We woke early and headed down to breakfast
I had brought some porridge with me (I am addicted to Oat-So-Simple Golden Syrup flavoured porridge) and met a heap more people doing the Christmas Cracker Tour.

Ruthie and Tanya
......and this shot was taken at a pub in Inverness - see below

Our tour guide arrived.
Words can’t quite describe RUTHIE - she was a 'one in a million' and definitely made our Christmas!!

We loaded up the bus and it was pretty packed.
My bag was the last one in and there was no room for it - so it had it's own seat right up the front of the bus - it was the guide's seat!

Anyway, we headed off.

I was sitting next to a nice girl called Nadia and we all chatted away - interrupted every now and then by Ruthie pointing out scenery or a bridge or telling us a story from her childhood - always with lots of hand gestures and she had us all in stitches most of the time.

We drove through some lovely country-side and into Perthshire.

(two photos) --Dunkeld Cathedral-- (two photos)

A brochure from the Cathedral, giving details and information (four pages)

We stopped in a little town and went to the Dunkeld Cathedral.

"I found a bit of snow on a garbage bin top"

It had been snowing slightly and I found a bit of snow on a garbage bin top.
I was hoping that it wasn’t all that I was going to get!
We walked to the Cathedral which was lovely - very small.

Ice on the River Tay

The church was on the banks of the River Tay.
It looked absolutely freezing and the chunks of ice in the river certainly proved it!!

Then it was into the town for morning tea (a nice hot sausage roll) and back on the bus to continue the journey.

Ruthie helping Paul with his kilt - and here he is

I think we were then in the Grampian Mountains and we stopped the bus again and jumped out.
Ruthie tracked us in to the trees and up a hill to a little clearing - she then got one of the boys, Paul, to get himself all dressed up in a kilt and then she told us another story of another battle with sound affects and big gestures.
It was cold and snowing a tiny bit but still good fun.

We then hit Aviemore which is the ski capital of Scotland.

We stopped for lunch and to get our supplies for Christmas Day.
I got together with Nikki and Sarita to buy enough food for a big fry-up breakfast of bacon eggs and mushies and toast.
We got some alcohol and some snacks, hot chocolate and marshmallows.
We had lunch in a fish-and-chip shop which was really yummy and also had to get our Secret Santa presents - just a small gift that would suit anyone in the group.
I found Tim Tams and figured that since out of 22 people there was 1 Scottish bloke, an English girl, a South African and 19 Australians that it would be a pretty good gift.

The Memorial at Culloden (two photos)

Back on the bus, loaded up after shopping, and it was off to Culloden.
And this is the battlefield which was where the last stand of the Highlanders took place.

Ruthie telling the story of the battle at Culloden

It was quiet eerie and to listen to Ruthie tell the story was amazing - she really brought it to life.
We wandered around there for a while.

Then back on the bus to Inverness, our destination.
Inverness was a cool little town.

We were all very concerned though about the lack of snow!!

We drove around first and Ruthie showed us where the Castle was and shops and then the hostel.
The hostel only had staff in it and us basically - there were one or two other travellers but that was all.

Tanya, Karina, Nikki and Mel----- Sarita and Tanya

Jade, Paul, Tanya and Nadia (two photos)

......and their Tour Guide Ruthie and Tanya having a great time!!!

Ruthie cooked a massive dinner for us all of pasta and we got ready to hit the pubs for Christmas Eve drinks.

Santa's Little Helpers (two photos)

We hung out for a while at the bar watching Santa’s helpers dance (badly) on stage.

I rang Andii and Mum for a bit of a chat.

I headed back at about midnight with a few others and there was still no snow - it wasn’t looking good!!

We got back to the hostel and there was a sock on our beds with our names on it and inside was a mandarin, a lolly pop, a packet of chips, a candy necklace, a Christmas cracker, a party popper and the other sock!
It was quite cute actually.