This was my first Christmas away from home. It was 80 degrees here so about as far from a white Christmas as I could imagine. I hung out with James some, good to at least see a friend on the holiday. I went to the beach and relaxed for a few hours. This seemed to be a popular thing to do on Christmas here, lots of families eating picnics there and people everywhere.

I came back and read outside for a while as I waited for my hostels potluck dinner to start. Ate a lot of good food and spent the night chatting with Adele and Erica from Australia. I love all the different perspective on work and travel I get from people abroad, especially when I'm at hostels. Camping is great; sleeping outside and being alone has definitely been enjoyable and the budget side of DoC sites and freedom camping really helps. The problem is these are pretty unsocial. I've had a lot of good conversations at hostels and I've only spent 4 nights in them. Low budget and long tours don't really work well with staying in these often, though.

So a friend, the beach, some good food and good conversation made for a pretty top notch Christmas, even if I am on the wrong side of the world from the family and friends I love and wish I could have spent the day with.