Mamma Mia and the great outdoors

The Australian road show for Mamma Mia came to Sydney's Lyric Theater and Santa brought tickets for the show for 4 of us. Who should go? Abby, Tracy, Nonnie and Abby's friend Milly, that's who! We used Funday Sunday special bus tickets ($2.50 anywhere on any of Sydney's public transport), but due to a bus traveling at the speed of snail from Newport into the city, we grabbed a cab from the bus stop to the theater to make the curtain, so Milly and Abby had a treat right from the get-go. The giltzy lobby was full of little girls and their mums and nonnies, everyone dressed up just a bit.

For us beach girls, that meant shoes, which came off pretty quickly once we were seated. The show was wonderful! Good music, interesting set and a story line most everyone in the audience knew. The girls were fascinated with the changing of the sets between scenes. One of my fave scenes in the movie, when all the men dance on the pier in their swim fins, appeared in the show, though without the sea. The encores were delightful and many attendees by that point, including our little ones, were up and dancing and clapping. All in all, a grand experience! Thanks, Santa.

In complete and total contrast to a day in the city was our bushwalk/bushwhack up to Barrenjoey Lighthouse, at the tip of the peninsula called the Northern Beaches. We trudged up the steep path in the hot sun. Whew. The trail was used by early smugglers getting goods in and out of Australia. We envisioned them working in the dead of night dragging illicit cargo up and down the steep slopes. From the top, the view extends from Gosford on the north side of Broken Bay to the still water of Pittwater and the ocean beaches of Palm Beach, and Avalon; well worth the sweat to get up there. We took the short cut down the hill and dashed our way over the hot, hot sand to the beach to cool off.

Next, for the bushwhacking portion of the day: to visit a special shady glen Jack and Abby found on their last ascent, we pushed through a tangle of vines and shrubs. The spiders were huge! Of course, the vines for a Tarzan swing were still there, though Jack discovered he's grown so much his feet scrape the ground. It was somehow easier going back up to the trail than going down into the glen. Time for another cool off in Pittwater and an ice cream at the little cafe just outside the park boundry and it was time for weary bushwhackers to head home. Aaaah.

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