family

I grew up, as the youngest of one of four girls from a tight-knit family in Queensland. Growing up my mother placed a huge importance on family time and this stemming from the family meal. This has something that has flowed through to my own family, and I try to teach my children the same manners that my mother taught me. I had an idyllic childhood, I loved playing sports from a young age, and was always considered the little pocket rocket of the family.  I grew up around horses and starting to ride from the tender age of 2. Horses and horse riding have been an integral part of my life. Also with an interest in racehorses including our mare Fire Up FiFi. This horse won 12 races in its race history and we are currently breeding from her.

My husband Johnny grew up in Wollongong, and then we married and had our three children; Billy, Nicco and Milana. While bringing up the kids in North Bondi, Sydney we tried to give them the same grounded up bringing we both received from our families while living our slower paced lives in Brisbane and Wollongong. We then later moved to Shanghai, a decision we made for our work. Shanghai was a wonderful experience for our family, and now myself and all three of our children all speak Mandarin. We still return there frequently to visit Johnny. Who has made the move from Shanghai to Singapore for work. While this isn’t an ideal situation, we make it work.

Many aspects of our life in China are now entwined in our lives in Sydney. With our two toy poodles, Bondi and Bronte, both being Chinese. The love for the food – eating and cooking all and anything to do with Asian cuisines. This has especially rubbed off on Milana, who has strong love for cooking.