louise – quartergapyear

Happy birthday Louise!!

Normally on new year’s day, I am unlikely to be seen before midday. But this year was different because I was spending it with Louise, whose birthday is new year’s day and also happens to be the person I know who gets MOST excited about their birthday. It would have been cruel to have stayed in bed…

This is Louise’s excited it’s my birthday face.

We headed over to Darling Harbour for some lunch at Cargo bar with Bec and Michelle.

After finding a nasty birthday bug in her salad, Louise got us all free drinks for practically the whole afternoon. Not just at Cargo, but at their sister bar along the harbour, Bungalow 8. The photos speak for themselves…

A very good day/night was had by all…

Happy new year

I saw in the new year at Dan and Scott’s place in central Sydney. We were joined by Louise who jetted in from Melbourne to join the party, along with her sister Bec and friend Michelle who had come over from Canberra.

Also in attendance were Tony, Will and Will’s friend Richard.

As the clock approached midnight, there was only one thing to do…

And then we settled on to Dan’s balcony to watch the fireworks. Truly amazing.

2012 has been a whirlwind year – plenty of highs, and a few lows. So it felt good to say goodbye to it with the best fireworks display on the planet. And look ahead to 2013, which is already filled with many adventures and plenty more I don’t even know about yet.

One day to go…

So, it is T minus 1. Just a few more hours to get ready and Operation: Packing has commenced. I just hope it all fits into my back pack.. And that I manage to carry it all around Australia and SE Asia without doing myself a mischief.

The birthday celebrations started early with lunch with Anna in Borough Market. She added to my burden but has injected a bit of glamour to the trip by giving me a beautiful travel make up kit – it needn’t be all sandals, fleeces and tie dye t shirts.

And so the celebrations will start again shortly with a last supper with the girls – Teresa, Louise, Alice and Katherine. We’ll be setting a place and leaving an empty chair for Mel aka Pru. But she’s joining us via Facetime at 11pm prompt. She’s never one to miss a party entirely. I’m just hoping Alice doesn’t drag me into any nocturnal adventures, as per her normal behaviour. Ah… I’ll miss those when I am away…