Holidays Part 1

When there are long gaps between blogs there are always two options: take a long time to record what was missed, or just record the highlights. Typically I just want to cover the main things, but so much happened over the long holidays that one blog just isn't sufficient. After all, this is as much for me as others that read it. So here is the beginning of the details of my holidays.

Last year for Christmas Matt and I wanted to go to Jervis Bay 3-4 hours south of Sydney. I have friends in Nowra near there that offered us to stay with them for Christmas. We drove down to Nowra Christmas Eve and spent the drive listening to the audiobook version of Outliers. We made a stop at a lookout with a Gelato shop. Unfortunately it was chilly and cloudy so the lookout wasn't that impressive.

Later we stopped at Kiama. There is a blow hole where the ocean spouts out a big hole in the rocks. Although the hole was neat, we had more fun just climbing around the rocks and looking for creatures in the little pools.

Matt's favourite part was one of the rock fisherman came by us and opened up one of the things that shoot water at you when they step on them. After it cut it open he scooped up the thing into a bag and walked off. I was bummed I didn't think to take a picture. Below is what it looked like afterwards.

We got to Nowra for the perfect time to start our Christmas Eve dinner. We had brought a Turducken (chicken, duck, and turkey wrapped in bacon) from a store called Aldi for dinner.

Dinner was great and I think Turducken may become a new Christmas tradition! Additionally we enjoyed spending time with the Quinton family. I knew Kelly from way back when I studied abroad here in Australia. It was great to see her after so many years and get to know her husband and daughter as well. (I apparently didn't take any complete pics of their family, but I got their adorable little girl).

The stuffed dog we got her was a hit!

For Christmas morning we went to the beautiful beach in Jervis Bay. Dan Quinton brought his jetski, but the water was too choppy for more than a quick ride. Since the bay is south of Sydney the water was a bit cooler than Sydney so after a bit of snorkelling we called it a day. The water wasn't ideal for snorkelling, but we at least saw a bunch of fish and a couple of big octopuses hiding in holes in the ground.

After some much needed naps, we went over to the home of Dan's parents for a big Christmas dinner and a gift exchange. It made me feel right at home since the typical Christmas get together with my family is the same, including the small gift exchange game! Later we played some games and called it a night when most had already left.

The day after Christmas we went to see some of the sights around Nowra including a beautiful lookout at the top of a mountain and a small city with a bunch of fun shops. Matt was excited that one of the stores has loads of American candy and they even had his favourite A1 sauce.

When we got back Kelly and I made cinnamon rolls which we finished at Dan's parents place. They had a lot of leftovers so it was like we got a second Christmas dinner! The cinnamon rolls turned out great and I think everyone enjoyed them. It was Kelly's first time making them so I was glad after all the effort they turned out good.

The next day was Sunday and so we went to Sacrament with the Quinton's before heading home. We didn't go straight home though. As a beach south of Jervis Bay supposedly has the whitest sand in the world and wanted to see it before going back north. It was definitely white sand and your feet squeak when you walk on it. Our favourite part wasn't the beach though, it was all the rocks that we explored.

Overall we had a wonderful Christmas, enjoyed spending time with the Quinton's, saw some beautiful beaches and green hills, and completed the audiobook Outliers. It was an amazing and relaxing holiday which was just what we needed.