New layout! Obviously. Obligatory, really ... given that I'm on holidays. And I needed a change ... I'd reached the point of being entirely uninspired by the last layout. The colour change certainly wasn't enough of a change to maintain interest. This one is created with one of my own photos ... a shot I took at Rainbow Valley during my fabulous adventure around Australia. I'm loving the colours at the moment. Very outback Australia. Blue skies, red dirt. It works I think.
Meanwhile, photos to share from New Year's Eve. I have to say, Sydney would have to be THE place to be on New Year's Eve. It's just spectacular! The bridge, the city, the harbour, all the boats ... it's gorgeous! I've 
done New Year's in quite a few different cities ... Brisbane, Melbourne, Rome, Prague, London ... but Sydney would have to top the list!
The entire day leading up to it was far more enjoyable than I'd expected too. Jolene and I decided on Bradley's Head, on the northern shore of the harbour. Gorgeous view of the bridge, the city, the harbour ... it was perfect! We arrived to claim out spot just after 11am ... and spent the next 14 hours sitting on a picnic blanket killing time. This wasn't nearly as difficult as I'd anticipated though! We scored a shady spot, which was a huge blessing. And people were all so friendly!! We chatted to loads of people, spent a bit of time people watching, read the 
paper, played Pass the Pigs, ate, drank, took photos ... before we knew it the sun was setting and the fireworks were about to begin.
Two fireworks displays of course ... the 9pm Family Fireworks were rather spectacular, although incomparable to the midnight display. All the boats in the harbour looked incredible too ... all lit up and fancy-like. We spent a decent amount of time trying to figure out what all the years signified ... loads of the boats had what seemed like random years displayed in lights. We (and most of the people around us) were trying to find some kind of meaning in the years. Some seemed obvious ... 1788, 1901, 2000 ... but others less so. At the end of 
the night I was chatting to an SES dude from Mosman, and apparently the years simply signified the year the boat was built. Haven't decided yet whether his explanation was believable or not.
The entire trip to Sydney was fabulous fun! NYE was the highlight I guess, but we successfully filled the entire six days and kept suitably busy. Jolene also had a friend visiting from London, so played tour guide and I got to tag along to the Blue Mountains and Bondi. I hadn't been to the Blue Mountains in an awfully long time, and I'm not sure I'd ever visited Bondi before, so both were lucky opportunities. Took far too many photos of course, as I always do. All posted at Flickr, along with all my NYE shots.
I caught up with Jen and Nadine ... well overdue and great fun. We also shopped, of course ... I bought the cutest Peter Alexander pyjamas on sale at a dedicated Peter Alexander store (heaven!), and I also found the perfect watch which was purchased with Christmas money (hurrah!). We took a trip into the city for a day, went to the movies (New Year's Day ... needed a quiet one after the three hour journey home post-midnight fireworks ... a story in itself), and ate out more than we probably should have. Fabulous fun though!
And a week from today, Jolene and I head to Darwin for our next adventure! A trip to the Top End ... should be fun, if not a little humid and uncomfortably hot.