As another Christmas draws close, I wrote a recap of our aussie xmas!

Having Christmas abroad was something I never ever thought I’d do and when deciding our travel plans we wanted to go soon as possible, so being away over the Christmas period seemed the most logical timing. We pre-planned that part of our trip so that we would know exactly where we were going to be based as it would offer some comfort and ease any stress we felt about being away for that time.

All in all, Christmas in Oz was an experience in itself. We arrived a few days before the big day which meant that we settled, unpacked the backpack and made friends with our hostel room. We decided to stay on Bondi Beach to give us the ultimate Australian Christmas and it was a really good decision!

The morning of we woke up, got ready and headed to the rooftop bar for the Christmas breakfast our hostel was offering. The sun was blazing and a few bucks fizz’s and pastries later we headed down to collect our beach bags and make our way to the beach.

As you can imagine, the beach was packed but we made ourselves a good spot and got towels spread out and buried the goon out of site. We made sure we’d stocked up on snacks and goon on Christmas Eve as there were no shops open on the day.

We spent the morning chatting, sneakily pouring out the goon, mingling with friends and taking the classic Christmas beach pics. Morning turned into lunch and lunch turned into late afternoon where things had quieted down slightly. It seems that most people hit the beach first thing, before heading back and having a Christmas dins in the afternoon.

Hungry tummies no longer satisfied by our beach picnics, we headed towards the hostel in search of food. The majority of restaurants along the front were open and therefore jam-packed with beach-goers so we were fairly limited on options but a table was secured at a German restaurant. By this point, I was absolutely starving and flagging from the goon, but luckily a full fat coke and chicken schnitzel sorted us out. Definitely the most unusual Christmas lunch but it hit the spot.

After lunch, back to the beach it was, where we spent the rest of the Christmas day drinking more goon and soaking up the sun. Eventually, after realising we were almost the last people on the beach we decided to pack up for the day and go on the search for more food to finish off the day. A successful and hilarious McDonald’s later and that was Christmas done.

All in all, Christmas day away from home was not what I expected, but it was a really great day. It didn’t really feel like Christmas, it mostly just felt like someone’s birthday or just a really special day. I didn’t think about how it would be the same for the majority of the people staying in our hostel, how we were all away from home and everyone so wanted to spend the day having fun and making the most of it. But to find that, on a day which I was concerned how I would be being so far from home, it was really special and we made some really great friends at our Christmas hostel. So, if you do get the chance to experience that Australia Christmas, definitely do it. You really won’t regret it.