Anzac Day, 2 up and Isla's Birthday

Sarah & Bek with some coin winnings, my first bet I won $5 off Sarah!


Betting around the ring

Friday was Anzac Day so we gathered a few friends together and headed to Cabana Bar for 2-up and beers and a few of us had some food - more on that later.

For those who don't know what 2 up is, two-up is thought to have originated in the early nineteenth century on the Australian goldfields. The game had its hey-day with the diggers stationed in Flanders in the first world war. It remained popular for Australian troops during WWII and is an institution in pubs and clubs on Anzac Day. Two-up is legal only on Anzac Day, it can be played with either two or three coins (again more on that later), "Come in spinner" is the call for the coins to be tossed, The object of the game is to spin a pair of heads and if you're playing it on any other day of the year than Anzac Day you're a cockatoo if you are the person who looks out for the police since playing would be illegal.

Jayne & Sarah

And if you're not sure what Anzac Day is about, it is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they soon took in that name endures to this day.

Chalky & Karl

Roxey, Rob & Dom were first at the club and Roxey was first to toss the coins for 2 up, here she is getting her lesson from the ringer or boxer (person who has organised the game).

Roxey learning how to hold the kip and toss the coins

With $5 Blue Tongue Beer we were all getting quite merry and Chalky decided on doing sobriety tests every hour, lucky for us he failed first in most cases forgetting that the hour mark had passed so we didn't have to 'walk the line!'

Chalky celebrating a win

Some of us were winners some were not so lucky but with only a $5 stake we were all betting within our limits. As the day wore on the most challenging job was remembering who you had placed your bet with!!

Chalky disputing that a coin was on the rope and it should be a re-toss

The ringer reminding Chalky that he had a bet on heads and the coins have landed nicely for him!

Chalk & Sarah enjoying their win - even if the coin was on the rope!

Most of us know it makes sense to have some food while drinking, the food will help soak up some alcohol and besides you get hungry. For Anzac Day the bar had a bbq going and some steaks sizzling so Roxey, myself and everyone else ordered and ate food (all bar Chalky who said eating was cheating) having said that he did try to steal quite a few mouthfuls from me! Then as the day went on we moved bars and by this stage it was now dinner time so a few of us ordered more food, all except Chalky?! Now those who know Chalky well know that he does love his food but on Anzac Day I think he was loving the beer just a little more!

We've had the first fine weekend in 3 but football games were still cancelled as the grounds were too wet! What a nuisance. It's also Isla's birthday today so Happy 2nd Birthday Isla hope you love all your presents, we know you managed a sneak peak earlier this week...we'll speak to you when you get back from holiday!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder...

Well what's the lesson? Shall we have a drought on blog entries and then just do a text one - we get more comments that way. So this week has been full on - we've been to the opening of the new Great Southern Oceans display at Taronga Zoo. We saw a seal show, had a bbq dinner and some animal encounters while we were eating. Link to the new exhibit: http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au/taronga-zoo/news/media-releases/great-southern-oceans.aspx we'll take you when you come and visit as my work have sponsored the display and I now have access to gold passes to the zoo! We got to see some of the animals on the way to the exhibit. Pictures and videos below.

Then on Friday we had tickets to see Graham Murphy's Swan Lake Ballet at the Opera House. We had dinner in a new bar inside Luna Park called Deck. The view of course was awesome and we were just a short ferry ride over to the Opera House. As this was Chalk's first ballet I went with the cheap seats - and they were partial view, after the first Act the woman who was sat next to us didn't come back so we slid along and had a better view. The Ballet was awesome, such a great setting and of course Chalk managed to be front of the line to get us a champagne or white wine in the breaks! Chalk was also in fine form with his clapping and is laying claim to be the 'principal clap starter' on most occasions, I'll also award him with principal whistler too! The culture didn't finish on Friday night - I was off to Billy Elliot on Saturday night with a few girlfriends, we met for Tapas first with some great Sangria and then went to the show. Of course I've already seen Billy before and it was just as good the 2nd time around. I'd had a tip off from Simon that the cast all goto The Chamberlain after the show for a quick drink...so I was on the look out. I chatted to Mrs Wilkinson and Billy's older brother - they were so pumped after the show but still had time to chat which was awesome.

The rest of the weekend was dominated by football, Chalky played on Saturday, managed on Sunday (his 2 girls teams), and I played my first football game. The North Sydney girls are awesome - Div 4 won 3-1, Div 3 won 7-1, Div 2 won 5-0, Div 1 won 8-0. I really enjoyed my match, despite the fact that we had a thunderstorm during the match...lightening and thunder and lots of rain, at least it wasn't cold. Then our poor linesman collapsed and needed medical assistance.

And of course the 13th April is mum's birthday, we celebrated with breakfast at Trav & Dan's new apartment, it was lovely to all catch up. Kylie is really pregnant now and it was great to see both her and Ben. Happy Birthday Mum - enjoy Billy Elliot (Chalk & I got mum 2 tickets to Billy for her birthday she'll be off there next Wednesday 23rd April.

We are still here

And we'll do a post soon...we're off to the Zoo this Thursday for the opening of the Great Southern Ocean and the football season has started so we'll be bombarding with those updates.
Love to everyone especially the Mortimers!

Some stuff that has been going on...Adele had a little girl Jodie Elizabeth, Maureen & John were over visiting so I caught up with them.

Robbie & Nick had a little boy...Cameron Toby and he's lovely.

Mum and Dad have sampled Skype and want to get on line now.

Ben has got his Captaincy and will be flying out of Sydney so it's full on training now for the next few months.

I've now done 6 months at my job and have passed my probation.