Yesterday was an exceptionally early start for us; 0200 to be precise. Seeing the delight on William's little face though, while he showed off his new "Jeep" to the beat of the music playing on the little car's radio and watching the twins entertain themselves, more with the wrapping paper than the actual gifts, was worth the early rise. After enjoying about an hour of Christmas fun with the family, we were at least still able to get a few hours sleep before the birds woke us. But, since we had planned for another lazy day onboard anyway, this wasn't exactly a major interruption in our lives.
After a breakfast of freshly baked scones, complements of Elaine, Roy set about changing the oil and oil filter on the starboard engine, while Elaine continued her efforts on our Fiji article. By then, it was time to get ready to meet Terence, Cath and their friend, Sally. After drinks at their local, the Willoughby, we commenced our Asian gastronomic adventure; a delicious Chinese dinner at the Shanghi Stories restaurant in Chatswood. Given that this was a favourite eating spot for our friends, we decided to go with their recommendations; a scrumptious selection of dumplings with the odd beef dish selected by Roy. Unfortunately we completely forgot, again, to take a photograph of all of us together.
Today, given what we saw of the area last night, we decided to venture back to Chatswood on our own and at the same time found a far more convenient bus service to a greater selection of shops, restaurants, cafés, etc, including the Westfield Mall, instead of having to dinghy the 3NM to Cammeray Marina. We also happened to stumble upon one of the main rail service junctions. Guess what we're going to try next!
After snooping around the mall, we also stumbled upon a little kiosk serving French crepes, made by a lady from Toulouse, which, no doubt, is definitely going to become a favourite venue. Our Asian gastronomic adventure continued as well. This time it was a rather interesting and tasty lunch at the Soban and Towon Korean restaurant. Our treat, however, after a four year hiatus, was movies at one of the Hoyt Lux theatres to see "The Greatest Showman" with Hugh Jackman. Whether it was the fact that it had been so long since we last saw a movie in a theatre or the fabulous movie itself or the very luxurious reclining seats we enjoyed, it was, nonetheless, a fantastic show. In fact, as soon as we got back to Paw Paw this evening, we downloaded the soundtrack. Another fun day out in the suburbs of Sydney!
