Life in Sydney

Wednesday 12^th October until Saturday 5^th November, 2016

During the week my three loved ones are on their own. They go to the "Story Time" into the Waverly Library, to the aquarium or into the zoo. Rolf and family have been replaced by Marcel and Dorothea with the two and a half year old Lynn. Our wives now like to visit with the children the playgroup in the Holdsworth Community Centre. We already know the playground. But in the morning there is an extended choice of toys, they can tinker or listen to stories, etc.

Our kids develop. Or develop backwards, it depends on the viewpoint. Kiara likes climbing. That can get dangerous. On the playground it happened that she fell over or down. Once when I was on the playground Kiara wanted to walk up the slide like Jann did. But at some point it got too steep so she slid down on the belly. And daddy cares that this does not happen in some other way. She tried and tried and then realized that she will get further up if she holds on one side and puts some pressure onto the feet on the other side. After five or six attempts she managed to get up to the very top. Congratulation! And also on the language side there is progress: she uses now real syllables like mama, baba or dada.

Jann has a new spleen. He wants the nappies to be changed and the cloths put on by dad. Because he is a man and dad too, but mam not. And the influence of Lynn is also already visible. On the road Jann walks very good at the hand. He also does not like it different, also if it is not strictly required. But Lynn is already walks safely on the sideway. If she is with us Jann now also want to walk alone. But at home he rather wants now to be a baby. Kiara is now claiming her space and that the gentleman is not very amused about it. And of course the toy of the other one is always the most interesting one. Jann simply takes it away from Kiara which results into a shouting. Or Jann has it and Kiara likes to have it to which also results into a shouting. But else one can really talk with him. And he likes the flying foxes. Before going to bed we often look out of the window to see them swarming out in the twilight over the city.

On the weekends we often go to an excursion. On Sunday 16^th of October we walked from Watson Bay until Bondi. This are about seven kilometres. Jann walked nicely and was rewarded by playground breaks and an icecream at the end (from Messina of course). The path lead along the cliffs above the Pacific. In the middle it lead through the houses to a park on the top of the hill with a beautiful view over the city.

The following Sunday 22^nd October we went together with Marcels family to the Featherdale Wildlife Park. He is in the west of the city next to Blacktown. With public transport it is about an hour. A Koala “belongs” to Lynn. She got a sponsorship for it as Christmas present and could now visit it. Yes, cuddling Koalas is part of the programme. When the turn was on us it woke up and looked at us. Else this durable sleepers could be have been mistaken for a plush toy. In my opinion also the wombat are very cuddly, but they bite. After lunch some bold ibis (I guess they are wild as they are seen elsewhere in the city) also something and bit Kiara into the fingers as she was strolling around the table. She did not hold anything. They were later on more successful at the echidna feeding. They were a bit faster than the hedgehog like animals at the meat bowl. The wallabies and kangaroos could also be fed. We could buy a cornet cone full of cut hay. Jann did not dare to hold the stuff properly at the animals. Mama had to help. And a bold one took all the cone. OK, that is why they are eatable. But it was also nearly empty. Finally we went into the petting zoo. This was also a disaster for Kiara as the bold goats immediately mug her and one even nibbled on her hand. And Jann anyway does not like intrusive animals. We will surely visit it again when we will be again in Sydney.

On Sunday 30^th October we dedicated us to the art. Between the beaches of Bondi and Tamarama there were placed more than hundred sculptures for a bit more than two weeks. The event is called "sculpture by the sea". A huge number of people crowded the costal walkway. OK, the annual fair in St. Urban is worse... There was a sculpture missing. For some to me unknown reason Petra knew something about it. But except for a small sign with a even smaller picture of a sphere of rusty things there was nothing left. It got damaged by the waves. Beside the knitted coral reef two sculptures remained in lively memory. The first was a big sphere braided of bamboo. It was hollow and you could enter it. Mostly kids did it and Jann also wanted to go inside. There was a small queue and Jann could enter. He climbed around ("Jann, not that high!") and wanted to leave, but then still wanted to stay. Petra went to take some pictures and I stood not two metres from the entry and looked somehow at Petra. Then I tried to find Jann in between the entangled bamboo. Somehow I do not find him. Petra returns, calls him and said if he does not answer he is not here. She rushes on and finds him about 30 metres further running around shouting in panic because he lost us. Whew! Close by there was a wooden ship in the ground caring a city. And there were wooden blocks which could be used to build on. Not only our kids liked that. Next to it we had our pick-nick. We followed the coastal walkway over Tamarama Beach until Bronte Beach where we wanted to make a break. There Petra run into Marcel. Dorothea and he were swimming with Lynn and so we had our snack together while our kids entertained themselves on the playground.

And the next day was 31^st October. Halloween. I only celebrated that in Ireland where it originally comes from. It does not fit to Switzerland. But here some houses were decorated accordingly and Petra carved a scary pumpkin and tinkered a few spirits for the window. She never had that much visitors in one day. But she was ready with chocolate to give out.