Christmas in Oz

Picture this... sunny beaches, volleyball in the hot sand, burgers flyin' off the BBQ, surfers dropping in on 12 foot waves, all the while, playing Christmas carols and opening tons of presents, which Santa delivered the night before all the way from America. This is exactly how I pictured my first Christmas in Australia, well lets just say I was close. After making the long pilgrimage from Buenos Aires to Sydney, nearly missing our connecting flight to Melbourne, we arrived to Cooee Hostel with only a minor crack in our smiley dispositions and nothing but the greatest intentions of heading straight for the nearest pillow. After awaking from a deep coma of sleep, we threw on our shorts and sandals and headed out the door to explore, only to be confronted with cold wind and, do I dare say it.....RAIN! Now, this is summer in Oz, a time where the people line the sandy white beaches with colorful terry cloth towels and bask in the sun until they start to physically see the skin cancer emerging, not the time for cold rain (I don't care how much of a drought they are having). The most ironic part of all this is just 2 days previous, before leaving BA, we sent all our warm clothing home, because who needs that stuff in Australia!

So on we went, baring the cold, to explore the beautiful city of Melbourne. As we walked around the city, there was a rushed, chaotic, almost animalistic vibe pumping through the veins of all the Australians around us, you know, the kind that takes over you and causes you to do things you never thought possible, like steal from a little old lady or push a child aside in order to get closer to the toy that is disappearing by the second. All because you were too lazy to start your Christmas shopping early and now, on the day before Christmas, you're feeling the heat.

Never the less, when you're an innocent bystander, this behavior is on par to watching Chimps run around in a locked cages (humm, maybe there's some connection).

Due to this overwhelming behavior and the continual rain, our exploration of the city was minimal. Outside of checking out the University and the famous Queen Victoria Market, we just cruised around and thanked god that we didn't have to do the Christmas thing this year.

Christmas Eve consisted of a hostel sponsored sausage feast (those of you who know me, know I never pass us the chance to have sausage), and a special visit from Santa's special helpers (6 drunken guys adorned in the oldest Santa suits I've ever seen). It looks like all Santa sent me this year was 2 "I Love Australia" Koala pins and some beautiful, flashing Christmas tree earrings. Before heading off to bed, we met some lovely English folks in the kitchen, one young man in particular sparked a hatred in Blake so strong, I literally had to remove him (Blake) before he blindsided the guy.

I awoke Christmas morning to the sweet sounds of "Merry Christmas Baby", by Ottis Redding playing on the iPod, and happily looked outside to see the sun shining. We had grand Christmas plans of touring the Royal Botanical Gardens (the best botanical gardens in Australia), followed by a hostel Christmas BBQ at the beach.




Our trip to the gardens proved to be trying at best, after meeting a drunk guy at the tram station (at 9am), who gave us faulty directions, we found ourselves traveling farther and farther away from where we wanted to be. This caused in unexpected hour detour, but alas we made it. We leisurely strolled around the grounds, taking in all the smells and beauty; there were families picnicking by the lagoon, children running around in the flowers, and birds chirping everywhere. All we needed was Julie Andrews to be singing from the hillside and it would have been the perfect day. We spent a few hours here, before deciding it was time to get out of this time warp and head to the beach where the beer would be flowing and the food would be flying.

I think I forgot to mention this, the best part of Christmas morning was walking downstairs, around 8am, only to see the same English bloke from the night before wandering around completely out of his mind, in the old, dirty santa suit.

Now, back to the story. The BBQ started around 1; as the train of people, some majorly hungover, some still drunk, paraded down to the beach, the realization that is was Christmas started to set in. I realized that outside of last Christmas, when I spent the morning working, this was the first time I've never been with my family on this special day. The tears started to well up a little, but then I remembered that I was in Australia and could spend Christmas with them next year...no offense. So we continued on our merry way, set up our chairs and towels on the grass, and started chowing down. The buffet train consisted of ham, chicken (turkey is really expensive in Oz), potato salad, salad, and other yummy snacks. We topped off the feast with none other than my favorite, a chocolate dipped ice cream cone from the traveling ice cream man. I sat in the sun, talking to our new Canadian friend, watching Blake play soccer for the first time in months, and drinking boxed wine for about 4 hours. Definitely a Christmas to remember.




The day ended with Blake and I lounging around the hostel and reflecting on how lucky we have been to be able to go on this amazing journey.

We hope all our friends and family had a great Christmas with their loved ones, we miss you all.