• Menu
  • Menu

Xmas Day

my alarm woke me up at 8:30am….

usually my xmas day starts with a stocking and waking up the parentals with a cup of tea in bed before getting started on the cooking with my mum, watching tv and opening some presents.

Not in 2009 though.

2009 saw me being roused with a hangover (not so unlike the UK!) and surrounded by sleeping travellers from around the globe, empty goon boxes and a sense of the unknown.

Its Xmas day and I’m in Sydney Australia….STOKED!

I roused myself from a hazy slumber looking rather worse for wear, slumped down in the corridor and booted up my mac.

Skype loaded and within minutes i’m chatting to my aunty, uncle and cousin via the wonders of webcam. I mainly get mocked for looking so rough!hahaha! a quick guided tour of the xmas tree and I say merry xmas and goodbye! Brief but its always good to chat to them!

Next up are the parentals, in fact pretty much the rest of my family. The little bro, both parentals and my grandma and grandad all huddled round my bros macbook for some xmas banter!

Was great to see and speak to them properly – havent had a webcam skype since Cairns. The convo is interrupted amusingly more than once as my equally hungover room mates rouse from there beds and jump in to say happy xmas to everyone in various states of undress….much to my families amusement!

Georgie provided the most entertainment as she was still recovering from her impromptu drunken dip in Sydney harbour the night before!hahaha! Was one of the more amusing ways to be woken up!

Randoms and Kerri join in the banter occasionally and the festive spirit kicks off again as I crack open a couple bottles of champagne (well sparkling wine!) to raise a xmas toast to everyone at home! Open a rather inappropriate xmas present from mother and danni (much to the amusement of everyone in my dorm!) and say goodbye and merry xmas to them all…the little bro and dad were about to brave the ice and sleet for a few xmas eve bevvies in our local!

A quick look at the xmas tree and roaring fire has everyone in the room feeling a little homesick and odd.

Family banter out the way it’s time to kick of the Xmas cheer! I produce a few bottles of bubbly and lots of croissants for a lush breakfast in bed for all my dorm mates and a few invited guests! (mainly keza, marie and sarah). the booze is flowing and gradually we all begin to feel happier about the prospect of a day on the beach (despite the weather, Sydneys first drizzle xmas in 40 years! Typical!).

The mood really pics up as everyone in Wakeup descends on Sidebar…free bucks fizz and xmas cake all round! As the levels of merriness increase and the bar packs out with everyone drinking off their hangovers the mood is well and truly lifted. Roll on the Brushfire Xmas album and more drinks!

Heading back to the room we crack on a few more bottles of bubbly to really get ourselves in the mood for a party.

Unfortunately the impromptu drinking sessions that commences kinda made us miss the free shuttle bus to Sunburnt!

WOOPS!

So me, kerri, Georgie and the 702 crew grab some more bottles, a few left over croissants (which are devoured in rather amusing circumstances!) and start trying to flag down taxis….not easy on xmas day in a place surrounded by backpackers!

Eventually we succeed….and a rather drunken taxi journey is had with an equally amusing taxi driver! :)

Due to the weather Bondi isnt as packed as we’d hoped….but its still full of determined backpackers who wont let a little rain spoil their xmas day on the beach dream! Good on you everyone!

But we’re destined for Sunburnt Xmas festival….

……which turns out to be a rather bad decision!

First bad move was Georgie forgetting her ID….school boy error which costs her an additional $50 in return taxi fare :S

The rest of the day is a drunken haze….so in true blog fashion I shall bullet point it all! (its boxing day as i type this and I’m multitasking whilst watching In Pursuit of Hapiness with everyone in the common room!). Sunburnt is rather skipped over….mainly because it was a complete let down….to the extent it deserves a full public name and shame in its own right!

But anyways….

crotch vodka smuggling, $4 dollar beers, rather glum faces, poor xmas food, actually sh*t xmas food, veggie riot, 2 drink compensation, rain, trying to make humour out of a bad situation, deciding the pub was a better option, rounds of tooheys, rounds of pizzas, more beer, good banter, smiles eventually emerging, more beers, amusing drunk ladies giving us chips, and their numbers, and a promise of somewhere to stay in bondi! rainy photoshoot on the beach, amusing signs, amusing photos with said signs, bus journeys back mid afternoon, spontaneous singing on the bus, drunken welshmen and women, walking in the drizzle, everyone slaggin off sunburnt, everyone in the hostel being homesick, trying to cheer ourselves up with champers, opening all my random stocking fillers from mother, sharing the love with kty and kezza, duvets and movies with half the hostel in the common room, feeling so ‘bleh’ i needed a powernap, said powernap being turned on its head with the 702 crew and muchos booze, loads of fun banter and smiles, feeling loads better, more drinking, discussing a casino plan realising that would be a majorly bad decision, the boys, me n kezz hitting the room for late night banter, a long night of hilarious anecdotes, calling family and friends and cheering each other up, hugging randomers crying in the corridor, rather amusing mobile phone videos, batteries, condom pranks, spoons, drunken georgie returning from her night of carnage, Nicks bedtime stories, inappropriate dorm behaviour, competitions, cheeky comments, georgie passing out, falling asleep in a better mood than the afternoon.

so yeah my first xmas away from home was full of stories and many highs and lows….it was a different experience, i’m sure the weather contributed alot to the mood. but in the end the spirit of backpacking came through and everyone rallied to keep the mood from sinking too low.

But i’m in oz….this years gonna be epic and i’m still meeting amazing people and having adventures of all shapes and sizes…..

…..roll on new year :)

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *