Christmas - Manuell style

Still back-dating these. I'm being rather slow.

It's always weird having Christmas away from home. It's the second time I've done it. The last time was in Canada, where I was treated to the first green Christmas in 60 years. I realise now, this year was only the 3rd time in about 19 years that I haven't spent some of the day with my childhood friend, Liz. Wow. This was my first summer Christmas. And man, that is just a tad weird. This year, I was taken in by Romany, and her wonderful family.

On Christmas Eve, after I finished work, we caught the train 4 hours out to Bairnsdale in South Gippsland, where her Mam collected us and drove us to Paynesville to catch the ferry to Raymond Island. Once across I got my first real glimpse of what it's like to live in true bush. There's no space for a straight road, so it just winds around the trees randomly. Unfortunately the torrential rain started and didn't stop til the next day, so we didn't get to wander around. We spent the evening having a beautiful dinner with some of the family. Next morning, after brunch at Rom's uncles house and after laughing at the fact that the guy driving the ferry was dressed as Santa, we headed back into Melbourne. Rom with a goldfish in a bowl on her knee. For 3.5 hours...

Finally, back in Melbourne, on a grey day that could only be reminiscent of home, we joined Rom's sister for a huge Christmas dinner with a big bunch of family and friends. The food was plentiful and beautiful, and the company good. The day ended with a definite first for me... going to the cinema! Who knew the cinema was even open on Christmas Day?

All in all I had a great time. Huge thanks to the Manuell's for their hospitality and kindness. It is very much appreciated :)

Summertime :)

I need to backdate this one. I am mightily behind... life got crazy for a while there. Candles being burned at both ends and everything. I may well have pickled my liver, but it's all been good fun. Weirdly, I have been so busy that I can't think of anything much to write...

After I got back from the Great Ocean Road, I had a couple of weeks off while I was looking for another job. I got lucky fairly quickly, and landed a 3 month contract which not only takes me right to the end of my visa, but also gave me some extra time off beforehand, time which I used wisely by spending lots of time with friends and maybe not so wisely by spending lots of that time in various pubs with those friends. The weather finally heated up, and summer arrived. Well, as much summer as Melbourne can muster - consistency is definitely not it's strong point.

So (after peeking in the old diary to refresh my ailing memory), in the 6 weeks between finishing work and Christmas I:

• Managed to almost entirely miss a rather soggy Latin Festival in Fitzroy - the missing of the festival was definitely booze related, but man, it rained spectacularly that weekend.
• Got a free ride on the 'scenic railway' (note: NOT 'rollercoaster') in Luna Park at St Kilda at 8am on a Friday morning (after a rather wine drenched evening) courtesy of Cathy winning a radio competition. Random as hell and freezing cold, but pretty cool nonetheless (especially the free food).
• Checked out the Victoria Night Market... also cool, with good food. But crazy, crazy busy.
• Went to Neighbours Night at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow in St Kilda with a couple of British friends. As ever, Dr Karl Kennedy was there, as was his band (which actually isn't that bad). Unfortunately, my camera was dead and the pub was full of rather young, drunken backpackers. The evening soon degraded into something akin to an 18-30s holiday night... we snuck out the door while the band were playing before they spotted that we were old and pretty sober.
• Saw Jarvis Cocker at the Forum. Most definitely COOL. The Forum is also a rather good venue. Hopefully I'll get to go back there again before I leave.
• Joined in the Walk Against Warming, which was a march down Swanston St in the city toward Princes Bridge where we were arranged into letters to spell 'Safe Climate Do It' from the air. We were in the 'I' of climate and it really did look rather cool from the photos they took from the blimp.
• Saw a play in the Arts Centre - set in an 1980s roller rink. Talk about nostalgia. Unfortunately this was later followed by a rather epic night where I managed to trip in a nightclub and lose a shoe! It literally disappeared. Later, when I was walking down the street someone knocked the other shoe out of my hand, and that also disappeared. Seriously... how do you lose 2 shoes in one night in separate incidents?!!
• Went up to the Rialto viewing platform again. It's closing and tickets are cheap. It was a beautiful night, and it's rather good to see the city from above again now that I know where everything is.
• Went to the rooftop cinema and watched a movie (Sixteen Candles) under the stars. Shame they couldn't get the punjabi subtitles to turn off... evidently the cinema operators don't know how to work a DVD player.
• And, of course, various parties. It being the season for it and all.

It's been a bit epic. Especially since I started work again in the middle of it all! But it's all good :)