How to Throw an Australian New Years Party in 10 Easy Steps:

1. Start by making your studio apartment look like a 2 bedroom apartment to fit all your guests

2. Have an 80% Auzzie content quota to fill, but replace it with 15 of the most friendliest Canadians and UK’ers known to Sydney! (Not sure how this happened but our guest list consisted of 13 Canadians and 2 UK’ers)

3. Insure that there will be ample beverages available even though it is BYO. Make sure there is bubbly around to ring in the New Year!

4. Fill your bathtub with 10 bags of ice and throw all beverages in for the ultimate chill factor... then sit in the bathtub, and use VB’s and Coopers to replace ‘rubber duckies’ to cool off from the mid-day humidity of 40 degrees Celcius.

5. Gawk at how lucky we are to live in such a prime location! Spend the afternoon walking the streets and parks to see all the less fortunate people who had to camp out all day in the scorching sun to get a good seat to watch the fireworks. Some people went as early at 9am in the morning to secure their spot.

6. Ask your local government to supply 5 million dollars worth of fireworks and have 2 shows (one at 9pm and the other at midnight) Launch them off 4 barges in sequence along the water

7. Have everyone in your party ascend to the roof top once the sun sets and ask everyone in the building to join you up there with all their friends (This ended up to be a very exclusive party for tenants and 15 of their closest friends)

8. Hire a DJ to play music all night on the roof and get your buddy who plays the bongo drums to mix it up with the DJ to create the ULTIMATE ATMOSPHERE

9. Ring in the New Year with your closest mates at 12am and watch the most spectacular fireworks display as the barges lit up the sky along with the harbour bridge being the centre piece overlooking the opera house!

10. Finish the evening with a spontaneous dip in the roof top pool to cool down

This was truly a night to remember and we feel very fortunate for being able to experience a New Years in this fashion. We want to take this opportunity to wish everyone around the world a HAPPY NEW YEAR and hope they had a great celebration where ever you are....

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Christmas in Australia (on the East Coast)

Ever wonder what Christmas is like in the summer? Is it really that different from being out in the cold? Is it still okay to call it a white Christmas if you’re surrounded by white sands?

As it was our goal to bring you the most accurate facts about the land down under, we decide to split the research by traveling to the east and west coast of Australia to find the above answers.

My assignment was the East Coast while Island Rice was responsible for the West. I decide the best way to immerse myself was to visit a good mate’s family in the sunshine coast of Queensland just opposite to Fraser Island on a beach house at Rainbow Beach. It wasn’t going to be easy to just lie on the beach and by the pool all day, but I was willing to take that sacrifice all in the name of research! I wanted to answer the question of “how does an Aussie celebrate Christmas”

The answer was simple: Our morning begins with the world tradition of opening presents by the tree to see what Santa has brought. Then we head to the beach for an early morning tropical fruit breakfast followed by a dip in the ocean. As exhausting as that was, it was now time to prepare for Christmas brunch. The meal was kept simple, as we cracked open some mud crabs, plated out some fresh oysters, got ourselves a few pounds of prawns and we were set. After the meal, we needed to burn off some of the calories so what better way to do it then by going back to the ocean for a surf?

Not bad so far eh? Well, it gets better. Upon our return, we then have our Christmas dinner, which consisted of turkey, duck, chicken, lamb, and one big honkin piece of ham. Unfortunately there was no more room for a cow, but I think we were okay for meat. Oh, and for the vegetarians out there, we had plenty of rabbit food as well.

The rest of the day was spent mostly in the pool with a few cocktails and some floatation devices to try and stay cool from the scorching sun. We end the night off with a fire and some pudding. Why we needed a fire in 35 degree temperatures didn’t really make sense to me either but hey neither do vegetarians so I don’t bother asking.

Major thanks to the Blurtons for putting up a stranded Canadian in a foreign place and making him feel extremely welcome in a time when it was needed most…

- the lone asian

Christmas on the West Syde

What is the best prevention from feeling homesick during the Christmas season?

a) Take 2 Gravol tablets, and some ant-acid.
b) Make drunken prank calls to everyone back home.
c) Flying the family down to visit.

Luckily for you, I chose c). I was very fortunate to spend yet another Christmas with my family, despite of being 100’s of miles away.

Mama and Papa “Island k-nuts”, wee sister “Island coco-nuts”, and Uncle “Island spice”, were all added to make the best “Island Rice” ever! Our family friends Juanita and Glen hosted a very Yummy Christmas. Thanks to them, we continued the same family traditions from back home: cooking for hours, sitting on Santa’s lap, eating for hours, playing crazy games, and staying up late with plenty of ‘toasts’.

Perth was a good fit with our “Island Rice-Family” sense of humour. The airport had comedians dressed up as Santa, Turkey and fig pudding, to crack jokes as we arrived, while playing out of tune instruments.

The lifestyle out west is more laid-back than fast-paced Sydney. I would end up spending ½ hour in the store to buy only one item, as I would hear about how “my sister, Sheila just had a baby; my new dog tore up the garden”…people are very friendly and love to chat. And just like in Canada, the west-coasters love to “take the piss” (Oz translation= “make fun of”) of Sydney-siders.

The state of Western Australia is almost ½ the size of Australia. This may explain why it became normal to see 7 dead kangaroos and only 1 car after 2 hours of driving!

The “Island Rice family” traveled from Perth to the most southern tip of Australia (Albany).

Highlights included:

- Wine tasting at some of Australia’s most popular wineries.
- Stunning untouched bright blue crystal clear water of the Indian Ocean, with white sparkling sand.
- Hugged Australia’s largest trees, then climbed a 60ft tree, using only metal rungs coming out of the trunk.
- Hitting our sticks really hard along the bush walks to scare off snakes and other creepy crawlies.

Although my mission was to learn about West-coast life, I also took away a life-lesson which I learned from the “Island Rice Family”: Although this rice is on an island, one needs the side-dishes to fulfill the appetite.

Hope Christmas filled all of your “life’s appetites” to your heart’s content.

- Island Rice

Crickey mate!

As my holiday season begins, why not start her off with a visit to the world famous Australia Zoo. Yes folks, this is the home of “the” Crocodile Hunter! Though I never did get to see him in real life, it was great visiting the place where it all began for one of Australia’s icons.


Highlights of the trip to the zoo were as follows:

- being surrounded by crocs everywhere you turn
- meeting the oldest living creature in the world (Harriet the turtle), who was born in 1835 and was discovered by Charles Darwin
- feeding an elephant up close and personal
- hanging out with Kangaroo’s in the blazing sun and having a chat with them

As touristy as it was, definitely a place to visit to see Australia’s wildlife

- the lone asian

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas...

Meet our new Canadian friend JP. We found him lost in Sydney so we thought we'd be good hosts and show him around town to all the hottest spots this holiday season. It definately feels strange having Christmas in shorts and a t-shirt, lying on the beach, but hey we're all about experiencing new things. There's no white Christmas downunder but plenty of sun to last a lifetime! No worries here mate.

Merry Christmas everyone. Have a safe and happy holiday season....