Our last full day in Sydney

Our last full day in Sydney included a walk in the Royal Botanic Gardens, lunch with lovely Rosalie and dinner at Garfield Fish Restaurant in Manly Beach that included, of course, friend calimari.

Walking the Coathanger

Surfing in the city at the Sydney Museum

Sydney Harbour Bridge from the Rocks

Our old stomping grounds

Westin Sydney

Our hotel room nightlight, the clocktower

The view from the hotel lounge offered a direct view to our old apartment!

 We're back in Sydney and running around making the most of our time in the city.  The rain held off (can you believe they've had a month of wet weather?!) and we made it across the bridge and back to Kirribilli one more time.

Christmas Day

Our stay in beautiful Noosa came to an end and it was time to head south to Sydney.  We drove 10 hours south on Christmas Eve and spent the night in a hotel in Port Macquarie.  The kids opened small gifts that morning (we had written a letter to Santa to ask him to bring our presents to CT on New Year's Eve - more fun!) and then we were on the road again.  Our good friends Daniel and Anita invited us to Anita's mother's house in Newcastle for Christmas Day.  It was so nice to be with family on Christmas as it made the day much more special for all of us.  We left that evening and drove the final two hours to Sydney, where we'll be ending up our month-long adventure.  

The obligatory tourist photo in Australia

Olivia and Ella sharing a Christmas cracker

"Big Luke" and "Little Luke'

Christmas lunch, complete with prawns, oysters, "sparkling" and crowns (from the crackers)

Traditional Aussie dessert ... Christmas pudding with whiskey cream and custard ... yum

A game of cricket after the big meal

Sydney to Hobart Race

Olivia in hour-long conversation with a woman from The Netherlands

The skies weren't spectacular but the start of the 67th Sydney to Hobart race was.  We travelled to Watson's Bay to watch the boats make their way out of the Sydney Harbour on their way to Hobart, Tasmania.  We climbed to the "heads" to watch, which are the high cliffs that mark the entrance to the harbour from the Coral Sea.  There is a cyclone heading to the northern part of the country and Sydney is feeling some of the effects.  The winds kept everything fresh and there was just a bit of mist in the air.  I'm sure it will be a bumpy ride for the sailors.

View back to the city from the heads

Watson's Bay

We're starting to get the hang of this surfing thing ...