Funky Cold Medina’s on the loose!!

These last few weeks we’ve had family staying from overseas….

They came for the wedding but obviously when you travel this far to a place you’ve never been to before, you want to explore and see parts of it as well. So, Suz and I played tour guides, taking them all over Sydney to show them the sights!

Zilia, Pär and Theo arrived a few weeks before the wedding on their round-the-world trip (they are doing what we normally do…hehe). On one of the first nights we drove into the city, parked in The Rocks and showed them the most famous landmarks in Sydney, the Operahouse and the Harbour Bridge.

It’s nice to walk around Circular Quay, we made a few stops for some chocolate and of course a few beers as well (the only dilemma was where to stop for beers as there are quite a few nice pubs in the area).

During the next few days they were on their own since we still had to go to work (it sucks when other people are on holiday and you have to work…), but we had the weekends together.

On one of these weekends we decided to visit Taronga Zoo, Suz hadn’t been there for ages and I hadn’t had the chance to visit it yet. Now that we had a two year old with us we had the perfect excuse for a visit (also, the fact that we have a good friend that managed to score free passes for us didn’t hurt either).

We had a great day at the Zoo and the weather was perfect…. it was sunny but not too hot, just perfect! And after seeing so many animals in one day, what was Theo’s favorite moment…. the Sky Safari Cable Car of course =)

We finished off the afternoon with a visit to Balmoral Beach where we really enjoyed just sitting down on the beach relaxing, having a few beers, eating some local fish and chips and watching Theo exploring the water and running around the water’s edge. We had to take turns in running after him 😉

Friday before the wedding, my parents and my brother Denis arrived after a loooong flight over. No time to rest though as we had to get Denis to the suit rental shop to fit him out. Later on that evening it was time for our families to finally meet (at least they got to meet before the wedding).

We organised a dinner for all of us at a local restaurant near our place and the evening was a success…. everyone loved each other which is a great sign!

We realised that on the wedding day itself you don’t always get time to catch up with friends you haven’t seen for a while, so the day before the wedding we decided to meet up with a few overseas and inter-state friends that had made the effort of travelling all the way here for our wedding.

We all met at the Harbour View Hotel which is an easy place to find in The Rocks and it was also a perfect time for us to point out the location of the ceremony and reception.

At the end of the night I said goodbye to Suz who was staying in the city, went home and had a night at home with my parents and siblings (and of course, the next day the wedding took place but you’ve already read about that in our previous blog).

Well, after the wedding Suz and I had the week off work so that we could show the family around our beautiful city!

We took them one day to North Bondi and showed them one of the best view points of the city, this was followed up with Bondi Beach (just to visit, it wasn’t hot enough for a swim).

The next day the plan was to visit the Blue Mountains. We had a sky filled with clouds and wondered if we should really go there. In the end, it came down to see them in rain or not see them at all. We made it up there and couldn’t see anything… the mist was just too thick. Occasional it dissolved and we caught a glimpse or two of what was behind it.

Max, from New Zealand, came along with us as well and he, my mum and I decided to hike around for a little bit to see if we could get a better view. We walked down the side of the Three Sisters and on this side you could actually see the valley. We walked down the steps halfway before struggling back up again. Lots of steps for just a little view, but it was worth it.

One of the last things we all did together was to visit Audley in the National Park where we did some fishing, played some cricket, cooked a BBQ under rain and had an incident with a dog that somehow came along on this trip (dogs are not allowed in the national park).

Then my parents left on the Sunday and Zilia, Pär & Theo on the following Tuesday and all of a sudden, after 5 weeks, we were all alone again…

It’d been a great few weeks with family and in three weeks we get to see them again, but this time we’ll be the ones on a holiday… when we start our honeymoon!!