Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Tasmania

A big 'Thank You' to all our family and friends (both old and new) for all the special Christmas wishes and e mails cards we've received. It's great to know that you are all thinking of us!

We weren't really looking forward to Christmas so much this year as we've never spent the time away from our family. However we have the most wonderful 'foster family' that anyone could wish for - the Lutjens family, who have taken us under their wing and looked after us so well. We have had a few days at their home and they kindly lent us a vehicle so we could take in some of the sights of this marvellous island (but that's for another blog!)

We've arrived back yesterday to spend the festive season with our 'family' and are now so looking to it. The last photo is us on Christmas morning in front of their magnificent tree. We are about to have a Christmas breakfast and we'll post more photos later - MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

The first photo is us all having breakfast - mmmmmm! Doreen, Rick, Amelia, Sebastian, Rick's dad Han and of course, Keith and I.

The next couple of photos are where we are actually staying, check out those views from the house.

This is me and Amelia having a little afternoon tipple. We were in charge of the roast potatoes, a huge responsibility!

We had our Christmas dinner about 8pm. Keith was a nervous wreck as he had been put in charge of the gravy! Rick's sister Leoni and her husband Eric also joined us for the feast.

Here is Doreen with her scrumptious homemade desserts, summer pudding and a panetone trifle!

After dinner the candles were lit on the tree (yes real ones) and the presents were opened. Even we had presents, everyone here has been so kind and generous thinking of us.

So a huge 'Thank You' to Rick, Doreen, Amelia, Sebastian, Han, Leoni and Eric for a fantastic Christmas day.

Blue Mountains

The first day at the Blue Mountains it was doing what it often does at the top of a mountain - raining! However, you'll see we put the first few hours to good use. This is Elvis melting real chocolate in the bowl, then adding milk and then drinking it through a straw. The whole thing is melted by the candle in the bottom (I had some too!).



This is a Cafe we stopped at for tea and scones (with jam and clotted cream of course). The place has thousands of tea pots, so this picture is for Ma Hodgson - a lover of fine china!

...and this picture is for Sister Poll, who loves her Doll's houses

The next picture is for the Elves's - lovers of sweet shops!

You can see some of the blue mountains in the background. They really are blue, which is caused by the eucalyptus oil evaporating from the tree leaves. The sun then catches the oil and creates a blue tinge.

To the left of this picture is three rock monoliths. Aborigine's story says that these are three sisters that were turned to stone when men from another village tried to take them by force - I couldn't figure out why the men didn't get turned to stone, but there's the old days for you.

A free cup of tea if anyone can work out why Elvis is extremely nervous in this picture.

These are brass statues of the three sisters I mentioned earlier, Elvis is having a dance with this one

This one wasn't up to dancing - as you can see she has her hands full!

The next pictures are all from an amazing walk through the mountains. Unfortunately, it should have ended being 'an amazing walk' but this one turned in to a bit of a nightmare. Half way through waterfalls, rock faces, valleys and native bush - it rained - really rained. Just as we were about to finish the walk, we got lost (we later found out that the path we should have took went through a small waterfall, but it had rained so hard it was impassable!) We ended up off track for 30 minutes then decided we were lost - the only option was to go back. The problem was the last bus was in one hour and we were three hours down the track. To cut a long story short - we made it back for the last bus. We literally ran all the way back - up steps, ladders through rivers and waterfalls. We were really pleased to get back (Elvis even give the bus driver a hug), we thought the drama was all over then..............

..... when we got back to the hostel and got in the shower, we noticed we were carrying some unwanted passengers. If you're faint of heart - switch off now. I had four leeches on me, three on my legs and one in the middle of my back - Elvis had six on her legs. I nearly collapsed but I have to say Elvis handled it very well! The next time we went out we had the trousers tucked firmly into the socks!

Sydney

Give this picture a 'click' - it's better if you see it in full size!


We were actually staying in the city, which you can see all lit up in the distance of this picture. We walked all the way down to Circular Quay, then over the bridge and then waited by the river and took in the beautiful view. The next few pictures are taken from various points along the way, off the bridge, under the bridge etc etc.








This is 'George Street', all decked out for Christmas. This is on the way to 'Circular Quay'.

The Harbour Bridge at sunset - if you want to offend the people from Sydney you need to refer to it as the 'coat hanger'.

Another free cup of tea to anyone who can tell me where in the world you would find a very similar bridge to this - but smaller (both bridges are based on the same blue print).

This is the botanical gardens - we called in on the way down to the opera house. We had a visit of the opera house and even say the dancers practicing for 'Nutcracker'. Some of the male dancers looked a little 'light on their feet'.

This is a demo of how to play the digeree-doo. Apparently, you need to develop a technique of being able to breath in through your nose while blowing out of your mouth. I think Elvis will be quite good at this because I've heard her talk five minutes non stop and without stopping for breath either.

HMS Endeavour - or a bloody good replica! It's a free cup of tea to the first person who can tell us who sailed around in this.

No - this is not the latest version of my sunglasses, you'll notice these are much smaller!

This is us at the iMax theatre watching 'Beowolf' in 3D - it was one of the most amazing things ever, not so much because the film was that good (it wasn't bad actually) but the effects are really amazing. I don't think it would have the same effect with a film like 'Pride and Prejudice' - so if you're going to an 3D iMax - pick the right film is my top tip!!

This is Darling Harbour at night

Darling harbour Christmas decorations - note Elvis's hair blowing in the wind and mine ... not!

This is a Lorekeet, seen all over the place, very colourful.

Sydney harbour with the famous opera house as seen from the ferry.

Two right posers in front of the opera house at night.

This is the Christmas tree in Sydney centre -near the town hall.

Byron Bay - Chilling out in Hippie Land!

Well this is me standing outside our latest mode of transport - The infamous Greyhound Bus! This has taken us the whole way down the east coast from Mission Beach to Sydney (but that's for another blog!)






So Bryon Bay - jaw dropping beaches, a wonderful chilled out hippie vibe and an abundance of 'soap dodgers'! (Keith's latest name for the 'younger' generation of backpackers)

We really had a bit of a ball here just enjoying true Australian beach life!













It wasn't all lazing around as we did embark on an early morning, that is a 4.15am alarm call to see the sun rise at Cape Byron. This is the most easterly point in Oz and is the first place to see the sun. Whilst you lot were all having your tea on the previous day - we were watching the sunrise on your next day - that's one way of thinking about it!







Notice the crowd at the rails watching the first rays. The soap-dodgers were moaning all day about having to get up so early!


















This is the famous lighthouse at cape Byron (from various angles!).





























This is us enjoying a sweet cider and a beer (disguised as a cup of tea - and no sister, Sandersfields and Jenny & Andy, we will not be providing evidence) with pizza and garlic bread on the beach! Everybody does it so it would be rude not to join in!

A free cup of tea to anyone who can guess who gave Byron Bay its name.

A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our niece Erin for the 19th December - hope you enjoyed your time in Philly and have a great Christmas at home with the family.