Beatrix pottering: ARTplay, convicts and the pointy-pointy building

Up early, a sunny day today, and off to our Sydney second home, the Museum of Contemporary Art, for their Wednesday morning open play session for pre-schoolers. Furry koala costumes; giant shiny boxes to stack; bricks, blocks, books; and felt shapes to stick to the wall. Plus story time and song time. Jemima was in her element, joining in with other children's games (hopefully in a good way...); and commandeering a staff member to read her more books. Great fun, and a lovely relaxing slightly-off-duty morning for Kevin and I (I stayed supervising aka reading a book on my phone while Kevin went for coffee and walk). Then when the session finished, Kevin led us through the pretty Rocks back streets to a great cafe he'd discovered for lunch, and a tour around the old area, which was very atmospheric. And then it was my turn to choose some fun. So of course it was a bit more history - convict history, as we haven't done much of that.

The Hyde Park Barracks were originally built in about 1820 to provide working convicts with controllable sleeping quarters - the Governor at the time, a military man, was trying to introduce some order to the chaos of the settlement, including its first clock to enable regimented days. (He also was determined to be remembered - every second landmark is called something Macquarie - Port, Drive, Park...) The Barracks have since been used to house immigrant women (not convicts), and as a government building; and is now a great museum, where the layers of the building have been preserved and brought to life. We joined a tour, and Jemima had lots of fun demonstrating convict outfits and leg irons to the group, and helping unearth examples of hidden convict treasures stashed beneath the floorboards; and we all had a go in the sleeping hammocks slung up in the upstairs dormitories.

The Museum had just the right amount of distraction for Jemima to mean we could absorb some of the guide's stories; plus - I loved this - there was a searchable database of transported convicts at the end, and I can report Australia was graced by 7 Goodwins, including one woman (Lydia), for a variety of offences from sheep stealing to pick-pocketing to highway robbery - the last being James Goodwin from Norwich!; and also by two Siddalls (my maiden name), William and Joseph, for stealing a tarpaulin and house breaking respectively (William is recorded as having escaped, while Joseph served his time and got his Certificate of Freedom). Anyway, I loved it, and Jemima and Kevin didn't hate it, so I'd call that a win.

After an exciting day so far, it was time to return home for an afternoon rest before the big event of the day. As a thank you to Kevin for my amazing birthday trip, I'd booked us dinner in the Sydney Opera House Restaurant for that night. Jemima was very excited - she called it the "pointy-pointy" building from our hotel window; and asked every day when we were going.

After a few hours of recuperation, we walked the 20 minutes into our view along Circular Quay and out onto the promontory towards the Opera House, its white roof shining in the setting sun. It really is the most amazing building, still excitingly modern despite being designed in the 50s. And then we were in, walking under a concrete ribbed ceiling and up in a roof-less lift to the restaurant, actually inside one of the famous sails.

It was a great meal. Fabulous, interesting, beautiful food; wonderful wine (our first successful Pinot Noir, recommended by the sommelier to go with duck for Kevin and barramundi for me); and a stunning view, both of the inside of the building and through the windows to the water and the city. The service was a bit slow, but it couldn't spoil the rest of it - a really special occasion. We walked home along the twinkling Harbour, still loving Sydney.