Summer update

It’s been a hectic month! Since my last post, I’ve negotiated a contract extension at work, we’ve upgraded our visas (from Working Holiday visas to Business visas) and we’ve moved flat. All these came to a head within 3 days of each other last week.

Our new flat overlooks the harbour bridge and opera house. As it turns out we’re in the same block as our friends Geoff and Leonie, who are two floors above us and one across. The possibility of using cans connected by string to communicate is being investigated.

We had a good Christmas and New Year. We didn’t know if we’d be staying or going until now, so we did as much as possible in the last few weeks. Highlights included sand-dune buggy racing at Stockton Bight with Sand Safaris, a trip to the Blue Mountains, watching fireworks on New Year’s Eve (awesome) and Steve Waugh’s last ever test match in the Australia vs India cricket series. More photos can be found here.

We also went shark fishing on Sydney harbour last weekend. We had the harbour to ourselves at 5.30am in the morning, and there were no waves at all - it was incredibly calm and peaceful. Sunrise looking out to sea was breathtaking. The water was so clear that we could see the squids coming after our lures as we pulled them along (“here, squiddy!"), only for the squids to get away each time. There were five of us in the boat, including a five-year-old boy. He caught two small fish, which is two more than the rest of us put together….! ‘Nuff said….

Comings and goings: Nish is still in Sydney for anowther month or so. His friend Zoe has also arrived and is living about 50 miles Northwest of Sydney, working at a research facility. And Matt & Julia are coming for the first two weeks in February.