Tag Archives: Sydney

The City to Surf ~ 2009

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Yesterday my darling husband participated in the City to Surf road race. The City to Surf in the largest running event in the world with a record 75,000 runners participating this year. The race starts in the center of the city and the 14km course leads to the finish on gorgeous Bondi Beach. With such a high number of runners we debated not taking the kids into the city as it seemed to be such a mad idea. However, knowing how much the kids would enjoy cheering their dad on and banking on the fact that things in Sydney  are usually well organized, we went for it. Well, our faith in Sydney being a  well run city was very much justified.

We all hopped on a bus in the morning and went down to the “back of the pack” starting area. That is no joke. That is the fourth and last block where non-elite and later entrants wait to start. This group is warned that it can take over 30 minutes before they cross the starting line. Every runner has a chip attached to their shoe that is activated upon crossing the starting line so you get two times: the official race time and your own actual race time.

After leaving the starting area, the kids and I headed to Bondi. The bus left right from Hyde Park which could not have been easier. We walked down to the beach and got mum (mommy ) a cuppa (coffee) & kids a bickie (aka cookie). Then we found a place right up against the barrier. It wasn’t the finish line, but it was close enough. We had a bit of time so I got right into it. Cheering on runners is something I always do because I know how it always helps me to push myself when people cheer me on during races. Well Lana realized that I was one of only three people cheering EVERYBODY on. I reminded her why I do it and that p.s. I am an American, so people count on me to be obnoxious. She preferred the idea of holding the awesome sign she made on her own, but Nuno got right into it.

 

While we waited we saw heaps of people running for charities, some parents pushing prams, a few wheelchair entrants, some great costumes and even some kids running. My favorite was the parent runniing holding their child’s hand (there were two we saw). Yes, we cheered them all on!

The kids were all the while helping me to spot dadddy. Amazingly we did it!

He looked great! And the kids and I were so proud.

It didn’t take him long to finish, collect his medal and meet us at our designated meeting spot. After hanging out for a short while enjoying the view we hopped on a free bus back into town and then another back home. I tell you this only because it was so easy to go into Sydney to be a part of such a HUGE event and the city deserves credit for doing such a fantastic job!

Papi, we were so glad to be a part of your day!

For more pictures click here.

Sponge Bob at the Sydney Aquarium

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One of the things that we are really enjoying about Sydney is that there is so much to do. So much so, that we always seem to be exhausted by weekend’s end. Yet somehow, we have only scratched the surface of what there is to do in this city.

The last time we went to the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium they had a Sponge Bob ride that Lana loved. This was reason to head into town and check out Sponge Bob’s visit to Sydney.

There was no ride, but they had a scavenger hunt that the kids really enjoyed. As we walked through the aquarium the kids had to seek out the characters from the show within the displays (see pictures here) and answer a few questions. They loved it, but I think they were more interested in the cartoon cutouts in the tanks than the marine life.

There were however a few cool things. One was the dugong that was following Nuno as he walked along:

Another was the sleeping turtle. We thought Chelsea would have loved to see it:

Overall, it’s not my favorite aquarium, so sad really, but it’s such an easy place for us to get to and we do manage to learn something every time we are there…so we’ll be back.