MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM SYDNEY

Well what a fantastic start to Christmas in Sydney. I woke at 4am and had a viber message from Dad, saying guess who's just walked in the door!? My reply was... Hmm I wonder who, maybe my secret Santa present that I sent home two days ago has arrived!!!!

I got up and went outside the dorm to phone them. It was so good to hear Mum and Dad in shock and they blamed me for keeping the secret! Apparently Mum was speechless and Dad hut him. Hilarious!!! It was so worth getting up to here their voices.

I went back to sleep (eventually) until 8.30am when someone came into the dorm to wake us up saying Merry Christmas. I had a bottle of passion pop which was corked and the christmas music was pumping as soon as we were awake. Unfortunately for Neil he leaned over the top bunk to look down when I corked the champers.. Resulting in the cork shooting straight upwards hitting him at full force on the neck! It sounded so sore. Whoops sorry Neil.

10am was a free Champagne breakfast in the hostel which included bucks fizz, a mince pie and slice of Christmas cake!!! Santa hats were on and we went down with Gemma and Anthony from our dorm.

There was no other way to spend Christmas in Sydney except head to Bondi Beach. The weather was a scorcher, not a cloud in the sky. There was a free bus from the hostel door which was a boost then the 5 of us headed for a MacDonalds for a proper breakfast. The rest of them were all hungover but Anthony and I were fine!!! It was very weird having a big mac on Christmas Day wi Santa hats on, completely surreal.

Anthony, Gemma and Neil had bought tickets for this festival 'Sunburnt' which was meant to be a massive music festival on bondi beach etc from 12pm till 10pm. Clark and I were so glad we hadn't bought tickets as it was a major con, it was inside and it didn't look very big at all.

On the other hand the beach was heaving. Gorgeous turquoise sea and a massive white beach. Suncream was plastered on, beach towels out, santa hats still on and Christmas music playing through my speakers!! Epic it was :)

Clark and I lay sunbathing on the beach chilling until 4ish when we decided to head back and get ready for our big Christmas dinner. It was so nice of Craig, Lysette, Miree and Neil to invite us round to their flat for Christmas dinner.

Clark headed straight to the flat as we had been invited round to go for a swim and jacuzzi, but I decided to shower and get ready at the hostel as it was less hassle. Craig and Lysette stay in the world tower which is basically right in the centre of down town Sydney and is a spectacular building. Their flat was amazing and they were on the 28th floor so the view was also unbelievable.

After I got ready, I headed round at about 8pm. Craig was working till 9.30pm and the Italians that also lived in the flat were working so it was always going to be a late meal at 10pm. Lysette was the main chef and Miree was her side kick, they did an amazing job. It was Lysettes first roast she had done and everything was spot on.

Roast turkey, ham, yorkies, roasted tatties gravy and big selection of veg!! Then there was pudding.. 4 choices of pudding! It was lovely and felt so lucky to have been part of it. In the end there were 5 Italians and 7 Scots. Neil was meant to be there too but after their music festival they headed back to the dorm early as they were exhausted apparently.

After the meal, everyone was on Skype to people all over the world saying Merry Christmas etc. I took my new iPad :) with me so I was able to speak to everyone. Since Adam had spent a lot of time with everyone in the flat we all skyped him first as a big group and it was so much fun.

I managed to speak to Gran and Auntie Rosemary which was lovely and I phoned Shonagh on viber. Also had a big skype with Dad and while I was speaking to him, Mum came in the door from work so I managed to speak to her too! It worked in perfectly, but I must say I was slightly tipsy during the skype!! Haha.

We played drinking games after all the skype conversations and I was hopeless at them. Phil had a bottle of Amarula the South African liqueur, which is so good. I couldn't believe he had a bottle after I had been drinking that in Africa for months. Clark and I didn't end up leaving the flat till 4.30am, but it was such a fun evening.

I really wanted to break into the kitchen again when we got back to the hostel to make cheese on toast but Clark wasn't keen haha.

What an amazing Christmas Day in Sydney!!! It was fantastic.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!! xxxxxxxx