Phew...have finally found time to sit down and catch up my blog! The last week or so has been great, catching up with Yvonne (one of my best friends from High School who emigrated with her family 7yrs ago) for Christmas and then flying down to Sydney and meeting up with Coxy (friend from Henderson in London) and some friends from my Africa tour for New Years Eve. And to cap it all off it's my birthday tomorrow so my poor liver is not going to be happy with me!
After arriving at Yvonne's house we spent a lovely couple of days together; she showed me round the area - we went up Mount Tambourine where we went for a walk in the rainforest and stopped off at a crazy little distillery to do some last minute xmas shopping but ended up staying for nearly an hour and doing a tasting with the owner, a real character who originates from Ipswich. He's been here for 40 years but I could detect a twang - I guessed Norfolk so was pretty close!
Christmas was lovely but very different to what I'm used to back at home. We woke up and opened presents under the tree with Yvonne's housemate Anthony, and then went over to her parents' house and opened more presents. Mum, you'll be pleased to hear that Jenny bought me some socks and some posh lip balms so I still had traditional 'mum presents' to open! After a lovely brunch I spent the day lying by the pool in the 30 degree heat, then later we all went over to some friends' and had a traditional Christmas dinner. On boxing day we went to the mall (silly idea, it was of course very busy) and I bought some trainers and sports gear so that I can start to get fit. As I'm going to be in Oz for a few months I thought the investment was worth it. No more excuses!
That evening (after my first jog) we went into Surfers' Paradise and had a drink at the bar on the top floor of the Q1 tower (the world's tallest residential building for all you fact fans). There I met Kirsten, a girl I worked with in London. It was so nice to see her and catch up on all the goings on I've missed out on since leaving in June.
Then Yvonne and I drove down the coast and about 100kms inland to a place called Casino to stay with her boyfriend and his lovely big welcoming Italian family. They live on a beef farm, and I mentioned that I was maybe interested in working on a farm (as a jillaroo) so the next morning Yvonne and I got up at 6am and went to a neighbouring farm to see the cows being milked. It was very interesting but made me realise that the romantic notions I had of working on a farm were a far cry from reality - far too many flies, cow excrement, early mornings and of course, the smell!
I'm now back in Sydney and met up with Gemma, my partner in crime! We had the best New Year's Eve ever, went down to the Rocks (up at 5am to secure a good spot!) and spent all day drinking cheap wine to pass the time before the fireworks. We had a great groupf of people, consisting of friends I met in Africa, Gemma's friends from her travels in Asia and lots of assorted hangers-on. Fantastic atmosphere and quite possibly the best spot in the whole city from which to see the Harbour Bridge and fireworks! Today has been spent recovering and sleeping. Tomorrow it's my 26th birthday (I can't believe it - still not got as clue what i'm doing with my life, but loving trying to find out)! I'm going to meet up with some friends at the Opera Bar and then see where the wind carries us - can't wait!
Thanks for all the comments following my plea on the last blog, it's so lovely to hear from old friends. Happy 2010 everyone!
Eleanor
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