Hello everyone. Hoping this finds 2008 off to a fantastic start for everybody! Vacation continues to rule our lives with Ray & Marcia here. Here's a brief breakdown of what we've been up to, which will help explain some of the pictures within the slideshow above:
Dec. 25 - Christmas Day! We enjoyed a breakfast feast prepared by Andy, and then continued to indulge all day, with spurts of opening gifts mixed in here and there. It was a gorgeous day, so warm in fact that the men carved the ham outside on the back porch to make more space in our little apartment kitchen. Our friend Ash joined us for the majority of the day - this being his 2nd Christmas celebration experience - adding much humor, knowledge, champagne, Indian food, & love to our day.
Dec. 26 - Boxing Day - We attended the Australia vs. India Cricket Test Match (Day 1) at the hallowed Melbourne Cricket Ground. Again, Ash joined us and tutored all of us in the basics & intricacies of the game. We were there all day - 10am to 6pm - amongst a crowd of about 67,000. I feel proud that I can now watch a cricket match and know what is going on!
Dec. 27 - 29 - We picked up a rental car and headed out of town to drive along the Great Ocean Road. Saw many sights and breathtaking scenery. Nearly lost Ray & Marcia to carsickness our first afternoon, but they made a strong recovery. Spent our first night in the small town of Colac. Continued our drive along the coast the next day, stopping for a visit at Cheese World, and making our way up to the town of Halls Gap within Grampians National Park. Again, impressive scenery that we will certainly visit again. Our hotel this second night had many wild kangaroos and 2 emus just roaming the grounds, and we actually saw some kangaroo boxing!!! I am not kidding! We sat outside watching the sunset, watching the kangaroos, taking in our surroundings, and questioning the reality of it all. It was really stunning. We spent Dec. 29 visiting the Brambuk National Park & Cultural Centre, learning about the history of the area and the Aboriginals that have lived here for thousands of years. That afternoon we visited a few lookout areas and hiked to McKenzie Falls. Throughout this entire trip, it felt great to leave the city behind & get back out into nature, and to begin to see more of this country in which we live.
Dec. 30 - We BBQ'd at our friends Rosemary & Jung's home. We enjoyed a massive meat fest, shared many good drinks and laughs, and listened as Jung told us his story about fleeing Vietnam when he was 17 years old. I found myself sitting there, looking around, looking at my parents & Andy, taking in our environment, and again being amazed at the unbelieveable reality of the situation. Stories such as Jung's make our complaints about the hardships of moving abroad seem absolutely ridiculous and petty, and I am thankful for this enlightenment.
Dec. 31 - Melbourne recorded the hottest New Year's Eve day on record, topping off at just over 41 degrees Celsius, which equates to about 106 degrees Fahrenheit. We spent a few hours at South Melbourne Beach (Andy and I mostly sat in the shade) and then returned home to prepare for our big night out in the city. Our New Year's Eve Yarra River Cruise could not have been a more perfect way to celebrate the new year.
Jan. 1 - We declared a day off and stayed in our air-conditioned bedroom until nearly 3pm, before finally making our way out to the couch, with just enough motivation to order a bunch of Thai food to be delivered. The outside temperature cooled by about 10 degrees, which finally made it bearable to open the doors and move around the apartment a bit. It was an awesomely lazy day.
So, that's about it I guess. Andy is working 3 days this week, I've a job interview on Friday morning, we'll be spending Saturday in Geelong, and then flying to Sydney early Sunday morning. We will be in Sydney until Wednesday, board the cruise ship that day, and return to Melbourne from Auckland, New Zealand on January 23. Delays in blog postings are extremely likely throughout the month of January :)
Again, Cheers to the New Year! Thanks to everyone who made the special effort to ship us Christmas packages and letters - I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it felt to receive items from "home." Your thoughtfulness is so appreciated.
Be well-
Love, Christy
