The Hostel

I woke up at about five-minutes-to-eight which was lucky because Dad and Mum were calling at 8.00am.
I ran out of the room and when they called asked them to give me ten minutes and then call back.

The lounge room, the tree - and snow!!!

I got my pressies and went upstairs to the lounge room where the tree and the fire was to open them up and wait for the call.

"Then I saw that it was snowing!!"

Then I saw that it was snowing!!

View over the city from a window at the Hostel

The view from the lounge room was right over the town as we were on a hill and everything was white - I couldn’t believe it!!
I nearly cried I was so happy.

"She gave me her runners and I was still in my pj's but it was so much fun" (two photos)

I quickly opened my presents and then ran outside with the girl who was on duty at the hostel.
She gave me her runners and I was still in my pj's but it was so much fun.
When Dad called I was outside in the snow - still can’t believe it!!

I had a nice chat with Mum and Dad and then everyone else slowly started moving and were all as excited as I was.

Looking at the streets from in front of the Hostel (two photos)

I was the first one up Christmas morning and was glad that I had a bit of time to myself to enjoy it.
It is so quiet when it snows and was really peaceful apart from me occasionally squealing “I can’t believe its snowing”.

Tanya, Nikki and Sarita - "a fry-up brekky"

Nikki and I cooked breakfast and then Sarita joined us - and it was so yummy!

The Castle

We then went for a wander up to the Castle and took photos - it was so lovely.

Tanya at the Castle (two photos) - and armed with a snowball!!!

Tanya making a snow angel (two photos) - and the result

SPECIAL

We threw snow balls and made snow angels and just basically ran around with stupid grins on our faces.

I then gave Brett a call at a friend’s house and had quick word to him but they were partying so I left him to it.

Then was the big part of the day.
Ruthie had been hinting all day yesterday about swimming nude in Loch Ness.

The River Ness

The "not-at-all-inviting" Loch Ness!!!

Most of us thought that she was joking but she loaded us all onto the bus at noon and while driving to the Loch proceeded to give us this big speech about telling our grand-kiddies that we had been swimming with the monster and how we could disappoint them by saying that we didn’t swim - we could lie and say we did but children and animals always know when a grown up is lying - or tell the truth and say we did it and have the photos to prove it.

Photos include shots of
"The Nessy Nudists"

Tanya and the rest ready to take the plunge!!!
Ruthie is next to her wrapped in the blanket, with Adam, Lee, and Paul (two photos)

Ruthie, Adam, Lee, and Paul (two photos)

3 - 2 - 1 - GO!!! Tanya, Ruthie and the rest heading towards the water!!!

Tanya and the rest are in the water!!! (two photos)----- (three photos)

We arrived and the Loch was choppy and black and not at all inviting.
About half the group decided to do it and the other half had cameras (Thank you Emma for having mine and doing a great job!).
Ruthie was nude about ten seconds after we arrived and Aaron got himself undressed petty quick after that.
The poor thing was standing naked yelling at us to "hurry the frick up" while we took off hats, coats, jumpers, t-shirts, thermals, jeans, more thermals, shoes and socks - my undies stayed on!!
We were all ready and standing ready to go and Ruthie who was next to me did a countdown and we all ran in Ruthie did a big dive in so I did the same.
Cold is not the right word to use to describe the water!!
My feet were killing me and I was shaking!!

Tanya on her way out (two photos)---and grabbing a towel

I got out and grabbed my towel and ran to Emma with the camera and was looking at the photos and she said go and get dressed you can look later!
Smart girl.

My whole body started to tingle (Ruthie said it was the central heating kicking in) and I was still shaking.
I got dressed with great difficulty - I couldn’t get my feet to do anything.

Tanya after conquering the Loch!!! (two photos)

I eventually got dressed and we started drinking whisky straight out of the bottle - it was so good!!

I rang my friend Jason and I rang Mum - they both called me lots of things - crazy, stupid, mental, etc etc - and I was so breathless with cold I could hardly talk to them.

"Ruthie, our crazy guide!!"

The bus ride back was awesome - we were all so pumped up and cheering and talking about how we couldn’t believe what we had just done and asking Ruth how long it would be before our toes came back.
It was such an odd feeling - my feet just felt like they stopped and it was really painful.

Ah, what a rush - still can’t believe I did it!!

Tanya and the rest of the group (two photos)
Karina, Lee, Oz, Nadia, Jade, Paul, Tanya, Mel and Nikki

Oz enjoying himself--------- Sarita, Tanya and Nikki

Sarita and Tanya------ Tanya, Nikki, Lee and Jade

A view of the pub

After that it was back to the hotel for a change into our party gear - it was dinner time.

Tanya and Mel and look at the food!!! --- but now it's gone!!!

The hostel closed down and the staff came with us to the pub where a three-course-meal had been organised for us.
Soup to start and then the biggest plate of food that I have ever seen was plonked down in front of me.
Turkey, beef, pigs in blankets, stuffing, carrots, peas, Brussels sprouts, mashed potato and roast potatoes - and all of it swimming with gravy.

Where did it go??? (two photos)

It was so good and I ate it all.
We were all so full!!

Ruthie receiving her card

Minette then did a bit of a talk about our guide and gave Ruthie a Christmas card that we had all written in, saying how fantastic she had been so far and how wonderful she had made our Christmas when we were all so far away from our families and thanked her for giving up her time for us.
Poor Ruthie cried.
She said that she has done three Christmas trips before and everyone had pretty much done their own thing in their own friend/family groups and this was the first time that she had got a card and she was having so much fun and thanks - she was really sweet.

Paul reciting his poem

Then Paul got up and did his Christmas poem that he had been furiously writing all day.
He said that he does one every year at home and thought he might do one for us.
It was really funny (I am trying to get a hold of a copy).

Then it was Secret Santa time.
There were twenty-three presents in a bag.
We all took a number between one and twenty-three and #1 pulled a present out and opened it.
Then it was #2’s turn and so on.
There was a twist though.
If the person due to pick liked someone else’s gift they could take it and then the person who lost their gift got to pick again.
I got a great Baileys chocolate gift pack and then I lost it and ended up with a stuffed toy cat (which has since been donated to a tsunami charity) but it was a lot of fun!

"It's pudding time!!!" (two photos)

Despite the fact that we had eaten so much food it was pudding time!!
Ruthie bought out the Christmas Cakes and poured brandy over them and lit them on fire - it was really cool to watch.

......and Tanya and Mel and the pudding!!!

Then they were cut and we got brandy butter and whipped cream to go with it.
The pudding was so yummy.

Ruthie also had more presents for us.
We all got given a scarf courtesy of Macbackpackers.
They are 100% wool made in Scotland which is a lovely souvenir.
Mine is red and I love it!

Scotch flavoured!!!

I walked back to the hostel with Ruthie and a few others and had a hot chocolate with marshmallows by the fire.

Then hit the sack with Zoe - she was as tired as I was and not up for a big night and we had an early start in the morning.