HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Matt and I spent Christmas and New Year in Sydney and whilst it was very different basking in the sun over the yuletide season we kept it fairly traditional - roast turkey on Christmas day, turkey curry on boxing day and far too much drink on New Year's Eve!

We have been staying at Lesley's flat again and got up on Christmas day to see if Santa had come. Luckily for us he had and I got very excited about opening my stocking which was filled with goodies - well if you can count a pair of pants and a Pez as goodies that is! We then started drinking (that's what you do on Christmas day isn't it?) and took a stroll along the coast and onto Bondi beach. It wasn't as hot as other days have been which was actually really nice, it made it feel a bit more like home. We went back and set up the dinner table and I started cooking our meal. We ate so much that we couldn't even face a pudding which, as many of you will know, is very unlike Matt and I. We had a really lovely day and finished it off with a game of Scrabble - I won but as I said to the others, "it's the taking part that counts".

From Boxing day to New Year we spent most of our time on the beach and only visited the sales once. We then met up with a friend from back home, Annalise, who we were seeing in the new year with. Annalise's sister was having a party on her terrace that just happened to overlook Sydney Harbour so we got a prime spot away from all the crowds to watch the spectacle happen. After a few glasses of fizz, a couple of Pimms, one or two Moscow Mules and a cold bottle of beer (or six) we counted down to midnight and watched for fifteen minutes as the Harbour Bridge lit up with an amazing display of fireworks. The party then carried on until the earlier hours but I won't bore you with all the details, well I might if I could remember them, but I'm assured that we all had a fantastic night.

Before arriving in Sydney for Christmas we spent a week in Melbourne which was brilliant. As you know we sold Eric as soon as we got there which was very sad but we quickly found a new love, it was Melbourne. Our favourite city so far, full of small funky bars, lovely little restaurants, great CAKE SHOPS and a very European air that made us feel at home instantly. We spent the week checking out all these little bars, clubs and cake shops and of course, we had to pay a visit to Ramsay street too.

I preferred this street to Ramsay street myself.

Going the whole hog we also went along to the 'Neighbours Night' which involved a pub full of 18-21 year olds getting very drunk and screaming their heads off when a man dressed up as Bouncer the dog - the real Bouncer died 7 years ago as any real fan would know - ran among them. Matt and I obviously felt far too old for it all and decided to leave just after the 'snogging contest' got under way. We couldn't resist a few photos with the 'megastars' (as they were referred to) before we left though. Matt made a classic faux pas by shaking hands with Alan Fletcher and saying "Nice to meet you Karl". Very uncool.

Is it just me or does Matt look like he could be related to Dr. Karl?

Melbourne was great and we look forward to going back there, when that will be we are not too sure yet. We have about six weeks of travelling left before we have to decide where we will go for work and as yet we are still not sure. Now though we are off to New Zealand for a month so we'll worry about work once we get back.