On our last full day in Brisbane I continued to bring Christmas to the Baylisses. I got all Bec and Tom’s Christmas decorations out of the cupboard and proceeded to hang up every piece of tinsel and all the Christmas ornaments I could find. The pièce de résistance of the decorations was a handmade snowflake chain!

We then headed into the city centre to pick up a gift for them to put under their tree from us. Inspired by watching Elf only a few days before, Rich took the opportunity on the escalator to re-enact a scene straddling as many of the steps as possible and holding the pose all the way to the top. Maybe you had to be there to find it funny but I found it hilarious!

Rich riding the escalator ‘Elf’ style

We spent one last evening with Bec and Tom, enjoying a lovely meal prepared by Tom, surrounded by the Christmas decorations (which they thankfully liked) and sat next to the tree. It was truly starting to feel a lot like Christmas and Rich and I really didn’t want to leave! They had made us feel so welcome in their home that it really did feel like we belonged there. So thank you Bec and Tom, our stay with you couldn’t have been any better!

Tom’s delicious dinner!

On the morning of the twenty-third of December we said our good byes to Bec and Tom before they went to work and proceeded to gather up our belongings and pack our lives back into our forty litre backpacks.

We decided to fly down to Sydney for Christmas and New Year and although we were sad to leave Bec and Tom in Brisbane, once we had returned the hire car and headed into departures, we were excited to see what Sydney had in store for us.

The internal flight took an hour and a half. It was the first flight that we didn’t watch a movie or get served a hot meal, we much prefer international flights!

When we landed in Sydney we took a shuttle bus to our hostel. The Summerhouse Backpackers was our home for the next eleven nights and where we would spend Christmas and New Year so we were hoping it wasn’t a complete dive. Thankfully, it was perfectly fine, busy due to the time of year and hot due to the humidity but other than that we were happy with our choice.

Although it was our first day in the city, we only had time do a bit of food shopping and make ourselves dinner before settling into our hostel for the night. We had plenty of time to explore the city, so there was no need to rush.