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On Boxing Day after watching the start of the Sydney to Hobart sailing race, we hopped on a plane to Hobart, Tasmania (better than traveling 4-5 days at sea!). We'd been looking forward to this trip for a while, so it was great to land and begin exploring a new place. We had the evening in Hobart to walk around and have dinner before heading off the next day up the east coast to the Freycinet Peninsula.

I had reserved a campsite right on Richardson's Beach in Freycinet National Park, which I felt really lucky to get given the campsites are given away via a ballot system for the Christmas/New Year period. We set up camp and enjoyed some local Tassie beer - Moo Brew - on the beach. Mike grilled some steaks/mushrooms/onions for dinner and then we watched the sunset by our tent.

The next day we went on a 12km hike to Wineglass Bay and Hazards Beach. Hazards Beach was empty and the water crystal turquoise blue - it was paradise. We walked the length of the beach in awe at the lack of people during the 'busiest' time of year for tourism in Tasmania. We went down to check out the campsites at the end of the beach and after not much discussion decided this was where we wanted to spend our thrid night.

After returning to our campsite at Richardson's Beach, we jumped in the ocean and then took (cold) showers. We decided to drive up the coast because we did not want to miss seeing the little penguins in Bicheno and the beer drinking pig at Pub in the Paddock in Pyengana - both came highly recommended.

It was a lot of driving for one evening, but so worth it. Feeding the pigs - Priscilla and Priscilla Babe (the younger one) - was hysterical. Priscialla even burped after she slurped the beer down! We did learn that the pig beers are mostly water with a little beer for taste. After eating some pork sausages at the bar (why order anything else?) we headed back down the coast to Bicheno for a 10pm tour to see the little penguins. They come out of the ocean when it gets dark to a grassy area with various burrows to feed their young and sleep. We saw hundreds of the little guys - it was really neat.

The next day we packed up our campsite and put together a few backpacks with gear for our night at Hazards Beach. We arrived after a few hours of hiking (thanks to Mike for carrying the big pack!) and got the prime tent spot. We spent the afternoon swimming, watching the wildlife and walking around. At dusk there were wallabies hopping around and one was pretty bold and got really close to us. It was an increcible camping experience..one we'll never forget.

We ended our trip in Hobart, which was a lot of fun given all the activity on the waterfront from the Sydney to Hobart race. We walked around looking at all the big racing boats and even got to welcome a handful of finishers! The Taste Festival was also going on so we had fun trying local food while sitting outside under the almost full moon on our last night. Hands down, I think it was definitely the best time of year to be in Hobart with all the race activity, food/wine and warm weather.

Tasmania is so pristine..as with the other places we've been, I'd love to see more and wish we could have stayed longer.

Christmas was quite different for both of us this year, but it's one we'll never forget. The hot weather, fireworks, artificial trees, santa hats, seafood lunches and pavlova were all part of our Australian Christmas (aka Chrissy) experience. I must say that we had to work harder to get into the holiday spirit (which usually comes VERY naturally for me), but we made it special with our tree, some decorations and Christmas Eve/Morning plans.

On Christmas Eve we went to dinner at Quay, which is in a spectacular location on the edge of Circular Quay with floor to ceiling views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. We enjoyed a nice long gourmet dinner and then headed over to St. Mary's Cathedral for midnight mass. It was standing room only when we arrived at about 11:15. Despite being a bit warm and uncomfortable, it was a beautiful setting for a Christmas Eve service. After leaving the church at about 1:30 in the morning we were suprised to see ice cream trucks outside! So funny..it just couldn't be more different than to what we're accustomed.

We slept in on Christmas morning, had a lazy breakfast, opened pressies and spoke to our families on Skype. We were planning for hot sunny weather, but it actually wasn't really a beach day. We ended up running down to Bondi to check out the scene, which was essentially tons of backpackers wearing santa hats. That evening Chris and Jess had us over for a BBQ at their place in Woollahra. We ate lots of yummy food including pavlova, a meringue dessert topped with cream and fruit that's very popular here. It was nice to close off the day with good friends, food and drink.

Thanks Australia for a unique Christmas, although I'm already looking forward to sitting by the fire and drinking hot cider in the Northern Hemisphere next year!

Last weekend Alane and Mickey hosted a Thanksgiving feast for a group of about 15! They live in the Horizon apartments in Darlinghurst where the view is incredible (we'll be heading there to take in some fireworks on NYE). They cooked a turkey and everyone else brought various holiday specialties. I made a pumpkin pie with filling that Mike smuggled here from the US in October. We also brought green beans and a few bottles of wine. It was a fabulous fabulous feast..just look at the picture of my plate! Yum. Even though we couldn't be with family, we are very thankful to have such wonderful friends in Sydney!

Yesterday we got our real tree delivered from http://sydneychristmastrees.com/, where I ordered it online. Upon delivery I was quite happy to learn it's a Monterey Pine. A little slice of home in Oz! Most people here in Australia seem to do the artificial trees, which I guess makes sense given the heat. But, being the traditionalist I am I was pretty adamant about getting a real tree. We had to cut a decent amount of branches off the bottom to get it standing up in our el cheapo tree stand -- which, by the way, I had to go on quite a mission to find. Can you believe that K-Mart, Target nor Big W (like Walmart) have tree stands? Next step is to find some more ornaments!

Amy, Tony and Matthew (who is now 15 months old!) visited Sydney last week as part of a two week trip to Australia. It was so wonderful to have them here - we had fun catching up and sharing some of our favorite Sydney activities. Mike introduced them to the city by taking them to Bills for brekkie and on a walk through the Finger Wharf, Botanical Gardens and Opera House. Throughout the week we also enjoyed exploring the Rocks together and trying Kangaroo Pizza, going to trivia night at the Fringe Bar and doing the Cliff Walk from Bronte to Bondi (during a heat lightning storm).

We had a perfect beach day on Saturday so we headed to Manly. Amy and Tony surprised us with a private surf lesson, which was so unexpected and nice! But man, surfing is HARD. We both got up on our feet a few times, but paddling and fighting the waves to get back out beyond the break was really exhausting. We also got to try the new Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop, which recently opened in Manly and is the first Ben & Jerry's in Oz! It was like a little slice of home, except they didn't have our favorite - Half Baked. On Sunday, Sydney was the hottest place in Australia. Hotter than the Outback. Seriously. 108 degrees. I can't believe it but we actually braved the heat and went lawn bowling after breakfast. That afternoon we had people over to our place for some cold beer and snacks before the Pearl Jam concert that evening. They headed to the airport on Monday and left behind a tree and little presents for us to open each day leading up to Christmas. How thoughtful!

We're so glad to have spent time in Sydney with Amy and Tony and Matthew, who is growing so fast and remains cute as ever. I think we all made some great memories!

This month Laura has graciously allowed me to put down my razor so that I can let my inner Magnum P.I. out and grow a Mo (moustache) for Movember.  Movember is an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.  It's actually somewhat of a big deal here and pretty amusing to see all the mos that have started to appear around the city recently. 

I put together a time lapse compilation for you to enjoy, and if you want to learn more or sponsor my Mo you can visit http://au.movember.com/mospace/201317/ . If I raise enough money it might even warrant Mocember, although I think Laura might have something to say about that.