Back Again...

Hello again! So now I'm just sitting at work and willing the cricket to finish so I can go home as I've been at work for 11 hours already! So much for a cruisy last event! So anyway, back to Christmas and the big day was spent with Kevin and Jeanette at Jeanette's brother-in-laws sisters house. I think! Anyway it was up in the mountains and it was a beautiful day which meant it didn't feel like Christmas at all so no homesickness which I was a little worried about. I didn't drink vodka red bull on Christmas Eve so I didn't have a hangover for a change! We got there at about 2 and had a couple of glasses of champagne as I got acquainted with the cutest little puppy ever (and I don't even like animals so he must've been cute!) and then it was time for dinner. Now from what people had told me I was expecting sausages and prawns from the BBQ but how wrong I was! Christmas dinner Aussie style consists of: prawns, smoked trout (which I actually liked), smoked salmon, 2 bowls of pasta (different flavours), 2 salads (different flavours again), roast turkey, roast pork and roast potatoes! I have never been so pleased to see roast turkey and roast potatoes in my life and I ate so much I felt ill! I loved my Christmas dinner and was so pleased to have some traditional food! After that (about 3 hours later once everyone had room) it was Christmas pudding and mince pies with custard - more proper Christmas food hooray!! It was really good to be with a big group of people on Christmas Day and I even didn't mind not going to the beach! After that it was time for cocktails. The first batch were Harvey Wallbangers which I've never tried before but will definitely be going back for and I can't remember the name of the second batch but it had Champagne and some blue stuff in it and they weren't very nice at all! After a few hours I hopped on a train (yes all of the public transport runs in Australia on Christmas Day which makes me wonder if it actually reduces incidences of drink driving at all) so I managed to get a train straight home to speak to mummy and daddy and smeg and grandma and granddad. Then I watched a cr@p film with Drew Barrymore in and then it was time for bed! Boxing Day was another beautiful day and me and Jo had planned to go to Watson's Bay on South Head to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race. I had heard that this is massive so we decided to get an early ferry from Sydney over to the Bay. On arrival it was fairly busy so we got some fish and chips from the yummy takeaway and headed up the hill to wait for the start of the race. This is the third time I've been to Watsons Bay and I finally remembered to take my camera so will get those pics on soon! Fortunately, we arrived early enough to pick a good spot. Unfortunately for me I had worn jeans and it was about 30 degrees with no cloud so I was roasting! Anyway, the harbour was completely full of boats as all the rich people took their boats out to get a good view. It made me wonder how the yachts that were racing would find their way through but apparently there is an exclusion zone in place so they have to leave a track through the middle. Anyway, the race started at 1pm and about 20 minutes later all of the support boats (at least a hundred!) came through first followed by Wild Oats in first place. I think Wild Oats has won the Sydney-Hobart for about 7 years in a row or something like that so it was the clear favourite from the start. I actually thought for about 2 days afterwards that it was the Channel 7 TV boat as it was sponsored by them and it wasn't until I saw it on the front page of the newspaper after it won that I realised any different. Very observant of me indeed! Anyway it was a good day and I got a bit of colour back in my skin. Really must start remembering that I need to carry sun cream around with me in Australia! After that I went to see the new Brad Pitt movie in Newtown and then another early night in preparation for Saturday! Saturday was the day I'd been waiting for and the day I finally got to climb the bridge. After hearing how Auntie Sheila took on Granddad's traits and resigned from trivial pursuit (tsk tsk) I was ready to roll. Now I was expecting just to rock up, strap on the harness and get on up there but noooooooooooooooo. Apparently climbing the bridge is a very involved process. First of all they take your group into a room and you have to fill in a form to say that you're fit etc and then they breathalyse everyone too. Fortunately I knew about this part so stayed off the vodka red bull the day before! After the breath test, you get taken through and you all have to stand in a circle and introduce yourself to the other people in your group. Most people were climbing with other people but there were three of us on climbing on our own so we kinda tagged onto each other. Then they give you your suit and you go through to the changing area and get changed into the lovely grey jump suits. After that we were taken through to meet our climb leader. Ours was called Damien and he got us all kitted out. First of all was a belt which basically holds everything together. After that you get equipped with heaps of straps. You can take your sunglasses up there but they have to be on a special strap which then hooks onto your suit and you get a cap and hankies and all of it hooks onto your suit. I guess if something fell off it would probably kill someone - I even had to take the hairclip out of my hair! After that they take you over a bridge simulator where they teach you how to climb ladders and then finally it's time to get a radio and a headset so you can listen to the commentary. The climb starts fairly easily with a few steps up onto the base and then once you get into the stone pilon its time to climb a bunch of ladders into the actual arch of the bridge and then after that it's a very gentle stair climg to the very top of the bridge. I was actually expecting it to be a little more strenuous than it was but it was totally fine and not scary at all and not difficult either. You're also fastened to the bridge at all times so it's not like anything could happen if you fell off. The view from the top is AMAZING! I was lucky and got a pretty clear day so you could see for miles. I could also see a huge cloud rolling in from the east which later turned out to be a torrential downpour! I think weather men should just stand on top of the bridge and forecast - they'd get a great view! We also got to see the engineers at the top of the bridge fitting all the fireworks for New Years Eve. What was slightly scary was that they weren't wearing any safety gear at all so I wonder who would get sued if one of them fell. Damien told us a story from when the bridge was being built about one of the workers had fallen 53 metres from the bridge and landed in the water. Not only did he survive but he also was back at work 18 days later! Crazy fool! Apparently there was no compensation in the olden days so his employers gave him a medal sayin 'I survived falling from the Sydney Harbour Bridge' - new theme park ride anyone? Anyway the bridge climb was totally cool and just another thing I'd add to the list of recommendations for Sydney. It's expensive but totally worth it and at the end you get a certificate and a photo of the whole group to take away. I was going to buy a CD with my individual photos on but since it was $40 for a CD with 1 photo and then an extra $15 for each extra photo I decided against it and just bought a hard copy picture instead! On Saturday arfternoon I moved into my lovely new apartment. Technically it's not mine and never will be but it's mine for 2 weeks so thats good enough! My friend has gone to Perth for Christmas where his family is and very generously (or stupidly depending on which way you look at it) has given me the keys to his apartment overlooking the river while he's away! Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet! So I went there on Saturday night as there was another rugby league film on TV (also starring Matthew Johns but this time as himself) so Jo came over to watch that on the massive HD TV on the second comfiest sofa (second to Sarah and Simon's!) I have ever had the pleasure of parking my bum on! The apartment is sooooooooo nice and really big and has a massive balcony that stretches all the way around it and it's in Rozelle which is a nice area close to the city. I could easily claim squatters rights and stay there. In fact maybe I will! Haha good job Mustafa doesn't read this or he'd be on the first flight back! Sunday was my day of rest which was desperately needed and then Monday was back to work. And it was really busy which sucked as I was hoping for a nice easy day. And that's it! Back to today and I am still at my desk waiting for the cricket to finish so I can throw the Members out and go home! Still to come: the greatest fireworks show on earth (allegedly), new years day hangover, watching the aussies getting beaten at cricket (always enjoyable), potential sea kayaking (although this may have been canned due to the number of shark sightings in the area at the moment), last day of work, leaving do, another leaving do. Home xx