Weekend Review

Friday night we left work a little early to drive up to Ken Duncan's gallery in Gosford to attend a presentation by Frans Lanting.

That's Frans in the grey shirt signing our books (we bought all 3 of his books)!
The presentation he did was good (although a bit political), but really the photos spoke for themselves - he has some AMAZING wildlife photos!

We also got to meet Ken Duncan! He was dressed like he was going to a luau, but such a nice guy. He is the country's top photographer of Australian landscapes - it was fantastic to meet him & have a little chat!

My favorite Frans photo 'Emperor Penguin Family'- these penguin parents are having a 'welcome' ceremony for their new chick - cute:)

Murray's favorite 'Cougar Face'

Sunday we went on a walk out to North Head - this was the view looking back at Manly from the hill

Murray, Me, Steph & Matt with Sydney in the background

Me, Sparky & Sydney

Notice the Manly Ferry coming in!

It was a long but lovely walk, we really took our time and spent time enjoying the views & chatting, followed by a LOVELY crepe breakfast. Beautiful weather as well - quite hot actually!

Sunday we enjoyed a BBQ at our friends Laura & Mike's place. Megan & Jon brought along sparklers to go with the lovely cake she made for dessert & they wished me a happy b-day which was nice:)

Laura, Megan, Me, Jon & Mike

A lovely weekend catching up with friends & enjoying the weather - I hope this weather holds on for awhile longer. You can't beat these 80 degree 'autumn' days!

ZOO DAY BDAY

Sydney Wildlife World

"Another bloody tourist....."

"What?? Something in my teeth..?"

Cry me a river.

No Swimming

Skippy Stunt double.

Check out my tongue.....oh yeah and eye balls!

The old yawn and stretch make out move - croc style. He looks pleased with himself!

KB Feet....sniff sniff?

Trying....to...stay....awake...

Running.....Running......

Give me FIVE Skip.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...................

Ducks with Flames? Flaming Duck (Said with Alf Stewart voice)

Awwwwww......

Thanks to Murray for the great comments:) It was a really fun day!

Horses & Stuff

EVERYONE has asked me today who I am betting on - because today is the Melbourne Cup (horse racing).
It's a big deal, apparently.
So finally I gave in and used the coins in my purse to bet.
It was a random draw - so I have $1 on 'Musef' and $2 on 'Spin Around'
I know I won't make big bucks based on those piddly bets - but I hope one of those 2 wins!!!!!

Oh and just FYI - it's BOILING today - 35c (100f) in the city and 37c (104f) out west (where I'm working today). Eeeeeeeeeeek - I am NOT looking forward to getting into my black car when the work day is over!!

**********UPDATE************

I went downstairs at work this afternoon to where they were live streaming the race. Last minute a guy was trying to sell off the last 3 betting spots and I overheard him say one of the horses was Daffodil. I had heard on the radio this morning that Daffodil was in the running to win. So my colleague & I both agreed to put down another $5 each and we did rock paper scissors to see who would draw first - I won, with scissors. I thought my 33.33% chance of picking the slip of paper with Daffodil on it was slim - but I GOT IT!!!!

Our department had ordered a lovely selection of cakes for the ocassion - a massive tiramisu, a chocolate cake with cream & cherries (that's what I had!), fruit & custard tarts and lots of different pastries. WOW! Nice surprise!

Then we all stood around to watch the race - which took mearly a few minutes.

And I lost :(

The winner - was a horse called 'Shocking'

Bummer - oh well, it was kind of fun to participate in the whole event a little bit anyhow:)

Manly Ocean World

Last weekend we went to Manly Ocean World

With Steve, Selina, Amelia & Clara on our long weekend Monday!

Lots of cool looking sealife!

I see you!

I love these guys with the funny noses!

Gorgeous!

Amelia & Clara loving the touching pool!

Me & Selina (and Steve taking a photo) in the tunnel!

The tunnel was fantastic! Huge sharks & the biggest rays I have EVER seen - about 6 foot across!

Amelia posing all sweetly - Clara wants to be picked up I think:) Cute

One of the highlights was the baby animal show

You can just see Me & Amelia here (Selina & Clara are hidden behind that pole). The girls were SO brave - touching snakes, a few kinds of lizards, etc. Good fun!

We don't have any photos but THE highlight of the day for Amelia was the mermaid! A girl was carried in (due to her tail of course.....) and put in a little hot tub to talk to the kids (normally she goes in the tank - but it's still too cold for that). She told them all about where she's from (Atlantica) and they were able to touch her tail - Amelia's face was pure bliss (she loves mermaids). TOO cute!

One last look at the sharks - a great day trip - we enjoyed it and so did the girls!

On the way home Amelia took a ride on one of the amusement park rides set up for the Manly Jazz festival.

Having fun on the ride - she was very brave!

Cutie

Murray spotted this cockatoo picking at twigs on our way back - they really are gorgeous birds (LOUD though!)

Murray playing horse for Amelia

It was a fun day. Good fun with great friends:)

Welcome Luk Chai !

Murray made a special lasagna to welcome his Mom and Dad to our flat last weekend

On Saturday we made our way to zoo - so lovely that you can see Sydney across the harbour!

At the we saw who we went to see - Luk Chai! The new baby elephant at Taronga

Thong Dee and her baby boy Luk Chai (his name means 'male child' or 'son' in Thai)

They have this thing at the zoo where you can stay in fancy tents for the night - that would be fun! amazing view of the harbour bridge as well!

We also went to the bird show - with MORE amazing views - I just never get sick of it - so gorgeous

Cute little hugging monkeys

Murray & his Mom & his really big camera :)

This leopard seal was super curious

We then went back to see Luk Chai one more time - his mother was very protective and made him stay close under her legs most of the time

Hey Mom! Cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!

Luk Chai is the first baby elephant to be born in Australia on the 4th of July!

His mother was a street elephant in Thailand before being brought to Australia

We watched Luk Chai's birth on the tv show called 'The Zoo' - very cool! She is a good mother & kept him nice & close in the enclosure.


He isn't very good at using his little trunk yet though (cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!!!)

On the way out we stopped by to see the koalas as well!

They were actually awake & moving around!

Getting a little sun

Just a bit tired - after wedging himself in the tree - amazing that they can just sleep wedged in like that!!


Shame this is sideways - but Murray was lucky to catch this koala leaping between trees - wow - we've never seen that before!

Sunday was a nice day - cool, but sunny - so we made our way down to Manly. That's me, Murray, Lyn & Peter

We had some LOVELY fish & chips down at the Corso, walked all over the place to enjoy the beautiful day, and that evening had a fabulous Indian meal in Manly. Such a nice weekend:)