Archive for December, 2008
The Australian Christmas Message
Having heard that the Queen does a speech every year we thought we’d do our own version from her far flung corner of the earth, aka Australia.
This year has been exceptionally exciting for both of us, not only did we quit our jobs(!), but we got married and started our travels around the world. We have both been enjoying ourselves so much over the past 12 months and we hope that you all have too.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and fantastic 2009! We will miss you all over this festive period and to cheer you up in the cold back home we’ve got this cheery picture of our Aussie Christmas for you!
Lots of love xxx
Christmas wishes from Australia
3 comments Wed 24 December 2008
G’day from Summer Bay
We had a lovely day driving up to Palm Beach today. The weather was a bit cloudy, but still nice and warm.
The highlight of the day, of course, was the ‘Summer Bay surf club’ on Palm Beach! It was actually quite strange to be there after watching it on telly for years and wishing I could be there on the beautiful beach!!!
We stopped off at several beaches on the way up as it is such a lovely coastline. The pictures where we are high up on the headland were taken at a place called Mona Vale. It was weird to see such lovely beaches being so quiet during the summer holidays!
Also been shopping for our Christmas BBQ foods and can’t wait! Thanks for all the nice Christmas cards.
Add comment Tue 23 December 2008
Walking the Sydney Harbour Bridge
For a change there were some clouds in the sky last week so we decided to go on a bit of a walk instead of lying on the beach like usual 
We took a bus to The Rocks, which seems like a nice little area. It’s a bit Englishy with some actual old buildings, which makes a change around here! Then we walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It’s modelled on the bridge in Newcastle and does look a great deal like it (as you probably know already!).
We are going to look after our friends’ cat while they are away for Christmas and in return they are letting us use their car, which is really nice. So we are planning a drive to Palm Beach sometime next week (home of the amazing ‘Home and Away’).
Another plan we have is to fly to Melbourne on 22nd January until 25th. We have tickets for the Australian Open, which I’m very pleased about, having tried and failed to get into Wimbledon on several occasions! So we will probably team the trip up with a visit to Ramsey Street – can’t be missed!
Other good news is that Mum and Dad McGowan are going to zoom round the world to see us in February. We are very very happy about it and hear that Sarah and Jonno may pop over in May too. You are all very welcome as long as you are prepared to hear all about South America in great detail!!
Add comment Sun 21 December 2008
Sydney Aquarium
Yesterday we decided that we couldn’t spend all our time sitting on the beach and soaking up the rays that Australia has to offer so we headed off to Darling Harbour to visit the Aquarium. You enter the Aquarium through giant shark jaws… which set the tone for the main exhibit.
Carly isn’t much of one for sticking her head under the water when we go in the sea, as you most probably saw from the Galapagos pictures, so an Aquarium where all the sealife is behind glass is great! We saw lots of fish, including Dory and Nemo, as well as crocs, crayfish, and loads more funky coloured fish. The big thing though was the big tank, where you can walk underneath through lots of underwater tunnels and see all the sharks, massive sting rays, turtles and random fish. Seriously, there where dozens of sharks all of different shapes and size; it was truly amazing seeing them all so up close and from underneath, instead of just the view from the top.
After spending a good few hours there we decided to finish off our fish experience by going to the nearby fish and chip shop and tasting the little fellas deep fried in batter!
1 comment Fri 19 December 2008
Hunter Valley, New South Wales
I have forgiven Dave for posting the horrendous picture of me bowling and am now ready to write again!
We have just had a lovely few days in Hunter Valley, the wine region approx 2 hours from Sydney. It’s a lovely place with hundreds of wineries. We hired a car and headed there last Wednesday. On the way we stopped at a lovely pub for lunch in the middle of nowhere. It felt strange to be in a really nice pub garden and be one of few people in there! I suppose we are not used to that in London!!
Hunter Valley is great, you can just rock up at any winery and try everything they have for free. Of course, you have to drive between them so we went on a bus tour around many of them. It was difficult to pick a favourite from so many different ones. After a few hours we were quite wined out and couldn’t tell the difference between them! Some of the names I remember are Lindemans, Rosemount, Allandale (my favourite), Ivanhoe, Draytons… and many more!!!! After the wine tour we were still functioning enough to be able to cook our first Australian barbie, which was really nice.
During our stay for 2 nights we encountered 2 massive spiders who decided to encroach on us as a team. It was difficult to get both of them back outside and thankfully they weren’t killer ones! Saw our first kangaroo too – yey!
Add comment Sat 13 December 2008
Bowling on the Green
Over the weekend we were invited to go and play bowling. At the time we weren’t too sure what kind of bowling it was going to be, but we soon realised it was going to be the type only old people play back in England… bowls. Initially we were a bit concerned what kind of young people go out and play bowls and who it was we’d end up with, but it was all fine. Apparently in Australia it’s quite cool to go and play barefoot bowls at the weekend! The bowling club was packed full of young people with scooners of beer and the odd family.
Carly and I were obviously instrumental to our teams first win, however as we progressed to the second game I can honestly say I don’t know what the end score was – I think the heat was getting to me by then. Due to our amazing success at our first ever game we’re likely to go back and have another go, the green is only down the road and it seems everyone (good or bad) is welcome.
We also made some good friends with a few people Carly had met from her interviews at UNSW, which we’ll likely to meet up with again. All is good down under!
Off to the Hunter Valley wine region tomorrow for a little break, woohoo!
1 comment Tue 9 December 2008
Dave
Carly