We woke up early in the morning to the news that there was snow on Dartmoor, so quickly had breakfast then changed into warm clothes. It was so cold outside it required thermals but the blue skies and sunshine was really nice. Feeling a bit like Michelin men, we bundled into the car and head to the moors.
There wasn't too much snow around unfortunately, it was mainly icy stuff and a little bit slippery, but it was so pretty in the weak morning light. You could even see the snow clouds, with the dense whiteness blocking out the mountains.
From Dartmoor, we drove to Totnes, then on to Brixham, where we parked and got out. It was so very cold, and we walked around the beautiful harbour to get the blood going. There were a group of crazy people that we saw standing in a huddle on the stony beach. They were getting undressed and proceeded to run into the ocean, while the freezing wind whipped their hair. I imagine it was a bit warmer in the water, but not really! Brrrr it made me cold just watching them. It was about lunchtime by the time we'd circled back, and we went to have lunch at one of the only cafes that was open - Curious Kitchen - which was fine, because it was delicious!
We drove back along the coast to Mum and Dad's house.
That night, I went out to test out my new toy. I had a holiday booked to Tromso in Norway in March where I was hoping to see the Northern Lights again (and take better photos than last time). With that in mind, I had bought myself a wide-angle manual lens for Christmas, as my autofocus lens wasn't useful for nighttime as it couldn't focus on anything! So I went out into the cold with my Dad and took photos of the Devon sky. I think he thought I was a little crazy, but I wanted to test it out to see if I could actually use it and work out the settings I would need for Norway. I think I did pretty well considering night-time photography is definitely not my strong point...
The next day, I caught a train back to London. I was going back home for NYE, where my brother would join me. We had bought tickets to the fireworks in London so head out to the city with our plastic bottles filled with booze. It was not that cold, thankfully, but certainly different being in London than when we used to go to the fireworks in Sydney. It was weird having to have a ticket, and because we weren't there right when the gates opened, we had to go all the way to Aldgate to get into a zone, and we stood in line waiting to get in next to the Australian Consulate. The fireworks weren't as spectacular as those in Sydney, but it was nice to hear Big Ben chiming the New Year in as he has been undergoing renovation and has been silent since August (and will be for 4 years!).
We were going to catch public transport back to my brother's hotel after the show ended, but we just kept walking through the happy people in the crowds, and ended up walking all the way back to his hotel at Earl's Court, where I jumped on the train home.
All in all, a pretty decent Christmas and NYE.