Christmas and New Year in Melbourne!

We had a wonderful family Christmas in the sunshine. We opened presents in the morning, delighting in each other's gifts. Books, jewellery, yummy chocolates, smellies and plenty of cooking gear were unwrapped. Dad and I stole the show when we received proper Aussie hats from Vicky and Grant. Amazing! Check out the pictures. We had all forgotten about buying crackers so we decided to put an environmentally friendly spin on the day and reuse our wrapping paper to make hats. The origami took up a good hour or so and caused much hilarity. Again, check out the photos.

Vicky and Grant put together an amazing Christmas dinner - hock of ham glazed in honey and apricot, chicken cooked in the BBQ and all the trimmings. Wow! It was all absolutely delicious and we ate til we were about to pop. After a few hours of resting, we pumelled out stomachs yet again with Vicky's fantastic sticky toffee pudding and custard. It was very noble of her to make it considering she couldn't eat it herself! We spent the rest of the day relaxing, playing cards and watching a movie on TV. All in all a wonderful Christmas.

On Boxing Day we drove to the Mornington Peninsula for a walk along the beach. On Sunday, as part of our Christmas presents, Dad, Grant and I went to the Australia-South Africa Test Match Day 3 at the MCG. It was a fantastic day and the atmosphere was very lively. The weather was perfect and we saw a record breaking 9th wicket batting partnership on Australian soil between Duminy and Steyn. It was a particularly enjoyable day for Grant as South Africa were winning!

In between Christmas and New Year, Vicky had taken the days off work but poor Grant had to go in. Thankfully it was quite quiet and he could come home early most days. Vicky took us on a few days trips around Melbourne. We visited the National Gallery Victoria which had some interesting Sout Pacific displays. We also went to Victoria market, a huge place, selling all kinds of food, clothes, plants, bric-a-brac etc.

We spent New Year's Eve at home. Grant cooked us a wonderful BBQ and we played cards until midnight when we watched the fireworks. On New Year's Day we drove up to the Dandenong hills on the outskirts of Melbourne. Then on the weekend we had a lovely day at the Botanical gardens. We had stopped off at Prahran Market on the way (a famous "foodies" market) and picked up things for a picnic. We had a delicious lunch and a walk around the gardens.

Mum and Dad only have a week left and they are visiting their friends in Bendigo at the moment for a few days. I have now started the slightly less fun task of finding temporary work for a few weeks in January.... Keep your fingers crossed!