The 100° Christmas

Happy holidays!

I went to see the new Star Wars on Monday last week (no spoilers).  Monday cinema tickets are over 1/2 off hence the wait.  I was very close to giving in and seeing it the day it came out but as Yoda would say, "patience you must have."  The movie was great.  I was tempted to see it again the same day but resisted.

On Wednesday I decided to go on a little urban adventure.  The River Torrens runs from the eastern hills, through Adelaide, and into the ocean.  There is a paved trail along the entire river and I decided I wanted to walk it.  My original plan was to go about half way to the ocean and then turn around but when I hit the half way point, I didn't want to go all the way back.  Instead I made the decision to head all the way to the beach and then bus it back.  The hike ended up being about 16.5 km from start to finish which is roughly 10 miles.

I realized when I got to the coast, I didn't really know where I was.  There's a lot of beaches in Adelaide but it didn't take long to figure it out.  I walked north to Henley Beach and then caught a bus back to town.  My legs were pretty tired and a nap was in order.

Here are some pictures along the hike:

Finally made it!

As fun as staying in a hostel for Christmas sounded, Liam's family was kind enough to invite me back over to celebrate with them.  I checked out of the hostel on Thursday morning and headed back to the 'burbs.  It's a very odd feeling with it being hot outside and still seeing Christmas decorations and hearing Christmas songs. Apparently the thing to do on Christmas Eve day is go out drinking so that's what we did.  On Christmas day, we opened up some presents and then had a massive, delicious meal.  It was a great time!  We ended the day in a food coma watching the classic holiday film Die Hard followed by E.T.

I checked back in to the hostel on Saturday.  The two day break was much needed.  Hostel life is getting a little old.  The great news is that next week, I'm moving into a house for 6 weeks!  It's just outside of the city, way cheaper than the hostel, and I get my own big room!  I'm very excited for next week.

To continue the family tradition on Christmas day in the states, I did a video chat with the family and watched them play Bunco via the Internet.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!  Crazy to think it's almost 2016.  I have no clue what I'm doing for New Years but hopefully will get something figured out so I'm not laying in bed watching movies all night.

Have a good New Years!

That's all for now.  Bye.