Booze buses, Easter Eggs and Birthdays part 2

On Sunday it was time to trek across to Ikea at Homebush. I love the store and have been craving a visit for a while, so it was with great excitement that we arrived at Ikea. First a lunch of sweedish meatballs for me and MLR, pasta and cheese for AJR and chicken for JR - the chicken was not worth it as it was tasteless. We found a bed and desk combined that we thought would be good for AJR, however it was 5 cm too long for the car! I am now looking for one in Canberra. MLR found some soft toys and a soft soccer ball. JR found an apron and I found a linen bin for the kids bathroom. I bought some meatball sauce and salmon sauce. If you are interested in alternative things some people do with Ikea stuff then check out this site.

We moved into the Rhodes shopping centre to find that except for the food court, it was all closed. Very frustrating. On our way back to Heathcote we tried a few other shopping centres, without success. We stocked up on easter eggs and wine at the Heathcote shops and then home for a short while before going to Darkes Forest for a birthday tea for JR.

I missed the Darkes Forest exit, and had to travel an extra 10 k's to get to the Sublime Point exit, arriving just on 5.30pm. Lucky we were late as my brother had become stuck in traffic on the Princes Highway, on his way back from Wollongong. We were able to follow each others movements all weekend as Alex and AJR had been texting each other regularly!!!! We had a great BBQ, the kids got to run around, and then watched two movies. JR was given one present of clothes he had left at Wentworth Falls a short while ago, however it turned out that they were actually his father in laws clothes. He did get other presents. Home 12.30pm.

Monday I met RMC, my brother for a secret exchange of drugs alcohol, we had left JR's beer present and I had a bottle that I had intended to give to Tina. After exchanging gifts, went back home and packed for Canberra. On our way home we stopped off in Berrima for lunch. Sutton Forest for petrol, then we hit the traffic jam. There was a huge storm and an accident involving a car with most of its engine sheered off, a truck and a bus. We got home about 6pm. Phew!

Booze buses, Easter Eggs and Birthdays

Friday lunch time we set off for Sydney. Less than a kilometer from home we were stopped by the roadside speed cops, however they were booking the four wheel drive behind us, in the next kilometer we went through speed camera and then through another speed bus. The weekend looked to be a long one if this is how it is going to be!!!

As it was my birthday we decided to meet up with my brother and family at a local Restaurant Indian Masala in Engadine. The food was delicious. Butter chicken for the kids that eat meat, paneer and another vegetarian dish, lamb with spinach (my favourite) and a meat entree platter and a vego entree platter.

On Saturday at about 10am we drove into Sydney. We parked in the first place we could get into, which was just around the corner from the QVB. We were here to check out Kinokuniya.

Kinokuniya Sydney offers the largest range of books with over 300,000 titles in English, Japanese, Chinese, French and German.

Located in the heart of Sydney CBD, Kinokuniya also stocks an extensive collection of Manga, graphic novels, art and design books, cookbooks, travel books and children's literature. Chinese books and magazines are sourced from both Taiwan and mainland China and they have a Japanese magazine subscription service.

AJR was in seventh heaven and found three books that all cost less than any we can purchase in Canberra. I bought some cards (including a birthday card for JR) and something for Neisha in Adelaide. We then caught the train to Circular Quay where we thought we would eat at Zia Pina's, one of my favourite haunts in the 80's. However we ate next door at the Rocks Cafe I would highly recommend it if you love Italian food like we do.

We went through an exhibition of Dr Zeuss prints at the Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery in George Street. We walked from there through the Rocks Markets, which are always great, to Darling Harbour. Walked past the wildlife park and the 3D cinema and loads of restaurants stuffed to the gills with people watchers and the hungry, to end up at Paddy's Markets next to China Town.

The Haymarket Paddy's is located in the 'Market City' site, beside Chinatown and is more like a traditional flea market, specialising in cheap imported clothes, giftware and also has a small section for fruit, vegetables and seafood. Paddy's Haymarket also sells souvenirs which makes it popular with tourists. The origin of the name is unknown, but is believed to have come from Liverpool, England. In the 1870s, a similar operation had been set up in the back alleys of the Irish area of Liverpool which was known as Paddy's Markets.

AJR spent most of his time in Funky Fashion, stand 525, checking out the range of gear related to the "Jack Skelington" character that he loves. While here we met our neighbours, K, T, C & G from Oxley and agreed to meet them for a drink. At 6.15pm we gathered at the Mecure near Central Station and had a drink. Afterwards ambled up George Street to dinner for K, T, C & G and the car park for us. For a map of our route around Sydney click here.

We set off for Heathcote at 9pm, having walked what felt like 30 kilometers (really about 6 according to Google) throughout the day, with the idea that we would catch an open restaurant in Engadine before the kitchen closed. Just before Tom Ugly's bridge I was pulled over for a breath test, having consumed two lemon lime and bitters and one lemonade, I knew I was fine. However I wanted to be off before the kitchen's closed. I have not been breath tested since about 1989 and did not know that they pointed a little machine at you and asked you to count to ten!! I was looking for the little mouthpiece and waiting for a fresh cover to be put on. Needless to say we did make Engadine for a Thai meal, with karaoke, arghhh.

Will fill in the rest of the weekend tomorrow, too tired tonight.

Cheers,
Mondo

Autumn weekend in Canberra

I love Autumn, beautiful blue skies, crisp days and cool nights. Friday night I arrived home with extra children, M&D arrived from Sydney and chaos reined. Chicken and salad for tea and a long evening chatting (I did give the extra children back at some stage).

Saturday M and I went shopping while D went off to the galleries. Back from the shops and the girls M, MLR and Mondo went shopping again, this time to an education bookshop and FSW (shoe warehouse). At FSW we squeezed into a car park right in front of the shop and I was reminded of a time long ago when we got run into in this car park. MLR was about 2 and had fallen asleep in the car, so AJR and JSR got out and shopped while I watched MLR. A station wagon pulled in next to us and I felt a bump, I stared at the car as it backed away - then I realised it was coming into the space again and again I felt a second bump!!!! The car backed out and went off down the row. I got out of the car and started to look at the damage, which fortunately was limited. The people in the car came up to apologise and I realised that I knew the mother of the driver them from our local primary school!!!

JSR had the best afternoon, he scored 84 in golf (first time he broke 90, and he only broke 100 in January) maybe I am living with the next "shark".

Back home to clean and dust and wash. Then CJK and the kids came over and chatted, while I continued to clean. We had cheese and biscuits out in the patio, with M and the children ran all over the place. Towards 5pm we added a glass of wine and D came back from the galleries. About 6.30pm Bron and Andy, A-R and B-J came over for dinner. Not the most exciting dinner
party I have ever had, the company was fine, however the food was ordinary.


Sunday M&D went off to the opening of the Canberra Glassworks in Kingston (aparently about 4,000 people went through in two days) and then they went next door to the Bus Depot Markets. We headed off to Kingston for lunch, followed by a walk around Woden and back home at 5pm. D had chopped all the claret ash and it is now ready for the green waste, thanks D.
After tea M, D and I did the word quiz in the SMH, where you solve a nine letter word puzzle - we were excellent, finding 40 words out of PERISCOPE - I checked the answers today and was disappointed to see that the paper had used words like Prep and french language words to get their 40!!!

Update on large shopping centres

My ears pricked up the other day when I heard on the radio about a large shopping centre in Kent, UK and I thought about my earlier post. I have not heard of the Bluewater shopping centre. So I thought I would investigate. Despite the fact that it has 330 shops, the same as the Metrocentre in Gateshead, the Metrocentre is still the largest shopping centre in the UK.

I am therefore even more impressed that Miranda Fair has 631 stores, while everything is bigger and better (and colder) in Canada and West Edmonton Mall has over 800 stores.

Just to confuse me I have just found the Aussie "big 8" and their size is based on square metres not number of stores!!!

THE BIG EIGHT

* Knox, Victoria: 142,244 square metres
* Westfield Fountain Gate, Vic: 138,163
* Chadstone, Vic: 137,076
* Westfield Marion, SA: 132,553
* Westfield Southland, Vic: 128,028
* Warringah Mall: 127,177
* Westfield Bondi Junction: 126,779
* Westfield Parramatta: 126,754

Then there is the proposed extended shopping centre in Castle Hill, NSW which is predicted to be 170,000 square meters of shopping joy. For more information click here.

Enjoy your shopping experiences where ever you may have them,

Mondo