Long-time friends

Just had a much needed break from our routine. We headed up to Sydney for a couple of days during the recent long weekend. We enjoyed the time eating delicious food and spending time with our long-time friends. They are friends we can just be with and not have to have many plans. We enjoy eating good food together and catching up. We look at our kids and are often amazed how much they've grown since we last saw each other.

Our friendship has spanned more than 22 years. We have been through each other's ups and downs in life. We share a love of travel and have been in contact from different parts of the world at one time. We've even had some international meet-ups. After our Sydney catch-ups, I am always grateful that we have our dear friends and sometimes wish we were physically closer. It's comforting to know that we can count on them for random conversations and thoughts on Whatsapp every now and then.

More photos here

As usual during the Queen's birthday long weekend, we often celebrate Mandy's birthday. This time she chose a burger joint in La Perouse called Bare Grill. We had lots of meat and fries. It was pretty good and very filling. Although it was a dreary, wet and cold day, we went for an explore around the outside of Bare Island Fort (filmed in Mission Impossible 2) to walk off our food. Thanks to Ryan, we all got together and got a few decent group photos of all of us. It was a great photo op. Even the kids cooperated but later photo-bombed the grown-up group photo.

It was back at Themy's house to relax and have Gelato Messina. Passionfruit was a hit with the kids. Sticky date and Macadamia Crunch were also nice flavours. Later for dinner we found ourselves in Kingsford at a Chinese dumpling place. It was packed. We enjoyed a noisy and another filling meal. Our two still had room for frozen yogurt afterward.

Often we stay with one of our friends but since Catherine was a bit unwell earlier in the week we booked the Holiday Inn at Sydney airport last minute. It was good value as buffet breakfast was included. The buffet had good variety including Chinese food like congee, fried rice and dumplings. So much food!

On the last day, we met up with everyone again at yum cha in Maroubra. It was busy and there was a wait. Our party of 13 was split between two tables. The kids were all settled in one table first then a table next to them became available for us grown-ups. It was a pretty good arrangement although the kids probably ordered a bit more than they were able to eat.

After yum cha we said our goodbyes. Nicholas changed his mind and didn't want to go to the Sydney Aquarium after all, so Catherine and I ended up catching a train to the city with Ryan and Mandy. Nicholas and Phil stayed behind with Themy and family. I was unsure about it all especially arriving to a packed and busy place but the wait wasn't too bad in the end. Catherine enjoyed it very much so it was all worth it. She loved seeing the sharks and "playing" with a penguin. Took the train back to Mascot afterward where Phil picked us up. We had udon curry at our friend's place before we drove back to Canberra that night. We had a satisfying weekend.