Rich and I had a really enjoyable few days over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day but they did in no way feel like Christmas. Christmas in the southern hemisphere just doesn’t seem right!
“Christmas morning arrived and to be honest, Rich and I were somewhat hungover.”
On Christmas eve we headed over to North Bondi for our first BBQ over Christmas with an old friend of mine, Laura, who I worked with at Accenture. Laura and her boyfriend Dave hosted an amazing BBQ for us. Laura had a very early morning trip to the fish market to pick up the freshest seafood for them to use on Christmas Day and we got to sample some of the delights too.
We spent a total of eight hours at Laura and Dave’s house, eating lots (oysters, sashimi, olives, salad, sausages and lamb) and drinking even more! The day flew by and Rich and I left to catch the last bus ‘home’. With memories of the freshest Oysters I’ve ever tasted and Laura’s amazing homemade Aperol Spritz lingering in my mind, I happily drifted off to sleep somewhat tipsy!
Christmas morning arrived and to be honest, Rich and I were somewhat hungover so it was a very lazy morning! We got ourselves up and ready to join in with the Christmas BBQ the hostel put on for everyone at lunch. A chicken leg, a sausage, coleslaw and potato salad doesn’t really constitute a Christmas dinner to me but it was Christmas dinner for us this year. We did have bucks fizz as well, so that reminded me of Christmas at home a bit more!
“On our walk back through the city the heavens opened and the rain fell, hard.”
We knew we wanted to spend the afternoon at the beach, so after our ‘Christmas dinner’ we walked through the city, past the nativity scene outside church, across Martin Place, the scene of the Lindt cafe siege that took place only a few days before, and down to Circular Quay to catch the ferry to Manly.
When we arrived at Manly beach there was no sun left in the sky, just lots and lots of cloud and a chilly breeze, this wasn’t the weather we had envisaged for our Christmas day on the beach! We hung out on the beach for forty-five minutes before we saw the dark clouds rolling in and decided to make our exit back to the hostel.
On our walk back through the city the heavens opened and the rain fell, hard. We were drenched and sliding all over the place in our flip flops and thought the twenty minute walk back to the hostel might actually end in an injury. To prevent any need to go to A&E from a flip flop related injury, we got in a taxi and safely returned to our hostel for the evening.
“It was wonderful to see the harbour so alive and full of activity.”
We spent the evening eating turkey sandwiches and chocolates, drinking beer and watching movies on our laptop. We finished the day phoning our parents and catching up with loved ones back home.
Boxing day was filled with bright blue skies, glorious sunshine and a visit by Tom and Bec to Sydney as they were travelling down to visit their friends Henrik and Shelley for the weekend. We headed out with them for the day to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. The harbour was filled with yachts, both racing and spectating and it was wonderful to see the harbour so alive and full of activity.
After the boat race we went to Henrik and Shelley’s house for our third BBQ of Christmas! As the boys played with their dog, Dash, in the garden, Shelley, Bec and I enjoyed a relax accompanied by a glass or two of wine.
Henrik cooked up a storm on the BBQ and we enjoyed a hearty feast before Rich, Tom and Henrik headed back out to the garden to play ‘Sevens’, a childhood game I told Rich and Tom about in Byron that they had become obsessed with!
We had a lovely day with Shelley, Henrik, Bec and Tom and as Rich and I headed back to our hostel we thought we had better do some sightseeing in Sydney soon…all we had accomplished so far were three BBQ’s, awesome though they were!
Lambs on the loose 