After another long over night bus we finally arrived at our Christmas destination on 23rd December. We stayed one night with Odette's friends Danny & Jenna which was lovely, they have a beautiful house with a swimming pool and a really cute little one year old son called Ryan. Jenna took us out shopping and we went for lunch by the harbour. We saw the beautiful Mackay beaches and then went back to their house for a BBQ and a swim in the pool! It was like staying at a luxury 5* hotel after all the hostels we've been in! All the others arrived in Mackay on Christmas Eve so we went to meet them at the Formosa's house which is who we were staying with over Christmas. They couldn't have been more welcoming, they had 11 people staying at the house! We all had drinks and got in the pool at their house and ate lots of yummy food. On Christmas Day we had a delicious breakfast of smoked salmon, cold ham, sausages, eggs and champagne then continued the celebrations! We did a secret Santa between everyone, I got a really nice framed photo of me and oddy travelling for my gift and some nail varnish.
We had a late lunch, not a traditional Christmas lunch - we had crab, prawns, bugs (like lobsters), chicken, ham, potato and pasta salad etc... lots more champagne and Ros (mummy Formosa) made an amazing trifle and a passionfruit cheesecake for desert!
On Boxing Day we went to one of their cousins house for yet another BBQ pool party! They had a 3 month old French bulldog puppy called Pablo! We stayed there all evening and ate lots and drank lots yet again!
The whole group including the cousins and lots more friends are all celebrating NYE at the Hamilton Island too, so there is going to be a massive group there! Very exciting, but next stop before that is Airlie beach for a couple of nights!