Jules spends quite a lot of time on Mars (?!) but I got to experience it for myself on Wednesday morning when I went out for my morning run and found myself unable to see more than 5 metres in front of me. It was incredibly eerie because there were no sounds (the birds are usually making a racket at that time) except for a very strong wind. I lasted about 15 minutes and then found the taste of grit in my mouth and the feel of it in my hair overwhelming so I gave up and went home - I spent the rest of the day coughing. The dust storm was a very rare occurrence - none of our Australian friends had experienced anything like it before and there has been a huge clean up operation as a result. My lovely new outdoor area was covered in a fine layer of the dust and I spent Friday hoovering and beating cushions to try and get rid of it. Imagine my dismay when we woke up on Saturday morning to find another dust storm - this time white! Once again my run was abandoned and I ended up taking the car to get the obligatory Saturday morning croissants!
Our friend Stephen was over in Sydney on business this week - he and Jules used to work together in the UK - and we all caught up for dinner on Tuesday which was such a treat as it's been a long time since we went out to a nice restaurant, particularly mid-week. Jules took Friday off on the pretext of "networking" with Stephen and took him out on the speedboat. The weather was amazing and they headed to the fish markets to pick up some lunch followed by a tour of the harbour during which they came across a sunbathing seal! We packed Stephen into a taxi to take him to the airport for his flight back to the UK much more tanned than when he'd arrived. In the evening John and Leanne came round for dinner and the 4 kids had a lovely time in the bath together followed by a movie.
Tess' birthday was on Thursday and she had a lovely day being a celebrity at school, taking in cup cakes for her class and going out for dinner in the evening. She got lots of lovely presents so thank you to everyone!
Jules had a race on St Jude on Saturday which he was concerned may get cancelled due to gale wind warnings in and around Sydney. The race was supposed to be offshore but due to the warnings CYC decided to change the course to a harbour race - they were the only boats out and it was fairly hairy but incredibly good practice for the Sydney-Hobart. Jules wore his dry suit and was once again incredibly impressed by it's performance - definitely a worthwhile purchase.
Sunday was a fairly hectic day - Tess went off to a friend's party in the morning whilst Jo, Duncan, Hugh and baby Freya came round for brunch. It's the first time we've met Freya and she seems like a very contented baby. Tom was very taken with her constantly patting her and trying to make her smile. In the afternoon Mark, Caroline, Ruby and the twins came round for dinner which was a lot of fun. The twins are now walking and Iris in particular is very talkative. She, Tess and Ruby had a great time playing with dolls and pushing prams around. Once again the weekend seems too short and we could do with an extra day!
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