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Published: December 27th 2007
Flying to Sydney from Cairns was a very exciting time for the two Becs as it meant the start of our Christmas and new year experience in Sydney. We chose to spend Christmas day and the days leading up to it on Bondi beach, despite many opinions against such an idea. Some people warned us off this as it wasn't such a good beach, it was too backpackery and the drinking culture took over. We decided to chance it anyway and are glad that we did, although the area is quite busy this we thought only added to its charm and for some reason we found that the Brits were a minority in comparison to the Irish and Canadians. The beach was lovely and even though it's not the best beach we have been to, it certainly wasn't the worst and we found it had quite an English feel to it with the surrounding buildings. We liked this fact as it differed to the countless other beaches we have visited up the coast of Australia.
One afternoon as we chilled out on the hostels rooftop we were fortunate to have witnessed dolphins swimming and jumping effortlessly through the sea. However
they were too far away to take any recognisable pictures so we just watched in awe.
As Becs C was ill leading up to Christmas not much sight-seeing was done for the first few days in Bondi but when she was feeling better we made good use of our time and saw everything we wanted to see. The Bondi to Coogee coastal walk was spectacular with its sweeping views of the coast, bays and beaches to the south of Bondi. A day trip into central Sydney saw us visiting the aquarium and Darling Harbour which was beautiful. The aquarium was amazing, the moon jellyfish were extremely colourful and the shark tanks excited Becs S enormously especially as two huge sharks were swimming around. There was also a massive ray floating around which was HUGE. Although the Paddy Markets were pretty cool and had a certain charm to them, all the people and heat became too much for Bec C as the tiresness kicked in again.
We knew that Christmas in Sydney was going to be strange, for us its a time to be with our families, kept in the warmth protected from the cold and just a special
day. Therefore for us to be a warm country, away from our families and in a country that doesn't seem to have the same Christmas spirit as in England was just plain wierd, we knew that it was Christmas but it just didn't feel like it. We made the best of it though and had a very different but good Christmas. The major thing for us to do was to spend some time down at the beach, but as luck would have it we only managed to spend an hour there as it was freezing, well not freezing as in England freezing but a jumper did have to be donned, gutted! As Bondi is an alcohol free zone in the festive season we had a DIY BBQ in the hostel with our beloved friend Tootheys, yum yum! We spent the afternoon listening to Christmas tunes before going to the cinema to watch National Treasure 2. We found it extremely odd that there were so many people about on Christmas day, buses were running, shops were open and the cinema was open, crazy talk!!! Even though the day was filled up with a wierd sensation, its cool to say we've spent
You gotta love the Tootheys
Or Tooheys as its actually called but Bec always orders a Tootheys!!Christmas at Bondi beach, we wore bikini's on Christmas day and our Christmas dinner was a BBQ, we don't think we'll be able to say that again!
Boxing days weather brightend up fantasticly so we took this opportunity to visit Manly beach, it was gorgeous. The weather was perfect, the crowds and families were out and looking cheerful, the surfers looked awesome and the water was inviting. We were rewarded with a spectacular ferry ride to get to Manly where we saw the beginnings of the annual boat race and the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House in all their glory.
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Lynda
non-member comment
Christmas fun
Hi girls Glad you had a nice Xmas if a bit colder than you expected. I'm writing this on 28 Dec and it's pouring with rain - so much for a white christmas!!! It was great to see your video and speak to you briefly. Hope you enjoyed our attempt to send one back. looking forward to seeing you soon. Love the smiths xxx