Christmas in Victoria

I have had a wonderful time over the last few days. It has definitely been the most different Christmas I've spent, but not quite as different as I had been expecting. The weather here turned cool and wet shortly after I arrived. It was about 38 on Dec. 21 and by Christmas we weren't even able to break into double digits on the thermometer. We spent Saturday with the kids wandering around the local market and exploring the countryside a bit. We stopped at a couple of local wineries and sampled some of their fare. Also made a few purchases :-). Dinner was sausages for the kids and kangaroo steaks for us on the barbeque. Lovely meal.

On Christmas Eve, we went to Brian's father's for Christmas lunch. He is from a family of five and they all have spouses and at least two children, so it was a real houseful. They were very warm and made me feel very welcome, so it was a lovely Christmas celebration. I also got my traditional turkey and roast potato meal, as well as a surprise gift from the family, so all Christmas expectations were well met. We dropped the kids off at their mom's place and spent the evening watching some Christmas specials on TV and eating pizza washed down with good Australian wine.

Brian got up early on Christmas morning to go do the Santa thing with the kids. Later in the morning, we packed up a picnic lunch and headed out to the fire tower. The plan was for me to spend the afternoon with him there, diligently scouting out forest fires on behalf of the people of Australia. This was to be my good deed for the festive season. As it turns out, by the time we got there the weather had really deteriorated and visibility was virtually nil due to the rain and clouds. This also meant risk of fire was very low so Brian was sent home within about an hour of us arriving there. This turned out to be a blessing for me, as my fear of heights precluded me from actually climbing the tower. I made it up the first ladder (and have a photo to prove it!) but the last two were just beyond me.

We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the national park and going for a walk in the forest. We ended up with some snow, so we built a snowman on the hood of the truck who guided us through the storm. We came across a young kid who had got his jeep stuck in a ditch and pulled him out with the winch on Brian's truck. We also took lots of photos of Brian in the snow - it is quite the novelty to see snow here at Christmas (akin to us seeing snow on Canada day). We cooked a couple of steaks on the barbeque and spent the evening/night drinking wine and solving the world's problems. It was a really lovely day.

Boxing day today and Brian has been given the day off. I'm about to make myself some lunch, but there's still no sign of him. I'm guessing that the kids' fever-pitch excitement over the last few days, as well as his Canadian guest's penchant for red wine has pretty much flattened him. Hopefully we'll get out and about this afternoon for another walk in the park. I think another winery visit may also be required as stocks are getting low.