Happy New Year!

Christmas Lights

The holiday season seems to be almost over.  Almost, because Australia Day is coming up next week, and it's an official holiday here.  After that, I think we're pretty much finished with the holidays for a while.  I know I am, anyway.  It's been fun, but it's also been expensive.  Time to settle down, find a job, make some money, and get ready for my next semester at uni.  It's also time to (finally) update the blog and post some more pictures.

It's been quite a rush since the end of last semester.  First, there was the huge holiday to Hamilton Island.  Just a few weeks later, I got to travel up to Noosa for a long weekend.  Then, before I knew it, Christmas was already here.  I think the warm summer weather kept me in denial about it actually being Christmas time.  The day after Christmas, my friend Ryan from San Diego came to visit for a few weeks.  Now here I am in the middle of January wondering where the last two months have gone, or at least how they managed to go by so quickly.

Noosa

Following is a list of websites for several of the places I visited over the last month or so.  There are also descriptions under many of the photos I uploaded, so check them out.  I only posted pictures of new things this time, so you don't have to endure fifity more pictures of the Sydney Opera House.  Well, one more maybe, but not fifity.

1. The Christmas lights seem to be a pretty big deal around here on Christmas.  You can find out in the newspaper and on websites like this one where the best lights are.  De, Grant, and I went out one evening to have a look.  Kinda weird walking around in shorts and tee looking at Christmas lights.
2. Q1
3. You can watch a cool Noosa video here.  We spent our "water time" on the river, and it was cloudy and rainy after the first day, but you get the idea...  This is the website for the townhouse we rented: http://www.coralbeach.com.au/
4. The Big Pineapple's website is under construction, so I had to wiki this: The Big Pineapple
5. One of the highlights of our visit to Melbourne was the Old Melbourne Gaol.
6. We had a day of wine tasting on the Mornington Peninsula.
7. There was also a day trip to Canberra.
   
8. And finally, Sydney Tower..  Well worth the price of the lift ticket once you're up there.
   

Ryan's Visit