Sydney - December 2024

Arrived back from Thailand on the Thursday morning and worked from home. Went back to the office on Friday as it is our work Christmas party tonight. It was on a boat and we had a good time.

Up to Berkeley Vale to get the house ready for Christmas. Leo is a bit uncertain about jetties :-)

My hydrangeas at Pymble are looking good this year...

One Saturday I went to Titanique with friends...

Instead of the usual 10km ride to The Entrances, one day I rode 15km to Magenta...

The lake from Long Jetty on one of my morning rides...

Christmas Day arrived and Leo is showing off one of his presents...

Went for my longest ever ride up here. Was aiming to get to Toukley but didn't quite make it. Still, 36km isn't bad...

One day it was super hot so I went to Toowoon Bay for a swim...

Pelicans gather here near our property...

One morning I rode to North Entrance Beach...

From the bridge, looking out to sea...

I headed back to Pymble on the 31st as Eliza is having a New Year's party up here.

My Qantas "wrapped". I did a lot of flying this year and this excludes all the other airlines I flew on like Cathay, Thai, Vueling, Ryan Air, Iberia, Bangkok Airways, Hong Kong Airlines and Easy Jet!

Brisbane - December 2024

Had to go to Brisbane for a partner retirement dinner. Flew on Monday which was a lovely clear day...

Caught an Uber to the office and worked the day.

After work I walked along the river to Hotel X in Fortitude Valley which I am trying as it's close to the restaurant. View from the rooftop pool...

Dinner was at SK Steak and Oyster and the food was great.

Headed back to Sydney on the Tuesday morning.

Koh Samui - December 2024

First day of December and the weather is getting better. After breakfast I went for a walk along the beach.

Then we decided to go to a fish spa nearby and get the dead skin eaten off our feet. We had done this before in Phuket and it is a very weird feeling!

Went for a manicure and pedicure which I had never done before. We had a massage most days. 

This is the little shrine in the hotel grounds...

That night more Thai food and then back to our favourite bar in town. Did some exploring and found some more bars. Didn't try this one though...

The next morning I woke early and saw a beautiful sunrise...

Had breakfast and then some beach time.

We had arranged a cooking class today and the van picked us up to take us to a local market.

We met the lady who runs the class at the market and she gave us a tour...

Then the van took us to her place for the class...

She had allowed each of the seven of us to order three dishes which we would cook and then eat. 

I started with a Tom Kah chicken...

Although she gave us a printed recipe for each dish, we didn't use that. Instead she gave us the ingredients and told us the quantities...

Alex...

Callum...

The next day I went for a walk. I had seen a temple on a hill overlooking the airport that I wanted to walk to. It wasn't far away. That's looking down on the runway...

It's our last night so we walked up the beach and sat at a beach bar...

Here come the kids...

We had a drink then walked into town for a final dinner.

The next day we had breakfast and ordered a Bolt to the Airport. Check in took ages as there were six of us all on different tickets even though we were taking the same flights to Sydney. Finally go the bus to the plane and boarded...

We got to Bangkok and had to check in again for the next leg. That was easy and headed to the Emirates First Class Lounge for a shower and change. Then boarded the flight to Sydney. I was in business but the family were in economy :-) It's a Qantas / Finnair code share flight.

Leaving Bangkok at 6pm...