2011 Sand blasting and no entry to pubs!!

Oh god -= more singing!!

Lisa at Bondi beach

Donna got her bag and infamous red top back

Lisa and a wine glass!!

Keri enjoying NYE at the Ivy!

So how was New Years Eve at the Ivy!? BLOODY GREAT ACTUALLY!!

Once we were ready me and disco-ball dress (Keri's dress is silver, glittery and looks just like a disco ball, which is great!) walked outside the hotel and tried to grab a taxi to take us down to the Ivy. Unfortunately, we were a little later than we planned and the roads around The Ivy had been closed to traffic. The taxi driver did try to get us as close as possible to the club, but we ended up nearly as far as we had started from and still had a long way to walk. This wasn’t good for Keri, as her stiletto shoes were already killing her feet! We made it to the club by about half 9 and once through the security, we were really glad we had gone. I am used to down to earth scummy nightclubs, but this place is in a different class. Inside were sumptuous furnishings, beautiful people and the best sound system I have ever heard. It is a stunning place and made even better by the fact that it is actually mostly outside – It is a courtyard between building with a few rooms surrounding the central part.

We had a good look around while we had a few drinks and then danced and chatted away till 11.30pm, when we left to go outside and see the world famous firework display.

Unfortunately, the roads going towards the harbour bridge were now closed so we had to make do with looking at the harbour bridge from about 300metres away. We still saw the fireworks on the bridge and from the skyscrapers around us and it was well worth leaving the club for.

We headed back into The Ivy after the fireworks and continued to dance to live sets from Bob Sinclair and Basement Jaxx. Normally, it wouldn’t be my thing, but on a special night like last night and is a special place like Sydney and of course with Keri – it was a really good night!! We stayed till just after 3am and then, full of Gin and Tonic, we wandered home – Keri with her fold away flat shoes on to protect her toes from falling off!! We managed to grab a couple of pies from the local convenience store and then it was off to bed.

In the morning we kept getting texts and calls from family around the world, so we kept getting woken up too, but we did get a good kip and stayed in bed till just after midday, when we decided to head out to do a bit of shopping and get some lunch. We found a nice café that did all day breakfasts and it went down really well. Keri had left her car down the other end of Pitt Street, so we picked it up and parked it illegally outside my hotel, while we picked up Keri's bags. She then dropped me off down in Kings Cross and then she drove herself home to head down to the beach.

I was in Kings Cross to meet up with the girls – Donna, Andrea, Lisa and Liv, who I haven’t seen in a few days and have really missed. I found their hostel and rang Andrea to make sure I was in the right place, but just after I had spoke with her, Donna and Live came out and we headed to the park together to relax in the sunshine and chat about what we had all done for New Years and the last week or so. They had seen the fireworks from the other side of the river and had had a great day and night to celebrate NYE. After a couple of hours in the park, we headed towards the Formule1 hotel, where Donna's bag, that she had left behind in Indonesia 7 weeks ago, was waiting for her after arriving on Ozbus 21. On the way we met up with Andrea and Lisa and I got a lovely big hugs from both of them to say hello. We picked up Donnas bag and then went back to their Hostel to chat and finalise plans for the next few weeks. It was really nice to be back with the girls and I spent most of the evening rubbing and tickling Andrea's and Lisa's feet, while we chatted about flights, buses and plans for the upcoming months. I decided to go home about 9pm so that I could do some searching around the Internet for flights and tours for myself. I don’t have any plans in place yet, but I do have some good ideas to keep myself amused.

Its now nearly 1am and I have the Man United v West Brom game live on TV while I type this onto my offline blog. Tomorrow I will pick up my tickets for the Sydney Cricket and then hopefully head down to Bondi beach with the girls after finalising plans for next weeks trip up the east coast.

Well, that was a couple of days ago so here’s an update -

I was up early yesterday and wandered through this early morning streets of Sydney towards the Menzies hotel, where I picked up my match tickets for the cricket. Then a short wander down to Kings Cross and I met up with the girls. We went around the corner to Wicked Travel, where we spent the next two hours sorting out travel details for the next few weeks. Me and Donna are doing a quick tour of the east coast together before she heads home on Jan 17th, while Andrea and Lisa and doing a slower tour themselves. Hopefully we will meet up somewhere along the way too. After the session in Wicked, me Andrea and Lisa headed out on a lovely afternoon down to the world famous Bondi Beach. The sun was out and it seemed that the rest of the city had had the same idea. But the bus and train lines here are really good so even with a broken ticket machine and massive queues for the bus to the beach (Andrea nearly talked Lisa into going to Coogee beach instead!) we hit the beach after just 45 minutes travel. Bondi really is a good beach and even though there were thousands of people there, there was loads of room left. I had a quick swim while the girls read their books and sunbathed, then we all spent the next hour relaxing and just enjoying the afternoon.

The wind began to get stronger and the clouds covered the sky and the sand began to blow, which was funny at first, but began to sting like hell after a while!!! So just before 4pm, we decided to head back home. Once again the bus was full, but we grabbed seats and on the way even spotted a bloke holding a small dog above his head for no reason at all. The girls couldn’t pass the shops without a small bit of shopping therapy and bought some compression sacks for their ever growing collection of clothes and then we jumped back on the train home. I grabbed a second train and headed back to my hotel for a shower and to get rid of the sand that was everywhere, before going back to Kings Cross and helping Liv to the train station with her bags – She is heading back to Melbourne to try and find a job and live there for a few months!! Seeya in Melbourne soon Liv!!

Then while the girls did their washing and packed their stuff we all chatted and watched as Lisa and Donna did some really really bad singing to Celine Dion!

Andrea made us all a lovely dinner of Sausage and mash and I was lucky enough to finish off the beans. More wine was drunk and then we headed off on our last night out together to Omalleys – a local Irish bar. However, they wouldn’t let us in so we tried The Strand instead – but they had finished serving!! We grabbed a taxi and headed into town, but the next bar we found wouldn’t let us in either!! Donna was getting a bit tired of it all and made some comments about being more Irish than the bloody Irish bar itself!! Plus a few more well chosen words!!

We eventually ended up in Mahoneys bar, which is only 100m from my hotel!! haaha! It was funny night with stupid conversations and the daft game where you try to put a whole glass in your mouth – check out the pics on here or on facebook!! The night went on and eventually we headed off home just about 3am!! We would of stayed later but the girls are leaving their hostel tomorrow at 10!