After more than three months in Asia we finally got back into the Western way of life - and most importantly for Freya, found pubs that sold prosecco!!
Our month in Australia was a chance to stow away our backpacks for a while and live in an actual house again - with sheets, toilet roll and even a bath - and meet up with family and friends over the festive season.
We lodged with my uncle Greg, who lives in Geelong, about an hour west of Melbourne in south east Australia.
Despite being on the other side of the world, amazingly, my former Schools Week colleague and fellow intrepid explorer Sophie (who blogs here) had also just arrived in Melbourne, so we met up for food and drinks.
Melbourne has a trendy European city vibe, with bustling bars in busy alleyways covered in graffiti.
We planned our year of travelling to tick off as many Bucket List wishes as possible - and the biggest one for me was to watch England cricket team compete in the Ashes, in Australia.
We ended up watching three different tests in three amazing places - the first of which was just two days after we touched down, in Adelaide.
After joining up with my college friend Al, another chance reunion, we took on the 9-hour drive from Geelong to Adelaide for day two of the test - a day nighter.
The drive speared through acres and acres of yellow-singed fields, spotted with huge and beautiful trees, and the occasional group of kangaroos skipping away in the distance.
But the stunning scenery was soon shattered when we arrived at Adelaide's impressive river-side stadium as Australia batted England into the ground before declaring with an imposing total.
England's batters were then tested out in the evening as the floodlights took over, and a spectacular purple glow of the setting sun rose above the stadium. Quite a sight.
Day three wasn't much better for England, as their batting line-up collapsed. But our fortunes changed as England's bowlers, led by Jimmy Anderson, ripped through Australia's top order batsmen in a sizzling hour of swing bowling under the evening lights.
During our trip to Adelaide we also had the pleasure of staying with Greg's friends Naomi and Laurence in their amazing place just outside the centre of Adelaide, and visiting their new home nestled in the stunning Adelaide Hills.
Back to Geelong, with the cricket on radio to keep us company, we spent a couple of days seeing the local sights, including a cool local brewery called Little Creatures, the beautiful beaches of Torquay - the home of surfing in Victoria - and best of all visiting the Jirrahlinga wildlife sanctuary.
The ramshackle centre introduced us to Australia's colourful creatures, including parrots, koalas, kangaroos, and our favourites - the screeching cockatoos.
We also got to meet and greet some of the animals including Matilda, a furry three-year-old wombat.
My mum and her partner Ed then arrived for a three-week holiday on December 15th, which started off with our first ever cruise on board the gigantic Golden Princess.
It was massive, and kitted out with a cinema, swimming pools, a gym, theatre, casino, and scores of bars and restaurants.
The six-day trip to the Australian island of Tasmania started with a drive-by tour of Wineglass Bay, a secret beach escape that gained its name from the blood and blubber of dead whales washing ashore amid the fervent whaling in the region back in the early 1800s.
Before we arrived at our first stop off we also had the Captain's Evening, where everyone got dressed up in their finest attire for free champagne and fancy grub.
Having backpacked for three months, I had to resourcefully lend most of my kit - apart from a $6 dollar blazer bought from an Australian charity shop.
Our first chance to get off the boat and explore was at the former convict settlement of Port Arthur.
The site is pretty controversial. It was a 'separate prison system' which was built more on psychological, rather than physical punishment. Punishments included being locked up in a silent prison, with prisoners also deprived of light so they could 'reflect on their actions'.
We later stopped off in the quaint city of Hobart, jumping on a hop-on hop-off bus before ending with a stroll around the pretty botanical gardens.
Our last port of call was Phillip Island, just off the coast of Melbourne. Our tour guide Dianne took us around an old farm on Churchhill Island, a koala sanctuary with boardwalks through the inhabited trees, before we got to gaze at the rare fairy penguins making their daily sunset waddle ashore.
Back ashore ourselves, we later met with Freya's father's relatives - John, Nancy, and Emma - just north of Melbourne before spending a night at our lovely friend Tracey's stunning farm retreat in Tarradale.
The stay included champagne sipping in her pool, meeting the fabulous horses and our first Ozzie barbeque. All of this amid a backdrop of rolling hills, and the soundtrack of vibrant birds tweeting away.
After a traditional English Christmas dinner (apart from a turkey roll, apparently it's an Oz thing), it was time for cricket part two - the famed Boxing Day test, a 90,000 person sell-out at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
We once again watched Australia bat all day, before heading back for day three of the test - where our fortunes changed as Alastair Cook hauled England into a dominant position by scoring 244 not out (making history with the highest ever score for a batsman in tests carrying his bat).
Inbetween cricket we cruised down the Great Ocean Road - from Port Campbell and the 12 Apostles, all the way back to Geelong.
The drive is considered one of the most scenic in the world as coastal roads swerve alongside the steep weather-battered cliffs, glowing orange and brown under the sunlight.
However, being Christmas time, the main spots were packed out with fellow tourists. It was also super hot. (The hottest day we had in Oz was 39 degrees, which I believe the locals call a 'stinker'. It was so hot the wind felt like a hairdryer on full blast, so we spent the day inside with air con and watched the fab Broadchurch series).
After saying our goodbyes to family, we boarded an overnight train that arrived on New Year's Eve morning in Sydney.
We were lucky enough to stay with family again, meeting my mum's cousin Jackie and her husband Dave who welcomed us into their beautiful, sprawling home in a pretty suburb just 30 minutes north of the city
After a quick kip (not much sleep on the packed-out train) we headed into town early afternoon to find a good spot for the iconic fireworks at the Harbour Bridge.
Arriving at 4pm, we queued for a spot in Blues Point, just west of the bridge, squeezing in with 13,000 others on a small speck of grass adjacent to the harbour.
With no beer allowed, we munched on a picnic, played cards and people watched for the eight hours, while sat on the edge of a kerb just behind the nutters who had camped out all night to secure their spot, until the spectacular fireworks finally lit up the night sky.
A dazzling array of colourful explosions burst out from behind the bridge, so much so the smoke masked views of the Sydney Opera House, as thousands of tourists 'oohed' and 'ahhhed'.
After a relaxing New Year's Day BBQ with Jackie and Dave, we did a fabulous coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi beach. The cliff-top path snaked past bays and stunning rock formations, as well as a huge graveyard perched right on the cliffs.
We got the ferry into the city before making our way to Coogee, ogling the huge harbour-side mansions and their private yachts.
Sydney is such a beautiful city and we got a flavour of its history with a three-hour 'I'm Free' walking tour, where you just throw in a donation at the end. We finished the day with a beer at Sydney's oldest pub the trendy Lord Nelson pub in The Rocks area of the city.
Our last day was, fittingly, spent at the cricket - day one of the final test at The Sydney Cricket Ground.
As I write we're on the short flight over to New Zealand where we have a crappy Nissan car waiting for us, and a month to explore. All we've heard is good things about the country, and we're both super excited!
