Our whole crew from S2M and ASR gathered in the Hunter Valley for our Christmas Party extravaganza! Wine tasting, secret santa, games and more!

Our teams started with an early morning road trip and met at the beautiful Irongate Estate in Pokolbin. Sam (our founder) presented us all with wonderful gifts and we had a quick champagne breakfast before heading down to the local Hanging Tree Vineyard for our first wine tasting. Brett and Sam even gifted each of us with the crowd favourite, Sparkling Shiraz. 

The mercury was rising, and it hit 40 degrees, so we all headed back to the house and enjoyed our second wine tasting in our air conditioned living room. Thank you to Irongate Estate Winery, who kindly brought the wine tasting to us. 

We then chowed down on a lovely charcuterie board prepared by Sam and Kristy. There was a hit of childhood nostalgia when Sam brought out the water pistols. DJ fired up the barbecue for our late lunch whilst the rest of the kids were backflipping and water fighting the afternoon away. We sat together and enjoyed our Christmas feast full of fresh prawns and oysters, amazing steaks, and gourmet sausages.

We then gathered and sang (or yelled) to Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas as we opened our Secret Santa gifts. Everyone loved their prezzies and most guessed their secret santa correctly!

Just as the heat was starting to get to us, Brett pulled out a Task Master boardgame and a whole new heat hit the team. We paired up into teams and the competition ramped up. If you don't know what Task Master involves, you appoint a Task Master, who draws cards to give challenges to each team and awards points for each challenge completed. Like a short-form scavenger hunt. We ran around like headless chickens striving to win the game. The absolute best moment of the day without question, was the challenge of creating a moustaches in 5 minutes, with whatever we could find. Ross shaved part of his chest and stomach and Luke fixed it on his upper lip (gross). In the end, they didn't beat Annabelle and Pam's time, as they quickly drew on moustaches with mascara. Scores were almost tied and the winners were Cooper and Briaan! They prevailed as the dark horse in the last challenge and were just in the right place at the right time.

As the sun set, we all continued festivities together, card games and trivia dominating the evening, some leaving to go home and other staying for the slumber party.

This year's Christmas Party went off without a hitch. It was such a blast to all come together and celebrate the year that we've had. We shared ups and downs and welcomed new faces. All in all, a perfect Christmas celebration for our teams.