Ret's 60th Birthday in Sydney

Aunty Dympna, my sister Gemma and her husband Bill caught a train to Sydney recently to join with other family and friends to celebrate my youngest sister Loretta (Ret's) 60th birthday. Murray drove down separately and caught up with an ex-RAAF colleague and played a few games of golf over several days. It was a small interlude that distracted Murray briefly from his grief at the loss of his eldest son Jeremy, who died suddenly the night before we returned from the USA. I don't think anyone can ever get over losing a child - it will be more a matter of coming to terms with the reality of not having Jeremy at the other end of the phone, and him not being in Melbourne when Murray goes down to visit. 

Dympna and I honing our rummicub skills on the train!

Ret's son Peter and his wife Sam threw a wonderful party for 30 of Ret's family and friends and it was especially great to catch up with our cousin Margie and her daughter Rosie. Sadly Margie was at the funeral for her husband Maurie the same day that we attended Jeremy's farewell. It was a great opportunity to catch up with several other friends of Ret's that I hadn't seen for years. 

My brother Tony, sisters Gemma and Ret (holding her grandson Noah), cousin Margie, Aunt Dympna and me at the pharty

Murray Trish and Ret

Sydney was as beautiful a city as ever. On the day after Ret's birthday party, Gemma's daughter Claire and her husband Al (who had flown down from Brisbane for the party) arranged breakfast for us at the swish Dunbar House at Watson's Bay, before we all caught a ferry back to Sydney Harbour. We had a 2km walk back to our accommodation, and as luck would have it, the halfway point happened to be the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place - this was where 2 females hostages lost their lives during a siege in December 2014 - the lone gunman also died in the siege. We called in and conducted taste tests on the hot chocolate and some delicious treats. 

A bit of cloud cover to dim the view of the Opera House as we came into the Harbour

After Mass on Sunday we had a foray to the famous Paddy's Markets - several floors of stalls with very attractive goods at low prices. We spent several hours getting lost in the numerous aisles! What a buzz! You can see Gemma is having a wow of a time. It sure was a lot of fun.

We bumped into Ret and Pete as we were heading to the Manly Ferry 

Panorama of beautiful Manly Beach

Nothing beats fish and chips on the Corso at Manly (except gelato afterwards!)

Murray and I no sooner got back to Ballina and emptied out our suitcases before it was time to pack them again ready for our trip to visit family and friends in Japan. We had booked and paid for this trip before we left for the USA, and the trip has seemed so far away. Now I can't believe that we fly out tomorrow...keen to see your smiling face waiting at the airport Daina!