Christmas in the least Christmassy country

Christmas in Australia is just strange! There was no snow, no cold weather, no wooly scarves and hats and gloves. Instead there were short shorts (some massively too short!) and sunglasses. But I covered the walls with wrapping paper and played Christmas songs at deafening volume. We did lots of Christmas baking. Our first gingerbread house attempt turned into the dilapidated gingerbread barn, but the second came out pretty well and got smothered in icing and smarties. Will also made a raspberry meringue roulade for Christmas Dinner desert.

Although, Christmas dinner this year was nothing like normal. Forget nut roasts (or turkey!) and cranberry sauce, in fact forget the actual date; I am outnumbered by German and part Swedish housemates. So my Christmas dinner was on Christmas Eve! And as it was led by our resident Swede he cooked up a festive feast of meatballs (for the record Quorn mince does not roll into balls easily!!), potato gratin and vegetables. I fought to get a bit of Britain in there, and eventually he let me make some roast potatoes and parsnips and some gravy. We got some other friends over and had a delicious 2 course meal - we only have so many pans/hobs/oven space.

And then Secret Santa and Dumper-Truck-Driver-Santa delivered gifts. Dumper Truck Santa was dumping loads from a games warehouse and returned with Just Dance t-shirts, sunnies and mini boom boxes. 

Dump Truck Santa was also my Secret Santa, and I got a mini longboard! 

Christmas Day was spent in true Australian Backpacker fashion; On Bondi Beach!

 We caught up with other friends, and the rest of Australia it seemed. But there was still space to do a bit of acroyoga and lots of diving through the heaviest waves I've ever been in.

Bunny and I are having a GREAT time! He loves the beach, our house, and the coolest job in town. Luna Park is a lot of fun. I operate a ride called The Rotor, which is an old school ride, designed like a washing machine drum. The drum spins around and the centrifugal forces push people back against the wall and holds them in the air as the floor drops out. I also work in Coney Island, the 1930s Fun House with giant slides, spinning barrel tunnels, a mirror maze, a spinning floor, wonky walkways and moving walkways.

 I was working on New Year's Eve, until 2am. It was over 18s only, and most of them got very drunk so it was a really funny night, even if they didn't listen to any of the safety information. I told them, they didn't listen, not my fault if they die! Grown ups have far more fun than the kids do, maybe because they don't get chance to be silly every day.

I got to see the insane fireworks display off the Sydney Harbour Bridge. People que-d for hours to get a spot on the waterfront to watch them from. My housemates went the the botanical gardens at 11am to find a 6hour long que to get in!! And people were camping overnight. But I just stopped working at 11:55pm, hopped upstairs to the balcony and got paid to watch the display. Bonus!

And the freakiest part of the night by far was meeting up with Matt Woodfield, a guy I went to high school in Market Bosworth with. And even stranger, his girlfriend, who he met while travelling, is a girl I was friends with at uni in Plymouth!! And because that wasn't enough, on my train home I sat opposite Rich Ball, another guy I was at High School with! He'd also been at Luna Park, but completely separately from Matt! It's a small world out there!!