Sydney - just in time for the festive season!

First of, thank you all for the emails that you sent just in time for Christmas – lovely to hear that everybody is having a jolly time.

Christmas Eve

I decided to go for a run this morning and I am so glad that I did. Running along Victoria Street in Kings Cross I was spoiled with views of gorgeous old buildings, and just around the corner, views of Navy Ships, Sydney Harbour and there in the distance, Sydney Harbour Bridge. I had to take a second breath, as I realised quite where I was and how far I had come in my journey. I had made it to the famous Sydney!!!

Jess and I spent the remainder of the day shopping with the hoards and successfully found two lovely dresses. Now, we were ready to start the festivities. We met with 7 of our pals from our and dined in a gorgeous (and rather posh) restaurant on George Street, in an area that borders Circular Quay and the Rocks. The likes of Chanel have shops here. Tomi started the meal with a very big thank you for making the tour so much fun, and also for being with himself and Elin on their Christmas Day our Christmas Eve).

After a delightful dinner of pork and orange sauce and a few glasses of wine, Elin, Kathryn, Pia, Moritz and I bundled into a taxi and headed to St Mary’s Catholic Church for midnight mass. The mass was altogether 3 hours long-1 hour of carols, 2 1 hour of incense and 1 hour of sermon. It was then (no offence intended) that I appreciated being christened into the Church of England.

Gasping for water, we met with the non-church goers who had been drinking in our absence and descended on a club. It was full of Asians dancing to R & B and hip-hop. Now sober as a judge, I found it a little hard to get into the groove, so we made a vain attempt to head to another bar. Sadly my youthful looks and Elin’s look of complete drunkenness according to the bouncer prevented us from getting into any more bars. I should add that Elin was in mass with me, so it was the bouncers preventing us from partying. So, we headed home to get some beauty sleep ahead of our Christmas Day in the sunshine.

Christmas Day (very sunny)

Armed with food, Elin, Tomi, Kathryn, Ralph, Phil, Jess and I hopped onto the train/bus and headed to Bondi Beach. At this stage, it was very bizarre not to have woken up in a house with the heating on/fire going as it’s so cold outside, no evidence of Santa having climbed down the chimney, no excited mummy or daddy handing me champagne….no Christmas tree. Nope, Christmas in Australia is just not the same as Christmas in England and I felt a pang of home sickness. A phone call from No.10 and Si and text messages from home did, however, put a huge smile on my face!

By midday, we had pitched up on the grass and before us lay a feast. Prawns, chicken, olives, cheese and crackers and more. Jess and I cheers’ed with plastic champagne glasses and a sparkling rose called Pink. It was not long before we were full and also surrounded by lots of English and Irish people dressed in red Santa hats. By 2pm, the beach was rammed and you could hear the beats from the Gatecrasher Party in the distance. It would not be a complete day at the beach without a swim in the sea, so I donned by bikini and took a dip. The current and Bondi is pretty strong, so it was literally a dip but the swell was good and it was fun to watch the pro’s at work in the surf. The wind came up in the afternoon and the air became quite cool, so we called it a day and Jess and I headed back to the hostel.

Sadly, I lost my memory card sometime on Boxing Day – it had all the pictures of Christmas day and one of me actually looking quite decadent in a bikini. Instead, I hold the pictures in my head and will endeavour to get some from Jess to put onto the website.

Boxing Day

Jess and I met with Elin and Tomi to hop onto a paddle steamer and take position in the heart of the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race. The trip into Sydney Harbour was amazing and seeing all of the yachts geared up to race was very exciting. We celebrated with a bottle of wine aboard the paddle steamer.

In the afternoon, we strolled around The Rocks, a rather swish area of Sydney. Behind the polished front is an array of older buildings, some reminding me of Victorian Homes in England. Before we knew it, we had strolled to Darling Harbour; a more touristy area of Sydney, with wooden board walk, restaurants, cinemas and casino. We met with Phil and dined at an Italian Restaurant by the water – very nice, and for desert Elin took us to an ice creamery that allowed you to blend your favourite chocolate bar with your favourite ice cream. Delicious!

December 27th

Again, Elin and Tomi were first classed company as we strolled around the outlet stores and China Town, close to Darling Harbour. We all decided to weigh and measure ourselves to see how the festive season panned out for us; of course my weight will be kept a secret but if all correct, I can officially tell you I am 1.6m tall! We later returned to a pub back in the older area of The Rocks, which was to our delights a fabulous place to eat. We ordered and shared gourmet pizza, before heading to the flicks to see The Holiday. The film had me in stiches, laughing out of my seat. Mum, I think you would love this film.

December 28th

Today was a very exciting day, for I was meeting with an old university pal of mine called Susan. I first had a good look around the Victoria Building (very grand) and admired the 4 story high Christmas tree with 15,000 Swarovski crystals. Quite stunning. It was very strange to see Susan after what must have been 5 years, but in no time we were chatting as if we had never been apart.

Susan recommended a lovely restaurant on the North Shore, located just beneath the Harbour Bridge. We took a ferry, and as Susan promised the food was indeed delicious. We also celebrated our reunion by drinking strawberry wine. I promised myself that would be my last meal out in Sydeny as by now I was most definitely not living the life of a backpacker! Susan and I decided that it would be a shame to cut our reunion short, so took the ferry back across the river and spent the remainder of the day soaking up the atmosphere at the Sydney Opera House Bar. Here suits, tourists and young people mingled, the sun set over the city and the fruit bats came out to play. I had a really lovely day today and it was just fabulous to see Susan so settled and happy.

December 29th

Today was a day of mincing around the city. We met with Elin and Tommy, and most strangely in the later evening some of the people that were on our tour but had not seen since The Whitsundays. Australia is a very small place!

December 30th (the Blue Mountains)

The Blue Mountains are so as the Eucalyptus trees that form the forest in the area emit a blue vapour that gets caught up in the valley mist. Funnily enough, it is true. We decided to do a tour of the Blue Mountains, thinking that we would find out the most information this way.

Our tour started with a visit to the 2001 Sydney Olympic Site. Very interesting. For the rest of the day we took bushwalks over the Blue Mountains, through cliff caves and to waterfalls. The scenic views were just beautiful and I learned lots about the flora and fauna.

In the afternoon, we were taken to somewhere called Scenic World. Here we walked into a gorge, passing through millions of years of geological time, to a rainforest, which was very relaxing. Within the cliffs here is a coal seam, so one of the ways of returning to the top was via a coal train. All good, until you learn that the train runs along a slope of 52 degrees and on the train you literally feel as if you are going to plummet to the bottom. I was quite glad to reach the top!

December 31st

Gosh, reading this back I cannot believe that I have reached New Years Eve already. I opted for a swim over a run today, and enjoyed a good splash in a 50m pool. On my way there I saw a queue over a mile long to get into the Botanical Gardens to watch the New Years fireworks and it made me very glad that Jess and I had prepped early for our New Year Celebrations.

Dressed and ready to party, Jess and I hooked up with Phil and Jen for pre-party drinks. We then climbed aboard our various boats. The organiser of the boat claimed that The Pacific Pearl was a party boat and asked if we were ready to party! And yes we were. Jess and I were sat with Mat and Gareth from Essex, who turned out to be great company. We all took advantage of the endless buffet, champagne, wine and beer on tap and spent the night dancing away to 80’s tunes.

To our port, starboard, bow and stern were thousands of boats covered in green lights so celebrate the Emerald or 75th anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We enjoyed 9pm fireworks (for the kids) and the 12.00 midnight adult fireworks, which were just spectacular. The fireworks must have gone on for 15 minutes and kept us in awe all of that time. At 1pm our boat docked and we wished farewell to our camaraderie’s of the evening. Jess and I staggered back through Sydney back to Kings Cross, now feeling totally at ease with arriving late into this part of town. So, it was a very Happy 2007 for us so far!

January 1st

In vain attempt not to start 2007 in a bad way, Jess and I found a café and enjoyed a good cooked breakfast. We decided to take a stroll to the Opera House and on our way enjoy the Botanical Gardens. By the afternoon, we were hanging and decided that the only thing that would make us close to normal again was a Hungry Jacks (rather like a Burger King but a lot better). It did, at least for a while, so we decided to give in, head back to the hostel and watch DVD’s and eat chocolate. Surprisingly we were not the only ones, and by 4pm, the others staying in our room had joined us and we all had a vert nice evening chilling’ together.

January 2nd

By now all was back to normal and I was ready to face 2007 with a bang. So I caught a plane to Melbourne.

Wishing you all a very Happy 2007. I will be seeing you soon! Lots of Love, Em x