Thursday
Well we are here after a 14 hour flight from Abu Dhabi, with no sleep. that was not from choice but we just didn’t feel tired. Arrived in Sydney just after sunrise at 6am and straight through to meet Tim and Chris and find the shuttle bus to pick up our hire cars. We drove back through rush hour Sydney, over the harbour bridge and arrived at 17 Welham Street, Beecroft, which is about 10 minutes further on from Epping. The beautiful weeping, lilacky, purple Jacaranda tree is out in the front garden.
We had some toast and a brew and a conducted tour and then settled in to our new home. Tim and Chris have been very busy getting ready for our arrival. We walked into Beecroft, which feels like a village centre with a Woolworths grocery shop, a few rows of coffee and various individual shops, We stopped and had lunch at Chicken and Fishhead, strange name but good food.
The afternoon passed in a haze, trying to stay awake, sitting outside in the sunshine, unpacking and sorting through things. We had an early dinner of chicken and salad and went off to bed about 8pm.

Friday
A reasonable nights sleep with some time off duing the night, although Graham and Lesley had a bit more of a difficult time. We took Tim to Epping and had a wander round before going for a coffee. Back home for some lunch and Chris went to pick up the children from school. Jonathan and Katie came when they had finished and we went in the pool for a swim. We then had a family barbeque with a lot of fun and laughter.

Saturday
Jonathan had suggested we had a walk from Bondi to Bronte so we set off this morning to drive to Bondi beach, about three quarters of an hour away. We walked along the coastal path towards Tamarama but made fairly slow progress as it was very busy and didnt get too far as we had to get back and move the cars. We went for lunch to Moo, a burger bar overlooking the beach and then decided we had to put our feet in the Pacific Ocean for a paddle. Unfortunately, we got a bit more than our feet wet when a huge wave came up and soaked us, especially Graham and Lesley who were further down the beach. The beach slopes steeply down into the sea, which makes the big waves for surfing but the sea is really scary with the power especially seeing how much sand is churned up and feeling the undertow pulling you in. The lifeguards were blowing whistles at one or two foolish peole who had gone in swimming, which is not allowed here.

Sunday
Up and ready for church at 9am at Epping Baptist. Lots of people coming in late but very friendly place. Talked to a few people afterwards over a brew and then home by 11ish. Did some washing and in the afternoon I had a walk down the reserve at the end of the road, still lots of areas of bush even in the city. We decided to go to Hillsong so had an early dinner and set off about half 5 to drive to Hills. A good evening with a huge arena full of young people praising God.