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

Sound Sick

I got caught unawares this morning. I tumbled out of bed and went to my Electronic Music tutorial and for the first half an hour we listened and critiqued a few people's pieces that were played out to the tute. Then, for the next half an hour, our lecturer got us to play around on an interactive sound website. At first I wasn't really very interested but in my hungover state was quite happy to just faff about on a computer for a while. The piece is by a woman called Katharine Norman and is an interactive sound essay called 'Window'. This is what she has to say about it:

" Window is part of a new series I hope to make about place, and about how listening contributes to our sense of place. Making Place (2013) is a companion musical work for live interactive sound and image/text with piano(s). Made with Processing and puredata software, it was commissioned by duoDort and composed in 2012 with funds from Arts Council England and the Britten-Pears Foundation, and premiered at Sonoritis, Belfast in April 2013 (one piano version) and Falmouth University, May 2013 (two piano version). "

Here's a link to the piece. Have a play around if you fancy, it takes some time to get into it and you kind of have to understand about the logistics of sound editing, but it's interesting anyway. Obviously it's a sound piece, so listen with headphones for the best effect. Her whole project is about experimenting with sound and how it can define and make a place. For this piece, she recorded out of her bedroom window at different times of day to capture the soundscape she heard, and then collaged all the sounds together. You can move through the different times of day and play with EQing the different frequencies of the sound and in effect, make your own soundscape out of the one she has recorded. There's also some accompanying text to read as you move through the piece. I know this sounds all very artsy and kind of a load of BS, and that's how I felt at first, but then suddenly I really understood her piece. Katharine lives in Cambridge back home in the UK and so the sounds she hears, in particular the birdsong, is very weirdly familiar. There was one point in the piece where I managed to get it to sound exactly like our garden at home, by lowering the volume of the traffic and turning up the sounds of the birds, in particular that pigeon noise, and I cannot even tell you how weird it was to be sat in a lecture in Sydney, Australia, and suddenly be utterly convinced that I was back at home. It kinda freaked me out a bit and I just sat there listening to that one bit for ages. SO strange.

We all talked about it afterwards, and all the Australia's said that they enjoyed exploring the work, but that it didn't really do anything for them. Then the lecturer asked me how I felt and I told her about how nostalgic it made me feel and how I couldn't believe how much it reminded me of being at home. Suddenly everyone was looking at me and I felt all weird and sad and I nearly started to cry! Must be something to do with being hungover, you know that weird depressed feeling you sometimes get the next day? Yeah, well, that. I didn't think I was homesick at all but it's funny what can trigger it.

When she let us go I ran off pretty quick and am now snuggled back in bed with strawberries and listening to John Mayer, pretending to be in Skiathos/my kitchen and missing home a bit. I'll be fine later, we're all heading off to the beach this afternoon as the weather's nice and the surf's good, but right now I miss you, fam.

B

Moo, Da, Ella and Me on Ella's 18th

Belle and Moo's Birthdays

So today it is my widdle sister's birthday and for the first time in years I am not with her! She's 17 now and is tall and gorgeous and has legs longer than you could even imagine. Although I still think of her as roughly around the age of 9, she's actually pretty grown up now.... legal to drive, say whaaaa!?

This is her with some ice cream cake on her birthday last year:

All the family are out in Skiathos in Greece which is somewhere we go every year - it feels very strange to think of them all out there without me! I keep getting updates about all the fun they're having in the 30 degree heat. Kinda annoying really.... Hannah's birthday is always whilst we're out there, lucky sod, so we always have a pool or beach party of some sort. Last year we even snuck her out for some cocktails and took her clubbing. Very illegal, but very fun. Here's a snap of my best friend Maisie and her enjoy a frozen mango daiquiri ....

Not only is it Moo's birthday today, but it is also Belle's 21st! Now, Belle is first of all my cousin, and secondly, as a massive coincidence, she's also Goose's best friend from school. What're the chances!? Here's a little photo of the birthday girl herself....

Belle and Moo are actually bizarrely similar... they both have those Burt freckles which are so common in our family, and are just quite gorgeous in general. Damnit!

Goose and I were sad to not be with her celebrating, so we made her a little birthday video instead. Most of it is actually just us pratting around, but we do actually manage to say happy birthday by the end!

Missing you girls and hope you both have a lovely day. Love and hugs from Down Under,

B