Monday and Tuesday, 24 & 25-December, 2018

As is tradition, Sarah and I spent Christmas and New Years on an international adventure of epic proportions.  This year, the Lydecker clan (including myself and Henry’s girlfriend Leah) met up in the land down under, the magical land of Australia.

 

Our tour started in Sydney, Henry and Leah’s home and stomping grounds…

Monday, 24-Dec

Our first day in Sydney started in the airport.  Since, you know, we had to fly.  Our aquacar was in the shop, you see, and our spare kayaks weren’t rated for the Pacific crossing.  So we flew.  On an airplane.

Our first order of business was stuffing our luggage into the hotel, and taking a quick nap to try and restore a little sanity to our poor Portlandian brains.  After we’d rested, showered, and had a bite to eat we met up with everyone and headed out to explore the city a bit.

Our main goals were the main sights – walking around the Oprah house and the Royal Botanical Gardens.

They were, unsurprisingly, exceptionally beautiful.

We walked and explored, and especially appreciated the chance to stretch our legs after being on the plane as long as we had.  It was amazing moving from the dark, damp, chilly winter of Oregon to the bright and warm summer sun of Australia.  The weather was honestly perfect – not as hot as we’d feared, just the right humidity, and a blazingly bright sun.

That last part was a little rough, I’ll admit – we slathered on sunscreen as best as we could, but still got some slight burns… worth it, if I may say so.

 

Tuesday, 25-Dec

For Christmas day, we rested.

It’s an easy trap to get into, when traveling to a new city… trying to always run around and do everything all the time forever.  It’s fun, don’t get me wrong, but it also leaves you burnt out and too tired to really enjoy anything.  Thankfully, having Christmas as the second day of our trip did a bit to slow us down, and we took the day as a chance to rest, recenter ourselves, and enjoy some family time with the folks who we hadn’t seen in person in such a long time.

Henry and Leah cooked an amazing meal, we took a few walks, opened presents, and even had a nerf war while dinner cooked.

It was a good day.