Boxing Day in Sydney

How are you holding up? Did you survived the Christmas feasts? After our huge Christmas lunch, we were in a 'food coma', self inflicted of course. All of us had a siesta when our guests left. Woke up and went for a run with Ashleigh to ease away the guilt.

Traditionally Boxing Day in Sydney is spent at the Boxing Day sales, watching the cricket on tv (live from MCG), heading to the cinemas to watch one of the blockbuster movies or grabbing one of the vantage spots whilst waiting in anticipation for the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

This year, I suggested to Ashleigh that she might want to experience one of the traditional Boxing Day activities - Boxing Day sales. She was keen on the idea but I warned her it had to be an early start. Myer and David Jones were opened from 5am today. We left the house at 7:30am to catch the train to the city, it was the wise choice since parking will be too expensive. Before we hit the shops, we decided to have breakfast at the food centre below Myer to fuel up before the marathon walking.

Then it was straight to the children's department and worked our way down. It was a surprise to us that the crowds were not bad at all, in fact the queues at the cashier were not that long but manageable. We bought a few presents for friends who have invited us for NYE's lunch. Three hours later, we emerged disappointed at the sales especially since Mr Bernie Brooks, CEO of Myer had said this would be the most aggressive sale ever. But my purse was happy since I didn't spend too much, mainly for items on my list. A good bargain was perfumes 40% discounts on gift packs. Another interesting observation was the long queues mainly Asians outside Oroton, Prada, Longchamp, Guess and L'Occitane. I guess, with China booming, that's where the new consumers will come from.

In the afternoon, we went to watch Tom Cruise's latest Mission Impossible movie - Ghost Protocol. This is the 4th installment of the MI series. I really enjoyed the movie, one of the best in the series. The film was shot in various places from Moscow, Budapest, Dubai and Mumbai. My heart was in my mouth at the scene where Ethan had to climb the tallest building in Dubai, well over 100 floors.

All in all, it was a relaxing day post the Christmas celebrations.