#TheBabyandtheBay

Today we woke up to exciting news! 4:30am for us but 5:30pm on the 22/11/17 for the UK. A new baby has been born and she is a beauty. They say it never happens like it does in the movies but I feel Ivy's birth was an exception to this rule. In her haste to meet her new family, she wasn't waiting around for a midwife to arrive so Ivy was delivered by her Nanny Char, who luckily used to be a midwife. We got the happy news from proud parents Loren and Ayden telling us that my new niece Ivy was born weighing in at 6.6 pounds and was born at 3:34pm. With it, was a picture of the tiny dot all cosy in her baby hat.

Following that we got a picture of Paige holding her baby sister for the first time. Tears welled up in our eyes as we celebrated from afar, wishing we could be there to give her cuddles too!

Once everyone had fallen asleep in England and we were the only ones left awake to revel in the news, my dad and I grabbed a drink at the coffee shop downstairs and discussed how incredible it was that a new little family member was out there

starting Day One of her life journey.

As it was my day off, I decided to go and explore somewhere new, so I hopped on a bus, then a ferry and landed myself in Watson’s Bay. I had big plans of walking around and discovering hidden beaches but the sun took hold of me, knocking me out into a peaceful nap under a tree.

Near where I was sitting, a civil ceremony was about to take place. To welcome their guests, they had a string quartet playing a medley of songs as they arrived in drips and drabs. As I sat and enjoyed the free musical performance, I wondered if the billions of seagulls and screams of the children playing on the beach would ruin the ambiance of the day but most people watched quietly and the seagulls had found someone to annoy further away from the wedding. (Just as a side note for when my diary hits the shelves of the World’s Greatest historical diaries of all time- just a week ago Australia voted 'Yes' to gay marriage becoming legal and they are still awaiting a formal decision to find out if the law will be changed.)

I snuck past them after a while and went to get a cold smoothie from a cafe on the waterfront. I debated doing the costal walk but my feet ached in protest so I decided to head back to the city on the ferry instead. I later found out that Watson’s Bay is near Manly and I therefore did not need to do the hours bus into the city to catch the ferry!

Luckily, the spectacular view of the shiny buildings and turquoise ocean didn’t disappoint as usual, and we made our way towards the Opera House to Circular Quay.
I went to see the Opera House's resident seal to find it was not there, clearly a figment of Australia’s imagination as this is now the second time I have gone to find him, to be greeted by nothing more than some small crashing waves against some concrete steps!

Not wanting to end my day on a low, I caught the train back to Wynyard and sat among Sydney’s finest- the Crack Addicts of Wynyard. The soft symphony from the string quartet that had graced my ears just hours before had been replaced by the smell of stale smoke, beer and the ramblings of mad men and women as they argued bitterly with one another upon the park bench. I texted James, who was meeting me from work to catch the bus back, to hurry up as the druggies were getting aggro!

Fortunately, they were too busy yelling at each other to notice me, so I slid past and found a safer spot to wait. On the bus we entertained each other by sharing half informed facts about things we had read and since forgotten the details of, that make the story interesting.

To make up my 10,000 steps, once the bus dropped us off in Dee Why, we headed for a coastal walk and both complained about our various aches and pains as we navigated our way to our usual lookout spot. My wrist buzzed with the news on my FitBit that my step target had been reached so James kindly drove me home so I could rest my weary legs and trotters after a long, hard day of relaxing on the beach!