Sydney Weekend

I had such a lovely weekend away with Flynn in Sydney last weekend. It was the perfect combination of time spent catching up with family and friends as well as meeting some new faces at the Voices of 2013 Blog Events. I arrived home on Monday feeling absolutely exhausted but in the very best way - full of happy memories and inspiration on both the personal and blogging front. 

My first stop was to visit my lovely Grandpa so he could meet his latest Great-Grandson. It was an emotional visit as it's been 18 months since we left Sydney and I have not been back to visit him in that time. It was hard seeing him on his own in the same house he built 60 years ago without his beloved by his side. He was in remarkable spirits and in excellent health at the ripe old age of 95. I love this photo of him with Flynn above - the eldest and youngest in our clan. 

On Saturday I attended the Voices of 2013 Blogging Masterclass while my Cousin looked after Flynn. It was an informative and inspiring 3 hours, with a panel of professional bloggers answering questions on the ins and outs of blogging. The best part of the day was meeting some of my favourite bloggers for the first time as well as getting to know some new ones. It was not scary at all and unsurprisingly, the bloggers I met were really just as they appear on their blogs, even better in real life I would say. Just a really lovely friendly bunch of women. I don't want to leave anyone out but I really loved meeting Pip, Lexi, Ruth, Maxabella, Greer, Sonia, Tricia, Rachel, Pippa, Karen, Bron, Katrina, Tahnee, Vivian, Jen, Jodi, Stacey, and Carli among many many others.

It appears I am already a social media failure though as I don't have a single decent photo of the event as I was too busy chatting. I really wish there had been more time to meet people as I realised after the event that there were people there that I would dearly have loved to have met. 

There was a cocktail party in the evening where I managed to meet a few more bloggers. It was such a fun night and again, there was just not enough time to meet everyone. Here is the one and only photo taken of the evening with me in between these lovely ladies, Katrina on the left and Tahnee on the right. If you pop over to Tahnee's Blog, she has done a wrap-up Post of the events and has taken some fabulous photos. It goes without saying, I will not be entering the competition for best Wrap-Up Post.

There were some rather nice goodie bags, one for each event but both were fairly heavy on the baby items. 

On Sunday I spent the morning clearing out the cobwebs from the night before with a walk around Sydney Harbour taking in all the glorious sights.

I walked through the Botanic Gardens and then decided to check out the Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery. Flynn fell asleep at that point and I honestly can't remember the last time I could go to a gallery and just stop and look for as long as I wanted. Sheer bliss. No photos were allowed in the Archibald Exhibition but I snapped a few of my favourites in the main gallery. Do you have a favourite Artist or style? I can't find a common thread. I think I love Brett Whiteley's The Balcony 2 (1975)...

almost as much as my absolute favourite painting by Elioth Gruner's Spring Frost (1919).

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Pianoman had everything under control and pictures of domestic bliss and serenity were sent through to my phone. They enjoyed a spot of fishing on Sunday with George catching his very first fish - an Atlantic Salmon - and an absolute beauty!

I caught up with my brother and sister-in-law on Sunday afternoon for a meal in Stanmore and then headed back to the hotel to work out just how I was going to fit the two goodie bags into my carry-on luggage. Amazingly, Jetstar didn't have a hissy-fit when I declared one goodie bag was my handbag and the contents of the other bag were stuffed into my carry-on bag. This is all I had for the entire weekend plus the stroller that fit into a tiny backpack and went on board too.

The 4.30am wake-up call on Monday morning was a bit harsh but we had picture-perfect skies and the view of the Coal Valley as we descended into Hobart was rather breathtaking. You can actually see our place in this shot, just a little way up the river where the hills start on the left-hand side.

And that was my weekend.  I feel like I'm still playing catch-up after being away on the Road Trip and then again this past weekend. My Posts have been rather sporadic lately too but I'm hoping things will get back to normal now. One can dream can't they?