Arriving in Oz

First things first we hope everyone had a FANTASTIC CHRISTMAS and JOY FILLED NEW YEAR! I know we did!

And on to our latest adventures: Our last full day in New Zealand we managed to sell the van on to a nice Swiss couple, may it serve them as well as it has served us. It was a relief to see it go but we did have a 'Plan B' which in the end was not needed.

So on the 20th we arrived in Oz, Dave picked us up at the airport and drove us through Sydney, over the Habour Bridge, to sunny Gosford, his home town. The next few days were filled with lots of catching up, we told Dave of all our adventures and he showed us his life up until now, which seeing as I've known him for most of that time was really cool to see and hear! He does make a great tour guide (we've seen lots of beaches so far!!) and host.

Christmas day was spent with the Pashleys, but not before taking time out in the morning to get some beach time in, lovely hot weather and a refreshing sea! Back at Dave's crib Fran and Dave teamed up to bring us a turkey dinner feast (with prawns to start!) which fed the 5 of us with loads to spare. It was so nice to catch up with Ken and Meg too and it really made Christmas away from home seem special and memorable.

Most of the days in between were spent soaking up the sun on various beachs along the Central Coast. They've all been beautiful, with golden sand, sea with great waves and strong currents. I've been surprised so far as to how green it is here North of Sydney, anywhere that hasn't been developed (which is most of it) is lush green forest and stretches as far as the eye can see. Its also got a lot more hills than you'd think!

For New Years Eve Fran and I decided we wanted to be in the thick of things, so at midday took the train into Sydney and joined the queue to get to the vantage point at Mrs Macquaries Point, little did we know it did laps of the park, 4 and a half hours later we had finally got in and bagged a reasonable spot with views of the bridge and opera house. We relaxed into the evening with the crowd (mostly non-Aussies!) and at 9:00 got our first taste of Sydney fireworks - the family show. By midnight the sparkling wine was flowing and we moved forward to get a better view of the fireworks - and they didn't disappoint! Seeing them on TV only gives you a small insight into just how big these guys do it!

In a couple of days we are going to watch Australia take on the South Africans in the cricket at the Sydney Cricket Ground, it should be a great day and we're all looking forward to it. After that we are going on a long weekend camping with Dave and some of his friends, then we head to Cairns and hopefully buy a car.