A ‘quiet’ Christmas 

Yes this post is late. Yes I have been busy and yes I will try keep up to date better!
I flew home from Brisbane to my other home in NZ on the 22nd to help mum with the Christmas preparations. The only help I probably was in reality though was picking at all the food she ate and telling great stories to keep her entertained. 

We had a quieter Christmas this year. Our neighbours, the Keddies joined us for lunch which of course turned into dinner. 

We had a blast playing ‘corn throw’ (it’s called something like that) where you have bags filled of corn and are trying to throw them into a hole in an angled board about 6m away. After a few champagnes Beth & I were nailing it. After a few more, we were napping with the rest of them. 

As always, the food was delicious and plenty and we had a lovely time. I was spoilt by my family who all bought me really thoughtful gifts. I hope they felt spoilt by me too. 

(Few random pics from my holiday thrown in too)

    
    
    
    
   
   
    
    
    
    
    
   

Home for the holidays

I flew home on Christmas Eve this year. It’s late but I have limited leave due to being not far into a new job. A casual $750 bought me a one way flight to Palmerston North via Christchurch (where I sit writing this) from Brisbane.

I can’t wait to see my family and be on the farm.

I had originally decided to go to Singapore or New Caledonia for NYE but after a few friends pulled out I decided to stay in NZ.

Luckily we (my family) had the idea to rent a house in Pauanui for NYE to meet my Aunt, Uncle, cousins, family friends, their kids (who are my age) and their kids, one of which is my goddaughter. My best mate Kim is coming and my old flatmate Kim & her friend will be joining us for NYE, I can’t freaking wait. Couldn’t think of a better way to spend NYE than by the beach with some of my favourite people!

I fly back to the Gold Coast on the 3rd from Auckland, arriving at 6pm. Lisa sprung her birthday party on me that night so I’m straight back to Brisbane to party the night away with her – lucky she’s a bloody good mate and she dropped me at the airport at 5am this morning!

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Orphan’s Christmas

On the 24th – which was the 25th in New Zealand I skyped my family while they did their gifts. I thought I’d get upset but I was okay! It didn’t really feel like Christmas for me because I wasn’t at home.

I made red velvet cupcakes with green icing and Billy bought over tea. I walked over to Michelle’s and we all went down to the Stanley Park Christmas Lights. I ended up going back to Billy’s and we played monopoly until 1am. He kicked my ass.

Christmas Day here, I woke up late, met Billy & we walked to Carso’s for Christmas lunch. They did an amazing job -turkey, ham and all the delicious trimmings. The turkey was 8kg and took a longgg time to cook so we didn’t end up eating until 4pm! Lucky we had lots of beverages and yummy snacks to keep us entertained.

My secret Santa was an awesome little Canada flask, everyone got great gifts.

Carso made an amazing warm punch with spiced rum, red wine, oranges and cranberries. Soooo delicious! I’ll be making that next year.

Over to Michelle’s for dinner, we had a late one, thank goodness. Joe made two delicious chickens and great stuffing. Lucky we didn’t eat until about 11pm, we were all so full!

We played Cards Against Humanity – my new fave game. It’s hilarious. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. Laughed till I cried, again and again, I’m going to buy it for everyone!

Around 2am I got a cab home as it had started raining. I was too exhausted to even open my gifts/ stocking from home so crashed out an skyped my family the next morning and opened them all.

Next Christmas, I will be home. It’s not Christmas without being with my family, I had a great time but feels more like a week of partying than anything else.

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas!!

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Holiday Season

Here come the holidays!

This is my first orphan Xmas away from my family. I am not looking forward to being away from them. My original plan was to skip the country – home was 3k return and not viable however Hawaii was $700 return and the distraction of the sun, sand and waves would keep me happy. However that didn’t work out either.

I have a few friends to visit on Xmas, some dinners and some lunch so I will be nice and occupied. Christmas in NZ will actually be on the 24th here. Luckily we finally have wireless at home now so my olds can Skype me in!

New Years, well I know this will surprise you but I wanted to skip the country lol. However nobody wanted to fly away with me so I thought I was destined to be stuck here.

There is a Great Gatsby party here I was planning on going to and a friend invited me to Whistler but I’m not sure they got accommodation sorted.

Then I got a message from one of my first Contiki buddies and they’re getting married/ having their Canadian ceremony on NYE in Toronto! I love weddings and it would be the perfect excuse to go explore the other side of the country with some great people. I think I will book that.

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Vancouver Christmas Markets

I love this place!!

It’s like a German Christmas Market. Not that I’ve ever been to one but all the food and majority of the goods seem to derive from there.

There’s the cutest shops with gorgeous gifts and decorations. All themed as little huts and you stroll around them while drinking delicious warm apple cider or mulled wine with rum.

Jay, Ka Lei, Tahlia, Carso, Lucas and I all headed down to explore, such a good night!

Choices for dinner are baffling. There’s German hot dogs, schnitzel, pasta, pretzels and pork knuckles.

I went with half a pork knuckle on a bun with sour kraut – I think I ate it in about two seconds it was so good!! Only $8.50 too yummmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it again!

We then went for a ride on the carousel – the big kids that we are. I’m not going to lie, it was fun!

Next up, baked apples! We had the original with cinnamon and sultanas but Carso & Ka Lei got the salted caramel and holy wow it was melt in your mouth goodness! I also tried the Black Forest which was a bit over bearing.

You pretty much can’t top that so we left afterwards. Can’t wait to go back!

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New York, New York!

This time next month I will be sooo excited! I’ll be leaving for NYC in the evening. Work will definitely drag by that day.

It also coincides with my 6 months in Canada and we will leave NYC on my 27th birthday.

I’ve been to NY before but there’s so much to see there – I am beyond excited to see the Christmas decorations everywhere, to go ice skating and to the Christmas shows.

Now I just need to save enough to fuel everything I want to do! Would be easy in Australia, but not so much here.

Anybody have suggestions for NYC? I love sneaky traveller tips.

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