January 3rd

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Sydney, Australia - January 3rd - 11:46pm
Lee and I planned on getting up at 4:45am to watch the ship sail into Sydney, as you can picture, the alarm went off and I rolled over!

Lee went head and did dispatch and I slept and read a bit more. We were meeting up with Jean (a lady Lee and I met at a Miata event in October) and her friend Paul at 10:45am. We headed outside and met up with them. They had a route planned out for us, so we headed out on the open road. They took us the National Park North West of Sydney and up and around to Paul’s house in Campbelltown. The trip was absolutely great; we got to see a little more than the tourist part of Sydney. We drove to some beaches that were gorgeous. A few kids were attempting to surf but there wasn’t much surf so they just drifted around on their boards. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at a little fish and chip shop. Paul and his wife, Diane, welcome us all into his home.
We enjoyed some coffee and great conversation. Their children joined in, Sean (12), Isaac (16), Vanessa (18). The time was ticking by and dinner time soon crept up on us. They were kind enough to invite us for dinner, where we had an ‘Australian barbie’. They had brought a small amount of Kangaroo out for Lee and I to try and I’ m sure you all know what my reaction was…GUESS AGAIN. When in Rome…I tried a small bite of Kangaroo and it was very very tender, tasted similar to beef but very nice actually. Don’t know if I could eat more than the bite size I had but it wasn’t all that bad.

We ate dinner outside on the porch and we shared our stories. Lee filled them in on his modified car stories. It was absolutely lovely. The kids were drinking blueberry cordial, which looks exactly like Windex so sure enough that was the on-going joke for the night.

We were all getting tired and it was an hour into Sydney so we took off at 10:30ish. Lee and I got back on the ship just in time to realize that my luggage had to be out in the corridor by midnight, so the stateroom attendants could take it off the ship. I packed a few more things and set it outside just in time (11:46pm). Lee’s told me stories about stateroom attendants not getting tipped by their guests and they inject bleach into the suitcases to teach them…Muhamad’s tip is still in the envelope on the table so I hope nothing happens! Haha

Lee and I are both completely knackered so we are off to bed. Good Night everyone.

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