Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve in Darling Harbour where there were lots of festivities going on and strange things like huge inflatable Father Christmases floating about on the water, a very intimidating flashing neon 'HO HO HO' christmas tree and carol singing en-mass. We hunted about for a restaurant  which proved quite tricky as everywhere was packed, but eventually found a table at Nick's Seafood Restaurant. We had a delicious supper and even were treated to some spectacular fireworks over the harbour at 9pm which were very impressive and got us excited for New Years!

Despite the fact that I had been preparing for a hot and sunny Christmas for about 5 months, on Christmas Day in Sydney, it RAINED. Temperatures dropped down to about 22 degrees and there was a steady drizzle all day, however it strangely managed to make us all feel a little bit more like it was actually Christmas because of the fact that it felt a bit like winter.

I got up and went down to the hotel in the morning to meet the Fam and we had a jolly morning opening some prezzies and drinking fizz, playing Michael Bublé and pretending that we couldn't see the beach out the window. I was a very lucky girl to receive THESE BABIES:

Classic Ray Ban Wayfarers in Tortishell with Polarised lenses, thank you very much!

Sunglasses are essential wear in Australia as it is sunny every day here (apart from Christmas, sad face) and Australians are very concerned with sun damage to your eyes and find it strange when you don't wear them. My only pair are crappy and old and cost about £10 from some market stall somewhere in Salisbury, and so these swanky new things are a welcome addition to my face/wardrobe/head.

After a lovely cosy morning we all dressed up in our glad-rags and scuttled out the door and straight into a taxi to avoid the rain and headed to Woolloomooloo Warf for lunch.

Woolloomooloo Warf is a gorgeous place which is basically just a long strip of amazing restaurants by the water, all serving delicious gourmet food in a very funky, lively atmosphere. It's a very cool place to be and is one of my favourite places to eat in Sydney. You can do all sorts of fun stuff like arrive by boat too. Look how pretty it is...!

We went to a groovy restaurant called Criniti's which is an amazing and very rustic Italian with delicious food and hundred of cocktails to choose from. Needless to say, we tried most of them.... 

It was a bit strange to be in a restaurant for Christmas lunch, but because of the rain they had big patio heaters on along the warf and we were tucked up in a cosy little corner where we stayed for four hours (!) and in the end we felt very Christmassy indeed. The waiters and waitresses were super friendly and didn't mind one bit when we started being very loud and playing charades at our table...! There were loads of families about and it was quite fun to be part of a kind of big communal Christmas celebration with everyone dressed up nicely and enjoying the atmosphere in the restaurant.

In the evening, we snuggled up in the hotel beds and watched a few films to help our food coma along, until my Dad had a random stroke of inspiration to go for a night swim on the beach... cue mass hilarity and girly screaming. I decided I didn't want to swim and would just document the whole event, however I ended up getting almost as wet due to the horizontal rain and general uselessness of my umbrella.

We returned to the hotel all a bit bedraggled and to many a strange look from the hotel staff... oh well, it's just how us Whitmans do Christmas!

B

Family

The fam have arrived!

Sadly, even though I was 45mins early to the airport, I managed to wait in the wrong arrivals hall and so our reunion was a little disjointed, but eventually we all found each other. Arrivals was packed as everyone was coming to meet their friends and family who were flying out to Australia and there were lots of smiling faces and tearful reunions going on around me. 

Once we were finally together again we hopped in a cab to get away from the thronging masses as quickly as possible and arrived shortly at the hotel. They were all very pale and jetlagged and just, well... squishy! You forget how much you body changes throughout the seasons, and comparing their pale English winter skin to my Australia summer skin was absolutely hilarious, no offence guys. 

After they had showered and unpacked I took them down to Coogee to let them thaw out a bit. It was a boiling hot day and they just kind of melted onto the beach in the heat. This was Moo's reaction to this sun...

Squinty mole rat

As per my usual routine, I made them do the Coogee to Bondi walk that afternoon too. Sadly, after only about 20mins, this was the state of them... I felt a bit mean.

Ella was dying of heat exhaustion, my Mum was simply just really over tired, my Dad had blisters already, and we'd totally lost Hannah. Brilliant. However, we eventually found some water and some plasters (and Hannah) and finally made it to Bondi where we had an early supper at Lush. Needless to say, they pretty much went straight to bed after that!

The next few days were a little more successful as they slowly acclimatised and got over their jetlag. We explored Sydney and did very touristy things like visit Circular Quay and the Opera House and stuff as my Dad and sisters have never been to Australia before and wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

We beached, and shopped, and visited some family friends and desperately tried to feel Christmassy in the heat! Sadly the weather wasn't all that great for them as it's was quite overcast and muggy some days, but still a hell of a lot better than the English winter.

Finding it very hard to get it into my head that it's the 23rd December....!

B