Christmas Down Under

Hey all! Let's go over my adventures of days past before talking about today - Christmas Eve.

Mon Dec 22 - After a night of singing carols at the town chruch and being disappointed they didn't have Aussie Jingle Bells, I was on a mission to find a CD of Aussie Xmas carols. Allison took me into town and searched several stores and couldn't find any. Damn. But here are the words:

Dashing through the bush
In a rusty Holden Ute
Kicking up the dust
Esky in the boot
Kelpie by my side
Singing Christmas songs
It's summer time and I am in
My singlet, shorts & thongs

CHORUS:
OH, JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS
JINGLE ALL THE WAY
CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRALIA
ON A SCORCHING SUMMER'S DAY
JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS
CHRISTMAS TIME IS BEAUT
OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE
IN A RUSTY HOLDEN UTE

Engine's getting hot
Dodge the kangaroos
Swaggy climbs aboard
He is welcome too
All the family is there
Sitting by the pool
Christmas day, the Aussie way
By the barbecue!

CHORUS

Come the afternoon
Grandpa has a doze
The kids and uncle Bruce
Are swimming in their clothes
The time comes round to go
We take a family snap
Then pack the car and all shoot through
Before the washing up

CHORUS

A yute (or "ute") is a pickup truck that is actually a car if that makes sense. So imagine a car with 2 seats and the back is open and flat (no walls surrounding the flat area). An esky is a cooler where you keep cold drinks, a boot is the trunk of a car, thongs are flip-flops/sandals.

Christmas here is during summer so backpackers go to the beach on Xmas day and you see Santas in shorts and t-shirts. Some Aussies don't eat turkey or hot dinners for the holiday so instead, they have cold food such as "prawns" (I've been corrected each time I said "shrimps").

So after failing to find a xmas CD with these fun songs, I went back to the farm and watered the many newly planted trees with Pat, one of the french wwoofers. We had to tread through long grass that reached up to my chest...this is snake territory. They love tall grass and sun. I was careful to scan the ground around me while I heavily stomped on the ground to warn the snakes I was coming. They can't hear but they feel the vibrations and move out of your way. I saw a snake slither away from me as I approached. I just managed to see the last 4 inches its brown tail....thank goodness! I'd hate to see its head.

While in the paddocks, I gave a go at driving the yute. Pat was so brave to sit with me and guide me through because not only do I not have a license but this thing is a manual car with a hard clutch! I wasn't too bad....I mean there were no disasters but I can say that I prefer automatics.

For dinner, I gathered some greens for a salad from the garden. I noticed that some of the lettuce was eaten up so I thought we've been eating a lot of salad. Days later, we learned that the ducklings managed to squeeze through the fence and eat the stuff in the garden while we weren't looking!

I tried feeding the chickens by hand today and it didn't hurt until they got a hold of my fingers. No blood was drawn so it was ok.

Tues Dec 23 - I helped Allison in the kitchen today and she taught me how to make pavlovas. It's a meringue dessert that's popular here. It's basically meringue which is baked carefully and then whipped cream and fresh berry mix drizzled on top. We only baked it today and the rest goes on tomorrow.

Cara's (dog) friend Bella (neighbour's yellow Lab mix) came to play today. Bella just came over by herself -- she's really cute but wayyy too much energy! She doesn't listen and jumps on people. She slobbered on my arm; I've never had slobber that thick on me before it was difficult to wash off. We bring her back to her home and she is back before you know it! She scares the ducks and geese (Nicky the duck ran away somewhere to hide for the night). I love dogs but this one is too much! (Her owners aren't home...I reckon they went away for the holidays).

Wed Dec 24 - Today is Xmas Eve and everyone is gone except for Pat and I. We decided to stay on the farm and have a traditional northern hemisphere dinner of roast chicken, mashed potatoes (garlic and chives), stuffing, etc. Rhys and Allison went to Sydney to her family's while Nicky (the other french WWOOFer) went to Bondi Beach for a touristy Christmas on the beach. And no, we did not slaughter any chickens for our dinner! We got one from the supermarket instead. We had permission to take 2 from the farm but we didn't after all. Tomorrow when everyone comes back, we are going to have an Aussie Xmas dinner of cold food (prawns and ham, etc). Because...it's summer here.

Bella the dog came back today. She was tied up and she escaped by breaking the rope! She is really too much and she gets sweet Cara into trouble. They are cute together...a black and yellow Lab playing together. But really, Bella has too much energy for us.

Alright, I should go now to gather the celery, sage, chives from the garden for my mashed potatoes and stuffing. It's so wonderful to eat fresh food!