Well it's been quite a while since my last entry simply because we've both been so busy getting back to a routine so here goes...

Since our last blog post, we have moved in to a lovely little flat which is a 4 minute (yes, George timed it!) walk from a stunning beach in Manly, NSW, and we have both secured full time jobs for the foreseeable future. We've welcomed in a new year and spent Christmas day away from home and completely out of our comfort zones. Not to mention celebrating 7 years of being together, this year being on the other side of the world. We're now in a position where we can live comfortably, leaving all of our savings for more exciting adventures in a few months time.

So I'll start off by wishing all of our friends and family, who take the time to keep up with our travels, a very happy Christmas and New Year.

Living and working in Sydney is an absolute dream. A far less stressful, a healthier and happier lifestyle is to be had. I don't know why we didn't do this sooner and I definitely don't know why we're not doing it for longer! We've made some great friends and Manly is a very fun place to live.

We were extremely grateful to the family we had been staying with for all of their help and support but desperate to live by the beach so we said goodbye to Maria, Greg and the girls just before Christmas but have still kept in touch when we can.

I love our little beach flat, albeit not as clean as I liked to keep our house at home it was nothing a professional cleaner couldn't fix. Our flat mates work long hours so it feels like we have the place to ourselves most of the time and when we do cross paths, we all get along nicely. George particularly likes Dave (what is it about Dave's?!) as he can chat football with him. He's 28, from Liverpool and works in a lively cocktail bar and were hoping he'll try out some recipes on us soon! Our other flat mate, Stef, is 27 and is originally from New Zealand. She works in fashion and runs her own online magazine which means there's always plenty of mags around the house to look at. We've spent the last couple of weeks working, doing dinner, getting back in to routine and starting to try and add some exercise in there too! The best and most amazing thing about our lives at the moment is the evenings and weekends! It's like living on holiday! We have a swimming pool built in to the sea by our house, a tonne of bars and restaurants and of course the beach at our doorstep. I could very much get used to this!

Over Christmas we had some time off of working (not like we needed it after our 3 month break!) so we did a few touristy bits! We had a lot of time at the beach; Shelley, Manly and Queensie, some days with friends and some just the two of us. We went to the zoo and had a koala encounter and we also had the ultimate Aussie experience and went for a surf lesson!! We were both pretty damn good and now George wants to buy a surf board.

Christmas day was a strange time, I felt extremely home sick and it rained all day. Not quite the Xmas in oz I'd imagined. It was nice to Skype friends and family but it showed me, and George, that we're not the kind of people who could move away from home permanently (which I'm sure the mum's will be pleased to hear!). We both missed the cold, winter festivities; mulled wine, winter wonderland, pictionary and Home Alone snuggled on the sofa.

We saw the new year in with friends and fireworks in Manly then walked up to north head just the two of us to catch a glimpse at the fireworks in the city. Pretty tame and low key :)

I'd put off writing on here as I didn't think I'd have much to write about; however, writing this now I'm finding it difficult to include everything that we've experienced and achieved. Saying that, we did have a fair few days and evenings taken over by watching Breaking Bad to save a bit of money! Incredible series! I'm trying not to forget the important parts, as was the point of the entire blog, but I'm certain that I already have so I'll make sure I update this more regularly in the future, mainly for my own benefit!

The gist of it is that we're both happy and loving life and very much looking forward to what 2014 has in store...

To be continued!!!