The last week - Harbord - next door to Manly

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After a fabulous Christmas we headed back to Sydney to spend a week at the beach at a house we rented in Harbord. We couldn't find anything to rent in Manly for that time of year so we headed to neighbouring Harbord and we were walking distance to the beautiful beaches of Freshwater and Curl Curl. It proved to be a good move as Manly was packed full of young and beautiful Brits (we fitted in well but for the young bit). The beach was too crowded. Also Harbord was quite cute - we loved the Harbord Hilton Hotel (sounds posh but not at all - Aussies call pubs 'hotels' and it certainly wasn't part of the Hilton chain).

It was another relaxing week, well as relaxing as Matthew would allow it to be. He loved the surf and also caught loads of crabs in the rock pools. Some days the surf was too rough with nasty rips and the lifeguards stopped everyone going into the sea. Fortunately most of the beaches have swimming pools for kids (and for those who kept losing their bikini bottoms in the sea).

We took a trip up to the northern Beaches - to Palm Beach aka Summer's Bay - it definitely worth a visit as it's simply stunning. We stopped off in Avalon and even the drive up was good with great views.

The best experience for this week was New Year's Eve. We all agreed to ignore the expense to make the most of a once in a life time opportunity. We headed on a Sydney Harbour Cruise for the fireworks........wow. It was another highlight of our entire trip. The fireworks were just amazing. The price of the cruise included all food and drink so we supped (ok downed) champagne and danced the night away. The atmosphere was great - it will be a New Years that will be hard to beat. And I never thought I'd see Matthew eating sushi!

Well this is the last entry and although we're all sad to leave, it's always nice to go home. (although Jill an Kevin go via Thailand for a week - v jealous).


Next stop.....home

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Photos

Whoops!
I didn't even try surfing - I can't stay on the board when I'm lying on it!

Home and Away
Outside the surf club in Summer Bay

Palm Beach
You can see why Home and Away is filmed here - it's beautiful

New YearsEve
Cruising under the Harbour Bridge