G'day Mates!

Where do we start!!! Sydney is amazing for one! When we arrived earlier than planned our accommodation didn't start until the 23rd fortunately for us mark and Nicola from back home were able to help us out BIG TIME and saved us a few pennies. It was great to see them again cause it's always nice to see people from back home, familiar face and all that rubbish haha

Anyway Mark took us for a tour of the apartment and me and Louise couldn't believe it, it was amazing everything about and it even had a balcony overlooking the Sydney tower which you can see on the photos. It was red hot the day we arrived so we quickly freshened up and mark took us around the city and botanical gardens and then on to see the opera house and the bridge! We had been there literally 3 hours and already loved Sydney....AMAZING! While we were sightseeing Nicola was hard at work bringing the pennies in but they still managed to knock us up a full on feast for tea!! Peri peri chicken my favourite!

The next couple of days were great we went to manly and Bondi beach but i didn't go in the water because the water was bloody freezing like the north sea! It was getting close to Christmas day and Louise was starting to realise she missed family and friends especially over Christmas, me though.... I was fine (sorry parents) haha but we were just talking that day about going to see some carol singing or something Christmassy and on that same day Nicola rang up out of the blue and asked us if we wanted to see the carol service at the cathedral so we jumped at the chance, we loved it! afterwards we went to wagamammas overlooking darling harbour! Not bad lol!

It came to the point where we had to check into our YHA hostel, we were gutted! Haha but mark helped us check in and i showed him around our new crib, these are the bunk beds, this is our swimming pool haha more like a puddle! But in all honesty it was one of the better hostels we stayed in! And we had 10 nights here our second longest stay in one place! The hostel was quite different because our room was a novelty train carriage.

It was Christmas eve and we made the decision that we were going to head to manly beach for Christmas day with a picnic, so to treat ourselves we went out to do the Christmas shopping. Christmas eve night we headed down to the harbour for more Christmas carols and fireworks these Sydney folk love fireworks and we saw a fantastic firework display and if that was anything to go by we couldn't wait for new years eve!!

On Christmas day we went to manly beach with our turkey sandwiches, lemon Madeira cake, crisps and dip, chocolate, Louise's favourite Haribo starmix and a couple bottles of cider. The sun was out in force and we opened our presents on the beach haha Louise got me a boomerang and i got Louise a kangaroo teddy bear book mark so we had something to open along with our Christmas cards so thank you everybody and thank you aunty Val..... again for them Aussie dollars brilliant!! On the night we met back up with marc and Nicola who introduced us to their friends and we spent the night at martin and Karen s apartment overlooking darling harbour and it was an excellent way to end the day, just being round people you know, thanks guys!!

The days leading up to new years eve were excellent weather and we spent them visiting various beaches and just chilling in the botanical gardens. One day at the gardens we were sunbathing and i felt something tickle my feet then pull on my little toe i was just about to shout over at Louise 'pack it in ' when i realised she was asleep next to me so i jerked up only to find this ugly long beaked bird chomping at my feet then just as i was shooo'ing them away with my flip flops i lent back and this evil wasp STUNG me, it was painful as hell!! I wasn't crying but i was giving off a manly yelp haha and Louise had to pull the barb sting out of my back!! However i went back to sunbathing after calming down a bit ha but just out of curiosity i thought it would be a good idea to go see a park ranger haha just to get it cleaned up and what have you but i have never lived it down, every time Louise sneezes or breaks a nail her favourite quote is ' ouch i think i need a park ranger' haha but for the record the rangers were so helpful and actually took me seriously!...not like some haha

There are that many points to watch the fireworks that we spent a day to do some trial runs to check a few out but we were no further forward because the really good ones are no alcohol allowed but we narrowed it down to Bradleys head.

New years eve!!!!!!!!!!!! It was going to be a long day so we stocked up on food and bought a box of 5 litre wine we were meeting Ashley and peter and their friends from back home and a couple they met in Cambodia. We also met two girls in our dorm room and invited them down. We got at the point at about 10.30 and it was another scorching day so we put down our towel and waited because the site doesn't open until 6 pm but we were right at the front. As an hour passedmore and more people arrived but it was still cordoned off and guarded by a security guard. However the crowd was getting restless and it was still a fair 10 minute walk to the actual point to see the fireworks. Fortunately our trial run paid off because we knew the quickest way to get there. The site itself is quite small and it is tiered like a cinema with grass verges so you had to get there early to get a good spot. By this time rumour was going round that the site was going to open early so everybody was on their feet getting agitated so our group devised a plan; since i knew the route to the spot i was going to take the towels and the food bag and i would try break free from the crowd when the tape was cut.

The time had come...... it was my time to shine, a few people had broken through the tape and were getting a head start so i just went for it!! i broke away from the crowd and there was a massive surge and the people bombarded the security guard and he just had to let everyone go.They put what i can only describe as pace makers at the front of the crowd obviously for safety reasons but i had enough energy to break past them haha i managed to gain a significant lead only to find a middle aged man behind hot on my tracks he was trying to make small talk, about the "things we have to do for new years" and "i should of trained for this event" I had no time for that crap and left him for dead haha i rounded the corner only to find there was nobody at the point..... chuffed with my achievements i picked the primary spot right at the front and marked our territory by weeing ....haha i mean..... with all the towels and just waited........caught my breathand watched the others walk round the corner and with a big grin on my face just waved them over and we all high fived!!! Haha

We knew this was the start of a great day, we ate, sunbathed, played cards, drank wine, had a swim, and just had a great time the view was amazing. It was a 11 hour wait until new year but it went soo fast! The sun started to set just behind the skyscrapers and the sky just turned orange and there were two sets of fireworks one set at 9 o clock like a teaser session and the final session at 12 and they were just unbelievable we were situated right at the end of the harbour looking right down the harbour so we saw everything!! And after it was all done we all just got in a circle and hummed the new years eve song because no one knew the words haha best new years eve ever! And to top it off for new years day we went to Bondi beach because the weather was great and just chilled out all day!

The End

Happy healthy new year everyone!!

Adam and louise xxxxxxxx