A Merry Melbourne Christmas - Melbourne Part 1

At the beginning of this road trip Sandy presented me with a gift… a pack of sour gummy worms.  I liked this girl before.  I liked her a lot, but it was this single event that moved her from the “Like” category into the “Keeper” category.  Sour gummy worms – check.  iPod – check.   And thus began our Melbourne adventure.  Prior to departing Sandy warned me that it was not a particularly pretty drive.  Clearly she’s never driven from Las Vegas to Reno, because the drive from Canberra to Melbourne was beautiful!

Gummy worms on the dash and we're ready to roll.

"I got worms" … "Uhh, excuse me?" … "I got worms"  If you
can name that movie you're my new best friend.

Around ACT (Australian Capitol Territory) there are signs
like this along with "Drink drive die in a ditch" among others.
I think they're hilarious.  Australians are so funny!

A must see attraction along the way.
Dog on a lunch box.

This is the "not pretty" that exists between Canberra and Melbourne.

The second we arrived in Melbourne I fell in love!  The city is full of art and beautiful architecture.   I’ve never seen a city like this before.  There is so much to see and look at it’s almost overwhelming.  I wanted to take pictures of everything!  Well, I did take pictures of everything.

Welcome to Melbounre!

How cool is that rectangular-oval decoration drive through thing?

The character of Melbourne.

Sandy’s parents live about 30 minutes south of the city in a beautiful suburb called Sandringham.  It’s a lovely area right on the beach.  When we arrived we got settled in and prepared for the Potter Family Christmas the following day.  (They celebrate on Christmas Eve with their big family then have Christmas with their immediate family on Christmas day).  This was a very interesting Christmas for me.  Before dinner each person gets a cracker.  When they talked about this I immediately thought a cracker that you eat.  Maybe it was a special Christmas cracker or something.  Not so.  It is a tubular thing that you pull with another person and it “cracks” open to reveal a joke, a Christmas hat, and a trinket.  We all put on our Christmas “hats” (they were more like paper crowns) and began eating Christmas dinner.  I was told this is a British tradition that many people in Australia practice.  In fact, later that day we went out and I saw other people wearing Christmas hats just like the one I got in my cracker.  Another tradition was Christmas pudding.  I was very excited about this.  I’m a big fan of pudding… chocolate pudding, vanilla pudding, chocolate and vanilla swirl, butterscotch pudding… all delicious.  Christmas pudding… not delicious.  I choked down a couple bites and then started looking for a way to discretely dump the rest.  I turned to Sandy and very quietly expressed my dislike for Christmas pudding to which she replied “No one likes Christmas pudding, but it’s a tradition so we eat it.”  Everyone’s bowl was empty except mine.  I assumed everyone loved it.   Needless to say, I did not feel bad about tossing my remainders.

Kite boarders out on the water.

The view of Melbourne from near Rick and Audrey's house.

Loquat tarts.  We used the pie filling we made in Canberra.

Bongo approved.

Rick and Audrey cooking the turkey.

Some bubbles with dinner.
Will cutting the ham.

I'm trying my best to be annoying.  Doesn't even phase Will
anymore.  He goes along with it.

Some people are born with a brother.  Others are
lucky enough to get to pick their own. 

Home made gingerbread cookies.

Our spread of Christmas desserts… loquat tarts, gingerbread
cookies, Chrissy pudding (yuck!), mince pies and chocolates.

Crackers crackin a cracker.  Bahaha I'm a comedian!

Enjoying dinner with our Christmas hats.

The following day we celebrated Christmas with Sandy’s parents and sister.  It’s summer in Australia, which is really bizarre because Christmas is a winter holiday for all of us in the northern hemisphere.  This is the first time I’ve ever thought about Christmas happening during the summer for some people.  After our celebration we headed off to the zoo.  Along the way we passed the beach where many, many families were out having picnics in bikinis and boardies with Santa hats and Christmas hats.  So weird.  I assumed the zoo would be empty seeing as it was Christmas and all.  Yeah, no.  Everyone in Melbourne had the same idea as us.  Celebrate Christmas and then head to the zoo. 

Christmas on the beach.

Welcome to the zoo!

I loved this little guy.

Pucker up! Smoooch!

Bongo hanging with the homies.

Yet another example of Australians being hilarious!

"Elephant Village - Welcome Home Tawny"

We had to wait a while to see these guys.  Everyone was very
patient and willing to wait for them to come out so I could
see the 3 week old baby.  It was an awesome Christmas bonus.
Though I wish these elephants were actually in the wild, it
does make me very happy to be able to see them.

So sweet.  Hey mom, don't forget next Christmas I'd like
two elephants… one elephant for me and the second
 elephant for my elephant.  Thanks!

While at Sandy’s parents house I made two friends which I named Willard and Wendel.  Willard is a fat bird and Wendel is a skinny bird.  They both come to the back door and chirp as though they’re dogs begging for food.  Of course, I responded by getting some bread and feeding them thus ensuring the cycle of begging continues. 

There's Willard begging at the back door.

Rick feeding the wild pet bird.

Me and my pal, Willard.

This is Wendel.  He's the skinny one, but you
can't really tell in this picture.

And that, was my Christmas in Melbourne.  It was absolutely wonderful and I am so thankful to Rick and Audrey for inviting me into their home for the holidays.  This Christmas was perfect!