The New Year

I celebrated new years at a friend of a friend's house near the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

It's been an eventful year for me and everyone in my family really. We welcomed a new addition to our clan, Abram, Luke and Mary tied the knot, my parents moved to Stanley, and Adam and Riva moved to Washington. I graduated from Carleton, spent the summer in Banff then moved to Australia.

Like I said a lot of life changes last year but I've had a great year and I've been lucky enough that the good has far outweighed the bad and I've had the support of some truly amazing family and friends. So thanks to everyone for a great year!

I'll end with one of my favorite Bilbo Baggins songs.

The Road Goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone

And I must follow, if I can, 

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many parts and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

Sydney

The view from Circular Quay, on my way home from the airport.

Christmas in Brisbane

I spent Christmas in Brisbane with a friend of my mom's, Mike Robertson. Mike's family was very welcoming and I got to hear a few stories from university about my mom that I'd never heard before.

Mike was nice enough to take me to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, one of the last places in Australia where you can still hold koalas. It was a really cool place, there was even a large paddock where they allow visitors interact with the kangaroos.

I may look a bit nervous holding the large sea eagle because the trainer put her on my wrist then said "Now don't move or she might attack"... thanks for the reassurance.

The Northern Beaches

Today I decided to take advantage of the amazing weather and after an early morning surf I went for a walk up the coast and visited the other northern beaches. It's an amazing walk but I must confess I got lazy and decided to just bus back after I reached Dee Why and the bad weather started to roll in. The pictures are taken along the way.

North Head

A short walk from my house there is a nature reserve that used to be a military outpost that protected Sydney Harbour. I hiked through it today and here are some pictures. The lizard is called an Eastern Sea Dragon and is protected in our area, though they are pretty common, I saw 4 or 5 today alone.

Manly

I finally got a camera! This means I can finally show off Manly!

While I do live in Sydney, Manly is a half hour ferry ride on the other side of the harbour from the downtown core. It doesn't feel much like living in a city, which suits me just fine. Beach life is pretty cruisy, so far, I get up, work then surf most days and I've recently joined a beach volleyball league. It's pretty easy to just be content with Manly and avoid exploring anywhere outside of the Northern Beaches.

The Northern Beaches are broken up by cliffs that extend out into the ocean as you can see in the picture of Manly beach. Heading North, Manly is the first beach followed by Freshwater, Curl Curl, Dee Why and then Narrabeen and a few more.It's a very nice walk along the coast, however I didn't do it today because the weather took a turn for the worse and started raining.