The first day we arrived Evelyn had organised a Christmas picnic in the park. Niamh was very excited about the picnic, but also slightly annoyed that yet another bunting opportunity arose and she had no bunting. The point has been proved once again that bunting is an essential traveling staple.
We made an orange and apricot couscous salad and Ev and Nick made delicious Christmas brie and cranberry sandwiches, among other goodies. We did have an enviable food table by the end of it. The dog walkers all had a bit of a gawk on the way past. We ate a ridiculous amount of food and lounged on picnic blankets, occasionally taking shelter from rain showers. Emmet disgraced himself in a rugby kicking competition, his excuse was the shape of the ball, it is good to have an excuse. After the picnic, we met some of Emmet's school friends in a nearby bar for a catch up and wept silently into our very small glasses at the price of Australian drink.
We split our days in Sydney between sightseeing and just flaking. Niamh reached the low of watching the Kardashians and vows not to have TV when we get home to avoid such incidents in the future (Yeah right Kirwan, 60" flat screen, sky sports, history channel, done! Just don't watch crap and it is fine.)
One day we went to see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and got our obligatory tourist shots. Well, we got a few until Niamh's impatience at being on the photo side of the camera set in, it happens. Later we went to the Modern Art Museum which has the usual 'brick in a corner' rubbish, but also some really interesting and beautiful exhibits which Niamh photographed extensively. Just a note to all budding modern artists, an alternative to video installations already exists, its called film and it generally has a narrative, not just weird random stuff happening for no reason.
We went down to Darling Harbour which is a really nice part of the city. It has lots of bars and big expensive boats in the harbour. It is against the law to enter and not say 'Yah, my new aga is simply divine darling, rah rah rah'. Actually, it is not really that posh, but there are fancy boats. Later, Brian and Sarah had us around for a lovely Thai Curry. It was so nice we decided not to leave and stayed with them for the night.
Evelyn took us for a beautiful walk from Bondi to Coogee, which included an ice cream stop! There may have been a slight spillage on Niamh's part, but it was only the melted part at the end, so all was forgiven.
We also hung about in Surray Hills, near Ev, and got acquainted with the cafes!
We spent Christmas week in Jervis Bay, which is south of Sydney, with Emmet's mates from home. Brian and Sarah and Kev and Aoife all live in Sydney. Two other friends Keith and Sue, who live in Wellington, flew over from New Zealand to join us for Christmas. Unfortunately, Aoife was away. The night before we left, we all met in Brain and Sarah's for a bbq, as a warm up to an Aussie Christmas. Keith and Sue had big news, announcing they are having a baby. This babies nickname will be "Liddle Diddle". We stayed with Kev for the evening, ready for the drive down in the morning.
The house was beautiful with a huge kitchen/dining room area to chill out in. There was also a big TV and sitting room upstairs which was perfect for Kev and his outrageous DVD collection, which he was good enough to bring a selection of along with him. Christmas movies sorted.
Jervis bay is beautiful. There isn't much to do, which is kind of what you want at Christmas! There was a beach, a golf club and a bowls club. So we played bowls one day, Emmet got in a couple of rounds of golf with Keith and Kev and we spent lots of time on the beach and chilling out together in the house.
We ate like kings for the week, mainly thanks to Keith and Brian. We had a bbq with 'up the butt' chicken (when you put an open can in the chicken). Very tasty. And had a mammoth Christmas dinner with, wait for it, three different types of stuffing. Oh yes, that's how,we roll up in Jervis Bay y'all.
In the evenings, we played poker and monopoly and drank from our fine selection of alcohol. Good times. Also pictured is the mulled wine that ended up on the monopoly board during a particularly hard negotiation process and a very expressive Niamh.
Evelyn organised a trapeze lesson for us after we returned from Jervis Bay. We went for a few drinks the night before. Actually Emmet went for a few drinks with the lads, but the girls weren't invited! We watched some films and had a couple of glasses of wine instead. Niamh was keen to get an early enough one in preparation for the trapeze and Emmet had appeared to agree. This was shown not to be the case when he strolled in at 4 to a peeved Niamh getting temporary respite on the couch. The lads were in the dog house but once the girls got over not spending a night with the lads, all was good. Who could blame them really, we are great to hang around with.
Emmet was a little concerned about the trapeze due to his fear of heights, but in the end, he was flying (ha pun). The first thing we had to do was warm up and then practice on a little swing on the ground. Niamh wasn't able to pull herself up on the bar and was a little worried. However, we were assured the momentum would make it easier when on the real thing, and this proved to be true. Our first trick was to jump off the platform (the hardest step and there were a few false starts), swing a length, then pull our legs up over the bar, let go and reach backwards. We learned a few more moves and lead up to doing a catch. When it came to it, Emmet caught nothing but air. Niamh got it no problem, as did Ev (you can see her doing a very graceful swing in the pictures below). Now whether this was due to the topless dude waiting to catch them or not is unclear but you can make your assumptions on that one. Anyway, after Emmet's missed catch, he proceeded to fall over on the net to a rather ungraceful end to his trapezing career. Some people are clowns and made for the circus, others aren't. Well done Niamh!
New Years we spent with Evelyn and Nick. We stayed in their place with their flat mate Paul for a while, about two weeks altogether. One of Ev's mates works at the naval base at Sydney harbour and got us tickets for the firework show, so we were very lucky. We had plenty of space, we brought a picnic, blankets, cooler bags packed with beers, chairs to chill out on. It was great.
Niamh's sister Annie was in Australia, but we nearly missed each other. They scooted up to Sydney early and we got to spend a day with her and her travel buddy Sherry. We got a ferry out to Manly, an island with a beautiful beach and nice village. It was a roasting day so we sat out for a little bit and then took shelter in a cafe. In the evening, we headed back into the city centre, had a couple of drinks and then all met with some of our friends for the final goodbye for now. It is a pity we couldn't keep the Kirwan party going for a few days longer, but we'll just have to save it for Dublin in June!
We are in Santiago now, trying to get through our jetlag. We love South America so far and are looking forward to 5 months of travel adventures here starting with a Jerry and Aisling reunion.
We made an orange and apricot couscous salad and Ev and Nick made delicious Christmas brie and cranberry sandwiches, among other goodies. We did have an enviable food table by the end of it. The dog walkers all had a bit of a gawk on the way past. We ate a ridiculous amount of food and lounged on picnic blankets, occasionally taking shelter from rain showers. Emmet disgraced himself in a rugby kicking competition, his excuse was the shape of the ball, it is good to have an excuse. After the picnic, we met some of Emmet's school friends in a nearby bar for a catch up and wept silently into our very small glasses at the price of Australian drink.
We split our days in Sydney between sightseeing and just flaking. Niamh reached the low of watching the Kardashians and vows not to have TV when we get home to avoid such incidents in the future (Yeah right Kirwan, 60" flat screen, sky sports, history channel, done! Just don't watch crap and it is fine.)
One day we went to see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and got our obligatory tourist shots. Well, we got a few until Niamh's impatience at being on the photo side of the camera set in, it happens. Later we went to the Modern Art Museum which has the usual 'brick in a corner' rubbish, but also some really interesting and beautiful exhibits which Niamh photographed extensively. Just a note to all budding modern artists, an alternative to video installations already exists, its called film and it generally has a narrative, not just weird random stuff happening for no reason.
We went down to Darling Harbour which is a really nice part of the city. It has lots of bars and big expensive boats in the harbour. It is against the law to enter and not say 'Yah, my new aga is simply divine darling, rah rah rah'. Actually, it is not really that posh, but there are fancy boats. Later, Brian and Sarah had us around for a lovely Thai Curry. It was so nice we decided not to leave and stayed with them for the night.
Evelyn took us for a beautiful walk from Bondi to Coogee, which included an ice cream stop! There may have been a slight spillage on Niamh's part, but it was only the melted part at the end, so all was forgiven.
We also hung about in Surray Hills, near Ev, and got acquainted with the cafes!
We spent Christmas week in Jervis Bay, which is south of Sydney, with Emmet's mates from home. Brian and Sarah and Kev and Aoife all live in Sydney. Two other friends Keith and Sue, who live in Wellington, flew over from New Zealand to join us for Christmas. Unfortunately, Aoife was away. The night before we left, we all met in Brain and Sarah's for a bbq, as a warm up to an Aussie Christmas. Keith and Sue had big news, announcing they are having a baby. This babies nickname will be "Liddle Diddle". We stayed with Kev for the evening, ready for the drive down in the morning.
The house was beautiful with a huge kitchen/dining room area to chill out in. There was also a big TV and sitting room upstairs which was perfect for Kev and his outrageous DVD collection, which he was good enough to bring a selection of along with him. Christmas movies sorted.
Jervis bay is beautiful. There isn't much to do, which is kind of what you want at Christmas! There was a beach, a golf club and a bowls club. So we played bowls one day, Emmet got in a couple of rounds of golf with Keith and Kev and we spent lots of time on the beach and chilling out together in the house.
 |
| Niamh's closest shot, pity it wasn't a reflection of her performance over the day! |
We ate like kings for the week, mainly thanks to Keith and Brian. We had a bbq with 'up the butt' chicken (when you put an open can in the chicken). Very tasty. And had a mammoth Christmas dinner with, wait for it, three different types of stuffing. Oh yes, that's how,we roll up in Jervis Bay y'all.
In the evenings, we played poker and monopoly and drank from our fine selection of alcohol. Good times. Also pictured is the mulled wine that ended up on the monopoly board during a particularly hard negotiation process and a very expressive Niamh.
Evelyn organised a trapeze lesson for us after we returned from Jervis Bay. We went for a few drinks the night before. Actually Emmet went for a few drinks with the lads, but the girls weren't invited! We watched some films and had a couple of glasses of wine instead. Niamh was keen to get an early enough one in preparation for the trapeze and Emmet had appeared to agree. This was shown not to be the case when he strolled in at 4 to a peeved Niamh getting temporary respite on the couch. The lads were in the dog house but once the girls got over not spending a night with the lads, all was good. Who could blame them really, we are great to hang around with.
Emmet was a little concerned about the trapeze due to his fear of heights, but in the end, he was flying (ha pun). The first thing we had to do was warm up and then practice on a little swing on the ground. Niamh wasn't able to pull herself up on the bar and was a little worried. However, we were assured the momentum would make it easier when on the real thing, and this proved to be true. Our first trick was to jump off the platform (the hardest step and there were a few false starts), swing a length, then pull our legs up over the bar, let go and reach backwards. We learned a few more moves and lead up to doing a catch. When it came to it, Emmet caught nothing but air. Niamh got it no problem, as did Ev (you can see her doing a very graceful swing in the pictures below). Now whether this was due to the topless dude waiting to catch them or not is unclear but you can make your assumptions on that one. Anyway, after Emmet's missed catch, he proceeded to fall over on the net to a rather ungraceful end to his trapezing career. Some people are clowns and made for the circus, others aren't. Well done Niamh!
New Years we spent with Evelyn and Nick. We stayed in their place with their flat mate Paul for a while, about two weeks altogether. One of Ev's mates works at the naval base at Sydney harbour and got us tickets for the firework show, so we were very lucky. We had plenty of space, we brought a picnic, blankets, cooler bags packed with beers, chairs to chill out on. It was great.
Niamh's sister Annie was in Australia, but we nearly missed each other. They scooted up to Sydney early and we got to spend a day with her and her travel buddy Sherry. We got a ferry out to Manly, an island with a beautiful beach and nice village. It was a roasting day so we sat out for a little bit and then took shelter in a cafe. In the evening, we headed back into the city centre, had a couple of drinks and then all met with some of our friends for the final goodbye for now. It is a pity we couldn't keep the Kirwan party going for a few days longer, but we'll just have to save it for Dublin in June!
We are in Santiago now, trying to get through our jetlag. We love South America so far and are looking forward to 5 months of travel adventures here starting with a Jerry and Aisling reunion.
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