(belated) Happy New Year!

Yo! I'm back! It's been a while since the last update, and for good reason: I was away for a month! Some of you will be aware of that, since we caught up in Sydney or in Nouméa. As for the others, sorry, guys, it was a bit hectic and I did try to catch up with as many people as possible but you can't do everything.

Even though it was a long stay, our schedule was quite busy, since it was Lora's first time in Oz and New Caledonia so I did my best to show her as much as we could. Here's a quick summary of our trip.

We landed in Sydney on the 3rd of December, after a looooong flight, thankfully including a stopover in Seoul to stretch our legs and went straight to bed. The idea was to get up for lunch, and enjoy the day. Failed. We got up at 4pm. Oh well.

Over the next 9 days, I proceeded to show Lora around my old haunts, and meet a few of my friends (who even managed to behave, somewhat). We ate out a lot, we walked a lot, we drove a lot (well, I did). We did the BridgeClimb, which was very expensive but also very cool. I definitely recommend it.

Obviously, we did some of the more touristy stuff (which felt weird for me, as I don't like being a tourist in my own town!). We caught the ferry to Manly, walked along the beach in Bondi, and also drove down to the Blue Mountains.

However, rather than just see stuff, I thought it'd be better to actually experience some of the aspects of the Sydney lifestyle, a lot of them being related to food, funnily enough. Hence, we went to eat Thai in Newtown, Italian in Leichardt, French in Surry Hills, and also Yum Cha in Chinatown! We also managed to fit in a couple of nice brunches on the café terraces down on Bronte Beach, some swimming up in Narrabeen, and a few coastal walks along the cliffs.

We also had time to attend Mike and Renaye's wedding, which took place in Vaucluse. Not a bad spot, and it was nice to catch up with some of the old guard. Looking forward to see you two in London, Mickey!

After nine very busy days, we got on the plane again and headed off to Nouméa. There, my dad had organised us a 2-day getaway trip to the Isle Of Pines, known as one of the most beautiful spots on the planet. Funnily enough, even though I lived most of my life less than 30 minutes away from it, I'd never been! Glad to have addressed this issue, then.

These two days in heaven was definitely a highlight, especially the snorkeling, which was some of the best I'd ever done. Lora was definitely impressed (once she'd mastered the art of the mask and snorkel...): "Oh, look! Fish!"

Coming back well tanned from that, we spent the rest of the holidays driving around Noumea and its surroundings. Again, I wanted to show that New Caledonia was not all about the white sand beaches so we did a daytrip to the Riviere Bleue Park, a natural reserve in the southern region, where we had a lovely picnic by the river.

On another day, along with my parents (who took us to lunch/dinner more than once, yum), we went for a quick walk in the rainforest, up Mt Koghi. It's a pity we didn't have the time to follow some of the longer tracks, though. Next time! I love that stuff!

Mind you, we couldn't get enough of the water (well, I couldn't) so we spent a bit of time in the pool and caught the taxiboat to the Ilot Canard, where we swam among some of the biggest fish you could see in less than 4 feet of water.

Eventually, Lora left a week before me to go spend Christmas with her parents. I stayed behind and enjoyed some more R&R with friends, or more typically, alone at home, lounging by the pool, with a cool drink, a good book and plenty of sunshine!

And then, just like that, it was over, and it was time to leave home, spend another 20 hours in the plane (intersected this time around by a night in Seoul at the Hyatt. Nice!) and go back to the UK. Where winter (and work) awaited. Bollocks...

But we'll be back :-)

PS: Click here to see the photos!