Our first Aussie Christmas!

We have had a really different but special Christmas day today!

The weather was warm as we have come to expect, but not as hot as the "tumble-dryer" day we had on Christmas eve! The kids were up at the very respectable time of 7am and were so excited that Santa had filled their stockings. Rhiannon woke before Gareth (they share a room) and she went through Gareths stocking and put some of his goodies in his arms as he slept!











We had the usual mad morning with mountains of wrapping paper and lots of fab presents.

Thank you for everyone back in the UK and Ireland for making a special effort in sending exciting parcels in time for Christmas; we're on first name terms with the delivery man!

After a few webcam and phone chats we decided to test some of our new Christmas presents - off we went down to the pool, all five of us dressed in our wetsuits, dragging Gareth's new dinghy behind us. We spent hours splashing and messing around the water, ate lunch wrapped in towels and wetsuits and then straight back into the pool for the rest of the day (hardly traditional !).

For all those who are dying to know what we ate for Christmas lunch; we broke with Aussie rules by sticking to a fairly traditional roast lunch, but then had a mountain of fresh prawns for tea - Rhiannon refused to eat them but has become a dab-hand at peeling them for the rest of us. Gareth, on the other hand, has his mouth open as soon as you have them peeled and you just can't keep up with his appetite.

It was a noisy day as Sian got to grips with the hundreds of functions on her new electronic keyboard and Rhiannon just let rip with her new drum set...!


Despite feeling a natural nostalgia for family and home, we can honestly say that this was a fantastic Christmas, and hopefully the beginning of new traditions for us here.

Here's raising a glass to you all, as the sun sets on our Christmas and rises on yours. Cheers!