The weekend with a catch up with Jane and a race for Janine

 Hi,

Not sure I can capture all the weekend's fun. Mike, Janine and I got up early Saturday to get away by 7am so we could get to Nepean River for their parkrun. And how worth it was that? Such a good parkrun. Two loops. We did lose the car on the way back. Parked it a bit closer than we remembered so we walked past it. Hahah.

Nepean Parkrun

Mike's post parkrun selfie

Drive to Conservation Hut cafe in Blue Mountains

We then continued to Conservation Hut cafe for brekkie int he Blue Mountains. Such a good spot. Great views and walks. Mike and I had a granola with acai on top. Bit of banana too. Scoffed that down and left Janine to explore while we went to visit Jane.

She has lived here for close to 40 years. 37 maybe I think she said. We caught up with her news and she heard all about our news. This house she's been in for 17 years. We hadn't seen this one before - we have visited her once here and once in Bathurst.

Jane's house for a catch up

Showing photos

Out for lunch to a wee French cafe

We caught up with Karen, Scott and Abby here as they collected Janine on the way through. And off to a cafe in town. A French one near Coles. Very delicious galette, thank you. Everyone liked their food.

Back to get Jane her boots then off to Minnehaha Falls for a walk. It was flat for a bit then a steep down section to the valley floor where a waterfall squirted down a cliff and into a beautiful pool. People were jumping in.

Minnehaha Falls walk

Looking through the trees to the river

Banksia, maybe?

Abby negotiates the rocky path

At the waterfall with gorgeous pool

Me and Abby on the way back up

Almost there

Back up and dropped Jane off and headed back to Sydney. We were not up very late. Janine needed to be on the 5am Metro to start her half marathon by 6.48am.

We also had to pack because we needed to head directly to the airport in the afternoon. So come 4.45am Karen got up to say goodbye as did Abby and we climbed into the Uber for the $40 ride to Tallawong. Scott had sorted out a bag drop with a friend of his at Martin Place in town. Thank you for that Scott because Deb was a lifesaver. So much easier all day with only one day bag on us.

Race morning

In the chute

Perfect day for a run. Little wind. Light hazy cloud cover. Janine and 30,000 other people got lined up for the course around Sydney's waterfront. 

At 7:09am she crossed the start line. We tracked the same route I did last year following Mike around. 

With everyone else

Sunrise over the Opera House

Cityscape

Waiting for coffee in an old alleyway

Got a bit of brekkie and a coffee in The Rocks up behind the MCA. Ate it looking at the harbour. Then over to a turnaround point at about the 15km mark. We waited to see Janine there. So was looking strong.

Turnaround point

Back to the finish line where we lost her completely in the crowd. But eventually found each other. She picked up her special medal for completing 4 of the marathon/half marathon in this series.

To fill in time, we went to Cockatoo Island. A UNESCO heritage site. It was a former penal site for the convicts that offended after landing in Sydney. So it must have been a rough place. Caught the ferry from Circular Quay. And 15 mins later we stepped onto the island. Got a map and visited the highlights before catching a ferry back an hour later.

Ferry to Cockatoo Island

Entering the island

Rocky hole

Dog leg tunnel

Turbine shop

Look at that!

Dog leg tunnel

Dog leg tunnel

We loved poking around on this island. Lots of old buildings to peer at and guess what they were used for originally. Plenty to see as it is still a boat storage place with dockyards.

Back to the mainland and collected our bags from Deb with a small latte with 2 sugars as an appreciation. So good to have Deb lined up to do that for us. Thanks again.

Then off to the airport. Janine got off at the domestic terminal to fly to see her brother in Perth. We went to International and checked in and went through to airside to wait for our flight.

On our way to the airport

At the gate

Mike slept well on the plane. I watched a documentary or two. Jane Goodall was good except when the chimps had a fight it woke me up with all the noise. Hahahah.

Taxi from Wellington airport because Uber had nothing to offer. Cats were happy - thank you Ange. And off to bed. Hard to wake up after 5 hours sleep.

Working from home today. Hope no one asks me anything super hard.

Have a great week.

Love,

Angela