November '06

We arrive! @ the Big *cough* Smoke

We arrived at London Heathrow about 24 hours after departing from Sydney (with a very short stopover in Singapore ... where we ran to our next flight).

The Qantas flight from SYD-SIN was pretty good, as we had a newish Boeing ... with on-demand entertainment! I take back my previous whinges about Qantas flights! So it was with much trepidation that we changed from our nice Qantas plane to a British Airways plane for the SIN-LHR leg of the journey ...

ALAS. The BA flight was packed. And there was no on-demand entertainment. And I couldn't make myself go to sleep (since I can only sleep curled up on my side, or lying flat on my front). Since I had no option but to eat the normal meal (there wasn't a Non-Lactose option available -- unlike Cathay Pacific flights!) ... I was all bloated too boot :P Pity the guy who had to sit next to me -- actually, he reeked of BO (just my luck) :(

Getting past customs at LHR was uneventful (luckily). Muffin said to leave all the talking to him, so things went smoothly :)

Even though I hadn't slept much in more than 24 hours, I was pretty wide awake during the tube journey from LHR to Gloucester Road (where our accommodation for the next 4 weeks is) ... Everything was so much bigger, grander, exciting!

And no wonder people call London the "Big Smoke". People smoke almost EVERYWHERE. In restaurants, cafes, etc. Not good for poor ol' allergic Muffin and me :( If you examine your snot at the end of the day, you will find BLACK GUNK.

Luckily for us, there will be a total smoking ban in enclosed areas from the 1st July 2007 :D But then those darned smokers will be hogging all the nice outdoor areas ... meh :P

Off the the Big Smoke!

We'd eaten our last feast(s) ... fished one last time ... bid goodbye to all our friends and rellos ... did our last barbie ... visited the lovely beaches one last time ... the day we'd been roughly planning had finally arrived!

... time to leave sunny ol' Sydney for the Big Smoke!

 

Muffin caught a few fishes in a short amount of time during our last visit to Mollymook. The leatherjacket was very tasty -- it was a female, with eggs :D We also cooked a wrasse that we caught. Wrasses taste quite fishy so they need to be cooked with a stronger tasty gravy ... like maybe tomato-based stew, or black beans and soy, if done Chinese style. The leatherjacket flesh has a very nice springy texture ... best grilled or fried to a crisp!

A good thing about living out in the 'burbs (as opposed be being inner-city, like we've been for many years) is that we never get friendly wildlife like the ones we get in the 'burbs. No, rats and pigeons don't count as wildlife ... This rosella was so busy eating grass seeds that it wasn't bothered by me sneaking up to it ...

Muffin found a bee being sucked dry by some other bug ...

Anyway ... those were our adventures up to our last day in Sydney ...

Both of our families came with us to the airport ... tho I think Lenny came along coz he wanted to eat Maccas ...

Merry Wedding, Natteric!

After much stressing and planning, the day finally arrived!

The ceremony was held at the Botanical Gardens, with the Harbour Bridge and Opera House as a backdrop!

It was a overcast day and was drizzling from time to time ... so the string quartet was safely tucked away in the bushes ...

The ceremony continued along without much dilemma, except the groom had to be reminded of his vows ... :P

Some (eight!) doves / homing pigeons were released from captivy in celebration ...

The new bride and groom were later issued with a Certificate of Participation ...

After the ceremony and obligatory photo shoots, we headed over to the food table -- and stuffed ourselves with mouthfuls of sushi and marshmellow ...

 

We decided we needed more sugar and so wandered on to the Lindt Concept Store ...

We watched Zoolander to kill time at Padde's ... then it was onwards to The Tea Room at QVB for the reception dinner ...

The rowdy rellos were seated in the other half of the room, meanwhile us well-behaved folks were seated together ...

Thanks Natteric for letting us share their special day with them!