Liz and Charlie arrived from the UK on Saturday night to perfect balmy Autumn weather. It was brilliant to see them looking so well and refreshed having enjoyed a great flight with Charlie behaving perfectly the whole way. They were, of course, as perky as pixies having slept most of our day and so we felt compelled to join Liz in late-night champagne consumption which led to what I like to term "early peaking". Hungover on Sunday and after only 4 hours sleep, I drove Rob to North Sydney to take part in a sponsored kayak on the harbour organised by one of the dads at school. Rob was lucky enough to get the first leg of this relay event, from McMahon's Point around under the bridge to Mosman. That done, we managed to struggle through and prepare lunch for the McHughs, enjoying pork fillets with crushed fennel seeds wrapped in proscuitto.
Knowing what a beach bunny Liz is, on Monday we dropped Scarlett at school before heading to our beloved Redleaf harbour pool. Alas not only did it cloud over - it rained! Zut alors! Tuesday and Wednesday the rain continued to fall and we dropped Liz and Charlie at the Australian Museum to check out the dinosaur exhibit one day and to the ferry wharf the next so they could explore Taronga Zoo, all beach plans cancelled. I had expected both those days to be glorious and sunny so today, thinking we would be all beached out, had arranged a grown up lunch with Brett at the restaurant at the newly renovated Manly Pavilion, built in the 1930s as a changing facility for swimmers at the harbour beach. We even organized for Charlie to spend the day with Flo at daycare. But upon waking to a bright sunny day Liz explained that she'd really rather go to the beach than have lunch. I realised my idea of her trip was to show her a snippet of our lives here, whereas hers, quite rightly, was to relax on the beach and forget the troubles and stresses of a busy working life at home. So after dropping off the younger kids at daycare we headed first to school for Scarlett's last day of term and the Easter hat parade. We had to cut it short however as poor Charlie was not a happy bunny at Wattle Lane and Liz was anxious to be reunited with him. After picking him up, we drove them to Manly beach and Rob and I had a lovely walk alog the walkway to Fairlight before joining Brett at the restaurant.
It was an amazing lunch with the full trappings of being a journalist and lunching with Brett who also happens to be the restaurant's PR. After champagne, the chef and owners came out to introduce themselves at the table and we took up their offer to wine match the 8 course tasting menu. It was a pretty spectacular food experience and the view straight down the harbour towards the city and the heads is unique and unforgettable. We were sorry Liz missed it. Here is Rob in the spectacularly appointed dining room.
Liz and Charlie arrived from the UK on Saturday night to perfect balmy Autumn weather. It was brilliant to see them looking so well and refreshed having enjoyed a great flight with Charlie behaving perfectly the whole way. They were, of course, as perky as pixies having slept most of our day and so we felt compelled to join Liz in late-night champagne consumption which led to what I like to term "early peaking". Hungover on Sunday and after only 4 hours sleep, I drove Rob to North Sydney to take part in a sponsored kayak on the harbour organised by one of the dads at school. Rob was lucky enough to get the first leg of this relay event, from McMahon's Point around under the bridge to Mosman. That done, we managed to struggle through and prepare lunch for the McHughs, enjoying pork fillets with crushed fennel seeds wrapped in proscuitto. 
Knowing what a beach bunny Liz is, on Monday we dropped Scarlett at school before heading to our beloved Redleaf harbour pool. Alas not only did it cloud over - it rained! Zut alors! Tuesday and Wednesday the rain continued to fall and we dropped Liz and Charlie at the Australian Museum to check out the dinosaur exhibit one day and to the ferry wharf the next so they could explore Taronga Zoo, all beach plans cancelled. I had expected both those days to be glorious and sunny so today, thinking we would be all beached out, had arranged a grown up lunch with Brett at the restaurant at the newly renovated Manly Pavilion, built in the 1930s as a changing facility for swimmers at the harbour beach. We even organized for Charlie to spend the day with Flo at daycare. But upon waking to a bright sunny day Liz explained that she'd really rather go to the beach than have lunch. I realised my idea of her trip was to show her a snippet of our lives here, whereas hers, quite rightly, was to relax on the beach and forget the troubles and stresses of a busy working life at home. So after dropping off the younger kids at daycare we headed first to school for Scarlett's last day of term and the Easter hat parade. We had to cut it short however as poor Charlie was not a happy bunny at Wattle Lane and Liz was anxious to be reunited with him. After picking him up, we drove them to Manly beach and Rob and I had a lovely walk alog the walkway to Fairlight before joining Brett at the restaurant.
It was an amazing lunch with the full trappings of being a journalist and lunching with Brett who also happens to be the restaurant's PR. After champagne, the chef and owners came out to introduce themselves at the table and we took up their offer to wine match the 8 course tasting menu. It was a pretty spectacular food experience and the view straight down the harbour towards the city and the heads is unique and unforgettable. We were sorry Liz missed it. Here is Rob in the spectacularly appointed dining room.
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