It's probably a bit late to be writing about the festive season (or a bit early for 2007) but I do have something to write & I guess it's better late than never!
Despite my not being 100%, Lucy & I managed to have a decent time, although it was definitely VERY different from the UK version!
For a start the weather was much warmer (although we did have a fair amount of drizzle & even some fog), and in general I got the feeling that Christmas just wasn't celebrated as such a huge event. Crude examples would be the garbage collection men out on Xmas Day and the lack of festive TV schedules, but the most disappointing thing was the lack of decorations anywhere. Apart from the occasional tree in a shopping Mall there was nothing...the average high street in England would have more lights & trees than the centre of Sydney.
I bowed to pressure from Lucy, and my sister Kirsty, and got a tree for the house. However, by the time I got to the store the choice was a little limited - a little pink number, a care-worn natural version or a ridiculously expensive tree from the department store. Eventually, I found a decent looking one, which pretty much filled our criteria for $125 and quickly got it home. It was only when I unpacked it that I realized I had just purchased a 7ft tall tree! Just as well we have tall ceilings here....although it still looked bare with the few decorations we added.
On Xmas Eve, having overheard several people at work talking about going to see "the Xmas lights in Avalon", Lucy & I set out to take a look to get into the festive season ourselves.
We got to Avalon High St. (the obvious place?) and not decoration was to be seen, apart from the neon purple sign in the local Indian restaurant, or the piece of tinsel in the pizza shop window!
Feeling a little downbeat we decided to have a cruise around to see if we could find anything & eventually came upon 'the lights'. Now we hadn't expected something on the scale of Blackpool illuminations, or Oxford St, but what we found was a street of 8-10 houses with a few lights and that was it. One or two of the houses looked impressive, and at least they'd made some sort of effort, but quite why people where making the effort to go and see them I'm really not sure (unbelievably Lucy & I were not the only people taking a look - whole families had gone out for the craic!).
Xmas Day itself was spent with VanEsy's family, and what a lovely day it was. It was great to have kids running around (that makes Xmas really) and to have lots of people to celebrate with. Lucy & I were made to feel really welcome and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Did make me think that perhaps I'd missed out a little on not having a big family around for Xmas when growing up, but I guess that can't be helped....and I'm not sure how well we'd have lasted the day given my sister insisted on waking at 5am (or earlier) until she was 18!
It was a little surreal having Xmas lunch (which was fantastic & certainly different from home - although no Yorkshire Pudding!) outside, with the sun shining, and kids running around whilst their Grandfather fed meat to Kookaburra's! And I managed to avoid chipping my teeth on the six-pences placed into the Xmas pud.
Must remember to send that Thankyou card.
As it turns out New Year was a somewhat more celebrated event than Christmas. Lucy & I had left it a little too late to book into a hotel (unless we wanted to fork out $2,000+) and the effort required to get into the City seemed a little too much so we decided to stay in Manly.
We popped into a neighbour's party on the way to Manly Cove & then treat ourselves to a little picnic....bottle of Cloudy Bay & some dessert wine....and watched the fireworks put on by the local council (together with all those displays we could see in the distance). It was actually a very relaxing evening, as we sat on the beach, chatted, ate, drank, watched some fireworks and generally enjoyed ourselves.
We were back home by midnight (the Manly display was on a 9pm) and we watched the Harbour Bridge display on TV....looked spectacular, although not sure why the TV producer kept cutting to drunken members of the Neighbours cast rather than focusing on the fireworks.
For this year, we're planning on getting in early and arranging tickets to watch the display from Taronga zoo....offers great views and removes a lot of the hassle of getting into the City.
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