December - Christmas with Palm Trees

December is our 1 year anniversary in Australia! Wow, what a great year it has been.

Our Christmas was nice and quiet. It definitely is just not the same to spend Christmas with your family and friends so far away! Not to mention how weird it is for us to be going to the beach on a sunny, 80 degree day and see Christmas decorations up! Rob & Nikky were kind enough to invite us to spend Christmas with them and their two adorable sons again. Thanks Rob & Nikky for a wonderful day.

December was packed with activities, as Doug & Cindy flew out the 4th, but not before getting Doug on a Volvo 60 for a race in Sydney Harbor, as well as doing the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb with Doug & Cindy. It is an amazing experience and worth every penny. We also did a few Sydney things like the Ghost tour of the Rocks, and went to see Missy Higgins in concert (like an Aussie version of Norah Jones).

We were very sad to see our friends in the building move. We hope to see Camilla when she comes back after Christmas break, but Kristy has gone back to Perth. We do miss them...come see us any time!

Camilla & Kristy




We did get to celebrate Thanksgiving (in December) this year. We had met some Americans, Jason & Kylie, from LA and had dinner with them a few times. They kindly invited us over for an amazing Thanksgiving feast with some other Americans. It was great to share stories and hear how others have made the adjustment. I think we made some more new friends as well!

We do have an unfortunate story to share. Our good car got broken into in the SAS parking lot. They smashed the passenger side window and stole an old gym bag with some of my sailing gear. Looking to the bright side, I was lucky in that they didn't do any damage other than the window, and my iPod, phone, sunglasses,wallet, etc wasn't in the car.

Polly celebrated her birthday in December. I got her windsurfing lessons and a digital photo frame and went through some 20,000 pictures to pick the best 400. I think it's both good and bad as she likes seeing the pictures of friends and family yet it makes us miss them even more.

To get in the Christmas spirit, we joined a gazillion people in a park in downtown Sydney to listen to Christmas Carols. It was quite a show, and included a live performance from the Wiggles (horray) and Santa coming in on a Helicopter. Great fun.

For Boxing Day (Dec 26th), we got to be in a small motorboat to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart race up close! It's kind of funny, as we had to get our boat licenses to operate a motor boat here in Sydney. It's a great law, but makes me laugh as I've driven and owned boats my entire life and never had a test in the US. However,I support the law 100% and wish the US would do the same.

We got some great news in December, as Polly's sister Kathy and John got engaged! Congratulations to you both! They, along with our neice Isabella (almost 6 years old), will arrive New Year's Eve and will be visitors #4. We can't wait to see them! I expect we'll be in awe as to how much Isabella will have changed since we saw her a year ago. For New Year'sEve, we plan to take them out to a friend's yacht which will be anchored in the Harbor to geta great view of the Fireworks. Should be a great time.

I got some sailing time in over the Holiday. I raced on a yacht named "Love Byte" and we won our division in the Coff's Harbour Race over the Christmas Break.

Jason on the bow during the start of an overnight leg

The Harbour was very busy with activity enjoying the great December weather:

Start of a Wednesday evening race:


Busy Harbor!


Polly works for Getaway Sailing, and December is the busiest month of the year, as they entered 2 yachts in the Sydney to Hobart race, as well coordinating crew training and logistics. I think she'll be glad when December is over. :)

Getaway Sailing's Volvo 60 in Hobart Race

Getaway Sailing's Sydney 38 in Hobart Race

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all! Do know we miss you and would love to hear from you!