovered small fish and crabs in the rock pools. Zoe got to swim in the Ocean for the first time in her life! Waves!!! She was very funny to watch - trying to hold her footing against the breaking waves and squealing the whole time with a grin on her face. With her cousins, and a loan of a surf-mat, she surfed the waves like a real Aussie.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year to everyone!! I hope you all had a great Christmas and had fun welcoming in the new year.
We had a nice Xmas in Aus. Everyone grouped in Brisbane, with Craig's sister and her two teenage boys and Craig's parents driving up from NSW. 4 families living under one roof for 5 days was 'interesting'.... no really, it was ok. There were 10 of us - luckily mum and dad's house is big!
Christmas day was fun with the entire two familys for lunch - 16 in all.
It was an early start, with Zoe discovering Santa had left something at the end of her bed - at 5.30am! A record awakening time. So, we all sat in our bed discovering what Santa had left in Zoe's Santa sack. It was lovely. So, by 6am - the whole house was awake, with Zoe visiting each bedroom, waking the occupants to look what Santa had brought her.

Craig cooked Christmas lunch - with a hot meal. He cooked Martha Stewart recipe of honey glazed ham with pears and cranberries, a large potato gratin, and steamed veges. It was delicious.
After lunch we gathered around the tree and gave each other our Christmas presents, which was followed by all the kids swimming in the pool.
It was a relaxed and fun day.

New Year's Eve was a very low key event.... after dinner Zoe lit some sparklers to celebrate the coming of the new year but was in bed by around 10pm. Dad also didn't make it past 10pm. Mum, Craig and I saw the New Year in, quite by accident. We were watching Lord of the rings - the return of the kings which finished aroun 1am!!

Christmas carols?

Just before the end of school, the parents were invited to a musical concert to see the children sing and partake in some munchies afterwards. It's a little strange to say this was only my 2nd formal visit to the school so I had to study the school plan on the website to figure out where the auditorium was!
Any preconceived ideas I had about a cute group of children singing quaint christmas carols was completely blown away when the 7 classes of CE1 filed into the auditorium with large drums, decorated plastic milk containers and objects resembling pogo sticks with tennis balls on the end. Conducting the children were two men - both in their mid 50's, one with a bongo drum between his legs.
And so the concert began with the children thumping, banging and singing to the beat of the drums. They sang 4 or 5 songs, each one with more gusto and tempo than the previous - the kids were moving to the beat, and the teachers, one without the bongo drum had a whistle firmly planted in his mouth driving the kids on. The bongo drum beat out a rythym and the children would echo the beat. The parents were brought into the fray echoing the drum beat by clapping their hands. For a moment I thought I was in Brazil! It was certainly entertaining. They were very hip music teachers.

Afterwards in the class I got talking with some of the mums and Zoe's teacher. It was nice. The children's work was scattered around the walls, and I easily found the letter Zoe had written to Santa. It was hilarous. She told Pere Noel that she had been very, very good this year. She wanted a Barbie and a DS Lite and she thought she deserved them because she had been helping mum around the house, and because she said hello to her papa when he came home from work. I had a good laugh.

Christmas... really?

It really doesn't feel like Christmas is in a couple of weeks, even though there are enough reminders around the place. Everywhere you go, you hear christmas music, the lights and decorations are everywhere - so I can only put it down to the heat.

I'm as ready as I'll ever be.... all presents bought and everyone has been accounted for. Everything has to be lugged over and back in our suitcases. Z and I leave this saturday morning to celebrate christmas in Brisbane with both our families - under one roof. C will join us on the 23rd December. C's parents, his sister and her children are coming to stay at chez Kellaway. We've done it previously and it works quite well. We'll be 16 for lunch on Christmas Day. C is cooking the famous Martha Stewart Honey baked ham with pears and cranberries.... yum, yum! C's family will stay for 5 days before driving back south during which time we'll swim, eat and swim. Mum and Dad will take C's parents for a couple of day trips.

Z has been asking me if Santa really exists. I can see she wants to believe in him, but she's picked up too many clues that it may not be so ie. how come santa uses the same wrapping paper as us? (stupid mum!). She wrote him a letter very late this year requesting some presents but mostly to let him know we don't have a chimney here or in Brisbane. It was very cute. I suggested Z advise Santa that we'll leave the balcony door open.

On another note - C and I went this morning to have the H1N1 vaccine and as of last week, it has now been approved for children. The child vaccine is in two parts, with two vaccines - each separated by a month. Z's appointment for her first vaccine is for wednesday afternoon.

A voyage of discovery

With some friends, I have been discovering some very unusual and interesting places in Singpore.

'Fairs' are big here - particularly the Christmas Fairs. These are mostly expat stall holders who sell beautiful things at a Fair which is held in the Ballrooms of various hotels in town. They are huge. There are approx. 70 - 80 stall holders selling anything from jewellery to christmas cards, hand made indonesian batik to chinese antiques. It's fun. Have to admit, I've bought a few things - and so has mum! I took mum to a fair the day after they arrived and she came home with bedspread!

With my friend Narelle, who in attempt to show me around Singapore - has discovered some new places herself; we head off the beaten path. Firstly I needed more crockery, so she took me to a warehouse in the back of nowhere, where you had to mix and match your own plates, bowls etc, that is after you scraped off the dust! It was amazing. After a couple of hours, we'd pieced together a really pretty set serving 10 places - I got decorative platters, plates, bowls, side plates. At the cashier, she told us they were closing down, so it was buy one plate, get 3 free! So my dinner set for 10 people cost me $25 SGD (18chf).

Another recent discovering was a place called the Pottery Jungle (and they weren't kidding). This place was in the jungle and while we were looking around the warehouse, we noticed a couple of monkeys also checking out the merchandise. I have never seen so much pottery in all my life. Can't say we liked most of it, but it was pretty interesting. They had plates, bowls, vases (some were taller than me), outdoor pots - you name it. I fell in love with a stool - yep, a stool made of pottery which came home with me. It has a chinese poem carved into it. I like it so much I think I'm going to go back and get another.

Another great find are the Singapore walks. They are guided walks around hot spots of Singapore. With mum and dad, we did the 'Arab area'. Totally fascinating. We saw a building built by a group of chinese billionaires totally for their folly - with a 15 storey high wine cellar where one has to suspend in a harness from the ceiling to get a bottle of wine. We also heard about the early royalty, about the Peranakans (Chinese traders who sheltered in Singapore during the monsoons and married the local Malaysians). Every day of the week you can take a guided tour of a different part of Singapore. I've only done one area, but Dad who enjoyed them so much, has also done the tours of 'Little India' and 'Chinatown'. I must do more.....

Christmas lights

Every year the main shopping hub of Singapore (Orchard Road) is decorated for Christmas. The last time I saw them was over 25 years ago, when a girlfriend and I crazily drove from Singapore to Penang. I'm glad to say the decorations are as spectacular now as they were then. I'm sorry to say my photography doesn't do it justice. Down at Tanglin Mall, I've heard they even make snow for an outdoor display twice per night, every night.

Koh Samui - Thailand.

Over the 3 day long weekend (Hari Raya) and amongst the horror of H1N1, we escaped to Koh Samui, the 3rd largest island off Thailand.

We arrived late thursday night, and stayed until sunday afternoon - it's only a 1.5 hour flight from Singapore. More time to enjoy the beach!

We stayed at a great resort right on the beach. The rooms were connected by boardwalks and nestled amongst the tropical gardens and jungle. At the entrance to the resort, you were smack-bang in the centre of the busy touristy shopping area and at the other end of the property you were on the beach. Perfect!

The weather was perfect - warm, not too hot, a cool ocean breeze and no rain.

Typically we'd spend most of the day on a lounge reading a book and alternating swims between the pool and the ocean. Zoe just stayed in the water the whole time. We'd then venture out of the resort for a spot of late afternoon shopping, returning for dinner at the resort. We ate dinner by candelight on the beach both nights. It was lovely.

We treated ourselves on saturday to some pampering - well sort of. Z and I had a pedicure and our nails painted, while C had a Thai massage to relieve some of his stress. Z and I had a few giggles watching C being bent into positions his body hasn't been in since birth, by a tiny slip of a thai girl. He's still in pain two days later. Z also had some beads and braids put in her hair. They look really cute.

We also bought our fair share of 'Lacoste' and 'Ralph Lauren' shirts. Hey - for about 4CHF a shirt, who wouldn't!

It was a nice break. We're now ready to face the lead up to Christmas!