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December 2006 Welcome to our Christmas 2006 update. Since our Vietnam trip it's been a long hard winter/spring, but the fog is finally starting to lift. Dave has now (after three years) completed a Graduate Diploma of Management, the pre requisite for the final MBA "Executive Year". 12 November 2007 and that's it for study for a long time. Meanwhile, Flick's been out selling bikinis in a tough market, and Dave's work has been pretty crazy, with some of the best financial results on record meaning everyone has been extremely busy. With a glut of projects peaking in November, however, it looks like December / January will give us a chance to draw breath and pick up on some of the internal business development stuff that has been neglected over the last six months. What's been happening on the Flick & Dave adventures front? Rewind to June, when Flick had a weekend break in Wellington with her friend Vanessa. Meanwhile, Dave saw Split Enz playing a reunion show in Sydney with Roger & Karen. He sat next to a guy from Victoria BC, who had seen the Enz play in Canada in the early 80s and became such a fan that when he heard they were playing Sydney he flew down specially. OK, he did work for Air Canada and had swung his roster to work a Sydney flight, but it was a good effort none the less. Then we organised a wine tasting tapas night with a group of friends at the Ryan's place in the Hunter, sampling their exclusive and delicious Idlewild range, getting very merry and, in Flick's case, falling asleep at about 9pm. Gleeso came down specially from Brisbane.
It's looking like 2007 will involve quite a few weddings amongst our circle of friends. Congratulations to:
Belated best wishes to Cam and Emma too, who were married in April in Sydney - unfortunately we were in Vietnam at the time. Sarah Ross baby Oliver? Neil & Jude Oliver Also congratulations to our friends Greg & Di. We attended the Christening of their first son (Jackson - their second child) in July. Meanwhile we have also been to birthday parties for Toby & Diane's kids Celia (2 - below left) and Dominic (4 - below right)... everyone's growing up!
Our good friends Siobhan and Mark have been through a difficult period this year. Siobhan was pregnant with twins when she unexpectedly went into labour 3 months prematurely in May, delivering baby boys Sam and Jacob. Tragically Jacob passed away, but Sam fought through and after many months in hospital has joined his older brother Christian at home with the family. In August we celebrated Dave's 35th with a small party (with a "favourite historical period" theme), which was gate crashed unexpectedly (though very welcome-ly), first by Deanne and Dan (Flick was in on that surprise) and then by Dave's parents (who surprised us both).
In September we had a few good social outings, including a dance party staged and DJ'ed by Kiwi-crowd friend Sam at an Oxford St bar; an elegant night at the opera (Rigoletto) preceded by a flash dinner at Aria (where we were well looked after by Paul, who is the Sommelier) and completed by dropping in on the birthday party of Flick's bikini model friend Stef; and a great evening at sailing friend Steve's 50th (below), held at the historic Quarantine Station on Manly's North Head.
Flick also had a very wet weekend in the Hunter Valley with our new friend Pam (from England), who popped onto our social circle this year and has quickly become one of our regular party people. We rounded off September with a well needed and relaxing long weekend at Jervis Bay (about 3 hours South of Sydney) with Toby and Diane (sans kids).
During October, we helped our friends Helen & Mark move in next door: they bought the adjoining semi. No more weirdo tenants! Meanwhile we've had some departures too, with Sam & Heath moving to Canada and Sophie & Jon to New Zealand. We managed a few outings with friends (including Dave and Kim who were on our Vietnam trip) to the night noodle markets, a popular part of Sydney's Good Food Month. Flick spent a weekend with her Canadian cousin Bridget (below) who is now living in Scone and working at a high end horse stud. We also went to a great birthday party expertly catered by Flick's colleague Kameel and her partner Brendan. Our regular Sunday night plan these days involves heading to Toby & Diane's for a quick meal and to play with the kids; we've also had a picnic tea with Roger & Karen and family at the picturesque water-front Clontarf reserve.
In order to catch up with old Sydney friends Grant & Vanessa, who we hadn't seen for ages, we went round for Halloween. Their street "does" Halloween big time: decorated houses, costumed kids (and adults), and kilos of candy. It was a great night, with over 100 kids knocking on the door, followed by a tasty barbecue. November brought with it the start of daylight savings and twilight sailing. Unfortunately, we haven't had much opportunity for that because due to the rescheduling of both concerts we attended the U2 and Kylie Minogue shows only two weeks apart. We also volunteered as helpers for Sydney Open, an event organised by the Historic Houses Trust where about 60 modern and historic buildings are opened up to the public. Dave helped guide at the Parbury Ruins site in the Rocks, an 1820s cottage which was discovered and preserved in the basement underneath some modern apartments. Flick helped out at an old church. Then suddenly Flick was involved in two baby showers in two weeks (perhaps an omen), first hosting one for Sophie just before she headed to NZ, and then attending one next door for Helen's sister Sarah.
What with functions to attend for Melbourne Cup day and Dave's work client function (held at the Sydney observatory), a fun night hosted by Alastair & Kerry (with Ed and Liz) and John Phillips staying with us (down from KL - below) it was another busy month.
Mid December we're heading to NZ to attend Dave's parents' 40th wedding anniversary and are staying on for Christmas (split between Kuratau and Wellington) and New Year's (Justin has invited us to a great sounding party at his groovy new bar in Wellington). We hope you, our friends and family, have a very safe and happy festive season and that we can see as many of you as possible over the next 12 months. All the best,
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