Visitors visitors!! (part one)

First of all, an apology to our loyal readership for the gap in posting. 2012 has been busy so far!! We have been blessed with lots of lovely visitors over the last few months with yet more to come with Mr and Mrs Weatherley Senior arriving soon!
The fun started in December with lovely Gary arriving for Christmas and New Year. Aside from forcing Gary into a 16 hour train journey through the outback when he was still very, very jet lagged (sorry Gary), there were lots of fun activities to be had in and around Sydney.

We decked the halls with boughs of faux pine. All very surreal in the warmth....

And spent Xmas day on the beach. You may wish to shield your eyes....

Lawrence of Arabia and the whitest man in Australia..... 

Shrimps were cooked on the BBQ

And after a serious oven malfunction....so was our Christmas dinner...

Ben and Gary had an interesting, if not entirely compliant with public safety laws, go at deep sea fishing.  All our stuff arrived from the UK and had been very well catalogued indeed by my Dad. And I mean very well. Right down to a description of the illustration on each mug.

We went to the very lovely wedding of our friends Luke and Mia on Cockatoo Island - a former shipbuilding island in the middle of the harbour - with lots of interesting old buildings and lovely views. Ben wore a red tie.

Ben and Gary enjoyed jumping outside the Opera House. Nobody is sure why.

And we had an amazing view for the New Year's Eve fireworks from the lovely Shark Island - another little island in the harbour. A picnic, friends and the best view in Sydney.

Gary then left us for a few days to dive in Queensland (apart from embarrassing himself with an inside out back to front wetsuit it sounded amazing). And the lovely Hamza arrived fresh from a very exciting journey around Malaysia....cue another Opera House shot....