Christmas at 35 degrees

Well! I’ve made it through a 35 degree Christmas, strike that off the to-do list. It’s bizarre to be at the beach on Christmas day, it doesn’t feel like a proper holiday at all!

For Christmas Eve, a friend from Canada put me in touch with a friend and his family over here, and I was invited to a family Christmas Eve event. This was my authentic Australian experience – a Catholic Mass, outside in the churchyard among all the tombstones. All the families were on blankets, Grandparents in chairs, kids running amok – it was pretty unique! After mass, 3 generations of family headed back to the house for chilled prawns, bubbly, cheese and munchies. It was really a fantastic night.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my flatmate Almira’s family and friends were arriving fast and furious. On Christmas morning, Almira, her sister, her cousin, a friend from London and I all (finally) got organized, and headed out to Bondi Beach for Christmas day. We sent the whole day playing in the waves, getting some sun and watching the growing backpackers parties that seemed to be sprouting up as the day wore on. Everyone was wandering around in bikinis, board shorts and Santa hats. It looked like a commercial for Santa’s summer vacation.

For the all-important Christmas dinner, Almira and I had given up trying to find pumpkin pies, and since a turkey wouldn’t fit in our oven, we found stuffed chickens instead. It was a great meal, if we do say so ourselves – heaps of food and great company for the night. The weather was so nice, we grabbed our champagne, apple crumble, forks and glasses and walked down the block to the water to look at the city and toast to good health, friends and Christmas. We would have stayed forever, if the cockroaches hadn’t made an appearance and frightened us all away. I still haven’t got used to seeing those nasty little buggers everywhere.

Now, in Australia Boxing Day isn’t just the best day for after-Christmas sales. The true Aussie would hike it out to Watson’s point for the start of the Sydney to Hobart Sailing race – so that’s what we did. The Sydney to Hobart race is a huge event, it’s just under 2 days sailing for the competitive boats. The race starts in Sydney Harbour, and the boats race around Watson’s point and start down the coast to Hobart. We watched the start in the Harbour, and from where we were, you could run up the heads to see the yachts turn the corner to come down the coast, so we were running up hill with the boats, pausing to take a million pictures, and sprinting again. In the flotilla of sailing yachts, everyone with a dingy or a multi-million dollar powerboat is racing alongside, or even right between the boats – the water is frothing with the all the activity, so the sail boats look like they are sailing on white water. It was a very impressive event – and if you are wondering, Australian super maxi Wild Oats won, taking an hour off the record.

And even if I am a world away – no one can commit to one activity on New Year’s – we are watching the fireworks, and I am letting Almira + entourage argue about what else. Sometimes, nothing changes.