An Aussie Christmas

Doreen, Paul, Michelle, and Bill hanging out on the beach on Christmas
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After spending the night in Marybrough, Bill called in the morning to the only other hotel in Woodgate. And with a Christmas wish, they had a cancellation a few days ago and so they had one room left with two bedrooms. It is nice that a lot of hotels in Australia offer the apartment style hotel. And so, we were going to spend Christmas at the beach!

One stop at my dad’s friends house, Andy and Cristina, to firm up our plans for Christmas. But since they hadn’t been expecting us, a quick stop turned into a 3 hour chat. This would have been a wonderful visit if we weren’t losing all our good sun hours at the beach as I tried to get my tan ready for the wedding. But we roughly made plans for a bbq tomorrow and they were happy to host. These are friends of my dad’s cousin, Mike, who live in Australia for about 20 years. They sold Mike the business he ran for awhile before he moved back to the states.

Bill and Michelle at Christmas on the beach
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The place we were staying at was actually a camping/RV grounds, but they had a few self contained cabins and that’s where we were staying. We even had a nice patio to sit on where we saw two kangaroos taking a lazy nap during the hot day.  And we were right across the street from the beach, and so we went straight for it.

However, it had got quite windy so Bill and I took a stroll on the beach for a bit. But we started to worry about the grocery store closing as nothing was supposed to be open on Christmas. So we drove to load up on food for dinner since we stopped along the way to Woodgate for snacks but weren’t sure what our accommodations were before buying food. But Bill and I ended up getting steaks and the fixings for making fried zucchini and mushrooms with a bottle of ranch dressing that we found. Apparently, the stores sell bottles but I haven’t seen one restaurant use it as a dressing.

Beach as far as you can see in one direction
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And so as I was getting the beer batter ready, Bill realized I forgot flour and without it the beer batter won’t cook right. So he and my dad returned to the store right before it closed. So it all worked out and we enjoyed a good home cooked meal for Christmas Eve.

After dinner, we worked at teaching my mom hearts.  She learned pretty quickly until she just threw the Queen of spades out forgetting that it was the high point card. But we enjoyed playing making sure my dad got to a hundred first.

And the other, nobody as far as you can see either
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In the morning, we headed straight to the beach after wishing each other a Merry Christmas. And I soaked up some rays as I laid on the towel working on my tan. Bill and I had bought some cheap beach rackets for whacking the ball around but it the first couple of swings Bill made a hole in his racket. And so, we headed for the waves to cool off.

The beach itself hardly had any people especially since there are only two hotels in town, but a few apartments for renting for a period of time. My mom spent the time collecting sea shells, we hope they get through customs. My dad took it easy walking and then laying on a bench in the shade. After I went for my second round of tanning, Bill made a huge sand castle trying to get he water to fill his mote but it was hopeless. And one final swim before we headed in to shower and get ready to head back to my dad’s friends house. My parents had already headed back and I wanted to walk on the street while Bill walked on the beach. My only problem was that the front of the hotel looked different than I was expecting so I walked right past it and kept going. It only took me an extra 30 mins to get back not sure which direction to go knowing that I wasn’t that far. Bill figured I was lost, but my dad sent him to shower as he said he’d look for me. But eventually I made my way back as I figured that had to be the place.

Andy and Christa opened their home to us for Christmas dinner
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For a day’s notice, Andy and Crista were able to put together a spectacular bbq where Andy made fish, chicken, steak, and sausages. We were so full and Andy kept trying to feed us more. Luckily, dessert was fresh fruit so we could digest a bit. And we can’t forget the endless supply of beer as an Aussie bbq wouldn’t be anything without it. We spent the day and night talking and learning about our new friends as they gave us marriage advice and told us numerous stories especially about their cute little grandson they adore. They even told us how they divorced for 20 years, and Andy finally came to his senses and returned to Holland to bring Crista back to Australia. They’ve been enjoying each other company ever since, over 20 years now. So Andy gave Bill a few pieces of advice; basically, don’t let me get away and enjoy whatever time we have together as you can’t dwell on the past and you can’t wait for tomorrow as all you have is right now.

The Kangaroos came to our front yard to hang out
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And so, we headed back to Woodgate and decided to play one last round of hearts. However, I tried to shot the moon and lost by a heart, so I got frustrated because I was so tired and called it a night and so ended our Christmas in Aussie land, but it was great to celebrate with my parents and their friends.

Merry Christmas

Michelle