Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! We miss you all.

Here's a quick rundown of our first Aussie Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we left tea, tim tams and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.


We woke up to pressies under our tree (actually a potted bush that Vic borrowed from work and Gus decorated using his crafty talents...the plant had been kept outside so when Vic brought it home a bunch of ants marched out of the pot, which we've been battling ever since. Later on, a lizard crawled out of the pot. Vic and Gus wanted to keep it as a pet so it could eat the ants, but I made them catch it and put it outside).


We had a yummy brekkie of pancakes and real maple syrup (mmmmmm) with nonna and grand-papa.



And after testing out all our toys, we headed down to the beach. It was a little on the cloudy side, but we couldn't resist a swim on Christmas day. Sure enough, in true aussie style, there were lots of other people at the beach having family bbqs, swimming and playing by the beach.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Countdown to Christmas: 7, 6, 5, 4...

Wow! I can't believe Christmas is less than a week away. I still haven't done a lick of shopping, decorating or planning. I think it's partly to do with the sunny, warm weather and partly because I'm having a hard time with the fact that we're going to spend Christmas so far from our friends and most of our family. Thank god my parents are here! They've already been a great help, by looking after Gus after school, often making us supper and scoping out the deals (as retirees, they have become masters at scoping out deals). And, it's so nice to be able to share the holidays with them.

This weekend, I dragged them out to Manly, which I've been wanting to check out for a while. Although it was disappointingly tourist-y, the ferry ride there was nice, and I'd like to go back soon with a picnic and spend the day at the ocean beach. While we were there this weekend, there was a band playing Christmas carols, but Gus was much more interested in the fountains.


Afterwards, we headed down to the beach on the Bay side of Manly, where Gus met some new friends and together they worked on 'waterfall city'.



OK, so Australia is defnitely making me fat. It could be a number of things...my daily intake of timtams with tea that has become a nightly ritual when Gus is in bed and the apartment is quiet, or the full-fat cappuccinos (no skinny caps for me) that I pick up from the cute boys working at the coffee cart at school, or maybe the mountains of pancakes we've been consuming since my parents got here with maple syrup. I think some New Year's resolutions are in order...which I'll sort out when Christmas is over.

I've also managed to convince myself that I need the perfect agenda to get me organized in the new year. I just ordered one like this from Etsy (I can't show you the exact one, because I picked up the LAST one - it was that good). I love the idea of supporting an artist rather than a huge manufacturer. And, I'm sure this agenda will be the key to my success in 2009!

Price of Admission

Hey all you Canadians back home, if you want to come visit, this is what you'll need to bring:

(oh yeah, and you'll also have to spend $2000 on a plane ticket and spend 20 hrs on various planes to get here).

Mmmmm, maple syrup. We've had a hard time finding it in Sydney, and when we have been able to spot a bottle, we've had to spend big bucks to buy it. But my parents have come to visit, and they brought with them seven cans of the sweet stuff (some of it bought by my sister-in-law - thank you!!!). We had pancakes yesterday with REAL maple syrup, they were amazing.

My mom is a big foodie, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to check out some of Sydney's markets. Saturday, we tried out the markets at Moore park. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but the lemons are gigantic, like grapefruit.


...and lots of beautiful flowers, which would look perfect going home in one of these bags, which I've decided I must buy as the perfect accessory for our Australian adventure. Good for the beach and market outings.

We found some delicious cheese, sausages and olive bread, and Gus managed to talk Vic into buying him one of these cupcakes.


Sunday, I played tour guide and we toured some of the more famous sights in Sydney. We started at Hyde Park, made our way through the Royal Botanic Gardens to check out the beautiful plants, trees and flying foxes (can you spot them below hanging from the trees?) and finished up at the Opera House..


Christmas is less than two weeks away, and yet we have no Christmas tree and haven't done a lick of shopping. It's so hard to believe that Christmas is coming when it's warm and sunny and no snow in sight. I'm still trying to figure out what we're going to eat (cause we won't be cooking a turkey in 30C heat!). But maybe we'll head down to the beach for a bbq, which a few sydney natives have told me is traditional on Christmas day. Gus, on the other hand, is fully prepared, he's decided we'll have pancakes for breakfast and tacos for supper.

Legend of Bluey

Yesterday, we went to Clovelly Beach, a small lagoon-ish type beach about a 10 minute drive from here. Vic scouted it out last week while Gus and I were at the Christmas parade, and declared it a good beach to try out some snorkeling. So this weekend, all three of us drove up to try it out.

Clovelly is my favourite beach yet (this will be my fourth Sydney beach visited). Although it's surrounded on two sides by a lot of concrete, the best part is that there's no huge waves or big rips to worry about (which is a nice change from Maroubra beach, where we usually hang out). And, the snorkeling was great, I even saw legendary Bluey. Vic still doesn't believe me, and I guess it didn't help that I came out of the water saying "I saw a fish this big" - with my arms wide open....but no word of a lie, I saw him on the ocean floor in all his blue hugeness.

Our other big news is that my parents are coming this week! I can't wait, I miss them a lot and it's going to be soooo nice to see some familiar faces.

Below is a pic of Gus getting ready for a snorkel. And yes, I am trying to include a middle-aged man in a speedo in the background of all my beach shots. Clovelly beach had a larger than usual number of men and women in the 50+ age range sporting budgie smugglers and bikinis, and there's something nice about seeing people so at ease with their bodies, they don't feel the need to cover them up completely, a sight not often seen in Canada.

Is there such thing as too many Tim Tams?

According to how tight the waists on my shorts are getting, the answer is yes. ....must give up tims tams....starting tomorrow.