Continuing on from the previous picture post, our last day in Byron Bay was on Christmas Eve. When I was planning our trip originally, I wasn’t sure where we’d be for Christmas, but luckily Helen and Frank, a couple we had also met on our trip in Africa, generously offered to let us spend the holidays with their family. They picked us up in Byron Bay and gave us a tour of the coastline on the way down to their house. First we stopped right near by at the Byron Bay lighthouse, the easternmost point in Australia.

Although for both of us, spending Christmas away from home was very different, I think for me especially, it was strange just to have the warm weather and not have any snow. Hearing Winter Wonderland on the radio just didn’t seem right when the temperatures were in the 80s and the sun was brightly shining. Helen and Frank made us feel a part of their Christmas though, and we participated in a normal Australian activity – visiting the beach on Christmas.

Staying at their house for a couple days made us feel part of the family, and Jaz was especially happy to be able to have a new dog to play with. Certainly no one protested when Jaz volunteered to walk the dog each day! (I told him it could be his practice since he so badly wants a dog now.)

After our morning enjoying the waves at the beach, we drove down to pick up Helen’s uncle and headed to her brother’s house where we had a lovely Christmas dinner. (And in case anyone is wondering, because I didn’t know what Christmas crackers were, they are party favor type things that include paper crowns.)

Leaving Helen and Frank’s, we headed to our final stop in Australia, Sydney. Because of the craziness over New Year’s, many places require minimum lengths of stay, so we spent the longest time out of any city there, a whole week. Our only major activity we had planned was to climb the Sydney Harbor bridge. Billed as an adventure activity, it was more of a sightseeing tour, but still tons of fun to be able to walk up the steel onto the very top of the bridge, where we saw fabulous views of the harbor. Sadly, we weren’t allowed to take our cameras up onto the bridge, I guess the fear of it being dropped onto a passing car below are slightly justified.

The week in Sydney was overall a lot of fun, but our main purpose for being there was to celebrate New Year’s Eve on the harbor with the fireworks. I had scoped out where we should sit on my previous visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens, and the night before looked up the gate times. We arrived at 8 am since the gates opened at 10 am to find several thousand people already lined up waiting to get a spot on the lawn.

By noon we had made it through the security check to our location for the day, slightly farther back than I had wanted, but still a great view of the bridge and Opera House. Waiting the whole day was not as boring as one might think, I mostly read and napped and Jaz did a lot of people watching (and napping as well).

Sydney this year had a 7 million dollar budget for fireworks, and after the 9 pm display for the kids, we knew we were going to be impressed with the midnight ones. A minute before midnight, the countdown began, and everyone rushed down to the front of the lawn to get the best view.

Since not much can compare to New Year’s Eve in Sydney, the rest of our time there we spent relaxing and exploring the city. We took a ferry out to see the views on the harbor; we also walked the old section of town in The Rocks.

I had finally become accustomed to Australia in the almost two months we spent there, and to be leaving was a little bittersweet. Just looking again at my spreadsheet (again, not ridiculously long) though was enough to make me excited to be leaving for New Zealand!