Friday 25th December - Christmas Day! - We woke up to Christmas day in Sydney and the sun had well and truly disappeared! Although it was still quite warm the clouds had come in and it was definitely not going to be a sunny day!
We got up and opened presents and then had a breakfast of Smoked Salmon and scrambled egg - so far just like England! Where it probably differed from England was where we decided to go Kayaking of Sydney harbour - decidely un-english, but fun! We got to see the Harbour Bridge, Circular Quay and Luna Park from the water and by the time we got back we had all worked up an appetite for a Christmas dinner of Steak, sausages and prawns on the barbie, all eaten outside on Ian and Amandines balcony! In the evening we went back to a more traditional approach to Christmas - vegging in front of the TV and having a few drinks!
Saturday 26th December - Boxing Day! - We went to watch the start of the Sydney- Hobart Sailing race today which was very cool as neither of us have ever seen the start of a yacht race! It was quite a dramatic spinaker start with quite a lot of wind and it was great to stand up on the headland and watch the boats go by!
We also had fish and chips from Doyles, a famous fish restaurant in Sydney. After we had seen the start of the race Ian took us on a driving tour of some of Sydneys beaches, Bondi, Bronte and Coogee to name a few. We didn't get out too much at these as after the clouds of Christmas day rain had set it and was due to stay for a few days!
We had a bit of a lazy afternoon today because of the weather, played on the Wii and then had another great dinner of Steak, prawns, chicken and rice, and Ians freshly made bread rolls which are amazing!
Sunday 27th - We were woken up by Ian about 8am and packed a bag for a few days sailing out of Pittwater where Ian's boat "Sea Monkey" is mored. It took a few hours to get everything sorted and we stopped for Maccys on the way to the boat, about an hours drive away. We also drove past some of the North beaches on the way. The weather was forecast to be rainy but with some decent wind, so we were all a little over excited, however this turned out not to be the case.
Amandine in the cabin
We all had our crew t-shirts on so we looked the part and motored out of the harbour into a very calm waterway! oh dear! We hoisted sail and managed to get a little wind power but for the next few hours it was a mix of sailing and motoring. We stopped whe n the wind totally died and tried a spot of fishing. Didn't catch anything but managed to drop a bag of prawns overboard losing half our bait.
We carried on siling and moored up in Refuge bay with a lot of other very expensive "stink boats" which is Ians name for a fishing boat without sails. Just as we were pulling into the bay we saw a lot of large Jellyfish which was quite cool. Refuge Bay was a beautiful place and the rain did ease off in the late afternoon allowing us to sit on deck and have a late ploughmans lunch.
After lunch we blew up the small dingy (by mouth as we had lost the pump) and after letting it loose and James having to dive to save it, james and amandine rowed over to the mainland where there was a small waterfall and they climbed to the top for a view of the bay. Steph didnt come to the mainland because she had fallen asleep on the bow of the boat wrappd up in her sleeping bag!
In the evening we sat on the boat, had ham sandwiches for dinner, drank lots and generally had a good laugh. We did lots of fishing and we all caught some macrel. Shame it wasnt big enough to keep for dinner.
Monday 28th - We awoke after a cramped nights sleep to pouring rain. It really was heavy but it didnt bother us too much. James got his board shorts on and dived into the water and went for a swim with the dingy, falling off numerous times trying to stand up in it! While Amandine stayed on the boat we went across to the waterfall again which was really flowing now and had a good shower underneath it.
The rain continued all morning and there was no wind again either. Pretty crappy sailing weather! We motored back to the harbour, with a little sailing in places. However, it didnt matter too much as it was a good couple of days. We had a lazy afternoon in front of the TV back at the flat to recharge our batteries. We then headed out to 'Indian Palace' an Indian restaurant to sample some Australian Curry. We had 4 different currys and types of naan bread so we could try them all and they were yummy - although a little warm for Steph!
Tuesday 29th - We had a really lazy day today. Steph was shown how to make bread and muffins by Ian this morning which we had with bacon for brunch. They were beautiful! We played on the wii and did a bit of shopping for some fleece for stephs snuggie that Ian is making her for xmas and then in the evening we walked to the Rowing Club near Ians flat for some dinner overlooking the waterways which was beautiful.
Wednasday 30th - We met up with our friends from the Oz Ex tour bus today for a BBQ on Coogee Beach. We organised it yesterday through facebook and over 30 people turned up! We were well impressed with the turn out and it was a great day. We met about 1pm but were a bit late and the sun was shining for us too! We had all brougth food to cook on the public beachside BBQs; Steph and I had got steak burgers, NICE! It was an afternoon of drinking, eating, playing frisbee and messing about in the considerable sized waves. It was a great day.
We left the beach about 7pm and headed for the centre of town for a drink with Jeff. We took the bus and got off at Hyde Park which was beautiful at night, with tree lined paths and fountains. We walked down to Darling Harbour and had a snack and drinks at a bar on the harbour front. Ian and Amandine met us later on and we got a taxi back home with them leaving Jeff with a few of his friends from home who had also met us.
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