Dave & Dana in Australia

Just a general update on what we’ve been up to over the past month since we’ve been back from our trip to South Australia.  One of the first things we had to do given the amount of wine we bought down there was to invest in a wine fridge to keep our investment from going bad in the heat!  It seems to fit well in our apartment so we’re pretty happy with it. The only thing now will be resisting the urge to empty it before the bottles are ready!

With the Markwicks in town we’ve been pretty active with going to to see lots of jazz - one or two a week.  This included a private showing at their friends the Fisses, who live in Paddington in Sydney and where there was an audience of 12!  We also saw some pretty nice jazz on the water as part of our Australia Day activities.

Australia Day was a very busy one for us.  We started off at the markets in the Rocks before walking to the middle of the Harbour Bridge to watch the Ferrython - an annual race between a few of the harbour ferries with hundreds of other boats providing ‘escort’ - quite a spectacle.  We then headed out to the beach to have a picnic and then do the Coogee to Bondi walk along the coast.  The beaches were all packed with revellers - we even managed to spot a streaker.  We headed back to Darling Harbour to watch the winners of the “Best Dressed” boat competition and some free jazz, then back to my office which is the best vantage point to watch the Australia Day fireworks with a glass of wine.

While down in Melbourne on business I managed to spend an evening attending a match at the Australian Open, one of the grand slam tennis tournaments.  I saw Lleyton Hewitt (the last remaining Aussie) play Novak Djokivic, the eventual champion in the 4th round.  Djokivic won in straight sets but it was a good match and a really neat experience. 

We’ve also been to the theatre (Billy Elliott - quite a fun little musical) and we’ve been spending a good deal of time at the beach.  Visitors haven’t gotten in the way of work piling up either so overall we’ve been quite busy.  Next week we’re hosting a few dinners before Barry and Robyn head across to New Zealand.   They are replaced by Dana’s aunt Patricia, who arrives the following day for a week’s visit.  At this stage we’re planning on the weekend in the Blue mountains, but that depend a bit on the weather.  We hope everyone is coping well with the winter wonderland back in Toronto - remember, we always have an extra bedroom down here!