Saturday 25th December 2004Happy Christmas!
My father, Terry, arrived this morning at Adelaide airport at 7am. Fortunately, he is the sort of person who can sleep anywhere, and so he arrived in Adelaide refreshed and awake, ready for the events of the day.
Whilst Terry was being collected by Eleanor (my mother), Ann
and I gave little Thomas some of his Christmas presents. Last Christmas he was
not able to sit unaided, but this year he has learnt how to rip the paper off
the boxes. We gave Thomas a Christmas stocking with some small toys in it, and
then some of his larger presents. By this time, Terry had arrived from the airport,
laden down with yet more toys for Thomas - Terry had found a giant toy store
in Kuala Lumpur airport, where they had been kind enough to wrap all of the
gifts.
We were all very pleased with what Terry had brought (especially Thomas, who
acted with equal enthusiasm and polite enjoyment with everything), except when
we found out that every toy that Terry had brought made some sort of
noise or played music. There was one toy that Thomas had been given that seemed
to be activated by any movement, and was extremely loud - it was shaped like
a cross between a radio and a car. It was not long after we found that there
was no 'off' switch that I got my screwdriver out. I took it apart so that we
could try and insert something between the speaker and the plastic case - we
managed to find that one of Ann's cosmetic cleansing pads was ideal. But, once
we had put it all back together, we found that there was little decrease in
volume. Terry then started to cut out a circle of card, and this was inserted
with cotton wool on both sides - but once this was screwed back together, the
sound was so low that it was almost inaudible. I was happy with that, but Thomas
was not.
We had to make two trips to take everything over to Linda's
house. One load of fruit and Thomas' highchair, with boxes of presents and gifts
- then another load of people and plants. Linda had put on a huge table for
18 people, plus a large selection of food. All the lounge furniture was 
outside,
and the entire lounge and dining room was set aside for the meal. As the weather
was so good (26°C), we all sat out on the lounges in the patio area for
a while, and Terry was set on carving the ham (which he sliced so thin and delicately
that the flavour of the ham was very good). We were waiting for Paul (Ann's
brother) to arrive with his family before opening the presents to and from the
rest of the family. It was tantalising to see all the food laid out, with prawns
the size of half a banana, and salads in huge bowls.
When Paul's family arrived, there was madness as presents
were handed around and children were ripping open boxes. Thomas was particularly
well catered for, getting big gifts from everyone. Thomas even had a present
that came in a box 3 times his size - he spent a few minutes ripping off the
wrapping paper and when he saw what it was, his face lit up with excitement.
There were no gifts that Thomas opened that he did not get excited about - which
gave happiness to all the adults that had given him presents.
Thomas' huge present was a ride-in car, complete with steering. Unfortunately
for Thomas, it needed to be assembled - but everyone else was pleased, as it
would end up being a little project for all of us to make later.
Once the presents were handed out, we all went in to dive
into the food. The prawns went down a treat, and everyone had some ham, turkey
and the salads. Thomas even managed some turkey and salads, but he was more
interested in the bread rolls - placing the roll back onto the china plate between
mouthfuls.
Paul's children did not know what to do with the Christmas crackers, but Linda's
children helped out. After the food, all the children and Julie went out into
the garden to play, and the adults and Thomas chatted before preparing the fruit
and desserts.
After lunch, we all went out into the garden to sit on the
lounge room furniture and chatter. Liam and the children helped me construct
Thomas' car, and as soon as it was done and Thomas was placed inside it, he
knew that the car was his, and he got very excited about it. Brendan was pushing
Thomas around the patio, and Ashley suggested that the try the car at the top
of the steep driveway to their house - after the shocked reaction from me, that
idea went no further.
Paul's family left pretty quickly, and then by 5pm I took my family home. Everyone
was happy but tired - but I wanted to use my barbeque on Christmas day, so I
made a small prawn and avocado salad for Terry and me, and we all ended the
day by watching "The Hunt For Red October" on telly.
It was good to talk to Mary, Johnny, Anne and Lorna today to wish them Happy Christmas, and we also got emails from almost everyone else we know. Happy Christmas back to all of you.
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To get Terry back for the noisy toys, I placed all of the
noisiest toys in a line in front of Thomas, and then both of us went around
each button to get them started, and then repeated this until Terry got up -
at 8am. This also got the rest of the family up, but Thomas enjoyed all the
noises.
Terry had enjoyed the film so much last night that I decided to give him the
book (written before the film). Terry reads books on holidays, but it is almost
unheard of for him to read a novel. Eleanor joked that he would give up after
the first few pages.
We went down to Glenelg today to be on the
beach
for Boxing Day. Coffee was the first port of call - North Adelaide offered
us a quick latte, cappuccino and babycino. Once in Glenelg, we enjoyed the warm
26°C sunshine and blue skies, and wandered around the Holdfast Bay development,
stopping in on a restaurant to have a cold drink.
Then we hit the beach. We had to drag Thomas in his pushchair across the soft
sand, and Eleanor started to look for exotic shells - only to be disappointed
to find that most of the shells were the same as the ones that she gets on Exmouth
beach at home. There was a gentle breeze and bright sunshine, so Thomas had
his hat and his new sunglasses on. It was great that Thomas did not try to rip
off his sunglasses - he must find them comfortable.
After a very relaxing day on the beach, we returned via Jetty Road to Holdfast Bay for lunch at a Japanese restaurant. Sushi is not my thing, but it was not the only thing on the menu - and then no-one ended up getting sushi in any case. Terry had half a dozen fresh oysters, and then had fresh local scallops with the rest of our meal.
We drove along the coast, keeping as close to the beach as we could, passing West Beach (where the shark attack was last week) and up past Henley Beach and up to Semaphore before heading home. Whilst driving around, we all told stories about previous road trips and the events of past holidays, and Thomas joined in whenever there was laughter in the car.
This evening we had our Christmas turkey - on the barbeque. I roasted up a turkey that had been de-boned and rolled with stuffing inside, and made everything in the barbeque - roast potatoes, roast vegetables and corn on the cob. It worked out remarkably well, but the turkey took longer to cook than everything else.
The evening was rounded off with the usual Christmas films, TV and my annual argument with Terry. A family Christmas is the same everywhere.
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Today the whole family went to the Barossa Valley wine region.
We arrived at the Jacob's Creek wine centre just before it opened at 10am, and
started the day with coffees and looking at the wine displays. The atmosphere
in the car was a little tense, and so the visits to the wineries were very short.
We managed to find our way to the Yalumba vineyard and winery this time, as
during our last visit we took the wrong turning at a junction and ended up going
back on ourselves. We were all pleased to see the historic buildings and the
gardens.
After a full morning of visiting the Barossa, we all came
home tired and most of us had an afternoon nap, before we decided to go to the
Tea Tree Gully Hotel for dinner.
Thomas had some ships, Ann and Eleanor had fish and Terry was in his element
- he had 12 oysters, each a different flavour. I had the smallest steak on the
menu, and it still filled the plate. We all had a good meal for a very low cost.
Throughout the day, we had all been watching the news of the
tsunami. It has had particular relevance for Terry and Eleanor, as we have been
to many of the places that have been affected by the tidal wave. When we all
saw pictures from the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia, it was easy
to see that we might have been there at that time - sitting on the beach.
We have been flicking between CNN, Sky News and BBC News to get more information
and pictures.
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When we woke today, the television went on and switched to the news channels to hear more about the tsunami. More than 10 times the dead than from the September 11th attacks, and still rising. We haven't really talked about it as a family, other than to express amazement and pass on bits of information missed when someone was in the shower or getting their cereal.
Today we did a marathon trip of going up to Mount
Lofty, then Cleland
Wildlife Park, and then Hahndorf. We had left Ann and Thomas at home, because
Ann wanted to get some housework and washing done, and she had been feeling
ill from the tension of the last few days.
Mount Lofty (780 metres above Adelaide), had a restricted view because of the
morning clouds. Straight after Mount Lofty, we went down to the Cleland Wildlife
park to go and feed the kangaroos. The first animal that we saw was a Tasmanian
devil - this time looking more happy in his little enclosure. Then we walked
across the lawn to the kangaroos. I walked straight up to the kangaroo with
a handful of food pellets, and fed the roo. Terry then had a go, but the kangaroo
that he had chosen was a little more nervous and ran off. After a few minutes,
Terry had had a chance to feed one of the kangaroos. As the day continued, we
had managed to stroke and scratch the back of some roos that were lounging in
the sun, and we got some good video footage of the kangaroos being more interested
in relaxing than eating.
Eleanor did not want to go into the enclosure with the emus, so left Terry and
me to meet the big birds. Terry loves to get close to the animals (often with
hilarious consequences), and so attempted to stroke the emu that had approached
him for some food. I was expecting to be filming a bird-attacks-man sequence
for "You've Been Framed"/"Australia's Funniest Home Videos",
but to my disappointment, the emu just carefully pecked at his hand, allowed
some light contact and then proceeded to put it's head inside the paper bag
of food pellets.
After Cleland, we headed up the Princes Highway to Hahndorf,
where we would attempt to get some lunch. It was packed solid, with cars parked
on either side of the road, and up almost every side street and residential
road. We found a park and tried the first hotel that we came across - where
they warned us that we would have to sit outside and there would be a 20 minute
wait for food. We decided that we would try elsewhere, and so managed to find
an all-you-can-eat buffet across the street. Eleanor hates buffets, but Terry
loves them, and I like an all-you-can-eat place because I want to try a bit
of everything. Eleanor stuck to the salads and cold food, and Terry and I tried
the Bratwurst, roasts, chicken and almost everything else that was available.
After lunch we walked up the main street of Hahndorf, looking in on a few shops
that sell the same sort of stuff in any tourist area, and enjoying the atmosphere.
It was warming up and we were getting tired, so we headed home, and all had
an afternoon nap when we arrived.
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Today was a relatively quiet day, with the girls going to
the beauty salon. Ann was having a pedicure to make her feet look nice for her
new strappy sandals, and Eleanor was getting coloured highlights in her hair
- we were originally talking about purple or lilac, but she ended up choosing
pink.
Unfortunately, Eleanor's hair ended up being a bit of a disaster. For some reason,
even though the end of Eleanor's long hair was the only bit that was being coloured,
the girl managed to dribble a long line of bright pink all the way from Eleanor's
forehead to her crown, and even managed to get it onto my mother's forearm.
This all happened when Eleanor was reading a magazine, so there was a bit of
a shock when she looked up to find a diagonal pink stripe across her head. Then
a little bit of mayhem broke out, with the only calm one being Eleanor. The
entire beauty salon were wiping, mopping and bleaching Eleanor's hair back to
the usual "pale blonde". Eleanor was still charged, and left the salon
feeling distressed and smelling of bleach.
Ann had a better time with her pedicure, emerging with a smile on her face and
sparkling silver nails.
Whilst the girls were being pampered and abused, Terry and I went around the shops in the village, admiring the range of fruit and vegetables and the variety of goods for sale everywhere. We managed to kill an hour by browsing, then ended up buying Thomas some more cups and a walking rein.
This evening we went up to Windy
Point Restaurant, and were joined by Liam and Shirley for a really good
meal at the hilltop viewpoint. Linda looked after Thomas, and we managed to
get up though Belair to the restaurant before sunset - so we saw the whole of
Adelaide in both clear sunshine and at night.
The meal was wonderful, with everyone feeling very full at the end. Terry enjoyed
himself so much that he fell asleep in the car on the way home, snoring louder
than the traffic noise.
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Today we went to Sydney for the New Year break. We started
early, having packed the previous night. As there is not enough room for 5 people
and all our luggage in the Scenic,
Ann and I took Thomas, and my parents went in a taxi. We all left at the same
time, and I asked the taxi driver which route he would take - when he said he
would take the North East road, I decided to take the Main North road - I wanted
to see which was quicker. We were amazed when we got to the airport to find
that the cars were alongside each other at a set of traffic lights.
We were a bit annoyed when we were told that we would have to check in the pushchair,
but even more annoyed when they told us that we would have to take off the bungee
cords that were securing it together - when we expressed concern that it might
come apart or pop up and no-one know how to collapse it without breaking it,
the check-in clerk wrapped sticky sticky tape around it. Those of you who know
me would know that this would not put me in a good mood.
Thomas did not want to stay still whilst we were waiting for the flight to depart
- and then we were told that it would be delayed by an hour because of a mechanical
problem. So, Terry went off to have a cooked breakfast (where they had no eggs,
no toast and no mushrooms left at 10am), and we tried to keep Thomas amused.
Once on the plane, Thomas wanted to see everything, and go everywhere. Luckily
we had a spare seat, so after we were in the air, I moved to the aisle seat,
and Thomas was put in the middle. The cabin staff gave him some toys (which
we will have to put aside until he is older), which kept him amused, and then
when the sandwiches came around, he was given his own choice of sandwich and
a drink. Unfortunately when we were landing, Thomas wanted to play with the
window blind, and when we stopped him, he cried all through the landing - which
did not help a frightened person next to us who looked really scared.
Once we checked in to the Shangri-La hotel, we could see the views from the room. Ann, Thomas and I had a suite on the 18th floor, with views over the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Ann and I had a bedroom with a spa/jacuzzi bath and a large shower, all with views over Darling Harbour, and Thomas had the lounge room - so we could put him down for a sleep and close the door. The bed was big and comfortable and the room had all the amenities that we could ever want.
After a quick rest and a change, we went to the Sydney
Tower Restaurant (Centrepoint
tower,
AMP
tower), which I had booked long in advance to ensure that we could get a
meal during this busy tourist time. We had a window seat in the rotating restaurant,
but they had not arranged for a high-chair as I had booked, so we had to leave
Thomas in his push-chair. We all had a fine meal, with Terry ordering cocktails
for everyone, and choosing the big
seafood
platter which was so big that they could not finish it all.
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New
Year's Eve is a big day in Sydney - we saw
crowds
starting to grow during our 9am walk around Circular Quay. We noticed some people
had been sleeping out on the steps so that they could get the best view of the
fireworks.
By around midday, the Opera House steps were completely filled with people waiting
for the fireworks, and there was a real party atmosphere.
We had a walk around, taking photos and being tourists, and then arranged a
boat trip around the harbour. The trip had commentary and lasted for around
an hour, and we saw most of the sights of Sydney from the boat, as most of Sydney
is clustered around the shoreline.
We were all tired after lunch from the walking and the sunshine,
so we all went back to our rooms to get a bit of a rest before the big fireworks
party. There are two fireworks shows, one at 9pm (soon after sunset) for the
children, and then it's all repeated at midnight. The bridge fireworks are only
let off during the midnight show.
We had seats on the 36th floor of the Shangri-La
with two story floor-to-ceiling windows ensuring that we got to see all the
fireworks. We were at a dinner with 6 courses and champagne, in the Altitude
restaurant. Thomas had a baby-sitter look after him, and she also got great
views of the fireworks from our room (Thomas slept through all the fireworks).
Unfortunately for me and my mother, 5 out of 6 of the courses were seafood (only
the chocolate mousse did not have any fish in it). The starter of 4 oysters
upset my mother terribly (she tasted the most potent one and was immediately
put off) - I decided to try my first oyster, which I did not really like. The
next course (14 inch white dinner plate, the food was a 2 inch ring in the middle)
was lobster tail, which I don't mind too much, but my mother did not want any.
Terry was in his element as he loves fish, and Ann was eating up her meal as
she does not often get fish because of my aversion to the mere smell of it.
The next course was scallops (which I had never tried before, but did not really
dislike), and by this time my mother was complaining that she was hungry. We
were all distracted by the 9pm
fireworks,
which were very spectacular - better than I had seen anywhere else. It was
a great viewpoint to be looking down on the fireworks from our viewpoint, and
down on the boats in the harbour that were all lit up with little white lights
on all their rigging. There were tall sailing ships and sleek cruisers, all
going up and down the harbour in a little line.
The next two courses of the meal came, and as it was a fillet of cod (the size
of two fish fingers), my mother and I asked for something else. We were given
the vegetarian option of roasted garlic in a pasta vol-a-vent with roasted vegetables.
We were all a little hungry.
We knew that the midnight fireworks were coming close, as all the traffic over
the bridge stopped and the boats were lining themselves up to have a view of
the bridge and Opera House.
When the fireworks started, the band were in the middle of a song, so we missed out on a count-down and the 1-minute silence for the tsunami victims. I started recording the fireworks on my video camera, and managed to get all 17 minutes of all 4 firework displays - the one east of the bridge (behind the Opera House), the bridge itself, and the two to the west of the bridge, including a small one further inland. It was a stunning display, and great to see it all from the comfort of a seat in a restaurant with free-flowing champagne and in the warm. We missed out on the noise and the smell of fireworks, which my [hungry] mother appreciated.
The baby sitter was gushing with excitement when we went back to our room just before 1am. She had watched the fireworks on the TV and through the panoramic window in our suite, and she had said that she always works during the New Year and so has missed out on the fireworks. She told me that for the 2000 fireworks, she had paid $500 for a ticket to stand in the docks to watch the fireworks, and then could hardly see a thing - and this year she was getting paid to look after a sleeping baby and watch the fireworks from an uninterrupted viewpoint.
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