We took quite a bit of a detour to get down to Manly, we thought we'd take the scenic route via Lake Macquarie and Newcastle. It was a lovely drive but took us about 8 hours to get there!!! I impressed myself with my map reading skills as we found Jamie and Merves flat pretty easily! It was lovely to see them and we met Ethan for the first time, he was absolutely terrified of us when we arrived and wouldnt stop crying but he calmed down eventually!! Allie from back home was here too and when she arrived it was like a mini Littlehampton!! It was so nice being with friends again!!!

We looked round Manly on our first full day, its absolutely gorgous in Manly. All the houses on the hills around the harbour, the water is so clear and its just really pituresque. Jamie and Merves flat is in fairlight and they have a lovely little beach and natural swimming pool literally 2 minutes walk away!! Jamie and Merves friend Rachel arrived the next day, also from back home. We went to their church on the sunday and we drove our Hooters over the Harbour bridge, it was amazing that we were in Sydney, we didnt really get to see the opera house from the bridge as the walls were quite high. We saw Amy and Peter and their week old baby caleb at church too! We did a big christmas food shop and amazingly Jamie and Merves next door neighbours went away for Christmas and said that allie, rachel and us could stay in their flat until they came back on the 1st January. So we had a proper bed to stay in, shower, washing machine etc...luxury!!!!

On christmas eve we all went up to North Heads where we had a picnic overlooking the Harbour and in the distance we could see the Syndey city skyline , which looked amazing! It was such a lovely day and we could see for miles! We then made our way back into Manly where we watched a nativity with real live animals! Afterwards we met Suzi, Giles and Freya who are also from back home! Ethan got so excited watching all the animals, it was so cute!! We all went down to the ferry beach afterwards and enjoyed a boost juice.

On christmas day the weather was a bit pooey, it was really overcast and windy so our plan B came into place to have a turkey dinner inside. We went to church and then when we came back we all rushed around to make a really lovely dinner and had an amazing homemade mango and berry trifle for afters! We walked down to Manly beach after dinner and were amazed that it was so busy, resturants were open, ice cream shops and cafes were full of people...was totally different than christmas back home! In the evening we played some games and had baileys, unfortunatly Allie got some bad news in the evening that her nephew had been rushed to hospital with no feeling from the neck downwards, she felt really helpless being all the way on the other side of the world.

On boxing day we drove up to Palm Beach which took about 40 mins, it was a really hot day and we met Suzi Giles and Freya there. We had a great day swimming and had a bbq. We went for a walk up to the lighthouse and got a great view over the peninsula, Allie got freaked out by all the insect noises which was quite funny!

So we had a great christmas and boxing day although it didnt feel like christmas because it's summer!!!

Part 2 soon...............