May 2012 – Cork’s Corner

Archive for May, 2012

Primary School

25 May

Posted in Nathan the preschooler, School | No Comments »

Nathan had a one hour session at the local school today as part of an effort to make kids feel comfortable at the school before they start next year. There are 8 sessions and he is going to 7 of them, though I am thinking that it might be worthwhile booking him in for the 8th one too. I think he had fun, but I do know he was happy to know one other child there. It was all very overwhelming with lots of kids and noise.

While the kids were in a prep room the parents had a half hour presentation about determining if a child is ready for school and how to help them. We were told that boys often need more time to be ready, but everything we were told I mentally ticked off…yep, Nathan can do this or he does that. I guess that makes him ready for school next year!

Gastronomic Sydney

09 May

Posted in Food, Nathan the preschooler, NSW, Sydney, Toby's third year | 2 Comments »

Looking through the photos I have taken in the last two days, anyone would think we were in Sydney just for the food! We are certainly taking the opportunity to feast on our favourite Sydney dishes, but we have done lots of activities as well.

Monday morning we went to Sydney Park. My old playgroup meet there, and it was wonderful to catch up with friends there, and the kids had a ball in the park! Afterwards we had lunch at a very nice sushi train In Newtown, and while there we went to a wonderful buttons shop and visited a really cool toy shop. Toby needed a sleep, so while asleep on my back we visited the Remnant Warehouse to say hello to Joe, the owner, and get some fabrics. They always have a good selection of reasonably priced denim and I was in need of some. I also picked up a pretty, embroided remnant of brown poplin to make something for me next summer, and some fabric for hats. When Toby woke up we went back to Sydney Park, but this time to a traffic school area and the kids spent an hour riding around and mostly obeying the traffic lights and road rules. Back at our accommodation for the evening, we walked to a yummy and cheap Thai place and had take-away for dinner.

Yesterday I had an appointment with my old supervisor at UNSW. We took the bus there which Toby was excited about. He keeps telling me that Sydney has a lot of buses! Afterwards we went to Coogee, firstly to a playground and then we walked to the beach. Nathan wanted to paddle but we didn’t take bathers, so I promised that we can go ack again today to swim. We had Pide for lunch before going to visit Danii and her two kids. We had a lovely afternoon and grabbed some Chinese from a place on Anzac Parade for dinner.

My little climber at Sydney Park

Sushi train in Newtown

Waiting for the traffic lights at Sydney Park traffic school

Eating Thai for dinner

Coogee Park

Nathan ringing the bell he always aspired to reach but never could, at Coogee Park

Pide in Coogee

Gundagai to Sydney

06 May

Posted in Friends, NSW, Travel | No Comments »

The drive from Gundagai to Sydney went smoothly, though the kids were getting a little over traveling. We couldn’t find anything for breakfast in Gundagai so I bought a few things from the local IGA to help with hunger until we found something more substantial to eat. Funnily enough, as soon as we had started driving, we turned a corner and found a cafe open, but we kept driving.

Although we made several stops (for food, toilets and petrol) we made good time and were in Sydney by 2 pm. We had a late lunch of chicken rolls from a favourite little Vietnamese place in Mascot, and the kids played in a nearby park that we used to walk to when we lived in Mascot. We then found our accommodation for the next week. It is an old building, is reasonably priced (by Sydney standards) , and just down the road from Mel’s house. Just a few metres past our room is a kitchenette with a stove and microwave, and some living space with sofas and bookcase with books and games. It is a really nice place, with a sort of old-world charm to it. It suits our needs perfectly!

We unpacked the car and then dropped in to see Andrew, Mel, Sarah and baby James. It was wonderful to see them all!

Chicken roll

Melbourne to Gundagai

05 May

Posted in NSW, Travel, Vic | No Comments »

The kids and I left Melbourne this morning at about 11 am. We stopped for a toilet break at 12:30, and then Toby slept. He woke just before Albury, so our second stop was at a fabulous playground in Albury. The kids didn’t want to leave, but I wanted to push on, so with a promise to return on our way home, we left. The GPS got me lost in Albury, but we finally made it back to the freeway.

The road is two-lane freeway from Melbourne to Albury, and previously from there to Sydney there would be sections of freeway and sections of single-lane, two-way highway. My recollection of the road between Albury and Holbrook was all two-way highway, so I was very surprised to find it is now freeway the entire way! The Holbrook bypass is being constructed, so in years to come the freeway will extend further, uninterrupted.

We didn’t mind the stop in Holbrook. I had promised the kids a play on the submarine, and I had planned to spend the night there. However, we got there about 4:30, and I figured that Gundagai was only about an hour (and a bit) further on, so at 5;00 we set off on our final 115 km of the day. Again, I was surprised to find the road was freeway the entire way, so it was around 6 pm when we pulled into a motel in the centre go Gundagai. The kids excitedly explored the motel room and then we walked to the local Chinese restaurant for dinner.

Werribee zoo

02 May

Posted in Melbourne, Nathan the preschooler, Toby's third year | No Comments »

Last weekend we went to Werribee zoo. Because we are zoo members, the kids recently got lanyards in the mail for their details (name, favourite animal and parent phone number). There were lots of kids wearing them!

We love the safari bus, and most of the photos below were taken from the bus, but before we got there we saw meerkats and the gorillas. One gorilla looked very comfortable lying on his back in the sun in a wooden shelter, but then he found somewhere else under a tree, taking his bedding with him.