Beatrix pottering: Packing, Poppins, and a pool with a view

We were up early (for us), and moved from the campsite to the road along the next door beach (once I had found some willing recipients on whom to press our remaining bits of food). I tackled mine and Jemima's bags while she and Kevin had a final play on the lovely beach, full of families having fun on a Sunday morning; then she and I went to the playground while Kevin did his. And then we were off! Our final three hours to Sydney.

My sister and I watched Mary Poppins about 10,000 times when we were young; and she gave Jemima's a copy for Christmas. I have been waiting until Jemima was enjoying watching films before introducing it; and today was the day. And...she loved it! I got the usual thousand questions while we were watching it, but she was gripped, and singing along, the whole way through. While this was going on, we did our final servicing stops, grabbed some lunch, and ate up the miles to Sydney.

Our route to drop the motorhome off took us almost directly past our hotel, so we did a short detour to drop off our bags - and this meant driving over Sydney Harbour Bridge. And what a drive. We'd seen it from beneath on a boat, but this was a whole different perspective - it was gargantuan, but so beautifully proportioned, it seemed light. We survived a mess of roadworks; successfully found the hotel; navigated out again to the drop off point; and then Uber'd back in. And then up to the hotel room, all of us strangely shattered.

We walked into the hotel room, opened the curtains, and I gasped: spread out in front of us was the Harbour, with the Bridge to the left and the Opera House to the right. What a view. And on the next floor up: an indoor pool with the same view. So Jemima and I went for a swim with the Harbour Bridge gleaming in the afternoon sunshine along side us, and a panoramic spread of Sydney. Amazing. We are looking forward to the next few days of getting out on it again.