Hey there!

Where has the last month gone.... I remember writing about it being 5 days before Xmas and now it's getting towards February and somehow Christmas and the New Year have passed in a flash!

We are currently travelling around Victoria and New South Wales on a mini road trip but thought we should fill you in on our Christmas and New Year over here in Oz!

We have been really lucky to make some great friends over here and we managed to spend the festive season with them. Christmas Eve was about as different as possible from back home. We visited a good friend from uni days who is also out here in Sydney and enjoyed a traditional Aussie BBQ and then headed to Darling harbour to see the big fireworks display and sing Xmas carols. Rich and Bex where heading to Bali for a couple of weeks and had offered us the chance to flat sit for them and in return look after their rabbit, Smudge. Holly fell in love with Smudge and am pretty sure we will be getting a pet rabbit when we get home now!

Living in a country where the outdoor life is so important so too is the weather. I don't think we checked a prediction more regularly than for Christmas Day 2011 or exchanged more Facebook messages regarding different reports. In the end, we fortunately woke to a gorgeous day after a pretty miserable few weeks in December. Keeping with a traditional Harrison Xmas, bucks fizz kicked off the day and then the present opening. We felt we needed to embrace a traditional xmas over here and whilst we couldn't get a real tree, Hot Dollar (think a Pound Shop only better!) saved us and with our other flatmates we managed to make our lounge look slightly festive. Present wise, Tom's inflatable boxing kangaroo went down a storm, while Holly was clearly enamoured with her novelty xmas earrings as she couldnt take them off all day and in revenge for last year when Holly wrapped a carrot (don't ask!) in a mountain of newspaper as a present, Tom decided to deliver a knockout comeback this year. The Christmas Pineapple, carefully wrapped and boxed it could have been a stunning piece of jewellery but alas no it wasn't. we may have started a chain of events to continue for many a year!

Unlike in London where all transport seems to halt at Xmas, Sydney still runs all it's buses and by 1pm we were at the beach enjoying the festivities with crackers, secret Santa ridiculous christmas hats and even a home cooked turkey!! It was pretty surreal but a great day with some beach cricket and a dip in the ocean to end with.
Of course one reason for coming to Sydney was to watch the fireworks on new years eve. Wanting it to be memorable we bought tickets for a gig on Glebe Island, an old disused part of the Harbour which was hosting the Sydney Resolution gig with Jamirouqui and Pet Shop Boys playing. With an perfect view of the fireworks it was a great spot and the Pet Shop Boys were especially good! The fireworks were incredible and glad to say a lifelong dream to see the new year in Sydney is now complete!

Having the flat for the Christmas and New Year in the centre of town was great as it meant we could explore the city so easily. Plus on new year we didn't have to wait ages for trains/taxis as we walked home after the gig. Tom's office closed down for 8 days so we made use of the time and location to visit lots of museums and galleries plus headed to Manly to walk the beautiful 10km Manly to Spit Bridge walk which had stunning views back to the harbour! We even saw our first baby koala at wildlife world, as well as manatees and sawfish at the aquarium, which was randomly filled with every kind of sea based sculpture made from Lego you could imagine.

Just before Xmas Tom heard that his contract with the Heart Foundation was being extended to March. Perfect timing for us and allowed us to relax a little over Christmas. We can now rest a little easier knowing we can afford the rest of our travels plus meant Holly could spend the majority of the 6 wk school holiday on the beach (it's alright for some hey!)

We have just booked our final trip here in Oz, our adventure up the East Coast up to The Gold Coast, Brisbane and Cairns taking in the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsundays. We keep hearing about the fantastic tv programme on the reef which was on recently in the uk. For the last 3 months they have been running trailers for it here along with Downton Abbey and Sherlock, all "coming in 2012!" alas no sight of any of them yet.

Anyway had best be off... A long drive back to Sydney is ahead. Will write more about what we have been up too soon!
T&H x