Christmas Time Is Here!

Ok I know this post is a little overdue, but here it is:

Our last two days in Sydney were packed with beer and food in Darling Harbour, followed by fireworks, shopping for the women (I split off and took a walk), and the Sydney Aquarium. One day we did a trip to the Blue Mountains, about two hours by train from Sydney. It turned out to be a great day despite the overcast weather. The mountains themselves are more like plateaus that drop down to a narrow valley below (they call it a canyon). We checked out the Three Sisters viewpoint and walked on to one of the Sisters (three rock spires). The town of Katoomba was really picturesque and cozy, with a main, cafe lined street that lead to the viewpoint. I thought at some point I would like to spend some time in that town.

On Sunday we rented a car and headed out for the town of Black Head, where the parents of my Mom's co-worker Allison kindly let us use their beach house. I'll start this off by ranting about Australian roads, just so we can get this out of the way. I didn't have much of a problem with the other side of the road thing, well except for hitting the curb and scraping up the hub cap the first time parking the car (I can feel a comment from Uncle Richard coming). Sydney's roads are complete chaos. Lane's end and form everywhere, light systems and unpredictable, and you constantly have to be vigilant due to the lack of signs. The highways are even worse. The main highway of the country, highway 1, is only divided double lane for half the way towards Brisbane, and is frequently punctuated by traffic circles and towns that bring the speed limit down to 50. The weirdest thing in the passing lanes. Of course since you drive on the left you keep left except to pass, but the passing lane doesn't end, the slow lane does! The left lane is forced to merge into the passing lane. Does this make sense to anyone? Because it doesn't to me. Ok I'm done.

The beach house was amazing. One hundred feet from the beach, it was a quaint cabin style beach house that has been in their family for seventy five years. The town itself is small and quiet, a perfect place to kick back and decompress from the hustle and bustle of Sydney. On Tuesday we were invited by Allison's parents, Errol and Pauline, to be shown around Forster/Tuncurry. A small beach side city who's mainstay is oyster farming and retirement, it's beaches were incredible. We would have never seen a fraction of what we saw if it hadn't been for those very pleasant people. Add another place where I would like to spend some time.

A couple more days at the beach house were spent doing exactly that: the beach. One of the most hilarious things was the nightly freak outs from the girls about the semi-outside bathroom. Not quite an outhouse, it was a fully plumbed and tiled bathroom, but a backyard stairway journey from the house, which becomes full of insects by nightfall if the light is left on. I became the Orkin man for the bathroom, having to kill bathroom cockroaches nightly.

And now we are in Byron Bay after a long, tired, frustrating car ride in the sweltering heat and humidity, trying to avoid using the air conditioning due to sore throats that Mom and I have had the past few days. The hotel we are staying at is pretty nice, a little ways away from the turmoil of Byron Bay. Danelle and Mom were very happy to have an attached bathroom. That night we had a good meal and beers at a local pub, and retired early. Danelle's bathroom rejoicing was quickly dashed. I got up in the middle of the night to take a leak, and in the process of turning on the light, triggered the need for her to do the same. I climbed back in bed only to hear a heart stopping gasp from the washroom, and Danelle's "holy fucking shit! Kyle! Kyle! Come here!". Not quite Huntsman size, it was one of the bigger spiders I've seen on my trip, about the size of the mouth of a coffee mug. It was time for Mom and I to swap bug killing duties, due to my dislike and fear of spiders. She did a hell of a job, first inhibiting it's mobility (partly) with hair spray then mashing it with the toilet brush. She instantly became our new hero. Now Danelle is completely on edge, and just about lost her shit when she opened the curtains and saw a spider on a web outside the window.

Today is Christmas Eve! We're not sure what we're going to do today, but tomorrow is going to be all about a huge seafood dinner. If I don't make it online tomorrow, Merry Christmas everyone!!!!