Xmas over we had one day of relaxation on the beach to recover from our excesses and then we went straight into preparation for our weekend on the Hawkesbury river before New Year rolled in. Before we left though we went for a short swim in the North Sydney Olympic pool which is in the shadow of the harbour bridge (see the photos for the amazing view). Rachelle refereed children's handstand and touching the bottom competitions while I managed a magnificent 10 lengths, we are such natural athletes.

I don't know exactly what we were expecting when we got to the river, probably something 100 yards wide clogged with boats. I reality it was close to a mile wide in places with dozens of places to drop anchor whenever you got bored of driving the boat around and fancied a bite to eat or a swim. It is hard to describe the relaxation of floating down a cool river on a hot day with a cold beer especially as both Rachelle and I avoided the Captain's responsibility for the entire weekend (I was anchor boy, a particularly feeble superhero name). In fact, the biggest stress of the whole weekend came when the boys decided to explore in the lifeboat and we ran out of beer and petrol AT THE SAME TIME, (we found more fuel luckily and fled back to the main boat). Mainly the time consisted of cruising around trying to find a place which was jellyfish free for a swim and where anchor boy could practice his amazing powers before relaxing in the evening with some wine, a bbq and some card games later on if we could be bothered.

Special mention should be made of our shipmates, Steve and Cath our buddies from way back in the dim and distant past and our new buddies James and Ros (James is Cath's brother for the link). It wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without them supplying their excellent company. Extra special mention should be given to Steve who despite an acute fear of heights jumped off the top of the boat into the water (about 2m) with only a couple of beers encouragement, good lad.

Unfortunately it all came to an end after three days of perfect conditions and we cruised back to Sydney feeling very relaxed and still swaying slightly when on dry land. Normally after a holiday like that you need another holiday to recover but there was no rest for us poor sinners, we arrived back on the 30th with barely 24 hours to mentally prepare ourselves for New Year. Our contribution to the festivities consisted of preparing nibbles for the pre-dinner cocktail party, a slight hitch arose at about 4pm however when I considerately burnt a hole clean through Rachelle's dress while ironing it sparking a frantic shopping expedition conducted by Steve and Cath. Luckily for me, Rachelle found an (excruciatingly expensive) outfit in the 45 minutes before the shops shut and my life was saved but it was a pretty hairy hour I can tell you. Crisis averted New Year began at a civilized party with champagne and nibbles (which were delicious, thanks for asking) then it was off to the Yacht Club for dinner and the 9pm fireworks where we drank a great deal of wine. Then approaching midnight we moved 100 yards down the road for a great view of the bridge and suddenly it was 2008. The fireworks were spectacular as always in Sydney but it was quite something else to see them live. Since everyone was merry and well lubricated we all agreed there was only one way to finish the evening - Karaoke - where Rachelle sang one or two songs in our private room and promptly fell asleep for the next two hours while we all sang to her.

The next morning was not a pretty sight; by the time we pulled ourselves together to leave the flat it was cruelly warm and bright. As we began our recovery with a big breakfast it occurred to us that everyone in the UK was just saying Happy New Year and in the US were just going out to parties way back in 2007.So wherever you are happy new year from us both, lots of love and the best luck for 2008.

Love A & R