So much time has passed again and so much has happened, and we haven't even left Sydney yet. :-)
December was an exciting month with a great fireworks display. Although we didn't see the famous fireworks at the Habour Bridge, we were very impressed by the 9 pm fireworks in Dee Why.
But December started with a great boat trip with friends. We took the kids out, anchored at a secluded beach. During the picnic on the beach, we had several monitors visit us, who were certainly attracted by the smell of our food. However, the highlight for our son was that he got to steer the boat himself. It was a great day.
So December was everything but Christmasy. Nevertheless, we made the best of it. We built a gingerbread house and of course both Santa Claus and Father Christmas were in Sydney. In addition, the school year ended in December. There was a great Christmas concert, in which all classes from kindergarten to primary school performed something. It was very Christmasy and because of the air conditioning, it almost felt like in Germany ;-) Furthermore, all of Nils' classmates and neighboring classmates had a surf lesson in Manly. Nils didn't dare, but we still had a lot of fun at the beach with his classmates and ended the day with a delicious pizza. We then took several day trips during the holidays. We were often at the beach, either enjoying a dip in the cool water or even fishing. Of course, we saw some amazing animals again. This time it was starfish.We also took Nils' new boat for a spin on Narrabeen Lake, which he received as a Christmas present. One day, we visited Sea Life on a day trip with friends. Nils and I took the bus and train to the city, which is very convenient as the bus stops right in front of our door. There we met up with friends. We visited the sea creatures at Sea Life and afterwards, the kids had a great time on a playground right by Darling Harbour. We also visited Taronga Zoo. Another highlight was the visit to a workshop at the Wildflower Garden, where the kids attended the 'Natural Christmas Decoration Workshop' and created some great little artworks. Stephan and Nils have developed a great ritual. If it's not too late in the evening, they go to the park and either play ball, ride inline skates or run a few laps. In the pictures, it mostly looks like we always have great weather. Often that's true, but the weather here is also very unpredictable. In December, it can get very hot. We had temperatures of over 40 degrees on some days. It's simply too hot and you can only either jump in the water or stay in an air-conditioned room. The most exhausting part is when the temperatures don't cool down properly at night. But as I said, that was only the case on some days. Then there were days when it was around 20 degrees and it felt very cold.There was hail, thunderstorms, and one day we had 40 degrees at noon and after a thunderstorm, it dropped to 20. That was totally crazy.But there are also great sunny days, with temperatures ranging from 28-32 degrees. That's pleasant and you can spend a lot of time outside. In the next photo, you can see hailstones. And in the other picture, you can see kids jumping in the pool in the rain. The Australian summer months are also very noisy. This is due to the cicadas that are everywhere and occasionally start their loud concert. At first, I didn't know what it was and always thought that a power line was making the noise. But you can hear it everywhere, and sometimes you can even spot the nice little animals that make this incredible noise. One weekend in December, we took a pedal boat tour in Lane Cove. That was the wish of a certain gentleman, who, however, lost interest after pedaling for 3 minutes. Nevertheless, we had a great day and enjoyed the ride through the national park. Another highlight before we finish off December was the day when we couldn't go home from our friends' house because a branch had fallen on a car roof, taking down a power line, and we had to wait until the power line was repaired and the road closure was lifted. The white car in the picture is my little ride. It was a very close call, I must say :-)No one was injured. And for the kids, it was a total highlight with the firefighters and the police. As I said, a lot has happened and we haven't even left Sydney yet. We spent the end of December on a beach with many people, many lights, and a fantastic fireworks display. We are looking forward to what the next year will bring. < figcaption> < figcaption> < figcaption> < figcaption>
