Life In Australia

Normally, I take my daughter to her swimming lesson on the train. Although the swimming pool is within walking distance, we usually don’t walk as it’s tiring before the swimming lesson which also takes a lot of energy. Today, when we got to the station, we found out that there had been a signal failure and it could be some time before the trains would be moving again. I had to decide whether to wait at the station and risk missing the swimming lesson or to walk - we had just about enough time to get there on time if we walked.

So, I made the decision to walk, but we walked a different route from usual - beside the main road as I thought that we might see a bus and hop on that for all or part of the way. Well, we didn’t see a bus but we did make a few interesting discoveries in a part of town that we hadn’t visited before.

My daughter said, “Look, Mc Donalds!” and sure enough there was a McDonalds with a children’s play area. We don’t go to McDonalds very often but I thought that it would be a good place to go in the winter if the kids were bored at home and the weather wasn’t very good.

Further on, we came across a Turkish takeaway with some delicious-looking pizzas on display. Then, we saw a Japanese grocery store. I love Japanese food but can no longer afford to go to a Japanese restaurant. I found some Japanese recipes on the Internet a while ago but did not think I would be able to find some of the ingredients, so now I know where to go!

We arrived at the swimming pool just in time for my daughter’s lesson! After the lesson, we went back to the Turkish takeaway and shared a slice of meat lovers’ pizza and a gozlem. I’d never eaten a gozlem before moving to Australia. Although there are Turkish takeaways in the UK, all they seem to sell is kebabs! I love gozlems - they are a bit like a pancake with a spinach and cheese filling. Afterwards, we had a cooling ice cream. My daughter chose an orange lolly and I had a mango ice cream bar with macadamia nuts - I am addicted to these at the moment. It was nice to spend some quality time alone with my daughter - now that she has started school, we have fewer opportunities to do this.

On the way home, we stopped at the park. My daughter spotted a friend from school and they played happily while I did some editing work that I’d printed out and brought along. My daughter found this beautiful pink flower on the ground in the park. It must have fallen from a tree or a bush. It’s not unusual to see such gorgeous flowers here and my daughter loves to pick them up, take them home and put them in water!

At home, my husband made a delicious prawn stir-fry for dinner. He enjoys cooking at the weekends and he used a recipe from the Jamie Oliver cookbook he bought recently. It’s called ‘The Ministry of Food’ and I would highly recommend it as the recipes he has tried so far have all been delicious yet fairly easy to cook.