Australia: Bondi and back

Sunday was our last (full) day in Sydney 🙁

 

We slept in a bit and after feeding P, drove over to Bronte for brunch. 

Bogey Hole was one of several cute looking cafes on the main street along the beach front.  They were all pretty packed but after a short wait we were able to snag a spot outside that fit us all, including a very fussy P in his stroller.

Kyle got a banana smoothie and toast with jam.  I think we were all feeling a bit blah from the previous night.

Laura and I got the same thing – toast with poached eggs (only she added goat cheese and smoked salmon to hers and I added a side of avo to mine).  They didn’t have GF bread, so I just got sourdough (I tolerate it fine, but am still avoiding allergens as best I can while I nurse P).  We are both lactose intolerant though, so when it came with butter on the toast, my sister asked for a new slice.  I probably would have just eaten it to be honest, but they took mine away before I could stop them.  And then they ran out of sourdough.  So I got the only bread option left which had sesame seeds on one side.  Doh!  Their service wasn’t that great and it was really busy which made it hard to flag someone down without being insane.  So rather than be super obnoxious Americans, I just ate the bread.  It was the last day so I just said f^&% it.  I tried my best the whole trip and this one meal wasn’t going to end the world.  Silver lining – the bread I got was way bigger than the sourdough slices. 

Chris’ breakfast sando on the left, Laura’s toast and eggs on the right.

 

Despite his beach-y getup, P was sooo ready for his morning nap by the time we finished eating.  Sadly for him, we weren’t going home.  In an effort to live on the edge (and not follow his finely tuned schedule), we went for a long walk.

  

The Bondi to Bronte walk is gorgeous!  I felt like every moment was a photo op and then when I looked at all the pics they looked fake they were so pretty.

  

Almost as soon as we got to Bondi it started raining.  There were still surfers aplenty.  I had been to Bondi with Laura for our sister date, but that was at night and Kyle hadn’t been at all yet.  So we popped in to Iceberg’s overlooking the water, just to wait out the rain and enjoy the views.

P was really into the coasters (whatever works!).

 

Auntie Laura fed him puffs one by one, which kept him occupied for quite a while, but the rain didn’t seem to be breaking, so the boys cabbed it back to the car (in Bronte) to come back and get us (in Bondi).

 

It was kinda an in between meal time when we got home, so we just decided to make sandwiches.  Grilled cheeses for the non-lactose intolerant boys, and goat cheese versions for the girls.

I actually ended up doing on open faced thing with strawberry jam as well.  And used some extra GF crackers to polish off the rest of the goat cheese.

 

I can’t recall when we did while P napped, but I think it was playing catch up on mid-week episodes of “the Block” since the new room reveal was that night.

Catching up on the latest in Australian Law…

  

For dinner we BBQ-ed shrimp and salmon, and paired it with a big salad.  Chris was in charge of the seafood, and we loved the shrimp he made earlier in the week so much that he repeated that.  The salmon was cooked in foil with lemon and herbs. 

We ate out in the front yard so we could enjoy the scenic views of Double Bay.  P was already asleep, so we just tiptoed back and listened in the window a few times to be sure he wasn’t making a peep.

 

The last supper.  🙁

 

The next day was mainly packing and travel. 

I went on a quick jog to get some last photos implanted in my memory.

 

Would you ever move back to the States if you lived here? 

 

Laura was nice enough to come home on her lunch break to drive us to the airport.  It was seriously sad saying goodbye to her.  I’m even sad just writing about it again.  We all miss her so much.

I packed as much food for P as I could.  We were out of pouches but found more at the local stores (organic, gluten, dairy, and nut free).  I also made a porridge out of leftover quinoa, carrot puree, bananas, canned pears, and cinnamon.  Basically all the mushy baby stuff that was left.  Fortunately, we still had puffs, so paired with bananas and the pouches we were pretty well supplied.  For him. 

The flight home was long.  Duh.  And the melon chunks I saved from the flight for P were confiscated by LAX customs.  It was an honest mistake but they treated us like hostile criminals and Kyle is convinced his passport is now flagged for all future travel.  Fruit smuggler!  We also had to switch terminals and therefore go back through security (unlike our first flight which had an inter-terminal shuttle so we didn’t have to re-do the fun that is security with a baby).  In the end, the staff was nice and we had plenty of time between flights so it wasn’t a big deal.  Then we found delicious food in the terminal to perk us up even more.

Lemonade!  I went crazy with all the yummy options.  Plus the tags list every allergen and the staff knew what was in each dish (sesame seeds aren’t yet listed as allergens, but I suspect that will soon change since they are “the new peanut allergy”).  It’s hard to tell what all the yumminess is above, but the Brussels sprout slaw and tomato and avocado salads were my faves.  I was so full and happy, I didn’t even care that our second flight got delayed.  I took P on some laps around the terminal until he fell asleep in the ergo.  Then I sat down and fell asleep myself!  Finally it was time to board.  Once again the crew was awesome about the peanut thing.  We made friends with our neighbors across the aisle, who were insanely impressed that P was so well behaved.  Then once they found out we were on the last leg of a 20 something hour journey from Sydney they were even more amazed.  We have a great kid, I tell ya.

I practically dove into this green smoothie the second we got home.  Okay, not really, I’m type-A so of course I unpacked and put everything away and started laundry first.  But then I made the smoothie. 

And that was our trip!!!