Sydney Adventures

Our Australian adventure would not be complete without a weekend in the magical city of Sydney. I absolutely love this city, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to show Lance my favorite sights!

Sydney is not exactly a cheap city, to say the least, so traveling there on a tight budget brought some challenges. But we managed to get everything in that we wanted to see and accomplish, with only a few ridiculously priced splurges, including this festive gingerbread latte that only set us back a mere $6.50 (now Starbuck's in the States will feel like a bargain)!

We spent our first day checking out the sights, wandering downtown and around the Royal Botanical Gardens, Circular Quay, and Darling Harbour. The great thing is that this sight-seeing was free, and all of these treasures were within walking distance.

The next day was beach day, so we got some sugar pumping through our veins right away with breakfast at Pancakes on the Rocks…it's really a stretch to even call these magnificent things breakfast.

Then we hopped on the famous Manly Ferry (included in our public transportation day pass) to enjoy the lovely Manly Wharf and Manly Beach.

Next stop was Bondi Beach, a train and bus ride away. This beach is world famous, so it's a must-see, and we enjoyed watching the surfers.

Christmas in Australia is not quite what we're used to as Michiganders, but Sydney definitely gets in the spirit, and we loved this little summer Christmas getaway!

Merry Christmas from the Beaudry's!

It's officially Christmas season, and the weather has finally turned from rainy spring to sunny summer here in Australia...and we could not be more happy about it! We finally got to experience Newcastle in all of its glory this past weekend.

We spent Saturday evening watching the sunset over the harbour at the "breakwall" and were treated to a little dolphin sighting!

On Sunday, we headed down to Morisset to play with hundreds of wild kangaroos. Just another day in the life, aye?

And to top it all off, we frolicked in the ocean and basked in the warm sunshine while listening to Christmas music at the beach on Monday. What a weekend!

We are also heaps excited that we bought plane tickets this week to go home for the holidays! We will be leaving Australia on December 17 (getting picked up in Chicago on December 18). For many reasons, we thought that going home for the holidays was impossible and not the right next step for us until last week when we found out that Lance's childhood home is sold and will have new residents by the beginning of the new year. Lance was devastated at the thought of never being able to see his house again, and that encouraged us to think and pray about the possibility of heading home before Christmas. God opened doors and spoke into the situation in many different ways, and long story short - we'll be home in a couple weeks time to enjoy the magical snowy homey comfort of Christmas in Michigan! We are still sorting out what 2014 will bring, so don't start asking what's next just yet! We have accepted that God is only offering us one stepping stone at a time these days. So, to the next stepping stone, it is!

Merry Christmas!

We're coming home this Christmas day!