CAMPSITE # 37 - Oh Christmas Tree...

Somehow, just like last year and the years proceeding, Christmas Day just manages to fly on by until it gets to a point where you sit back at the end of the day and realise... the sun set over three and a half hours ago and now you're just left with a giant tree to dismantle, fun new presents to play with and a whole lot of leftovers.

We were both so chuffed to feel so welcomed and comfortable this whole week. And we played all of the traditional Christmas roles as well.. making us both feel right at home...

We erected & decorated the Christmas Tree.
Aunty Cheryl placing the angel on top.

Something tells me Uncle Bruce & his hedge trimmer weren't so keen on the decorations...

I was screaming like a school girl with excitement... an actual real life kitchen to cook in!!

We spent many lazy afternoons around the pool (aka Hayman Island), drinking beers and soaking in the sunshine...

We lined up, alongside the rest of Canberra, at 7am Xmas Eve morning to buy some giant prawns...

And on the BIG day... we enjoyed a champagne breakfast in the sunshine.
Please excuse the tasteless Collingwood hats.

Opening the presents & eating all of the yummy food was of course the boring part.

.

And then, more relaxing around the pool

We even went to the church for the Christmas Eve midnight mass / session / sermon thingo (very technical terminology on my part). Considering it had been exactly twelve months since I last set foot inside a church, nothing had changed. The Christmas crowd that go to the Christmas Eve service are always a funny bunch. None of us ever know any of the actual hymns but when it gets to the likes of Silent Night & Joy to the World the place is practically erupting. I'm surprised I wasn't a pile of ash, up in flames as soon as I walked through the front door considering I struggle to recall the Lords Prayer even after having it drilled into me for twelve years thanks to my super Christian education. I still think it's a lovely tradition to go, I enjoy it mainly to listen to the choir and soak in the atmosphere and it really makes it feel like Christmas. I couldn't help but be amused by the crowd surrounding us, desperately trying to hide their yawning and pretending like they could keep up with the choir. I was particularly amused by the teenage girl two rows in front who was holding her order of service in her right hand and was trying to hide the fact that she was texting with her left hand. At least I knew I was safe, if anyone was going up in flames... she would most certainly be higher on the list than I.

Now that we find ourselves at the end of our one week of 'normal life', we're having to say goodbye. Not just to my very hospitable & accommodating Uncle & Aunty but also to their little luxuries that we've been spoiled enough to have access to over the last week. We must now say goodbye to flushing toilets, hot running water & a real bed and return to squeezing our lives into 10 (or so) square metres by combining our living room, bedroom, kitchen & of course our major form of transportation all into one.

In reflection, I smile at the week just passed. I'm so glad we came and that we were welcomed with open arms. I truly hope Uncle Bruce & Aunty Cheryl can meet up with us somewhere along the trip.. but perhaps I'll suggest that a little further down the track as they could well be very excited to see the tail end of us.

From Canberra, we plan on jetsetting our way down to Melbourne to collect two friends from the airport. Because of this, we have had to do some major renovations to the setup in the Troopie. Tom and I have refurbished the shelving unit and have rolled the backseats down to transform it into a passenger vehicle.

Of course, Charlie deserves a Christmas present too. We scrubbed him and polished him on the outside and Tom gave him a great vacuum inside. We must remember this moment as it won't happen very often - Charlie is spick & span... the cleanest he's been in probably 21 years... lucky little fella.

Would you believe, I think we're both really itching to get back out there and continue the journey. Nothing against Uncool Bruce's company of course but we're now so used to being on the road that I don't think we know how to sit still in one place for so long. And the most exciting part is after Canberra, we leave ACT & NSW behind us and begin our exciting new adventure in a whole new state - Victoria. Victoria, being the home of Melbourne, where we'll spend New Years Eve and where we'll have friends to play with. I think we've exhausted quite a lot of NSW & ACT and we're ready to move on. Move over the blue NSW section in our Camps 5 book (which is looking particularly tattered) and hello Victoria's grey section (soon to be looking particularly tattered).