15 th December

I swear we almost screamed when we flew over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera house this morning! It cheered up what was a pretty hectic flight from Kuala Lumpur. We had done our best to flirt with the air steward to try and bump us up to first class (got to try right?) but all he could manage was to give us a whole row to ourselves so that we could sleep laying down. We were so happy and excitedly left our seats with smug grins to our new private rows. This smug grin lasted probably about 10 minutes, until a few late comers onto the plane arrived looking confused as to why there were two girls clearly lounging all over their seats. With our tails between our legs and a complimentary bottle of water for the trouble we went back to our allocated seats which had been filled with people either side of us. Probably should have kept our mouths shut…

We were picked up by Carly's cousin Tommy at the airport and taken to our hostel which was right in the centre of Sydney. Amazing. I was so excited to get out and explore! Rick, a friend of a friend (we have been so lucky to have so many friends of friends of friends this trip) picked us up in the afternoon for a whistle stop tour of Sydney central including the perfect view of The bridge and opera house from ground level. It was incredible, its so amazing to see something in the flesh that you have so often seen on T.V.

The next few days have been filled with getting ourselves sorted here in Sydney. Getting bank accounts sorted, C.Vs and applying for jobs. We aren't used to this stress!

18th-19th December

After a very stressful few days, we decided it was time to hit the beach and where better than Bondi? We spent the afternoon taking in the sights of this beautiful beach and keeping our eye out for sharks (we've seen Bondi rescue on the tele) and getting used to hearing so many British people again, its like Newquay but hotter!

The next day it was time for Manly. The ferry ride over was without a doubt the highlight of the day with gorgeous views of the harbour by sea. Finding a secluded bay we once again enjoyed our time basking in the sun. Who would believe we were a week away from Christmas?!

Our decision to go out for a few drinks tonight was an expensive one, we were already missing the Asia prices, ($8 for a corona?!) however it was cut short with a few issues that reminded us that we were back in the 'western world' apparently flip flops were not welcomed in bars here and ID is absolutely necessary! We returned to the hostel mumbling something about not even needing to wear shoes in bars in Asia…

20th-24th December

For the next few days we were to travel down to Wollongong. On arrival to the hostel, we were greeted by a somewhat quirky mid 50s surfer who talked us silly and referred to us constantly as pommes. Better get used to this! After handing us a bag full of cutlery and plates we checked in. The hostel was clean and sociable and within minutes we were sharing a few drinks in the garden with the group. After a long awaited year long catch up with Ben, I met up with Carly who had been experiencing Wollongong's nightlife with the boys we had met at the hostel. ID in hand and sensible shoes on (we weren't making that mistake again) we hit the dancefloor, we had missed this!!

We enjoyed the next few days by spending it being toured around Wollongongs highlights with Ben, it has such a different feel to Sydney and reminds us so much of the coast in the UK. Carly has been suffering with a very poorly tummy and our second visit to the doctor was called for. Apparently we have been joined on our trip by a lovely little parasite that has made its home in Carly's tummy in order to smuggle into Australia. We have named him the Grinch… A hardcore course of antibiotics should do the trick, we hope!!

For Christmas eve I was surprised by a lovely Australian Christmas dinner at Ben's Mums house. The huge Christmas tree and crackers on the table definitely made me feel a lot more Christmassy. After dinner a very sneaky Ben placed a pile of gifts and cards in front of me and told me they were from my family… it took a while to sink in but it seems my amazing family and friends back home had organised presents of tea, chocolate, new pyjamas and other necessities to be sent out as gifts. Cue me blubbing over my pavolva. What an amazing Mum I have J .

Christmas Day

Today was spent with Carly's cousin and his family in Sydney. We were so grateful to spend Christmas Day with friendly faces and some delicious food! Its probably the first day that we have found particularly hard being so far away from home but with the wonders of Skype, we still managed to spend a few hours celebrating with our family and friends.

Boxing Day

Today we had planned to travel up to Penrith to visit a long lost cousin of Carly's who was from South Africa. Carly had never met her before so it was very much a Cilla Black moment! We spent a wonderful few days being with yet another massively generous family. We have been so lucky!

27th December

So a new experience for me today and that involved going to watch the T20 cricket in Sydney with two of the boys that we had met previously in Wollongong. Charlie and Ben. After spending the first 30 minutes having to explain the rules to me, I finally allowed Charlie to enjoy the cricket and even began to enjoy it myself! Carly was definitely proud. Maybe we'll even try and get tickets to the Ashes…. I'm guessing there will be a few cheap ones going now…

28th December

Back to Wollongong for a surprise planned by Ben who sneakily got Carly involved too. I was driven to a airfield and secretly was praying that he hadn't organised a sky dive, I could barely jump off a boat in Halong Bay let alone jump out of a plane! With relief, and still shock I discovered that instead of jumping out of a plane, I was instead to be taken up in a tiny 4 man propeller plane for a hour long trip along the coast. It was without a doubt the most beautiful and amazing experience. The views of the coast of Australia were what everyone raves about and I was getting to see it from the air! The photographs just don't do it justice.

The day was topped off by a cheeky surf lesson for Carly. (I was chief photographer) She was a complete natural! The waves, although were played down by Ben as being small were absolutely huge, I have no idea how she climbed up onto the surfboard! She came back very battered!

31st December

So the day had come that we were so excited for. We were spending New Years in Sydney, where else would we want to be?! We met up with Rosie who we had travelled with in Cambodia, and her friends Hannah, Baz and Richie. We plonked ourselves down in a prime location in the harbour. Just the 10 hours to wait until midnight now… The hours flew by as we enjoyed the time making new friends, eating our picnic and watching the crowds gather. The weather was absolutely glorious. We still cant get over that this is December! The evening was broken up by smaller family fireworks and plane displays over the harbour. We were pretty emotional!

As midnight approached, the whole atmosphere was almost buzzing with excitement. We all stood with our cameras ready as the countdown began and boy was the 10 hour wait worth it. The display went on for about 15 minutes and we just didn't want it to end. We can honestly say that we have not experienced anything like it. Without a doubt one of the best experiences of our trip. We'll never forget it.