Christmas Day in the sunshine…26°c today!!

We awoke to the sound of the alarm today, but didn't mind getting up early cos it's Christmas!

We headed straight up to the roof terrace for our Christmas Day breakfast…and had to pinch ourselves to make sure it was real - hot sunshine, clear blue skies, views of the Bridge and Opera House…and us clutching our bag of prezzies sent over from everyone back in England! It was just what we imagined Christmas morning in Australia to be like…we couldn't stop smiling!

We grabbed our bacon and egg sandwich and glass of Buck's Fizz and found a spot in the sunshine to open our presents - an Ipod Nano, new tshirt, some playing cards, money, sweets and chocolate for me, sapphire earrings (to match her engagement ring!), a Cath Kidston bag, makeup, money, sweets and chocolate for Laura. We did quite well considering we're on the other side of the world!

After breakfast, we got ready and headed down to Circular Quay to catch a bus to Bondi Beach for the Sunburnt Festival. When we arrived at 11:30, the beach was already packed with people enjoying the sunshine and the sea on Christmas Day! We bought ourselves an energy juice to wake us up and headed down to Bondi Pavillion. We'd imagined (like many people from what we heard during the day!) that the whole thing would be on the beach, whereas in fact the Pavillion where the stages were, was just off the beach, but you could go in and out all day, so it wasn't much of a problem. We eventually jot in just after 12 and headed straight upstairs to our special VIP bar for our first beer of the day - $4, which is pretty good for Australia!

We had a look at everyone on the beach and the queue below from the balcony and were glad we got there early. The event was split into two stages - the main stage and the Propoganda indie stage, with the food counter in between. That was our next stop, and we joined a rapidly growing queue for our Christmas dinner. We got a steak sandwich and salad - not quite the full turkey dinner with all the trimmings but a good substitute!

After spending time sitting in the sun by the main stage and having a wander around the place, we headed out at about 3pm to hit the beach. We had perfect hot, sunny weather and we headed into the sea to join the crowds jumping the waves - not our usual after dinner entertainment on Xmas Day! We managed to get ourselves sunburnt at Sunburnt festival, and went back to the Pavillion and the indie stage for a couple of hours.

Then it was time to phone home, so we left to find a quiet spot to phone the Balieys. We also grabbed some Singapore Noodles for our Christmas tea!

Back at the festival, we had another couple of hours dancing like idiots in the indie room, before we decided to call it a night and head back to the hostel where we skyped Mam, Dad and Kel.

A very busy and different Christmas Day - we had a great time in the sun!