Sydney 02/01/2008

Happy New Year everybody! Back in Sydney and have recovered both from the flight and the celebrations. When we arrived back it was quite early in the morning so we didn't want to sleep. We had a bit of a walk around the junction but mostly just rested up in the flat watching Eddie Izzard DVDs. Next day was New Years Eve so we went down to Woolies to buy some drink for all the knacker drinking we'd be doing.

We bought these cooler bags and a few bags of ice to keep our drink nice and cold. Of course the cooler bags ended up not being completely watertight so by the time we were getting on the train it had started dripping everywhere. It didn't matter too much when we eventually settled down for the day. The girls, by the way, went to a party in an office. I can't remember who's office it was though or how they managed to get going to it.

We were going to go to the Rocks but there was nobody about so we went down to Circular Quay right in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art no less. We sat there all day and Rory, Bronagh, Siobhan, Pedro and the gang joined us. Near midnight we moved further down the quay so that we could get a better view of the fireworks at the bridge and the Opera House. Great stuff although sometimes it was hard to know where to look but that was only a minor problem, especially considering we finished off two bottles of free champagne. Oh yea and the lads bought me a Lightsaber, probably because I was bitching about it so much.

That was so funny There were loads of boys running around with these lightsabers and they looked class. So Landers and I have this thing where one of us pretends to be a spoilt or unruly kid (usually me) and the other is the parent (usually Landers). So I was playing along to this for a while never expecting anything of it. Then Landers and Sweets went away for a bit, I thought for some food, and when they came back they sad they had a surprise for me. I jokingly said that they'd bought me a Lightsaber only for them to produce one. A truly magical moment!

We decided not to go anywhere that night because of the huge crowds so we all went home. Next day we got up and went to the Tea Gardens to help celebrate the Irish New Year. This was at 11 in the morning! All the girls were there and it was the first time I'd seen them since coming back so there were many hellos. Great craic there especially singing all the Irish songs. We stayed there for a good few hours, leaping about and generally acting the maggot. I think we left at about 3 in the afternoon. We just went home after that, no more room for drink!

This was another great day. We were all really tired and hungover when we were getting up and when we got down to the Tea Gardens there was already a queue to get in. Thankfully we did get in, though Nicole was waiting for a good while to get in. After the countdown for midnight (Irish time) we spent most of our time in the Pokie room as it was a lot quieter.

Went to Bronte beach today, first time we were at the beach since coming to Sydney so that was nice. Waves were crazy though. Back to work on Monday 7th so have to make the most of it.

Happy New Year again, Paddy