Spent the morning kayaking around Sydney Harbour (an xmas present from A-Ms parents). Water was a bit choppy in places and some dodging of ferries / boats was involved. There was some collective suffering at the decision to hand steering control to Dave (see Laos kayaking for more details, although thankfully the end result was not the same).

In the afternoon we headed out to Manly beach to meet up with Andrew and his friend Neil. This was a little different to the deserted beaches of Western / South Australia which we had expereinced as we came across to Adelaide from Perth. Most of Sydney (and a fair proportion of the Barmy Army) had decided to hit the beach for the day. The crowds combined with the rough surf limiting the amount of beach open to a small fraction of avaibale surface meant  it was elbow room only.  Nevertheless, it was a good opportunity to kick back and take in some surf and sun.

We were back at the flat earlyish for a bit of packing and for our annual new year 5 Card Texas Hold'Em poker competition (no limits). It was a happy event as far as we were concerend as the cards and poker gods smiled kindly on us (1st: Dave, 2nd: A-M).