An action packed last few weeks!

It's hard to believe it's already February, and our one-year anniversary in Australia has come and gone. My parents arrived in December and the weather was perfect for Christmas! We were all invited to a friend's Christmas Eve Aussie BBQ where they served enough food to feed an army - an amazing feast to say the least! Despite being jet-lagged, we all chatted the night away and we didn't get home until midnight. We then celebrated Christmas Day the traditional North American way with a big turkey with all the fixn's and it was fabulous. We spent loads of time outside on our patio and I'm starting to think that we could really get used to a warm Christmas! We surprised my parents with 4 tickets to a Sydney Opera House performance (and thank GOD they picked us as their dates!) in the Concert Hall which turned out to be more than spectacular. We all really enjoyed it.

Shortly after Christmas we toured down the south coast to Jervis Bay. The sand couldn't have been finer or whiter and the water couldn't have been a more gorgeous shade of pale blue. We all ate more than our fair share of food and spent a lot of time on the beach which is really the hallmark of any great vacation (in our opinion). Jon and I will definitely be heading back.

Then it was back to Sydney for New Year's Eve and what a show this city puts on! The city spent $6.3 million and set off 7000kg of explosives in Sydney Harbour on 6 barges and the bridge. Never seen ANYTHING like it!! We watched from a great vantage point north of the city and Dad EVEN managed to stay up for it and it was well worth it.

On New Year's Day it was off to the Hunter Valley to wine country where we sampled many different wines (I'll leave out the part where you, Dad, asked a million questions at one winery...we'll leave that just between the four of us). The Hunter Valley was then followed by a trip to Port Stephens which is further north where we spent a few more relaxing days before heading back home. Mom & Dad are now touring around NZ and from the sounds of it, having a great time.

Once we shipped off my folks, Jon and I headed up to Coff's Harbour which is 6 hours north of Sydney to enjoy the last few days of Jon's vacation. We were planning on having a stay-cation for the rest of our holidays, but realized we sucked terribly at this and decided to head away. Coff's Harbour has so many quiet beaches and was a great place to relax. Kona had miles and miles of beach to run on without another person in sight.

Oh...I left out the part where Jon went hang-gliding! This was my Christmas present to him. It was amazing to watch (and obviously much more amazing to experience). Once they were all harnessed in, they lifted the hang-glider, took two steps and they were in the air. He spent about 30 minutes up and about and most of the time he flew it.



I'm now on the tail end of my school holiday and will be heading back to uni mid February for my final year (I'm really looking forward to being done). Jon's been working like a dog since the end of our vacation. Work aside, life has been good. We're looking forward to having my parents back for a few days before they start their Ozzie adventure.
Hugs to all of you!!
L&J&K