Day 81: Port Stephens Day 1

As I write this I am enjoying a nice soak in the huge corner bath in the ensuite bathroom of our Port Stephens holiday home (mustn't drop my phone in the bath!). It has to be one of my highlights of today given that we don't have a bath in our flat. I've got my Yen Magazine and Dirty Granny (cider) at my side.

Rob, Carl and I set off around 10am and got to Port Stephens at about 1pm, by which point we were all starving. We went into Nelson's Bay and bought fish and chips. We all went for grilled blue-eye cod with chips and salad. Very tasty although the chips over here never seem to be hand-cut like they are in the UK, most of them come out of a bag in the freezer.

We got settled into the house and went for a walk down to the local beach just in time to see the sunset as we walked down the hill.

Tomorrow we might go sand boarding at the local sand dunes, but for now I think it's time for me to put my phone down and enjoy my bath... :-)

Day 80: Training

I spent all day yesterday in Excel training. I learnt some useful things but I was surprised at how much time was focused on different ways to cut and paste!

There was a nice view of the city from the HSBC building.

A sign on the bathroom door made me smile!

And the motivational plants in the breakout area! :-)

Day 78: Autumn sun

The sun was very low on my way home now that daylight savings is over. Hopefully that will make it easier to get up in the mornings!

Day 77: Branson

We went to Bronte beach today. The Autumn sun seems even better than the 'summer' we had! I bought Richard Branson's 'Losing My Virginity' the other day for something to read over Easter while we're away so I brought it to the beach with me to make a start on it. I'm up to page 20 and so far so good.

Day 76: Smoothie goodness

Carl and I went to a great workout on Saturday morning. Everything aches today! Carl made Enliven Fitness' coconut smoothie from their recipe - 2 raw eggs, 1 banana, 2 teaspoons of cacao powder and the juice and flesh of 1 coconut. It tastes like a non guilty version of a chocolate milkshake but much healthier and tastier! I just had 1 egg in mine.

Went for a coffee and some lunch at Clipper Cafe in Glebe in the afternoon. I went around Glebe market and found myself a nice leather bag with silver studs and a black dress.

Watched 'Drag Me To Hell' in the evening. It started ok and had the usual jumpy bits but it all went a bit weird towards the end. It's been a while since I've watched a decent horror film. They seem pretty few and far between lately. 

Day 75: R.I.P. Dasher

I found out on Friday that Dasher, the 15 year old dingo/kelpie cross that featured on day 7 of my photo a day postings sadly got hit by a car. He used to sit outside his house on Crown Street in Surry Hills and was well known and loved by locals. Carl and I saw him just last Sunday so we were shocked to hear of his passing. Friday's post is dedicated to Dasher. Here are a couple of photos I have taken of him over the last year.

Dasher sunning himself a few months ago

Day 74: Autumn

Walking to work bright and early with a fuzzy head from the multiple champagnes the night before, I noticed for the first time this year that the leaves on the trees on my walk to work are turning yellow. Autumn is well and truly here.

Thursday was a crazy hectic day that had me very ready for the weekend! I got home and passed out on the couch exhausted.

Carl picked up our first organic food order (fresh from a local farm) from Enliven Fitness where we do our morning classes and we had a lovely dinner of beef sausages, a jacket potato and a really fresh salad. Sounds dull but the organic veg and meat had so much flavour.