My cousin comes to visit

My cousin Andrea arrived yesterday. After a disastrous morning (for me, I meant) which included running late, being stuck in peak hour traffic, not being able to switch off "avoid motorways" on Tom Tom - which meant I went the long way through the backstreets of Sydney, being stuck at one particular set of traffic lights for four light changes, and then turning up at the wrong arrivals gate, I finally found her.

She swears she was only standing there for "20 seconds" until I got there, but I think she's just being nice.



Since she got in pretty early in the morning, we decided to make the most of being so close to the city, and we went exploring, Sydney-style.

We drove across the Anzac Bridge, and I showed her Centrepoint Tower, and the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

I took her to Darling Harbour (after finally finding some parking, only to realise it would cost us $30 for 2 hours. Welcome to Sydney!), and we got coffee and strolled through the shops and walked along the harbour side.

Being from a tiny town in New Zealand, she was constantly amazed by the skyscrapers and the sheer size of the city. I guess I'd gotten used to it, having lived here all my life!

For lunch we went to Pancakes on the Rocks (best pancakes ever!) and once we found parking (a miracle in itself!) we had to run for it, as the beautiful Sydney weather decided to unexpectedly change on us and pelt down some warm rain. Andrea was amazed by this too- she kept saying "It's raining, but it's warm rain!"

When you live in a country that's practically Antarctic, I guess you don't get much warm rain. You don't really have a need for sleeveless dresses or shorts either, because Andrea had to stock up on those whilst we were in town too.



After lunch, she was pretty tired from having to get up so early for her flight that morning, so we headed home and I'm going to tell you that she fell asleep in my car.

It's true.


(And for the record, our grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins might read this blog, but I'm pretty sure Andrea herself doesn't! So hopefully I'm safe!)