SYDNEY MEET-UP : shall we try and organise one?

[MrsBigD]

Just had good news and now know that we definitely will be based in Chatswood

I'll be more than willing to drive somewhere. Have Garmin will travel (without getting lost too much ;)

My diary is wide open as i'm still 'Billy no mates'

Saturday 14th
MrsBigD
bcsnowpea

Sunday 15th
MrsBigD
ninedragons (evening only)
bcsnowpea

Monday 16th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea

Tuesday 17th
MrsBigD
ninedragons (evening only)

Wednesday 18th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)

Thursday 19th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea

Friday 20th
MrsBigD
Sunnydelight
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)

Saturday 21st
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea

Sunday 22nd
MrsBigD
ninedragons

Monday 23rd
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)

Tuesday 24th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)

Wednesday 25th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)

Thursday 26th
MrsBigD
ninedragons

Friday 27th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)

Saturday 28th
MrsBigD
bcsnowpea
ninedragons

I'm easy and can pretty much do any night. (Sorry, far too lazy to write my name under every night )

Saturday 14th
MrsBigD
bcsnowpea

Sunday 15th
MrsBigD
ninedragons (evening only)
bcsnowpea

Monday 16th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea

Tuesday 17th
MrsBigD
ninedragons (evening only)

Wednesday 18th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)

Thursday 19th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea
Sunnydelight (evening)

Friday 20th
MrsBigD
Sunnydelight (evening)
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)

Saturday 21st
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea

Sunday 22nd
MrsBigD
ninedragons

Monday 23rd
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)

Tuesday 24th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)

Wednesday 25th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)

Thursday 26th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
Sunnydelight (evening)

Friday 27th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)
Sunnydelight (evening)

Saturday 28th
MrsBigD
bcsnowpea
ninedragons

As you might have gathered I'm hoping for an evening meet

Sunny I think we'll be able to accommodate you with an evening meet at the Opera Bar ;)

O.k. so far most popular days seem to be:

Thursday 19th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea
Sunnydelight (evening)
aquasea

Friday 20th
MrsBigD
Sunnydelight (evening)
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)
aquasea

Friday 27th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)
Sunnydelight (evening)
aquasea

No more takers? I thought there would be more willing Sydney-siders ;) I'm not that scary I promise!!! LOL

Aquasea I have taken the liberty of adding you, you lazy boots!

Hehehe!!!
I'm a happy camper. And there i was getting all homesick...
Count me in girlies. I can fit in pretty much any day.
OH bar sounds fab. Was there the other day dreaming of sipping G&T's but then DH reminded me that we had to catch the ferry back to Balmain oh............

BTW Sunny - are you from brighton too? Just noticed you mentioned the Brighton meetups...ahhhh missing the lovely pebbly beach and brown sea....

Updated with new homesick person .

Thursday 19th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea
Sunnydelight (evening)
aquasea
brightongirldownunder

Friday 20th
MrsBigD
Sunnydelight (evening)
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)
aquasea
brightongirldownunder

Friday 27th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)
Sunnydelight (evening)
aquasea
brightongirldownunder

Venue: Opera Bar for sipping G&Ts and such

Time: what do you think?

Good Lord! This has moved on quickly. I dip into RL for an entire day and look what happens.

Updated with new homesick person grin.

Thursday 19th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea
Sunnydelight (evening)
aquasea
brightongirldownunder

Friday 20th
MrsBigD
Sunnydelight (evening)
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)
aquasea
brightongirldownunder
Arfishy (evening)

Friday 27th
MrsBigD
ninedragons
bcsnowpea (evening only)
Sunnydelight (evening)
aquasea
brightongirldownunder
Arfishy (evening)

Venue: Opera Bar for sipping G&Ts and such

Time: what do you think?

Ah! Brightongirl! I had just turned on my computer to email you, but you've found us anyway.

I'm so looking forward to this. I bet you were a prefect, MrsBigD.

Have another meet in December and I can come! Although then I will be just another Aussie living in Austraia...so perhaps you poms will want nowt to do with me?

Mrs BD! I used to live in Chatswood, went to church there, got married there, DD Baptised there...Lots of friends went to Chats Primary too Where abouts will you be living (roughly!)?

I'm not a Pom so I'll be your friend.

My husband is, though. I'm very open-minded.

Are you in Singapore ninedragons, or do I have you confused?

We are planning a few days in Singapore on the way back to Sydney...any top tips (if its you!)?

Astrophe how ya calling a pom? I'm a Kraut married to a Kiwi . We've just done the 10 days stop over in Singapore and as it was boiling hot and humid I can highly recommend hotel with pool as a must ;). We die the Zoo, Botanical Gardens, enormous shopping malls, Sentosa Island and that was it. dd couldn't handle the heat so we got much less done than we had thought.

Ninedragons Prefect? me? LOL I was never officially in charge of anything. Saying that as a senior PA/EA I really do run things don't I LOL

I'm a Pom you blighters!
Have just seen a repeat of Ramsays kitchen nightmares - the one about the soul food restuarant in Brighton. Boo hoo! Brighton....
Still loving Sydney though, even in monsoon like rain!
Can we do the 20th? I may have to fly back to Uk a week later as we have tenants who are refusing to pay rent and letting agents who are a pile of doo doo. Ho hum long way to go to try some diplomacy with these prats. If I have to fly I will be in serious need of G & T's. I'll get the first round!

I'm in Shanghai, and before that Hong Kong. Egypt and a few other posters are in Singers. Where are you staying? How old are the kids? Singapore is a brilliant family holiday destination.

What a bucket of poo about your tenants, brightongirl. Shame you can't add the cost of your flights to their arrears (fly First if you can)...

If only I could fly first - especially with DD aged 14 m....holy cow what am I doing. Its going to be hard enough to get any more money out of them now they've been served the notice of eviction. I won't spoil this thread though, may post a new one and ask for some advice.
Had a nice big glass of red to calm me down!

Ninedragons are you moving over here - is this visit to suss out where you're going to stay?

I'm moving some time in the spring/early summer. We've already bought the place - from five photos on the internet and an inspection by my mum. Very nervous about seeing it on this visit. It's a hideous amount of money to have spent if we don't like it.

This visit is because my dad hasn't yet met my DD, and we need to find an office so DH can move his company out. All the other staff will stay here, so he really just needs a tiny office in the city. If he tries to work out of the spare room he'll just end up hanging around in his underpants all day eating toast.

I hope you're not dealing with a certain well known Brighton letting agency beginning with L brightongirl - they bring a whole new definition to the term shyster!!!!!

Yes, I'm from Brighton (well, as much as I'm from anywhere as I'm Irish but left there many moons ago). We spent 12 years in Brighton and my 3 kids were born there. We then moved to Lewes for more space, better secondary schools blah, blah, but I think if we hadn't headed for Sydney we would have been moving back. Lewes was a bit too "English county town" for me!!! Were you ever at any of the meetups with MABS, custy et. al?

No. I only joined MN late 2007, so missed out on meetups. I was born and bred in Brighton, though my parents live in Firle just outside Lewes. totally agree about Lewes -far too sensible for the likes of us! went to school there and was sooo bored, I'd always end up heading straight back to brighton!
We'll have to swap seagull stories anyway! Letting agency did begi with L but was a persons name, not one rhyming with "weeders"Lovely to have a fellow brightonian on board! (she cracks open a bottle of wine to celebrate...)

Where is your new house then ninedragons?

wopps, meant to keep writing!

My kids are 2 and 4, we are planning 3 nights in singapore in late November. No idea where we will stay - sugestions welcome, but it needs to be cheap

In August we are leaving for 3 1/2 months in a campervan, driving around Europe, so we will have no money letf by the time we get to singapore.

Our flat is in Birchgrove. We bought it before PFB arrived and now I am having freak-outs that we couldn't have bought a more child-unfriendly place if we'd tried. It's on the third floor (argh! balconies to topple off!), walk-up (she'd better not demand to be carried if I've got a full load of supermarket shopping), has a swimming pool (toddler drownings forever in the news) and a boat slipway (more toddler drownings).

We may renovate it, sell it and move out before she learns to walk.

The great thing about Singapore is that you'd be hard pressed to find a truly bad hotel. www.tripadvisor.com is very useful for honest reviews, as you may know, and www.asiahotels.com and www.asiarooms.com both have good discounts to rack rate, IIRC (DD means we haven't been on holiday since we went to Laos last June, so I am no longer quite as au fait with the travel websites as I once was). With that kind of break I would do Sentosa for two days (you take a cable car from the mainland, which is bound to be a hit with kids that age), a trip on the new Ferris wheel, lunch at Boat Quay and dinner at Newton Circus. Singapore is a bit like going on holiday to Chatswood, actually! Loads of air-conditioned shopping malls everywhere, always with an excellent cheap food court in the basement and immaculate loos for nappy changes.

I was going to suggest the war museum at Changi, but they would be too young. It's very interesting if you ever go back when your children are older.

Have just been thinking about all my holidays in Singapore (three of my best friends live there). The first thing I do is run to the shopping malls and load up on clothes, as I am large of arse and East Asia caters only for delicate little slips of girls. The hospital insisted I have a section because DD was measuring at a "giant" 8 pounds. I did point out that 8 pounds might be gigantic for a size zero woman but I have a pelvis that could comfortably deliver a minibus, but they gave me the section anyway.

I think there is a guide to doing Singapore with kids - I'll have a hunt for it over the next few days. But my main tip would be don't plan to do too much as the humidity is really exhausting if you're not used to it.