Sports Day

Sports Day here in Australia was not all that dissimilar to the Oxford variety - a series of event stations manned by parents and teachers, between which the different groups of students rotated during the day.

It was a little more competitive, though. Whereas the St Christopher's sports day was hardly more than sports-like games and activities, with only the winning team being announced, Lawson at least was an athletics carnival, and embraced the running, the jumping and the throwing in the traditional manner.

In addition, the winners and runners-up in their age groups go on to the District Carnival later in the year, where there will be further striving towards the Zone Carnival and beyond.

So congratulations to Zac, first in the 10s Discus, and also for winning his heat in the 200m - as the top action shot above shows. Wow, I got one in focus!

Sadly, Tash wasn't quite as thrilled as Zac with the way the day panned out. When she heard that she was going to a carnival, she assumed the obvious.

Consequently, the lack of sweets, fairy floss and rides was a bit of a downer.

Ant.

Wentworth Falls

Wentworth Falls is two suburbs west of us here in Lawson, about ten minutes by car, and a popular destination for tourists of all shapes and
denominations.

To be fair the views are not quite as breath-taking as those you get a mere ten minutes further west in Katoomba, but it's still about a 7.9 on the Grandeur Scale.

The fish and chips in Wenty Falls are spectacular too,
possibly the best in the upper mountains.

The Choc Nut Top ice creams are fine as well.

I just eat the nice bits off and give the rest to the animals...er...the kids.

Ant.

We went to Taronga Zoo

A couple of weeks ago we drove down to Eastwood to link up with my mate Phil Stallard from the old days. Phil and I used to play in The Quarks together back in the late 80s, and now he is the driving creative force behind Big Fat Squid, as well as being a successful and critically acclaimed artist. Not that that has much to do with going to the zoo.

Phil and his wife Lisa have two boys, Jim and Max, around about the same age as Zac and Tash.

From Eastwood we all drove to Meadowbank and caught the ferry down the Parramatta River to Cricular Quay, from where it's but a short - and spectacular - ferry trip across Sydney Harbour to the zoo.

This was the first time we'd been in the heart of Sydney since we'd arrived in Australia, and the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House looked fantastic.

It's hard not to feel a bit sorry for some of the animals in the zoo - the tiger is clearly completely mad and spends the whole time padding back and forth in its cage with a crazy look in its eyes. And I've never liked the idea of elephants in cages, they're too big for that caper.

So it goes.