3rd – 24th December
Well it’s the afternoon of Christmas eve and I’m writing in front of the tree with a foot of snow in Scotland and home looking at a white Christmas while we’re swapping the mulled wine for chilled ciders and bathing in 25°C. This is December in Auckland.
Claire & Joel greeted a sleepy me from Australia with flowers at 1am on Friday morning after I spent 6 nights in Sydney and one more night in Brisbane as the end of my Australia leg. That week saw Priscilla turn 25 and an opportunity for a few more catch-ups and time with some of the most appealing people I know. We hit the town over the weekend and lived the life of luxury between a stunning apartment that overlooked the city with a glimpse of the harbour bridge and an ocean view room in the gorgeous Coogee Bay Crowne Plaza. It was a mixture of high heels and black dresses and shorts and flip flops and it was all done in the sun – perfect. The week flew by, as they do when you’re having fun, and we had a final dinner on Wednesday night in the chic Surrey Hills where I said bye for real this time. Then it was another trip to the airport as my NZ flight was booked out of Brisbane (my original plan was to spend the last 3 weeks in Australia) so I spent my last night in Queensland where Greg and I planned to have a crazy one but instead cooked Mexican and fell asleep in front of a movie. I suppose we could have driven into the city and partied till 4am but who needs to end up exhausted just to feel like you’ve had a good time when sometimes you just can’t beat a good night in! However, I fully plan to do that next time as Brisbane is a cool place and I could spend a lot more time there - change of tune from my first visit 5 years ago when I think I described it as 'dull' but it’s partly about who you know and partly because I now see it as a little similar to Glasgow in size and style but with much better weather. How can you go wrong?
So here I am in Auckland. First time in New Zealand and it is superbly easy as I get to just slot in to Claire and Joel’s fantastic apartment and social life – all the benefits without any of the effort! They also have 2 little rescued kittens that were found cruelly dumped and nearly dead and handed into the vets so I have crazy Mavis and comatose Marley as extra entertainment. But Santa is due in less than 12 hours and it still doesn’t feel like Christmas... I think this sun will take a lot of getting used to and hearing ‘Let it Snow’ in department stores just sounds a little silly here but sunbathing, seafood and chilled drinks sound pretty damn good so I can probably power through. And if we get a little homesick then we have facebook full of photos of the snow at home and I’m there in spirit anyway.
So here’s to everyone, thank you for following me and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas wherever you are. Hope to see you in 2010!
Lots of love xxx
