Our first christmas in Australia! Have you ever celebrated christmas on the beach?!

And then it suddenly was Christmas! Unfortunately we did not have a real Christmas feeling. It's so crazy to celebrate it at 30 degrees without our lovely families and friends around us. Okay, we had each other of course! And a lot of nice other lovely people, but still...
We therefore celebrated our first Christmas day on the beach. Coogee beach it was! After all, that's were it seemed to be everyone was going. Well, that was correct. The beach was loaded with festive Christmas people. The sun was shining and the waves were high. Nice to take a picture with your Christmas hat, but people think about it ... We have seen cameras and phones fall in to the waves lots of times. But it was Christmas, so maybe those people might have gotten a new one under the tree.
We took the necessary snacks and drinks and with our new Dutchies friends we had a nice first Christmas day.

The next day we meet up with our awesome group and there were horse races on the schedule! The only problem; there was a dress code: a nice outfit was appreciated. But as we are all backpackers, we do not have a lot of choice. A dress we did have but underneath that we only had flipflops. First we found some sandals at the H&M. It took us about 3 hours... But who goes shopping on boxing day?! (EVERYONE IN SYDNEY)
Race 6 was already going when we arrived and despite the fact that the sandals were not necessarily needed, we were glad we had them because everyone looked really good! It was great to see how those horses are released and everyone goes out of their minds. The highest amount that was won: $ 188,000... Yes, money has to roll. Also Esmee and Berend had a chance, but unfortunately Dixy Chick did not run hard enough.

Of course, a walk on the Harbor bridge was also on the list, so we went with Esmee. Once arrived at the Opera House (just before the bridge) we had a cup of coffee. After that delicious cup of coffee, we had a bottle of wine, after that bottle we had another bottle and a sandwich, after that bottle and that sandwich we had another bottle and a drink. You know now.. We only watched that bridge all the time, but never walked on it!

And then suddenly it was New years eve! Our alarm clock was at 5:00 AM. NOOOO!! But we had to, if we wanted a good place to enjoy the fireworks. At 6.30 pm we ended up with Berend and his friends who were already in line. Unfortunately, we are not talking about meters long, but probably we can talk in miles.
At 10:00 the parks were officially opened. Everybody ran like maniacs for the best spot. We ended up having a perfect one! Wow!
And then after a total of almost 18 hours waiting, naps, card games, walking around, reading and waiting again, it was finally there! The most spectacular fireworks ever burst. With tears in our eyes we have enjoyed ourselves so much, happy with the life we ​​are leading at this moment.
The home front watched from the live stream on the laptop and so we were yet "together" to pinch a tear away... It was amazing!!

And what do we have in the Netherlands for tradition on January first? Right! A New Year's Dive! So we'll do that in Sydney as well. At 13:00 all Dutchies had gathered at Bondi Beach. Together with about 350 other Dutch people we sung the national anthem and we have counted down to run in the water. It was even filmed by Bondi Rescue. What an experience again.

In a drunk mood we asked; Hey Sabien ?! Would you like to do the great ocean road with us ?! The answer was yes, because we had so much fun with each other! We had to say goodbye to Esmee, because she had already done this well-known road and continued to the north.

So the holidays were over and it was time for a new adventure! The Great Ocean Road!! Read it in our next post.

Love from us dear fellow steemians!