Happy Holidays

I had this whole post prepared about Oprahmania down under and how all the Aussies got their knickers in a twist about a famous person visiting and telling them how wonderful their country is. But as the days slipped past and her Winfreyness was relegated further and further back in the papers, it just didn't seem all that interesting anymore so I dropped the post. (I was also sick in the meantime and didn't have much else to write about to be honest.)

But now that Christmas is almost around the corner, there are lots of fun things going on in the city and I'm sure you're all dying to see what the holidays look like down under. One word: fireworks. I love fireworks for any occasion but here they're almost pushing it. So far we've seen at least four separate firework displays and heard a few more in the distance. Are they testing their stuff for New Year's Eve? Or did they order too many crackers and now need to blow some off before the big night? It's a little puzzling. But very pretty nonetheless...

Apart from fireworks every other night, Sydneysides also seem to be very fond of light shows. All around the CDB (that's Australian for 'Central Business District', what you and me know as 'Downtown'), historical buildings are illuminated every night with varying light shows.

The video below of St. Mary's Cathedral (same church as the image above) isn't very good quality unfortunately but I'll try and go back one of these nights with our super tripod and see if I can get a better version. It really is very impressive, especially the rain falling down and actually moving around parts of the architecture.