#21 High Tea on the Harbour

#21 High Tea on the Harbour – Completed Saturday, 14 May
Well here we are the final one… Mum was in Sydney for the Andre Rieu concert so that meant we could have a belated Mother's Day celebration - and what better way to do that but High Tea on the Harbour. It was a pretty cold day in Sydney but the sun was shining so it was great to be out on the water. A Glass of champagne and relatively good food - the scones were fantastic! 

Although short (1 hour 15 mins) it certainly was a lovely time and a great way to finish this list.

40 down, 0 to go.

#16 Breast Cancer Walk

#16 Breast Cancer Walk – Completed Sunday 8 May
So up bright and early today for the 8km walk. Meet up with Kirsty & Boots as they were doing the 4km walk – Kirsty is currently going to through treatment for breast cancer so it was great to see her. I never thought in my life time that I'd know anybody who had breast cancer but I have three friends – Cherie, Kirsty & Sally that have been or going through treatment and so my thoughts were with them throughout this day.

Sydney put on a fantastic day full of sunshine and clear skies. The walk started by The Domain and headed along Macquarie/College streets before heading down Art Gallery Road to Mrs Macquaries Chair and back to The Domain.

I said goodbye to Kirsty & Boots after the 4kms and I continued on to complete the 8kms. Tired and sore at the end but so glad this was on my list. Great day for a great cause.

(Kirsty's blog http://hmmcancer.blogspot.com/).

39 down, 1 to go.

#17 Lawn Bowls

#17 Lawn Bowls – Completed Sunday 1 May

This one was so much fun!  Rita, Costa, Penny and I meet up at The Hunters Hill Club at 12pm for lunch first – what  a beautiful day!  Certainly made a difference having some sun for a change.

We headed down the back 'green' at 1pm for a quick session on how to play then got underway – first go was a bit of a laugh, didn't get the ball down the green anywhere near the white one.  I seemed to get better and better as I played thank god! Costa was trying to beat us all so between Rita, Penny and I the games became about stopping Costa from winning - way too funny!

Great fun and something I'd do again – it's so addictive!

38 down, 2 to go.

#40 Horse Riding on the Beach

#40 Horse Riding on the Beach – completed Sunday 24 April

Chris and I headed off do our 2 hour bush and beach ride through Gunnamatta Trail Rides down on St Andrews Beach.

The weather was trying to decide if it wanted to be hot or cold & raining but lucky for us it cleared up as we headed out on our horses.  I had Chewy and Chris has Sadie.

The Bush part was basically the trail just off the roadside to get us to the beach which took nearly an hour – the group was only on the beach for 15 minutes but we manage to trot which was great – something if you don’t get it right can be quiet painful!

Great day and we were both very very sore afterwards!

Would love to do again but for longer on the beach next time.

37 down, 3 to go.

#22 Coastal Drive to Melbourne

#22 Coastal Drive to Melbourne - completed 22-25 April

So my day begins with the alarm going off at 4.30am… good lord.  With a bit of a struggle I managed to get myself showered and finished packing out the door by 5.20am.

My first stop was at Sea Cliff Bridge to see the sun come up at 6.30am what a great start to the trip – managed to get some good photos (testing out what I learnt on the course!).  The whole point of this bridge is that it's made to go over the sea .. hence the name.  Very cool design and often used in a lot of adds.

From here I went through to Mollymook, Batemans Bay, Narooma , Eden and finally crossing the border at 3.45pm.

I arrived at Mallacoota on the Victoria coast line at 4.30pm and I can honestly say I was exhausted!  Managed to pitch the tent and get organised before the rain came so by 6pm I was wrapped up for the night – way too cold to do anything else and I wanted to rest before my next day of driving.  Of course I never expected to get any sleep in a camping ground fill of people/families so ear plugs it was….by 6am it was time to get moving.  Got some great photos of the sun rise that day.

So Day 2 is heading to Lakes Entrance the last part of the 'coastal drive' will be heading inland from here.  I saw a Koala cross the road which was too cute!

I stopped at Lakes Entrance for breakfast and what a beautiful day! Onwards I head to Moe stopping at Sale for a break - starting to get really tired now.  Unfortunately my leaving 1 hour early and hoping to get to Mornington Peninsula early was completely ruin by getting lost.  Stupid Google Maps or is it Stupid Kaz…… ANYWAY, I back tracked a bit and took a different route and managed to still arrive at my hotel by 3.50pm.

Hot Shower, Dinner and Sleep was all I cared about.

Meet up with Christina and Jeffry for breakfast Easter Sunday after a night at Chris's place my trip was over and I was heading to the Airport on Monday 25 April having driven 1355kms.

Great trip – not so sure I'd do it again in only two days…..

36 down, 4 to go

#15 Australian Ballet

#15 Australian Ballet - completed 7 April
My original task was to participate in a “Chance to Dance” ballet class offered by the Australian Ballet, however when I went to book in for it I found out it doesn’t exist anymore so best alternative was to see the Australian Ballet perform - which I’d never done.

Sarah, Janine, Val and Elise joined me on this task. The ballet we choose was “Madam Butterfly” which is very well known - my mistake was not reading the story outline we were given upon entering the Opera Theatre so I was pretty lost most of the time doh!

It was a beautiful ballet from what we could see (we had restricted viewing seats) and I really enjoyed it - I think next time I’d like to see something more traditional like swan lake where the girls actually wear tutus and have more ‘ballet’ type moves. There were a couple of parts in the show where the lead male and female dancers worked together and that was pretty amazing - some of the lifts and leg extensions were quite beautiful.

All in all a great night and one I’d do again.

35 down, 5 to go.

#19 Volunteer Day

#19 Volunteer Day - completed 6 March

Well its Clean Up Australia Day today so I decided helping my own community area was a good place to start as a first time volunteer - something I’d seen advertised for years but never bothered to participate in. I joined the ‘site team’ down at Meadowbank Park which is only a short walk from my place. I met a great couple Sue and Terry, the site co‑ordinator Anjan and his family (who have been doing this for many years - his wife even made scones and tea for everyone!) the Independent MP for Ryde - Vic Tagg and a few families with young kids.

Sue and I hit it off instantly chatting as only a couple of girls do (Terry realised he wasn't going to get a word in so he went off on his own). We went through the Park and was surprised at how relatively clean the area was - of course down by the water not so much. Apparently last year they collected double what we all did - I’m hoping that’s a good sign that people are not littering as much.

I certainly enjoyed myself even if it was a very early start for a Sunday! Really think this is something that I’ll do each year.

34 down, 6 to go

#5 Photography Class

#5 Photography Class - completed 1 March
I upgraded my digital camera in December 2009 and pretty much have hated it from day one, I was close to selling it on Ebay when a photography course was suggested for my list so I thought learning how to use it properly would be a good idea.

I found out about this course through one of the girls at work - it’s an outdoor session with a small group (we only had three people). Because the session was three hours it meant we were able to try the different options in both daylight and night time.

The main thing I learnt was taking photos is all about shutter speed (ISO) and I think taking a slower approach and thinking about the picture is important too - relying on the “auto” function pretty much the worse way to take a photo. I realise now that if I’m going to spend a decent amount on a camera with lots of functions then I should learn what they do!

By the end of the three hours I managed to learn heaps about my camera - I am beginning to realise my issues with the photos in the past may have been the user not the camera.

A great course and definitely worth the money.

33 down, 7 to go.

#34 Trivia Night

#34 Trivia Night - completed 28 February
Renai suggested the Union Hotel up the road from work so the two of us - along with Jesse and Renai’s friend Rachel joined in on the Monday night Trivia.

The host started the night with a coin game of Heads and Tails (which I won!) and then followed on with the Trivia. It’s quite a laugh and frustrating at the same time when you know the answer on the tip of your tongue but just can’t remember it. I surprised myself with an answer of an old 70’s song (you had to guess the name of the lead singer in the video) Colin - you would have been proud of me I guessed it - Boz Scaggs.

We did the first 20 questions which I thought we did well at until we got the answers and found we were almost at the bottom of the scoreboard oh well we tried! still a great night and I even learnt something - did you know that the only capital city in the world with 1 syllable and 6 letters is Prague - there your useless information for the day.

32 down, 8 to go

#3 Cheetahs, Tigers and Lions

#3 Cheetahs, Tigers & Lions - completed 26 February
Its been 5 days since I was with the Cheetah and I am still in shock. Talk about amazing. I often wondered if the ‘big cats’ ever had the same mannerisms as a domestic cat and now I know. “November” as she is named loved to be patted and purred as any domestic cat would. I was completely amazed at this animal this would say this is at the top of the list of things to do.

I did get a photo of a lion and a tiger but nothing will compare to actually meeting the Cheetah :)

31 down, 9 to go

#12 Golf Day

#12 Golf Day - completed 24 February
Sarah had suggested this one as she’d been there before - it’s a Par3 golf club at Terrey Hills. So Sarah, Adrian and Rosanna (our office Golf Prof) joined me on this task. We decided seems it was after work that the chances of completing 18 holes when I’d never played was going take too long so 9 holes was a good start.

All I can say is I have a new appreciation for golfers. I knew that hitting the ball would be hard - but far out! I didn’t expect to miss it that much. We had a lot of laughs in our attempts to get the balls on the green - I think only 1 ball was lost - so not bad odds. I can understand why this becomes such an addictive sport you just want to keep getting better. I managed to do one Par3! the rest were well over the 6.... in fact we stopped counting at 6. We completed the 9 holes in just over an 1 hour pretty good timing.

Once again another fun 40 thing done - and one I’ll do again.

30 down, 10 to go.

#13 White Water Rafting

#13 White Water Rafting - Completed 13 February
On to the second task of the day - Rita and I picked up her husband Costa and headed out to Penrith for White Water Rafting. There is only one word to describe this task - AWESOME!!!! We decided to wear wetsuits due to the weather and expecting the water to be cold although it wasn’t but they are also handy as protective gear. The first trip round the rapids was pretty full on and a little scary as you don’t know what to expect.

On the second time round we got out of the boat to do this particular rapid where they hold the boat against the rapid in trying to tip it wahooooo this was fun - scary but fun - of course we came out. The funniest part was when we were I think third time around and I got thrown out, I swum back to the boat but couldn’t get lifted in, in the meantime another boat came up and I was squash between them. Hilarious! the current took me down a bit ahead of the boat and one of the staff thru out the rope for me to catch and get pulled into the side to get out. I managed to get to the edge but at the same time my boat was coming towards me, so they ended up running me over. God it was funny.

Poor Costa got thrown out the next time around and hit a few of the concrete parts and was a bit battered. Overall its quite an exhausting sport and once you get thrown out and get wet you get very weighed down (between the wetsuit and my sneakers being full of water I felt like I weighed a ton).

This task was up there with the Thrill Seeker I did a few weeks back totally worth doing - which the three of us have decided to do again!

29 down, 11 to go.

#25 Archery

#25 Archery - Completed 13 February

The Archery Centre is based out at Homebush at the Olympic site. Rita joined me on this task and I think she has found a hidden talent - between getting the target board, a bullseye and hitting a balloon she did really well. I of course missed the target board most times and spent most of my time finding the arrows metres away! After a bit of fine tuning my technique and bow from the staff I did finally managed to hit the target - I even got a bullseye although the arrow fell out.

This is a slow sport because of the strict safety but still a lot of fun once you get the hang of it.

28 down, 12 to go.

#31 Open Air Cinema

#31 Open Air Cinema - Completed 9 February
Originally I wanted to do the one in the city where the screen is set up in the Harbour unfortunately I didn’t know it books out so far in advance during the Summer Festival. So it’s off to North Sydney Oval for the ME Starlight Cinema for the movie RED with Bruce Willis and Helen Miriam.

Jesse, Janine and Val joined me on this task. What a great set up, we had our picnic blankets and nibbles and although it was a bit cold it really is a great way to see a movie. No issues with people being in your way. Next time I’ll do the ‘gold class’ which has a roped of bean bag area.

27 down, 13 to go.

#30 Ghost Tour - Quarantine

#30 Ghost Tour - Quarantine - Completed 28 January

Now this task was something really out of the norm. The Quarantine Station is situated at North Head in Manly and quite a beautiful site. The tour of the Station was actually really interesting. What was done to people back in the old days to try and stop any disease from entering Australia was quite horrific added to that it was a “white” Australia back then so different races were treated differently. Our tour guide was the best part of the night - he apparently could see dead people and ghosts and god knows what else so the stories were interesting whether real or not.

Nic and I were really disappointed not to meet any ghosts although one lady in our group did throw up due to meeting an unfriendly one (apparently a sign along with headaches and passing out), nice ghosts hold your hand or play with your hair etc.

Definitely a fun time.

26 down, 14 to go.

#28 Trip to South Coast - Camping

#28 Trip to South Coast - Camping - Completed 15 January

I found a great holiday park down the coast in a place called Gerroa about a 2 hour drive from my place. The day started out with a bit of rain so after a turnaround back home to get some wet weather gear I arrived at the camping ground 1.30pm. Putting up the tent was easy so was all set up and done by 2pm. What I didn’t plan on was how hot it would be - good lord camping in Australia is so different to my memories of camping as a kid in New Zealand. Luckily for me I was beside a river and managed to get a nice breeze by the end of the day.

Didn’t sleep much - one thing about camping grounds is the noise from everyone else’s tents and my mattress was a bit small for my weight so I felt like I was sleeping on the floor. At least this was a good test run for what I need for next time.

All in all I enjoyed the weekend and am definitely going again.

25 down, 15 to go.

#36 Fruit Picking

#36 Fruit Picking - Completed 9th January

Well I was expecting this to be a fun task - but picking fruit in the rain isn’t. Sarah and I left Sydney it was a beautiful day however once we hit the hills it changed and was full of mist and rain - the trip there seemed to take forever but in reality it wasn’t so far. Pine Crest Orchard was in Bilpin which is on the way to Lithgow on the Bells Line Road. When we arrived there was a tourist bus full of people - not something you’d expect at an orchard.

This place is huge! They have so many types of fruit it was just amazing to see a facility like this. We managed to pick some peaches/plums/pears all very hard and not really eatable for a while.

There were heaps of cafés attached to a lot of the orchards along the way so we stopped for tea and scones at Tutti Fruitti on the way back.

Great way to start the day and I’ll definitely go back.

24 down, 16 to go.

#07 Picnic Royal Botanic Gardens

#07 Picnic Royal Botanic Gardens - Completed 2 January

Great spot, great day and more importantly great friends!

One of Sydney’s most iconic places to visit - I should come here more often!

23 down, 17 to go.