CHRISTMAS WEEK IN SYDNEY
After a week in Tasmania, we came back to Sydney. While in Sydney, we explored more of what we didn’t the first time around, enjoyed some of our old Christmas traditions, and created new ones.
Tuesday 12/20: On our first day in Sydney, we visited the Art Galleries of New South Wales. This museum just added a whole new wing called the Sydney Modern Project. The wing is bright, open, and modern, allowing people to experience new art, architecture, and design in the heart of Sydney. This museum was also really interactive. We were invited to participate in a collaborative art project by making clay balls, and we made our own personal protective armor, inspired by on an exhibit in the museum. We were instructed to make our own armor using scraps of paper, scissors, tape, cardboard, etc. Personally, I think my armor was the best. I made a jet pack that I wear on my arm that shoots things at people.
Wednesday 12/21: Today we took a ferry to Manly, a costal neighborhood within Sydney. When we got to Manly, we walked along the beach for a bit and then we met the Boris family for lunch. The Borises are old friends of ours that live in Sydney. After catching up and having a great lunch, we walked along the beach again for a bit until we parted ways. On the ferry back to downtown, we got great views of the city skyline, Sydney Harbor, Sydney Opera House, and the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
Thursday 12/22: Today we had more of a chill day. We did last minute grocery and Christmas shopping and then did the Bondi to Bronte walk again. We walked there and back this time and tried to dip our toes in the water but it was still really cold!
Friday 12/23: So there is this little bakery right down the street from where we were staying that supposedly has the best sourdough bread and croissants around. Everybody was right! We started our morning off with fresh, right out of the oven hot croissants and delicious sourdough bread from Iggy's Bread. Yum! After our morning treat, we headed down to Bronte Beach for the day. We had our lunch down there and spent a good FIVE hours playing in the waves.
Saturday 12/24: Today is Christmas Eve — which means Christmas cookies, Christmas movies, and apparently, 90° weather! We started the morning off by sleeping in and going to Bronte Beach (again)! When we got back, we made Christmas cookies. We knew Christmas this year was going to be different, so we made sure to keep up some old traditions, such as making cookies on Christmas Eve! We stuffed our faces with all the sugar we could possibly eat and then took a nice break until we got ready to go to Darling Harbor to see some Christmas Eve fireworks. We had never done this before so we were excited to see the fireworks.
We had very high expectations for these fireworks because well, they were in Sydney and over a picturesque, “darling” harbor. First, we went to dinner at a terrible restaurant. It took 30 minutes to get our drinks, and 90 minutes to get our food. And the food wasn’t even that good! Once we were done, we scurried over to the Harbor to watch the fireworks which were in fact, the lamest fireworks ever. EVER. They lasted maybe 3 minutes. Then we went home, left out some cookies, and waited for Santa to come.
Sunday 12/25: Santa came! We all woke up very early and rushed out to the living room to see what Santa brought. We read his letter he gave us and then opened our first present from him - matching Christmas pajamas! One of our favorite traditions is wearing matching pjs and we are glad that we got some this year, even though we were away. That morning we had Zoom calls to connect with our family, had a delicious breakfast and enjoyed our new tradition - Christmas crackers! These Christmas crackers were everywhere in Australia and we decided to get them!
After our lazy morning, we went to meet the Borises at their house in Mosman, one of the prettiest suburbs of Sydney! They were nice enough to invite us to join their family for Christmas dinner. First we went swimming at the beach ON CHRISTMAS (first time for everything!) We also jumped off a pier! Then we went back to their house to swim in their pool, have dinner, and watch Home Alone 2. This Christmas was really fun and I hope I can have another tropical Christmas soon!
This year’s holiday celebrations were definitely different, but just as memorable and fun. We made new traditions that we can’t wait to share with everybody we love when we get home! ❤️