Mum and Auntie Jean in Sydney!

The past two weeks or so have been crazy busy in the land of Oz, so I have decided to try and condense this blog post somewhat by just catching up on the main events, rather than a day-to-day account. It should still be fairly long though and there will be lots and lots of pictures to enjoy too!

Paramore and You Me at Six

It truly does seem like months ago now, but Saturday the 11th of January meant it was finally time for the Paramore gig we had been looking forward to since purchasing tickets some months ago. I didn't do much for most of the morning, then afterwards met Jessica once she had finished work; before heading for the train, we stopped by Mad Mex to get some pre-gig food and a Corona. I hadn't been to Mad Mex here before but it was excellent - just like Taco Mazama in Glasgow. We caught the train from Central out towards the Olympic Park, whilst taking some cruel pleasure in spotting the emo-teens who were clearly also on their way to see Paramore.

Once we arrived at the Allphones Arena, we made our way inside and headed straight to the arena floor where You Me at Six had already started playing their support set. I hadn't seen either of the bands before and though I had heard that YMAS were very good live, I wasn't too impressed - they were pretty decent but not great. After they went off stage, we went and grabbed a drink before heading back into the arena, eagerly anticipating the arrival of Paramore. Fairly soon, the lights dropped, the music started and the curtain dropped to reveal Hayley Williams on a huge big podium smashing out the opening lines to "Grow Up." The whole set was fantastic and they totally outshone YMAS; it was a really good gig and I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would, to be honest.

I did also manage to capture a few decent snaps during the show.

The next day, we headed to Watson's Bay to spend the day at the beach. I also enjoyed my first Doyle's fish and chips - well worth the wait, it has to be said - as well as seeing a cruise ship sailing out between the two heads from the harbour.

On Tuesday night, Claire, Jess and I headed to the Rose Pub near the uni campus to take advantage of their cheap pizza night. We were out to celebrate Claire's final few days living in the flat before she headed home to Singapore, before moving back to her new apartment in Sydney. We had a few drinks and our pizza and took part in the pub quiz which was great fun, although we weren't particularly successful and relied on Google almost entirely for many questions!

Sydney 6ers v Hobart Hurricanes at the Sydney Cricket Ground

After spending quite some time in an attempt to find a cricket match which everyone was available to go and see, tickets for the T20 Big Bash League match between Sydney and Hobart were finally purchased for Wednesday. We headed along quite early, collected our tickets and made our way to the 'Entertainment Quarter' where we found an Irish bar and enjoyed a drink before the game. With some time to spare before the match was due to start, we headed to the stadium and found our seats; it had only cost us $20 each for gold level seats, as students, which was amazing value for money and the view did not disappoint.

The two teams warming up before the match, with a great view of the city in the background.

Unlike Test cricket, such as the recent Ashes series, Twenty20 cricket is a lot more casual. Music is played during most of the match and there are cheerleaders and lots of colourful flags and beach balls in the crowd. It's very American - including a Dance-Cam and a Kiss-Cam which were shown on the big screen! At one point, two familiar faces popped up on the giant scoreboard and we quickly realised that Jay and Simon from the Inbetweeners were in attendance. They're currently in Australia filming their new movie.

After the match finished - which Sydney won after taking a handful of late wickets - we caught the bus back to Central station and I headed off to bed, expecting an early airport run in the morning to meet Mum and Auntie Jean. However, after waking to the sound of my alarm, I discovered a message informing me that all of the flights to Sydney from Hong Kong had been full and they were still in the airport. Disaster. I immediately got up and started browsing the web for flights, but to no avail - at least initially. Eventually, after some hours of searching, various phone calls and attempting to create some kind of back-up plan, two seats were found on a flight leaving Hong Kong on Thursday night. I went to work on Thursday evening then had an early night, in preparation for heading to the airport at 7am the next morning.

Mum and Auntie Jean arrive in Sydney!

Another early rise, but at least today there was something to look forward to! I caught the train out to the airport and made my way to the international arrivals gate; after a short wait which felt like hours, my mum and Auntie Jean appeared and we had a big catch-up cuddle. Gladly, everyone was in control of the water-works and there were no tears - happy days! Haha! We caught a taxi from the airport to the hotel where they would be living for the duration of their stay, the Novotel at Rockford, next to Darling Harbour and the Chinese Gardens.

After they were both showered, changed and freshened up from the gruelling journey across the globe - they spent around 30 hours in Hong Kong airport alone - we headed out into the city to see some of the sights. We walked along a large part of George Street and out to the Royal Botanic Gardens, down the the Opera House to see the harbour and the bridge, where we stopped for some brunch at the Opera House Bar - which was enjoyed with a glass of champagne. Not a bad way to start a trip in Sydney. Once brunch was finished, we walked back through the city, stopped off at Paddy's Market to buy some fruit and then back to the hotel. The travellers were pretty jet-lagged and generally exhausted, I think, so we agreed that they would have an hour or two of sleep, whilst I headed home. Two hours later, I arrived back at the door of the hotel room and nearly had to knock it down before I got a response - both Mum and Auntie Jean clearly enjoying their sleep! We headed out for dinner at an Italian restaurant called Criniti's in Darling Harbour, before they returned to their hotel, still very tired, and I walked back to my flat.

It was a beautiful, sunny day the next morning, so the three of us caught the ferry over to Manly from Circular Quay. After taking a walk along the main street and wandering into some of the shops, we found a place to have some lunch before making our way to the Manly Sea-Life Sanctuary. Whilst it was considerably smaller than the other aquarium in Darling Harbour, I really enjoyed it and saw an abundance of amazing and unique creatures. Again though, the sharks were the clear stand out.

An amazing little fish, with zebra-style stripes.

Probably the best shark photo which we managed to capture - they really are difficult to get on camera.

After the Sea-Life centre, we spent some time chilling out at the beach before we made the obligatory trip to the Four Pines brewery for a beer. After our drinks, we caught the ferry back to Circular Quay and headed home.

Back to the Blue Mountains

Whilst discussing exactly what Mum and Auntie Jean wanted to see and do with their time in Sydney, the Blue Mountains jumped out as an early favourite. Although I had been before, I was looking forward to returning to Echo Point and Wentworth Falls, which had been so enthralling the first time around. We caught an early train out of Central Station, our destination Katoomba, almost exactly two hours away; not only is the public transport far better here, it's virtually always exactly on time as well. After arriving in Katoomba - having eaten nearly all of the food we had taken along with us - we first headed for a shop to buy more. Once the priorities were sorted out, we began walking out the Echo Point lookout, where you can see the Three Sisters rocks.

Auntie Jean and I with the mountains in the background - check how tanned I look here! Excellent!

It wasn't as sunny as the last time I had visited the Blue Mountains, so the blue haze was actually even more visible than before.

Mum and Auntie Jean with the Three Sisters rocks just behind them.

We stopped off for some ice-cream, before heading back to Katoomba and picking up a bottle of wine in Dan Murphy's to have with lunch - a drive through liquor store, still fantastically strange. We enjoyed some bread and cheese with the wine before catching the train a few stops back towards Sydney, alighting the train once more at Wentworth Falls. Apparently sick of walking in the sunshine already, the auld yins decided that we should catch a taxi down to the falls themselves to save us around another hour of trekking. The waterfall was just as spectacular as I remembered and it was really great to go back.

Wentworth Falls from one of the lookout points.

We also spotted this fantastic wild parrot in the trees - superb!

In hindsight, the taxi turned out to be a great decision since a huge storm passed over not long after we were back on the train heading home for Sydney. Much of the train journey home was spent sleeping; it had been another long day.

On Monday, I unfortunately had to work for almost the entire day, so Mum and Auntie Jean went off to see some more of the city on their own. In the evening, after my shift, I met Jessica and we caught the train from Central down the harbour where we caught up with Mum and Auntie Jean. We went for dinner at the Waterfront restaurant - where La Masquerade was still moored! My personal highlight of the evening was the 'chocolate tasting' dessert which was spectacularly good. Afterwards, Jessica and I headed to the Three Wise Monkeys for a few drinks.

Tuesday was spent doing some more sight-seeing in the city: Auntie Jean, Mum and I first heading to the Art Gallery of New South Wales which was a bit underwhelming, if I'm honest. There were some interesting pieces - mostly the older artwork - whilst the "modern art" was largely awful. You have to wonder how this period in art history will be viewed centuries from now; it's almost certainly not going to be revered in the same way which we view work from the time of Da Vinci, Rembrandt or Van Gogh. We also had some lunch at the art gallery and I had the unpleasant of experience of being served some salmon which had clearly gone off - luckily I realised before eating any and enjoyed some complimentary cake, as well as a refund. Not exactly what I had been hoping for from my sandwich. Afterwards, I took the three of us on a quick tour of the uni campus and we stopped by the pool at Victoria Park to relax with a swim before dinner.

Mum and I outside the main university building on campus - I swear we were both happier that she was in Sydney than this picture might suggest!

Hunter Valley Wine Tasting Tour

At some point earlier in the week, the three of us had booked a day trip to the Hunter Valley, where we would be visiting some of the numerous vineyards; the trip involved visits and tastings to around three vineyards, as well as lunch. I made my way down to the hotel where we would be picked up by the mini-bus which would take us to the Hunter Valley, around two hours away. It was another grey, rainy day - unfortunately there were a few of them when Mum and Auntie Jean were here - so the journey didn't exactly make pleasant viewing. We were told that there is usually a lot more to be seen, which we didn't really need to hear, I felt - ignorance is bliss, right? We eventually reached the first vineyard where we enjoyed some fantastic red and white wines, grown right there, on the outskirts of Sydney - and mostly only sold at the cellar door, not to be found in liquor stores or even restaurants.

Inside the first winery which we visited.

Some rows of vines, complete with an entirely untypical Sydney sky.

Some barrels of wine which we saw on the 'behind the scenes' tour at the first winery. Note the fashionista who got in the way of my picture, who's outfit was completed by the worst shoes I've ever witnessed. There are no words.

After visiting another vineyard where we enjoyed the two standout drinks of the day - a fermented Port-style red wine and a Creme de Vin - we stopped for some lunch. The spot for lunch happened to be the location of the McGuigan winery, one of the largest producers in the Hunter Valley and across Australia, where I bought a bottle of their Noon Harvest red. Lian had brought a bottle back to the flat when she visited and it was excellent; again, I learned that it can only be purchased at the cellar door, which explains why I have never been able to find it in Sydney.

We headed home having enjoyed a really great day, once more I slept for quite a bit of the journey back. Later that night, I met up with Jessica and her friend Emma who is here visiting from Scotland, we had some drinks at my flat before heading out to a place called World Bar at Kings Cross. I hadn't been there before but I really enjoyed it and we encountered some real 'characters' inside. At the end of the night, we caught a taxi to McDonalds and then back to my flat, staying up to some stupid hour. It was so late by the time I eventually went to sleep that I was seriously considering staying up the extra hour or so until the United game kicked off. When I awoke again, I found the game on the internet and watched Sunderland beat United on penalties to dump us out of the Capital One Cup semi finals. This season seems to go from bad to worse at every possible opportunity just now.

Thursday was spent nursing a hangover on Bondi Beach with Mum, Auntie Jean, Jessica and Emma, before I headed home to get ready for work in the afternoon. After work, I joined the girls again as we went out to Bar 100 and then Ivy; we didn't last long and jumped in a taxi home around 1am, all shattered. The next morning, Jessica and Emma were off to begin their trip up the Gold Coast.

River Cruise to Parramatta

Friday started with breakfast at Bill Granger's restaurant in Surry Hills, with Mum and Auntie Jean, where I had a 'Full Aussie breakfast' - my first fry-up, of sorts, in six months! It was well worth the wait and I'm sure I'll be back to Bill's before I fly home. Afterwards, the three of us headed to Circular Quay where we jumped on a ferry up the river towards Parramatta, and back again. The cruise took around 3 hours in total and it was interesting to see some different parts of Sydney from the water. Unfortunately, the sky was rather cloudy once more, so it may have been nicer on a sunny day - but on the other hand, we managed to avoid sunburn!

Full Aussie breakfast at Bill's - delicious!

We spotted some amazing houses along the river cruise, many of which had stunning boats moored outside them.

A huge pelican which we saw quite far up the river, towards Parramatta.

We also stopped off at a cafe in the Rocks where they served genuinely massive slices of lemon meringue pie. I promise they tasted just as good as they look.

Upon returning to Circular Quay, we planned on getting a different ferry out to Watsons Bay. However, there was some confusion over which ferry we were supposed to be on and we ended up taking the short journey to Rose Bay, where the boat about-turned and headed straight back to Circular Quay again. I gave up at this point and suggested we throw in the towel, feeling exhausted and getting increasingly crabbit. We headed home and I had a sleep for an hour or so, before heading back out to go and watch Nadal v Federer in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. We only watched the first set then decided to go and get some food - which ended up being takeaway pizza - and then headed home to bed. I was in serious need of a decent sleep.

Saturday was Mum and Auntie Jean's last full day in Sydney, however I had to work for a few hours in the afternoon, so they went off to do some final shopping. After work, I got changed and headed to their hotel in order to help them move to the other hotel they would be staying in on Saturday night; due to extending their stay by a few days and it being Australia Day weekend, they couldn't get a room in the hotel they were already in. The plan for the evening was dinner at the Meat & Wine Co in Darling Harbour, which I had heard good things about, as well as hopefully taking in the fireworks.

We were very fortunate to have an outstanding table, allowing us to see the fireworks without even having to leave our seats, whilst enjoying an excellent steak, accompanied by a bottle of red wine. An excellent way to end a trip in Sydney - it had been a fantastic and busy week.

Our view from the table at dinner.

Afterwards, it was time to go home and get to bed, since we all had an early rise to go to the airport the next morning.

Mum and Auntie Jean head home and we celebrate Australia Day

Up early again, I headed to meet Mum and Auntie Jean at their hotel; they checked out and we caught a taxi out to the airport. After checking-in at the desk and dropping their luggage off, we found a seat in a cafe and had a coffee. A short while later, it was time to say our goodbyes, as Mum and Auntie Jean headed off through to their departure gate. It was a strange experience waving them off again after six months, knowing it would be a further six months until we saw each other again and it felt odd as I walked away to catch the train back to the city.

After a brief tidy around my flat, I had a look online to see if there was anything interesting happening in the city for Australia Day and I came across a car event, described as the largest meeting of vehicles in the southern hemisphere. Well, that was a decision made. I caught the free bus down to Circular Quay, which was as busy as I had ever seen it before, packed with people flying Australian flags, wearing Australian t-shirts, complete with face paint and hats. It was quite a sight! I made my way around to Macquarie Street where the CARnivale started, stretching for at least a mile or two towards Hyde Park.

An incredibly well kept 1967 Shelby GT500. This particular car had won a couple of Australian national-level concours competitions around 2001.

One of the famous 1965 Shelby GT500E models, better known as Eleanor, from the movie 'Gone in 60 Seconds'. This car even had the registration plate 'LN00RR' and a paint job that must have taken literally tens of hours of work - it was gleaming.

An original 1971 E-Type Jaguar, complete with the registration 'JAG 71E' - very, very nice.

There were also some modern-day cars on display, the highlight of which was certainly this matte black Lambourghini Aventador - costing somewhere in the region of $500,000 US Dollars, depending on the particular specs.

After spending the best part of three hours wandering along the rows of cars, I spent some time at the markets in the Rocks, before heading back to Circular Quay and jumping on a train home. The evening was spent chilling out, before Jess and I decided to order a Dominos pizza to the flat, before the final of the Australian Open started. We sat on the couch with a few beers and our pizzas watching the tennis, which looked as if it was going to turn into one of the all-time great comebacks, as Rafael Nadal played on whilst two sets down and clearly badly injured. However, in the end, his efforts were in vain, as Wawrinka saw him off to win his first major title.

Here's a photo of our Dominos and Nadal having some treatment on his back.

Beady Eye

On Monday night I was off to finally see a Beady Eye gig for the first time; though I had seen them playing an acoustic set at the signing for the last album in HMV, this was the first proper gig. I caught the train to Newtown station and walked a short distance to the Enmore Theatre, where I had to collect my ticket. I was immediately struck by how small the place was and knew it was going to be a great night to see the band up close, in such a small venue.

The Enmore Theatre, beginning to fill up before the gig.

Liam Gallagher and Beady Eye.

Believe it or not, this is only the second closest I've ever seen Liam perform!

The gig was excellent; it had been a long wait to see Beady Eye and gladly, they didn't disappoint. Whilst their own catalogue of songs was great, the clear highlight of the night was when they played a couple of Oasis tunes. On this tour, they've usually been playing 'Rock n Roll Star' as well as 'Morning Glory' however on the night they actually played 'Cigarettes & Alcohol' and 'Wonderwall' - I couldn't believe my luck! I believe since splitting up Oasis, Liam has only sang 'Wonderwall' on two occasions: once at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games and the other here in Sydney. What are the chances, seriously? The band even played an encore of 'Gimme Shelter' by the Rolling Stones, which went down an absolute storm; it has to be said, I think Liam does it even better than Jagger himself, which is quite something. I caught the train home after the gig, another awesome night to remember from my time in Sydney.

On Tuesday, I slept in until almost noon, well in need of some catch-up sleep after my mad week. When I did eventually get up, I headed to Victoria Park pool where I spent most of the afternoon sunbathing and reading. Afterwards, I headed home, made dinner and began writing the bulk of this blog post, which has again taken me far longer than expected to finish. Yesterday, I got up and headed out to hand some more CVs around to local shops and restaurants in the hope of finding a job for the remainder of my time here, but I've had no luck so far. Although, after dropping by Dick Smith - an electrical retailer - a random guy approached me in the shopping centre to ask what kind of job I was seeking. We had a brief chat and he explained that he ran a business doing some kind of internet service sales and was looking for someone to add to the team; he took a copy of my CV and said he would pass it on the relevant people. A bit surreal, but I won't be complaining if it lands me a job. Last night we had an Iglu event where we had to wear Rubix cube colours, which led to some truly wild outfits! It was great to meet some of the new people who have moved in over the past few weeks though and there are plans for a few more events this week.

That's me all caught up now! I promise that I am going to start writing the blog more regularly again - even I'm getting sick of these huge posts which cover two weeks of events. Hopefully I'll have some more interesting things to share soon!

Until next time,
Jamie

Christmas and the final post of 2013!

My last post was on Sunday, 15th December - it's been a while - and that night brought another United fixture to enjoy. Gladly, we won 3-0 away to Aston Villa, but the best part of the game was the late substitution which saw Darren Fletcher make his return to the team after almost a whole year out because of his illness. It was great to see him on the pitch again. I got off to sleep soon after the game and immediately checked the other scores around the league when I woke up; I was absolutely stunned to see that Liverpool had beaten Spurs 5-0 at White Hart Lane, in a game that would ultimately prove to be the last for Andre Villas-Boas.

On Monday, I crossed off another item from the "to-do list" as I visited the Museum of Sydney, near Circular Quay, with Jessica. The museum itself stands on the site of the First Government House, first occupied by Captain Arthur Phillip, who was the first Governor of New South Wales when he arrived with the First Fleet of convicts from England in 1788. The museum itself was enjoyable and interesting, but there is a severe lack of history compared to some of the museums and exhibitions which I have seen back home in Scotland and whilst on holiday in England or France, amongst others. Australia simply doesn't have a long and glorious history, although the interaction and relations between the Aboriginal occupants and the European settlers was a fascinating story of which I knew little about before my visit. One of the things which I was most surprised to hear was that the first Governor actually went to great lengths attempting to build relations with the Aboriginal people and there was strong social integration. Eventually, one of the Aboriginal men became so accustomed to English dining etiquette and politeness that he later travelled to England and was widely considered to have better manners than most of the English upper classes who he dined alongside.

Outside the museum, on the site of the First Government House.

After a few hours in the museum, we headed up George Street to find somewhere to have lunch. After wandering rather aimlessly for some time, eventually a decision was made to go to Wagamama in The Galleries, not far from Town Hall. This particular little collection of shops is home to the spectacular Kinokuniya book shop, where I had done some Christmas shopping and another hour or so was spent simply wandering around the shelves once again. After heading home, I got changed and played football in the evening. The entertainment for the night was supplied by the draw for the last 16 of the Champions League and the Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special, which is by far my favourite Christmas Special of any TV show. United drew Olympiakos in the draw, which I was pleased with, especially since the away leg is first - a good day all round.

On Tuesday morning I had a shift at work, though luckily I was finished by 3pm. I headed home and ate lunch whilst watching the final day of the third Ashes Test. Although England still had a slim chance of turning things around, ultimately they collapsed again and Australia won the match, taking a 3-0 lead and therefore regaining the Ashes urn for the first time since 2009. England have been abysmal from start to finish and there was now a real danger of Australia thrashing them 5-0, with Tests in Melbourne and Sydney still to come.  received some Christmas cards from home, which was a great surprise; they certainly helped to create some additional festive feeling to my room and proved to be far more pleasant than the email received from Glasgow on the same day. The email concerned choosing dissertation questions and gave us some information about the process and a deadline date. I can't believe it's time to think about that already.

I had another day off work on Wednesday and spent the morning doing nothing at all. In the afternoon, Jess and Claire were heading out for lunch with Jess's friend Mai, from Vietnam. We went back to the Korean restaurant where we had been a few months before for Claire's birthday and it was just as excellent as I remembered. I'm totally useless with trying to understand the menu so took Claire's advice on what to order; I had a kind of beef and noodle soup and it was an excellent choice again.

On our way home, we stopped by the dollar shop in World Square to try and get some more Christmas decorations for the flat, as well as another Christmas tree. Unfortunately this shop wasn't nearly as good as the one at Bondi Junction and we didn't manage to find a tree, though we did get some more tinsel. I also bought a large Australian flag to hang up on the wall in my room, which I was very pleased with!

After arriving home and chilling out for a while, Claire, Jess and I began cleaning the flat for our re-inspection the following morning. We did a great job and the place is now truly sparkling, even though I feel like it was up to an appropriate standard first time around anyway. I know when something can be considered clean, you need only see how well kept my car is for proof of that. After we had finished our clean-up job, I hooked my laptop up to the TV in the living room and watched Angles Share, which was fantastic! I watched in on the American Netflix site though, which meant the Scottish dialect was subtitled the whole way through!

I headed off to bed in anticipation of another early rise to watch the football the next morning. United were playing away to Stoke in the quarter final of the Capital One Cup and a win would give us a semi-final place and a huge opportunity to go on and win a trophy in Moyes first season. The game was really quite boring for the duration of the first half and there was nothing noteworthy or controversial in the match until a massive hail-storm swept over the stadium, prompting the referee to temporarily abandon play. After half time, United scored two great goals through Ashley Young and Patrice Evra and we were safely through to the next round. The draw for the next round gave us a home and away tie against Sunderland, which seemed to be the best possible draw for us, so I headed back to bed for some more sleep with a smile on my face.

We had been told that our re-inspection would be taking place at 10am, so those of us who remained in the flat were up and ready, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the person charged with inspecting our living area. Predictably, there was no sign of anyone as time wore on and as we approached 11am, Claire decided to email and find out what was happening. I don't see why people think it's acceptable to have you waiting around all day after previously giving a very specific time, as if none of us had any other plans for our time. Eventually, I got bored and went to have a shower and get dressed and typically, the inspectors turned up whilst this was happening. I came out the shower to find a Facebook message in our flat's group chat to say that we had passed successfully.

I decided to make the most of another gloriously sunny afternoon by walking across the Harbour Bridge for the first time. I caught the free shuttle bus from Railway Square down to Circular Quay, walked around the front of the harbour-side, underneath the bridge and headed along the Rocks to find the stairs up the the bridge. Although I had a perception that the bridge was big, I had no idea it was so high; you can see for miles around, in all directions and it provides a great place to take photographs. After crossing the bridge, I stopped by a small bakery to get some lunch and found myself a bench by the water, looking back towards the Opera House and the city. It was absolutely scorching and a really relaxed afternoon. I also walked along to Luna Park - the fairground on the waterfront - and the Olympic swimming pool, which is superb! Here are some photos which I took along the way.

A busy harbour from the bridge, looking north-east, towards Manly in the distance.

The Opera House, Royal Botanic Gardens, city and a cruise ship - again, taken from the bridge.

Looking back towards the city and Opera House on the south side of the harbour, from the spot where I sat and had lunch.

Beneath the bridge itself.

The Olympic swimming pool, not far from the bridge on the north side of the harbour.

The entrance to the Luna Park fairground.

I decided that I couldn't really be bothered walking all the way back over the bridge and also quite fancied taking the train back over - the Harbour Bridge carries cars, trains, pedestrians and cyclists, all on separate sections. It also gave me a chance to see the other side of the harbour from the bridge.

This photo was taken from the train, whilst crossing the Harbour Bridge.

I was working again on Friday, though it was another good shift, starting at 9am and finishing for 3pm; it ended up finishing at 2pm though since it was 37 degrees celsius outside, obviously the shop wasn't busy, so I was sent home. After arriving back at the flat and having some lunch, I got my football stuff ready and headed up to Victoria Park to enjoy the sun for a while before meeting the guys at the College for a game. Even though it was still really quite warm when we began playing at around 4.30pm, I didn't suffer too much in the heat - I've clearly grown used to the weather here now, which isn't going to be much fun when I eventually go home to Scotland. As I arrived home from football, there were a few people having a drink downstairs in the common area and asked me to join them, so I headed upstairs to get showered and changed. We had some wine and the treat of some Smirnoff vodka, which we rarely buy here because it's too expensive and played some interesting games before heading to bed around midnight. I realised I'd eaten no food since playing football in the afternoon, so a few drinks had really hit me hard; I had some food and a couple of big glasses of water before bed, knowing that I had to get up early the next morning again.

The plan for Saturday was to catch the train down to Cronulla, past Como where Jessica would jump on, and go to the beach for the day. I caught the train from Central Station shortly before 11am and arrived in Cronulla around one hour later. The train journey was quite enjoyable after Como, where the scenery becomes quite nice and I realised as I headed south out of the city that when I reached Cronulla, it would be the furthest south I had ever been on the planet - how amazing! When I had got on the train at Central, I mistakenly text Jessica to tell her that I was on the second carriage from the front so she could meet me when she got on the train at Como - where she lives with her Auntie - though it turned out that I was actually on the third carriage from the front, so we didn't meet up until we both arrived in Cronulla. Very poor counting skills from me!

The beach at Cronulla, where Jessica claimed she went in the sea for the first time in Australia - even though she had previously been surfing, as well as snorkelling in Cairns. Oh dear! Haha!

After a few hours at the beach, battling the wind and flying sand - one group of girls had erected a beach-tent which eventually broke and collapsed, which was extremely funny, since one of them was still inside it - we headed off for some lunch. We went to a place called Northies, which seems to be the place where everyone goes in Cronulla at the weekend, and enjoyed some Rekorderlig cider with lunch.

Here is a photo of me at the marina at Cronulla, as it was starting to get cloudy. It looks like I'm holding an invisible bottle of beer or something!

We caught the train back towards the city and Jessica got off at Como again. I arrived back at the flat and made myself dinner, before watching Netflix for a bit. I got off to bed early for the football once again, United kicking off at 3pm back home which meant setting my alarm for 2am here. Another win was duly delivered, as we beat West Ham 3-1 at Old Trafford - a stunning goal from Adnan Januzaj was the pick of the bunch. I got back to bed and enjoyed a long lie on Sunday morning. Sunday itself was a very lazy day; I went out to the shops for a little while and then stopped by the supermarket and headed home again. I spent the afternoon watching a film called "The Way Back" about a group of men who escaped a Siberian POW camp during the Second World War, before reaching safety when they crossed the border into India. Later on, I made dinner and then watched "Elf" - possibly the funniest Christmas movie ever.

The Monday before Christmas meant a busy shift at work for me, starting at 9am until 3pm in the afternoon. Around 5am that morning, I had woken up with a dry, sore throat which seemed to be solved with a drink and a Strepsil - though I knew a cold was on the way, arriving just before Christmas with the kind of poor timing usually associated with Paul Scholes tackles. I got back to sleep before my alarm went off around 7.30am, which was time to get up and ready for work. As expected two days before Christmas, the shop was packed with customers and my shift passed really quickly - always a welcome relief. After work, I got changed and headed to go and play football again. When I came back, Claire and I went and did our food shopping for Christmas Day, in Woolworths, getting most of the stuff we needed in one go. The other important event on Monday was the extension of my lease here at Iglu; after much debate, consideration and weighing up of the various factors, I've decided to stay where I am living just now until I go home, rather than finding new accommodation. My flatmates are all nice and I'm in a really convenient location, so I'm pleased to be staying where I'm settled in and avoiding the need to move all of my stuff again.

I was delighted to find that I wasn't working on Christmas Eve, for the first time since I started working in electrical retail at Comet a few years ago. In an effort to get rid of my developing cold, I had slept with the air-conditioning off for the entire night, which led to a bedroom like a sauna and a night spent tossing and turning. I woke up fairly early again and remembered that it was Christmas Eve, so I had a couple of early presents to open which had been posted to me from home. After some breakfast, I opened an "Aussie Night Before Christmas" book and a pair of Santa Claus boxers, whilst on FaceTime to Mum, Dad and Kerry. Since all of my present shopping had been done and the food shopping virtually completed the day before, there was very little left to do except relax and play Pro Evo on the Playstation. I did venture out to the shops briefly in order to buy some ice-cream, a box of Celebrations chocolates, some cough medicine for my cold and pigs in blankets for Christmas dinner. I didn't manage to find the pigs in blankets, they don't seem to have them in supermarkets here, even for Christmas - same thing with Brussels sprouts actually - though I managed to get everything else. I also did some final present shopping, picking up some little gifts for my flatmates, before heading home to wrap them. Present shopping completed.

Presents for various people, all wrapped and ready to go!

I headed home, chilled out for a while and ate some Celebrations before making dinner. Alex, Jessica and I had earlier arranged to meet up for a drink later that night, when we would also be swapping our Christmas presents. After dinner, I went downstairs - almost literally - to Bar Broadway to meet Alex. We had a beer and caught up on his trip up the Gold Coast and down to Melbourne, where he had been road-tripping with his dad for the last few weeks. After finishing work, Jessica also joined us, which meant it was time to swap presents! I had got Alex some beers, a book of photographs of Sydney and the surrounding area and a Sydney engraved bottle opener; whilst I got Jessica some perfume, the Trainspotting book, some Crunchie chocolate and a bottle of wine. It's after Christmas now that I'm writing this, so I'm not giving anything away! After a few more drinks, the barman hurried us along, Jessica headed home and Alex and I went back to my flat to have another few beers before he headed off home too.

I stayed up late watching the Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special again, followed by the Still Game Christmas Special. Once I was off to bed, I had another terrible sleepless night, first waking at around 5am once more, which is a nightmare on Christmas morning because you don't actually want to go back to sleep very much! I'm still like a big child when it comes to Christmas! Haha! Eventually I did get another few hours, before waking again around 7.30am, but this time there was no going back to sleep, no matter how hard I tried. I stuck my iPod on for a little while and lay in bed listening to Noel Gallagher before finally admitting defeat and getting up. I had breakfast and then spoke to Kerry and Cameron on FaceTime for a while, whilst Mum, Dad, Ade, Cors and Rebecca were all at the midnight carol service at the church. Once they came back, it was time for me to open my presents, which was exciting! Again on FaceTime, I delightedly opened up a Kindle, case and charger - much to my surprise - as well as a book of Sir Alex Ferguson quotes, new boxers and socks and a bottle of Honey Jack Daniels. I also got a Man Utd desk calendar from Gillian, Colin, Rachel and Emily; a personalised, Scottish-themed "Where's Wally?" type book from Auntie Jean, Uncle Brian and Abigail; a collection of superb Sydney-themed items from Jessica, including a much needed beach towel, and a "Hangover Cookbook"; a great t-shirt from my flatmate Claire; a bottle of Korean wine and an Australian bottle stopper from Jess; and I also got a card with dollars inside from David and David - all much appreciated! I was delighted with my gifts, particularly my Kindle which I had been thinking about for a long time, and unknown to me, the decision was made and I'm completely loving it!

After I had chatted to everyone at home for a while longer, they all headed off to bed and I spoke to some of the troops back home, who were at Aaron's pre-drinking before going out on Christmas Eve. It was great to see so many of them and reminded how much I was missing them all, especially on that night since Christmas Eve is always a great time to all go out together and bring in Christmas with everyone. It was only Claire, Lin and myself in the flat for most of the morning, so Claire and I began preparing the food for Christmas dinner, which we would be having later on when Jess arrived home and Andy turned up also. We watched "Four Christmases" which is an awesome film as well as another Still Game Christmas Special, which was appreciated even though I did have to translate and explain several parts! Unfortunately, it was raining on the day, which meant our plans to go to the beach never materialised. It felt just like being at home - cloudy, grey and drizzly!

Carrots and potatoes ready to go in the oven.

The chocolate brownies which Claire made for dessert; we had them with vanilla ice cream and they were fantastic!

Later on, Jess arrived back and Andy also came along, which meant it was time to eat! Claire and I had been snacking on chocolate and crisps pretty much the whole day, but we were still very much looking forward to dinner! We had cooked a whole roast chicken, a beef joint, roast potatoes, roast carrots, as well as a seafood dish, as well as cranberry sauce and gravy. We had also gathered up a generous collection of wines and beers to keep us going for Christmas Day and beyond!

Ready for dinner!

After we had eaten, we cleared up and relaxed for a while before pudding; Andy and I played some super-competitve games of Pro-Evo on the Playstation, as he took Liverpool and I stuck with United. Grudge match. After pudding, and another beer, I caught up with home on FaceTime again, as Mum, Dad and Kerry had opened their presents from Santa and were now going to swap each others presents, including the ones to Mum and Dad from Kerry and myself. Mum was delighted with her onesie, mug, Sydney fridge magnet and butter dish - what a strange gift, but that's what she wanted, so there you go - and Dad was similarly pleased with the Still Game DVD box set, a 'Keep Calm I'm a Bus Driver' t-shirt and a couple of bottles of nice Australian red wine. My presents to Kerry included some perfume, a tartan shirt she wanted as well as a choice of two envelopes from a possible three, with only the knowledge that each one contained an activity for when she comes to Australia. She was only allowed to open two and the third would be revealed when she arrived here; she picked the envelopes with a whale watching trip and another with surfing lessons. She's petrified of being eaten by a shark now, or being stung by a sting-ray, which is hilarious! The third envelope will be revealed in a few months! I got off to bed shortly after midnight, having had a far better Christmas than I could ever have hoped for so far away from home - there was great company, great food and wine and great presents too! Superb!

On Boxing Day, my plan was to head out to the coast in order to watch the start of the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. Each year on the 26th December, a fleet of some of the worlds finest racing yachts departs Sydney Harbour on course for a finishing line in Hobart, state capital and largest city on the island of Tasmania. The race usually takes around four or five days to be completed, meaning that many will arrive in the early hours of New Years Eve. I caught the free shuttle bus down to Circular Quay and then another bus out to Watsons Bay, where I found myself a spot out on the headland to watch the start of the race. Once the yachts had raced off the starting line at an incredible speed, which totally took me by surprise, I followed their progress around the coastal path along with a huge crowd of other spectators to see them sail out of the mouth of the harbour and into the open sea. I got some great photos and it was a brilliant day standing out in the sunshine, seeing a part of Sydney I had never visited before.

The beach at Watsons Bay, with the city in the distance.

Just part of the huge crowd gathered to watch the beginning of the race.

Some of the yachts - the big black sail was one of those competing in the race - as well as hundreds of spectator boats.

A few minutes after the starting gun had fired. The larger yachts took off like sprinters, it was quite amazing to see!

Some of the smaller yachts in the fleet sail out past the headland on their way to the first buoy marker.

A classic selfie-shot with some of the yachts nearing the horizon.

A photo taken from Christison Park, above Watsons Bay.

Another shot from Christison Park, looking south, along the coast in the direction of Bondi Beach.

On my way back, I jumped off the bus at Circular Quay and decided to walk back along George Street. I had intended to stop by some of the shops and see if there were any bargains in the Boxing Day sales, though the sheer numbers of people out shopping put me off completely and I didn't bother. Many shops had people queued up around the block just waiting to get inside! Crazy!

This photo was taken outside Topshop, where police were patrolling the pedestrian crossings to ensure people weren't walking out in front of traffic.

After arriving back at the flat, I chilled out for a while before having dinner. Afterwards, I spent some time downloading some books onto my new Kindle, which is just great - I can't stop going on about how good it is. What an excellent present! There was another United game kicking off at midnight - I love this time of year, when there just seems to be football on every two or three days! Even though the game started really badly, United went 2-0 down to Hull after only 15 minutes or so, we staged a brilliant comeback to win the game 3-2 eventually - including a stunning volley by Wayne Rooney. Three points on Boxing Day, what better Christmas gift could you ask for? I got straight to sleep after the game since I had work the next day, which meant there would be sales on. The joys of retail.

As it turned out, work wasn't too busy and I didn't actually start my shift until 3pm, which I hadn't initially realised. I spent the entire morning doing nothing at all, except reading some of "The Promised Land" by Daniel Harris, the first book I chose to read on my Kindle. Predictably, it's about Man Utd and tells the tale of the historic 1998/99 Treble-winning season; it's a great read and I would recommend it to all United fans. In work, there were enough customers to keep us busy, but nothing that wasn't manageable and the shift came and went fairly quickly. I got home, made dinner and watched "Class of '92" - a Man Utd film about the amazing group of players including Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and David Beckham who went on to make history playing for the club. Again, it was just fantastic and any football fan should make sure they don't miss it!

On Saturday, I had a quiet morning before meeting Jessica in the city in the early afternoon to go shopping for a while. I was looking for sunglasses, a new belt, aftershave, a watch and possibly some new shoes. I ended up not getting any of the things I went for but did buy two new t-shirts. Typical. Once we had called it quits at the shops, we walked down to Darling Harbour where we had an early dinner before meeting up with Alex, having planned to see the new Hobbit film at the cinema that night. We wanted to go to the IMAX at Darling Harbour to see it - they have the biggest screen in the world there - but it was already sold out. The back-up plan was to go to the Event cinema on George Street, where we bought tickets to see the film in regular 2D; I enjoyed the film, but much the same as the first Hobbit film, I didn't think it was fantastic. Certainly not in the same league as Lord of the Rings, but not many films are, in hindsight. Again, I headed home afterwards and got straight to bed since there was yet another football match that night. I set my alarm for 2am in order to get up and watch it, though when 2am came around I was simply too tired to get up. I put the alarm back on in time for the second half starting and went back to sleep. What felt like 10 minutes later, my alarm went off again, at 2.50am and I dragged myself out of bed to see that it was still Norwich 0-0 Man Utd. Hadn't missed much anyway. The second half wasn't very good either, though Danny Welbeck did steal a nice goal and it finished 1-0! Another good away win and our fifth on the bounce!

I had another chilled morning on Sunday after a well-needed long lie. I was supposed to be working later in the day, but received a text from one of the managers at work to say that since the shop was really quiet, I didn't have to come in for my shift. Instead, I headed out to the shops at Broadway to try my luck at getting some of the things I had been looking for in the city. I did finally get myself a new belt as well as another new t-shirt, but nothing else. Shockingly bad effort. I spotted a Facebook message on my phone and saw that Robert had asked me to go and play football down at Wentworth Park again at 3pm. I decided that would be a good way to spend the afternoon, so got changed and headed down shortly before the time when I knew the guys usually arrived. Only Robert was there and we sat around until almost 4pm waiting on some others to arrive; eventually a few lads turned up and we had enough bodies for a short-sided game of fives. Fives on a Sunday afternoon - it was almost like being at home! After a few hours in the afternoon heat, I grabbed my stuff and walked back home, completely shattered. Upon arriving home, I discovered that Australia were once again dominating England in the Ashes and were merely 30-odd runs away from taking a 4-0 lead. No prizes for guessing that they took a mere half an hour to gain the required runs and embarrass England once more. Abysmal from them, awesome from the Aussies.

This is Wentworth Park, where I played football on Sunday.

This morning, I got up around 9am and had some cereal, before lying back in bed to watch Match of the Day. Incredibly, towards the end of the football highlights I fell asleep again and didn't wake up again until shortly before noon! I must have needed it, since I don't think I've ever slept for anywhere near 12 hours before! Very out of character for me! After jumping out of bed in shock at the time, I sat down to start getting this blog post written, before heading out to play football this afternoon. Unfortunately, very few people turned up, so we called it quits and I decided to do a running session instead. I followed a routine which Andy had showed me at home some time ago, essentially HIIT cardio work - it was absolutely killer and the heat didn't help. I walked home, legs like jelly, had some dinner and sat down to finish this post.

It's now just past midnight on Tuesday, 31st December, which means there are less than 24 hours of 2013 remaining. It seems to be fashionable to complain about the year that has just gone and make promises of a "new start, new me" on Twitter and Facebook, but I have to say that 2013 was another awesome year in my life. I cannot wait to see what 2014 has in store.

Our plans for tomorrow are to head down the Harbour fairly early and get a good spot to see the fireworks at midnight and bring in the bells! I'm looking forward to the world-famous Sydney Harbour fireworks, so I hope they don't disappoint! I hope everyone in Sydney, friends and family at home, as well as friends who have now returned to their own part of the world have a fantastic New Year when it comes and a brilliant 2014!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Until next time,
Jamie