Life's a Beach!

So today I ventured off to the famous Bondi Beach. It was quite a trek to get there, and I had to take a bus to the train, then another train, then another bus to the beach. I was a bit nervous at first, because I had never taken a train here before, but it turned out to be surprisingly easy. I made it there and back without a hitch, and made all my connections without a single problem. I think that is a pretty good feat for me. Maybe the Moreeeny curse only applies within the borders of the homeland?? Well whatever it is, I was very glad to have a seamless ride to the beach and back. However I have learned something that does carry over from Canada, and that is my terrible transit narcolepsy. As many of you know I routinely went to sleep on the metro buses in Halifax when traveling to and from work, and even managed to fall asleep on the ferry in the 7 minutes it takes to go across the harbour. Anyhow I found myself falling asleep on the ferry coming back from Circular Quay the day I went there, but that isn't so bad, because there is only one stop so there was no worry of missing your stop. Today I found myself falling asleep on the train which could be risky business, seeing as I had to watch out for my stop. Lord knows where I would end up if I had fallen asleep. I really do enjoy a city with a decent transit system tho. It sure makes it easier to get around. I just wish it wasn't so damn expensive. I spent almost $20 on transit today. Although I did go a fair distance, it is still a lot.

Peter and Charli had warned me about Bondi, and that it is usually packed full of old people in bathing suits too small for them, with handbag-esque skin, and droopy bits. Now although I did see plenty of sights, thats for sure, I was happy I went. Today was a perfect day for chillin at the beach. I swam in the clear blue water, jumped in the waves of the surf, and lounged in the sand of one of the most famous beaches in the world. Although there was tons and tons of people there it seemed as though the beach was sooo large that it wasn't too packed. People weren't laying on top of each other and still had a reasonable amount of space to themselves. The water was beautiful. Just crisp and clear, and when you looked out it was nice and blue. I went in and it seemed cold at first, but it was just really cool. It was very refreshing to swim in the cool water and bob in the waves. Then I spent some time lounging and drying off. After that I walked the Bondi strip along the beach. Lots of restaurants, cafes, shops etc. I bought a really neat ring there, and it had shells embeded into the ring. After all that I headed home on the same two buses and two trains that took me there. When I got off the bus I grabbed a few beer from the liquor store before I walked home. I walked through the park drinking a beer in the sunshine happy as a pig in shit. This really is the life I thought, as a strolled home. When I got home it was time for a quick shower, then Christmas dinner at the Wenham house.

Proof that I was at Bondi ;)

So.........my first Christmas dinner in Australia. Well it seems as though this family doesn't particularly enjoy the holiday so I am not sure that we will be celebrating in any other way then we did tonight. It kind of makes me sad, but then again it will only be this one Christmas, then my other ones I can spend in different ways. So Gran and Gramp came over as well as Aunti Aureen. Auntie Aureen is a teacher. She teaches young children english as a second language. She is very much what you would think of when you think of a typical schoolmarm. She is very proper, and is concerned about the learny bits. I had to bite my tounge a few times when she was talking about how important it was for children to recite their times tables and other things. However she is a really nice lady. So we all gathered around for dinner, and despite there being no meat it was a pretty good meal. The menu consisted of nutaline loaf, mushroom and carrot loaf, roasted potatoes and squash (which they insist on calling pumpkin, and I keep trying to tell them that it is not a damn pumpkin), mixed salad, green beans, vegetarian cold cut subsitute, and gravy. It was all very good, and to top it off for dessert we had a wonderful black forest cake made by Charli, and a Brandy fruitcake. I gotta say that I was a bit skeptical about the veggie Christmas dinner (so much so that I stopped at Hungry Jacks (Burger King) at Bondi to grab a whopper before heading home) but in the end it was a very nice meal. I may have prefered a little tofurkey, but I understand that no one wants to cook that much when it is 30 degrees out. After supper we sat and chatted and the kids played with their toys. Then we watched the Carols in the Domain. This is an even that takes place every year, and in the centre of Sydney people gather and they put on a big Christmas concert. We just watched the televised version at home, but the picture on here is of the almost 1 million people that turn up in Sydney for this event. All I gotta say is.....them bitches are crazy! The big yellow light on the right hand side is the stage, and all the lights around it are people!! And don't you worry, the crowd extends far beyond what is in the picture when they do a wider pan. It was nuts how many people are there. I was very happy to watch it at home in the comfort of the living room.

Well that is all for today. I am unsure what I am going to get up to tomorrow. I will keep you posted, and that folks is how the cookie crumbles, good night!