Sydney, NSW Australia
December 24th 2015
Thursday morning we joined our hosts on a trip to the very busy Sydney fish market. It was quite the experience, and we purchased some fresh fish to cook for Christmas dinner. Our hosts were gracious enough to share lunch with us. After lunch we decided to head downtown to explore. We walked through downtown Sydney taking in all the Christmas decorations and festivities, even grabbing a pair of reindeer antlers and posing for some silly photos. It still felt weird seeing Christmas stuff everywhere, as it didn’t really feel like Christmas to two Canadians wandering abroad. We headed down to the waterfront eventually, and man was it ever beautiful. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House are quite the sight, especially when they are lit up at night. We grabbed dinner in the historic and beautiful Rocks neighbourhood. I enjoyed a delicious kangaroo rump while Mom enjoyed some fish. I also tried affogato for dessert for the first time. As I said, the waterfront is quite breathtaking when everything is lit up at night. Eventually we headed home on tired feet ready to wait for Santa. We also called the boys to let them know about their Christmas perogie surprise.
December 25th 2015
Friday morning, or should I say Christmas morning, we shared a delicious breakfast with our hosts. I particularly enjoyed the salmon and brie. We brought them from maple syrup from back home, and they gave us a box of homemade chocolates and a set of earrings for me! We decided to do the ultimate Australian tourist Christmas activity and head to world famous Bondi beach. We’d bought a scenic hop-on, hop-off bus tour ticket so we enjoyed a ride around Sydney learning all the local history, and then hopped on the bus to Bondi. It was a gorgeous day, so of course the beach was very busy. After stuffing our faces with fish and chips and snapping a couple of cheesy tourist photos we decided to brave the waves and venture in. We played it safe and stayed between the marked flags, and even there the surf was very rough. But it was quite fun jumping around in the waves! We eventually headed back to the apartment to cook our seafood Christmas dinner. After dinner we headed back to Sydney Harbour, but it was starting to rain so we just grabbed coffee and dessert then went home. We set an alarm and woke up at 1am Sydney time to Skype the family back home on Christmas morning, which was really nice. The amazing power of technology almost made it feel like we were there opening presents with them. Then it was back to sleep for us haha!
December 26th 2015
Saturday morning (well late morning) we decided to venture back to Bondi beach for a scenic coastal walk after taking in some shopping at The Rocks market. Unfortunately for us the market was not on that day, and the rain started just as we got to the beach. But we did the walk anyways, and the breathtaking rugged coastline was well worth getting a little wet. We made it down to Tamarama beach (after stopping every step to take another photo), and after chatting with some lifeguards about whether it was safe (or too friggin cold) to go we took a plunge into the icy waters. It wasn’t actually too bad, and was quite a lot of fun. We did the rest of our walk wrapped in our big fuzzy towels. Dinner that night was at a lovely greek restaurant on King’s Wharf, overlooking Darling Harbour. There were even some fireworks to cap off a beautiful evening!
December 27th 2015
Sunday was overcast and we had a flight to catch later in the evening, so we just spent the day shopping in The Rocks Market and along Pitt Street, Sydney’s chic shopping street. We grabbed lunch at the busy fish market, where I tried “bugs” for the first time. They are basically like miniature lobsters. We then headed to the airport to catch a flight to the next part of our journey!
Merry Christmas!
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