New Years Eve

If you're in Sydney for NYE you want to get the best view of the bridge that you can. We opted for an alternative, turning down a hospitality event beside the bridge to spend the evening with friends and then walking to a good vantage point at 8.45pm and 11.45pm to see both sets of fireworks. For us as a family it was a good choice as there were no crowds, no waiting around and no hassle getting home. It was a good view but not the best but we were impressed with what we saw and there was a good vibe. 

We've previously seen in the new year in London, Scotland, Yorkshire, Amsterdam but never in our Tshirts and shorts. 

9am Fireworks, viewed from Balmain near Mort Bay

Midnight Fireworks, viewed from the brow of the hill down towards Balmain East

Happy 2016

Spiderman Party

For Miss K's 4th birthday party she wanted a Spiderman theme so that's what we gave her. We held it in the local park on a low budget and mainly home made items. 

My son wanted to do a pass-the-parcel. To include a wrapper for each kid was going to take ages to play so I decided to make 3 and run them all at the same time. However, on the day they were so happy running around we didn't play it at all.

Games included a cardboard cut out target game made from flat packing a moving box, drawing on Spiderman's face and cutting out the eye sockets to make 2 target holes. I was originally going to stand them up so the kids could throw the balls through the holes, but it was a windy day so decided to celotape paper on the back adn draw target numbers on e.g 10 points, 20 points and lay it on the ground so the kids had to roll the balls onto the target. For the balls I made sponge balls (quick & easy to make - found out how here). 

Food included:

* Spidey biscuits. The first biscuit dough I made was a disaster, it was too sticky to use a cutter so I ended up making a giant  cookie, then started again to make smaller ones. 

* Spidey cupcakes. Some with faces, some with cobwebs and some just decorations. 

Watermelon cake. This was a risk because I didn't know if it would hold the chocolate writing. It worked well and made a good alternative to a sponge cake. 

The party bags were takeaway style boxes which I decorated with Spiderman stickers and the recipients name. I put the same Spidery stickers on little bottles of bubbles. Also inside I made salt dough necklaces. See how here. To complete the party bags - a balloon, sweat treat and little toy. 

Finally, of course, the all important party dress. 

Result - 1 very happy 4 year old. 

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Sculptures by the Sea

We visited Sculptures by the Sea 2015 at Bondi. It was launched in 1997 and has grown in popularity and visitors. Read the history here.

There are 107 sculptures to see along the coastal walk between Bondi and Tamarama.

We had been advised to avoid the weekend but the kids were up so early, and it was the morning after the very early morning Rugby World Cup Final so we hoped that a lot of people had gone back to bed. They hadn't.  It was busy, but not so much that you couldn't get close to the sculptures.

There was no street parking spaces and tow trucks were operating but we found a space in the Pavillion car park easily. Decided we needed to fuel up with bacon rolls and coffee before starting the walk from the corner of Bondi Beach round to Tamarama Beach.

You can buy a catalogue detailing all the artwork and there is a kids version too.

At Tamarama Beach and Marks Park there are event water stations where they were giving away cups of water and had taps to refill bottles, plus free sun lotion stations.

You can get around with a stroller but there are some steps and a lot of people.

As soon as you start along the trail, you are struck by the beauty of the creations set against the ocean backdrop. There is so much talent in the World.  So many favourites and each one very different from the other.

Even if you don't consider yourself an art lover, this outdoor exhibition is well worth a visit. It's a beautiful coastal walk with a good atmosphere amongst a crowd of all ages.  I went back during the week and there were several school groups visiting.

Spiderman & Spidey-lady necklace

The chosen theme for my Miss K's 4th birthday was 'Spiderman'. Fairly easy for me as Mr D's 7th birthday was 'Superheroes'.

For her friends party bags I made Spiderman face necklaces using Salt dough. Cheap and easy, just time consuming.

You need:
- 1 cup of salt
- 2 cups of flower
- 3/4 cup of water
- food colouring and/or paint
- straw for making holes if necessary
- an idea of what design you want to do

1. Mix 1 cup of salt & 2 cups of flour together

2. Slowly add 3/4 cup of water  to form a dough

3. Kneed as you would bread dough 

4. At this stage I added red food dye instead of having to paint all the faces red (do put more dye in then you think you need as the colour will be lighter when it is dry). 

5. Shape into whatever you want 

- as I wanted to turn these into necklaces I used a straw to made a hole.
- I made indentations for the eyes

6. There are 3 options to harden them: put in microwave for 90seconds at a time until done; put in low heat oven for a couple of hours; leave to air dry overnight. 

7. You can then paint or decorate them.

8.If making necklesses like these, or tree decorations add ribbon or wool.

For Spiderman, or Spidey-lady, I made eye hole indentations before putting them in the oven. Once dried I outlined the eye hole with a thick marker adding eye lashes, then the vertical web lines, then with a thinner pen drew the horizontal web lines. 

Sponge Balls

Good for water fights or target practice. Quick & easy to make. Took me less time to make these on my first attempt than an episode of Doctor Who.  You can vary styles and colours to suit what you are using it for.

You need:
- a pack of kitchen sponges. Multi coloured works best
- scissors
- elastic bands. 

1. Cut the sponges into strips. 

It's at this point you need to think about what size you want the balls. I cut the stripes in half again to make smaller balls. I tried cutting the strips vertically too but they didn't look as good. Next decide how many you want to use. Minimum of 8 stripes for a full ball. More if you are making bigger balls. 

2. Wrap an elastic band around the middle as tight as you can get it. 

3. Fan out the ends to create a ball effect. 

The left ball was made with strips cut vertically again and you can see it's much thinner than the other. 

I made all of these from 1 pack of 4 sponges. 

Shelley Beach, Manly

Less than a 10 minute walk from Manly Surf Life Saving Club takes you to Shelley Beach.

A small cove, great for families as there are no big waves.
There is a scuba club based there and when we visited there was a paddle board competition. We also saw lots of people snorkeling.
 Large groups of people gathered later in the day. I think if we'd stayed for sunset they'd have been some guitar playing and singing.

At the back of the sand area is a grass area with BBQ facilities.
If you want your food cooked for you then visit the Boathouse. You won't have far to go as its on the side of the sand area. Good atmosphere and good size portions. Get there early as it gets busy. It has a kiosk for takeaway coffee and ice-cream.  Inside and outside space. 

There's a toilet block and showers beside it. 

On the walk halfway between Manly & Shelley Beach is a rock pool with shower and views across the bay.