Small steps and large leaps

Ten years we've been married. Ten years have B's dirty white and orange Brooks sneakers been walking the streets of the world along with the brown Kathmandu backpack on my back. Ten years ago we had a joyous wedding ceremony and reception, then retreated to the sanctuary of this hotel.
Surely this is worthy of another celebration! A tenth anniversary return to Europe, another stay at this hotel, the Novotel Brighton Beach, in a room overlooking Botany Bay, the city and the airport.

Much has changed since this day ten years ago. No ceremony on Observatory Hill surrounded by friends and family, only the hurried cleaning of a house and completion of work projects. No stretched Rolls Royce limousine to drive us to the hotel, only a bus, then a train, then a packed bus again dropping us a few hundred metres away. And this time we have brought our almost-three-year-old son Alex with us.
The hotel too has changed. Gone the gelato shop at the bottom, the serene Balinese pool and waterfall, the waterslide and, sadly for us this time, the children's playground. Brighton Le Sands seems more rundown, fewer seafood restaurants. In the end it was a choice between a seafood platter at Petar's or one at the hotel restaurant to celebrate our anniversary. We chose the former and waited too long for the privilege of eating. Alex was half asleep by the time we walked the hundred metres back.

But there are still the magnificent views across Botany Bay, watching aircraft take off across the face of Sydney city or out over the water. What better way to put you into the mood to travel?
And so tomorrow we too step on an aircraft to begin our own voyage.

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One night in Canberra

It's the April school holidays and we are too busy to have a break but need one because of that. And because it's the Easter weekend the options are limited, so we just drive down to Canberra for the night. No, this isn't our first trip for 2023. I wrote about Japan on another site . I refuse to wake up early so we depart after 8.30 AM. There is not much to say about the drive except that the clouds seem so low and Lake George is very full. We stop at a rest area and at the lookout up the hill to take it all in. Everyone is hungry so we first stop in Dickson and then can't think of anything to eat, so I drive us to Civic, where we can't decide and end up eating at the Singaporean Killiney Kopitiam branch. The Canberra Centre has nice shops. I dream of getting an iPad from the Apple Store, we buy a blanket and toothbrushes from Muji and wish that Lego wasn't so expensive. Nothing we can't get in Sydney, but then we rarely go out shopping in the city. It'

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A selection of jams

We're home now. The last two days of our Brisbane trip involved a lot of driving but not always much movement. On Wednesday we arranged to met Sis and her family at Robina Town Centre, a massive shopping mall. That meant a drive down towards the Gold Coast along the same motorway we'd driven up along. What should have taken an hour took twice that due to the holiday traffic along the 3 and 4 lane road. Lots of people taking the turn-offs to three of the "Worlds" (Wet'n'Wild, Movie World and Dreamworld). The Town Centre hosts Artvo , a trick photography gallery where you use perspectives to make subjects look like they are part of the artwork. It was surprisingly fun, despite the aversion of we males to being the subjects of photos. Afterwards we had a long chat over lunch, which was sourced from a variety of eateries. I had roti and chicken curry from Roti and Buns . Passable, though the curry was more laksa like. We later took Sis to Daiso and she and her h

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