Here I am lounging in a seafront apartment at Manly Beach, Sydney. The dooors are open on to the balcony and I can hear the surf breaking on the beach across the prom. If I look out at the sea, I can see tens of kamikaze ants hurling themselves at the surf- , oh, my mistake , they're surfers. A surfers life seems to be 50% paddling around like a seal on a stick, 40% swallowing water and 10% complete exhilaration. Jonny's been out 3 times now and still we can't pick him out. We have threatened to fix a union jack flag on his head or may be a gold sequinned wet suit would do the trick. Amazing!!!!!! 6 cockatoos just landed on the balcony rail and Reanne and I fed them by hand for ages. They took the bread so gently with their beaks from our hands and then held it in their feet to daintily nibble it. Earlier today, I saw an Ibis with an enormous curved beak dipping into a bin- because it had a long neck AND beak it could reach all the pizza etc at the bottom of the bin that the gulls couldn't. However, as soon as it raised the pizza out of the bin it was mobbed by the gulls so the process started all over again - a bit like feeding a family during the school holidays. On the animal theme, there's also a golden retriever which is walked along the prom here- I'm having to refrain from kidnapping it outright as I'm missing Marley so much. We've actually booked a B&B in Christchurch on Monday solely because the owners have a golden retriever. Today is Thursday and I haven't blogged since Monday- a shocking dereliction of duty. On Tuesday, Reanne and I had a girls trip out to buy a sewing machine and fabric for cushions. It all started out so well- Reanne had found some second hand sewing machines on eBay- 40 dollars and made in 1945. My first sewing machine was of a similar vintage and lasted me till about 9 years ago ( even if it did sew to the left which made all our curtains slightly skippy)so it seemed like a good deal. Reanne used her iPhone map app to guide us there and with only a couple of minor detours we got there. A very large Aussie man had the machine,and four others, in his garage like Sewing World meets Lawnmower Man. The best one had an electric foot pedal and an original handbook, quaintly written and just stopping short of addressing the reader as 'the lady of the house'. It's a German machine, Anka, and imported in 1945 - does this mean that the Germans stockpiled sewing machines during the war ready to take over the soft furnishing world afterwards? Anyway, with the sewing machine safely stowed in the boot, we set off to the fabric warehouse which was only a fifteen min drive away and not far from home. After we had exited off the motorway twice on the same slip road ( a feat made more challenging because in Reanne's car you can't brake and steer at the same time, so the trick is to slow right down and coast off the slip road at 5 miles an hour, steering hard)Reanne passed the phone to me and I managed to make it a hat trick ( the blind leading the blind springs to mind). We then made our way to the northernmost reaches of the area unintentionally, the gps on the phone led us into a hillbillies cul de sac in another suburb and we managed to get onto another motorway which we couldn't escape from. By this time we were crying with laughter. By sheer coincidence, we managed to get to the fabric warehouse and bought some fab material. On the way home, the sky went black, it rained and all the electrics on the dash board died so we had to follow behind another car at all times to make sure we weren't speeding, remembering to brake or steer but not both at once). However, it was all worth it because the sewing machine works beautifully, although we did discover that what we thought was a sewing machine with a zig zag facility is in fact a zig zag sewing machine but by the time we left for Sydney, Reanne had made one cushion and the zig zag sewing was, thankfully, both practical and decorative. So that brings us to Wednesday and a 5.00 am start for the airport. As it was a domestic flight we didn't need passports and we took only hand baggage ( johns rucksack was 70% my stuff but, hey, who's counting) so no messing about although I did have my nail scissors confiscated so that was my terrorist career cut short ( ho ho). Brisbane area is HOT at about 26 degrees but Sydney is quite cool at 22 degrees ( double ho ho). Actually, Brisbane has high humidity so it feels really close and sticky all the time but Sydney has lower humidity so it feels cooler anyway. John and I have long sleeved clothes on but Jonny has put his jeans, sweatshirt and shoes on as his toes were freezing.