It's quiet now - down here on the dock; Christmas is over, it's a new year and the Canadians are all gone!
After five days on the road, Joseph made it back from Perth with the van stuffed full of Cassia & Pablo's (missing) possessions that were in turn stuffed into whatever sliver of space they could find in their "home"
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| Is it possible to squeeze one more thing in there? Yes it was! :) |
... then we were off to the airport to welcome Brenda & Brad flying in from Ottawa.
So good to have them here if only for 7 days! At last Brenda could meet all of my family and my friends the she had been hearing about for 30+ years - a chance to "match the faces to the stories"!! They came ready for heat but mostly we gave them wind! WInd on the dock, wind at the beach, wind in the hills!
Too bad!! So we put on our cardys (sweaters) and did what any true-blood Canadian does when they step on Australian soil … we went to the beach.
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| Hold onto your … phones! |
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| Such brave soles … too lazy to walk around the waves! |
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| Brenda has been waiting to meet June for 30 years! |
… …we also went to the hills to see June and Fiona & Graeme and their apples! …. and then to town to shop until midnight (girls only) - Brenda was having trouble with Christmas decorations,Christmas songs and all things Christmas with no snow … so shopping outside until late into the evening in summer clothes was almost too much for her…
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| Late-night shopping on Rundle Mall |
They were even showing Love Actually in the middle of the (outdoor) mall! ...and it was crazy with people - it was after all - the last Friday night before Christmas and if they weren't shopping they were coming or going to a party!
The train trip home was another experience for poor Brenda! There's all kinds that live along the railway line that goes to our part of town; and at 11.00 pm on this special night - they were out in full! The guy getting arrested at the station, the girls on the train crying, the ones who were caught with no tickets … and … the guys coming home from their Christmas party who bought their leftover beers onto the train with them … and kept on drinking! Ah yes - so delighted to share that with my friend!
(no pics of the train trip!)
Then we left to show B&B a bit of the typical South Australian countryside - which of course included some wineries in the Barossa Valley
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| At Maggie Beer in the Barossa Valley |
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and then "up the river" - The Murray River (our only river) ...
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| The point of this trip was to show B&B the drier side of Australia - I think this does it!! That's our sad excuse for a river down there! |
… where the temperature finally warmed up (38c) right when we couldn't be further from a beach - so we cooled down the hot tub and cooled off in there.
By the time we arrived home it was two days to go to C.D. We had more guests arriving so we shipped Mum off to Jen's and gave her room to Lisa and Lacey -friends of B&B's from Ottawa who are living in Aus & NZ.
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| Lisa, Lacey, Brenda, Joe, Brad, Cassia, Pablo - Merry Christmas morning … on the dock! |
I think shopping at the frenzied Adelaide market for a Christmas Eve party with my family and a Christmas Day lunch outside with my family was about as Australian-a-Christmas as you could get…Well maybe not a modern Christmas (these days people have cold meals at the beach) - but for my family; it's full-on roasted meats and five million roasted vegetables and even a hot pudding to accompany the pavlova for dessert ... if you are "lucky". If you are really lucky it is NOT 38c and we were - it was a lovely day for all 19 of us to sit outside at my brother's house.
Ooops - no pics of Christmas dinner! :(
Boxing Day trip to "Victor" to see the coast on either side of the peninsular and visit with Jasper and his mum and dad and the other grandparents.
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| Any excuse (to force guests) to visit our g/baby |
Then … next morning they were gone! (sad, sad face).
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| well joseph seems slightly sad! |
They took off on a crazy bus trip along the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne where they spent a few days and then a few more days in Sydney et voilà they (like the Ross') are all back home into the freezing cold weather while we swelter in our first really hot spell of the summer (43c).
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| No Lacey -you can NOT take the kangaroo back to N.Z.!! |
Come back soon dear friends - we loved (both) visits!
… and now the he countdown is on until:
- Joseph leaves (Jan 16)
- we take possession of the new house (Feb 27th)
- Julie Gates visits from Ottawa (to take me to the Foo Fighters concert) (Mar 6th),
- Pablo's mum comes to visit (all of April),
- Joseph is back from Africa (April 17th) ,
- we move out of this house and into the "other" one (May 1st)
- and leave for Ottawa May 17th. for four months!
Happy New Year - stay warm or cool - as is appropriate!
