Thursday, we awoke from a good sleep to aching calves and Xmas Eve! There were a few jobs to do as you can imagine. Ame went off with Jenny to get our big Red Snapper fish we would be BBQing the next day for Xmas lunch and I nailed a few "admin" jobs on the net. Then me and ame rushed down to a photo shop to complete our Christmas presents set. We printed a nice photo of all of us down in Albany for Peter. After returning, Peter and Jenny had a few visitors and then there were lots of salads to make. I was about 50% successful in the 2 salads I made... I totally balls up one of the recipes but then did rescue it at the last second. Ame spent a good deal of the afternoon wrapping the pressies up then went with Kevin, Peter, Jenny and Oscar for a walk on the hills while I made dinner. Before you knew it, it was 8pm and I was talking to my parents and brother Adam on Skype. That was nice. Mother could not believe we were not in swimsuits... I tried to explain that it was 8pm here! We then had a few drinks and then it was off to bed to await Santa and his white kangeroos.
Christmas day arrived with temperatures of 35 degrees! There was lots of sparkling wine being drunk in the morning whilst exchanging presents near the Christmas (monkey puzzle) tree.
Peter's friend Graham came for lunch, along with Kevin and Anna's house mate Katie and her father. Lunch was super. We sat out on the now very familiar and comfortable veranda. We also had the entertainment of Kevin's dog Oscar who behaved very well (I think it was too hot for him to muck about in). The family communications then started with first Ame's mum on the phone, then Mike, Alison, Alex and Tom, then another Prince family session this time with my sister in law Sarah, older brother James and their kids. We even got a little song sung to us by Olivia which we all found very sweet and Tom showed us what he had made at a recent party. Finally, we settled for some Xmas pressie DVDs. It was a good first hot Christmas abroad for me.
On Boxing day, me and ame started our packing and a few last minute jobs (they're never done you know even when you're traveling!!) Then went down to Peter and Jenny's friends Doug and Kirsty's for lunch and a swim. I was a tincey bit hungover today so for me it was lots of water and trying not to doze off in the heat. The pool was lovely and relaxing. Doug's sons were there as well and one of them lives in Tokyo with his wife which was interesting to find out about. After a good filling at lunch and one last swim it was back to Peter and Jenny's house for final preparations before our 23:15 flight to Auckland via Brisbane. It's gonna be a little bit of a slog through the night but eventually we will be in New Zealand.
So farewell Australia, you've treated us very well, bye-bye to 2 months of our trip and a special thank you to our Australian family who have looked after us so well in the past few weeks.
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