Our next stay was in Sydney. We spent quite a bit of time here as it was Christmas and New Years and we had issues finding somewhere to camp.

Our first stop was at Narrabeen where we spent the Christmas / New Years period. We decorated the camper and had a fantastic time. It was sad to be away from family but we made the most of it celebrating as our own little family unit. We set up next to a fantastic family, Hamish, Sarah, Poppy, Ruby & George.

We decided to head in to Carols in the Domain. It was extremely busy but worth going just for the atmosphere. The girls had a great time waving candles and watching some great acts, including the Wiggles.

Leading up to Christmas, there were heaps of things to do and see around Sydney that got us in the festive mood.

Christmas day was a bit different for us this year. We spent the morning opening up presents and having pancakes for breakfast followed by a trip to Taronga Zoo to hang out with the monkeys (which was nice seeing as we couldn't hang out with our families !!!). We got very wet at the zoo but never the less we had a great time.

I (Anthony) and the girls braved the massive crowds and headed into the city on the train for the New Years Eve fire works. I have never seen so many people in one place but it was cool non the less. We initially went expecting to get near the Sydney Harbor Bridge but we jumped off the train a little early and ended up at  Darling Harbor, which turned out for the best I think.

We were very blessed to be invited round to David and Helen's house for lunch over the Christmas period. I know David from Optus as we used to work together regularly. We also visited their church for some Christmas celebrations.

After New Years we moved to a friends front lawn in Janalli. It was a little weird to set up just off the street in the suburbs but the timing was perfect as we were able to catch up with our friends, Steve and Mollie, who we know from our time in Mozambique.

We visited some of the sights in Sydney, took a trip on the Manly ferry, visited the Maritime Museum and went for a swim at the famous Bondi Beach.

Port Maquarie had a very pretty coastline. We spent a bit of time here just sitting and admiring the view.

We also visited the Big Banana at Coffs Harbour ... which doesn't really need any further description, does it?

After being home for nearly 2 months,we decided it was time to finish our blog. Better late than never hey?

So here goes!

The next place we stopped was Tweed Heads where we got to stay with Fiona's childhood (and teenage) friend, Emily and her family Michael, Daisy, Annie and Joseph and Emily's mum, Kate.

They were very generous to allow us to stay at their house and we had a brilliant time catching up with them.

Mum and Dad (Nana and Opa Schopf) flew into the Gold Coast to meet us for a week or so. It was great to catch up with them and it was a nice change to be staying in a beautiful apartment overlooking the coast.

Our first stop was a visit to Australia Zoo. We think it is the best zoo we have seen in Australia. The animal shows were fantastic and there were heaps of hands on interactions with the animals.

We also visited a few of the theme parks. Sea world was a bit of fun. Mum and Dad also surprised us a little and went on the flume ride with the two big girls!

We also explored Mt Tamborine.

On the last day we visited Surfers Paradise and the Ripley's - Believe It Or Not museum. 

We had a fantastic time with Mum and Dad, the girls loved seeing Nana and Opa and were sad to see them go.