December 25: A Merry “Married” Christmas in Oz

Our first Christmas as a married couple. We still couldn’t believe that we were waking up to Christmas in Australia! Australia had been a life-long dream for both of us, especially Sarah. I was so happy that she was able to have such a wonderful Christmas gift. One that she and I will always remember.

I woke up a little early and filled Sarah’s stocking. She woke up a short while later and sent me to the shower, so she could do the same for me! It was a lot of fun to rummage through the stockings and find all of the fun little gifts we had gotten for one another. Of course Sarah did the best job. All of her sneaking around in the little gift shops really paid off for me! I got a leather crocodile bookmark, some kangaroo jerky, authentic Australian coffee, Cadbury chocolate, and other nice things. We both agreed that it doesn’t matter how old you get, you can always have fun with Christmas stockings!

By the time we finally got ourselves up and going, it was nearing lunch time. From talking to the locals who worked at the hotel, we discovered that most Australians spend Christmas Day by going out to a nice Christmas lunch. We, of course, opted to do the same. Unsure of where to go, we thought our chances would be pretty good if we went back to Darling Harbor where we had been the night before. It had been beautiful at night and upon arriving there today, we found that it was still very pleasant during the day. There was even a big Christmas tree with kangaroos outlined with flashing flights to make it look like the kangaroos were jumping their way up the tree!

Our lunch search was becoming very disheartening. Everywhere we looked they were serving their “special Christmas lunch” and the average price was about $150 per person. Finally, we found one nice little restaurant that was still serving their regular menu. It was right along side the water and was very enjoyable. Sarah opted for a pineapple, Canadian bacon pizza and I went for the fish and chips. The food was pretty good and the portions were great. All the while we couldn’t get over the fact that we were having Christmas lunch on a warm summer day while overlooking Darling Harbor in Sydney, Australia! It was still just all so surreal to us.

After a satisfying lunch we made the short walk to the other side of the harbor to go to the Sydney Aquarium. It was really fascinating, but we both agreed that one aquarium is not much different from another. Perhaps the most peculiar creature of all that we had seen, was about two feet tall, pounded on the glass with ferocity, and sported a mullet. He was, without a doubt, the most rotten little kid I had ever seen in my life! It didn’t take long for us to discover that this slightly different take on the American white-trash mullet was very indicative of the very same characteristics you would find yourself stereotypically expecting from someone with the hairdo in the U.S. This kid was the first of many mullet-eers that we had seen. He was also the worst. Somewhere between trying to break every glass aquarium with his little fist and throwing his Coke bottle into the manatee feeding tanks, his dad finally appeared and claimed him. It was immediately apparent where Aussie Joe Dirt, Jr. inherited his wonderful attributes. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get any pictures of the little beast, but I did get a few of the creatures that were actually intended to be part of the tour. Walking in the underwater tunnels below the sharks was especially remarkable.

Tired and with aching feet from all the walking we had been doing that day, we left the aquarium and directed ourselves to Hyde Park which is directly in front of our hotel. It is a very nice park and is a great place to spend a summer afternoon. There were many people scattered about the park who were napping in the cool grass under the shade of giant old trees. It seemed like a good idea to us, so we did the same. It felt so nice to just lay around in the peace of the park on a warm summer day. After a little break from being on our feet, we walked about and snapped a few pictures around the park. At this point we were both getting the hang of our new camera and were looking forward to using it as much as possible.

After that, we thought it would be a good idea to take a short break at our hotel and make use of our rooftop pool. We lounged around up there for awhile and enjoyed soaking up a little sun. The pool water was a little cold for our tastes.

Before long, dinner time was creeping up on us yet again. We set off to our room to get cleaned and dressed up. Then, we were back to punishing our poor feet and we were traipsing around town again. This time we thought we would try to find something to eat in another famous area of town called “The Rocks”. It was supposed to be located very near Circular Quay where we had been a couple of days prior. As we walked past the quay, we noticed a ferry getting ready to depart. We decided to jump on it and take a little harbor cruise! The sun was just behind the horizon at this point and it was very beautiful, though a little cool. We sailed right along side the Opera House and snapped a few close-up pictures. The view of the city and some of the landscape from the water was spectacular. After about 45 minutes we were at Mannly Beach and promptly turned around to go back. By now we were absolutely starving!

We got off of the ferry and began walking again. We saw a comical scene in which two drunk old men were trying to pick a fight with a young cabbie who was standing outside of his car. Getting a little scared, the cabbie got in his car and floored his car forward just about 15 feet to get away from the guys. The drunks were persistent for a fight and walked back up to him. This time the cabbie squirted a water bottle in their faces and drove away, tires squealing. I kind of felt bad for the cabbie. But it appeared that he had got his revenge!

At this point it was very late and we were very hungry. We still weren’t entirely sure where “The Rocks” was and we weren’t even sure if they would have any eateries open since it was Christmas night and they had all been open for their lunch specials earlier. The more we walked, the more it became apparent that it was going to be difficult to find a restaurant open. Eventually we found ourselves in Chinatown and it was bustling with people! We realized that was one area of town where Christmas might not hold as much meaning to the establishment owners, so they were open for business. Since we were starving now, we weren’t feeling the least bit picky as to where we would eat. Our only exemption was McDonalds. They were everywhere and, since we’ve got them in Japan, we couldn’t stand the thought of it. Eventually we stumbled across a Subway...as in Subway sandwiches. You might think that this would really be settling for us. But after being in Japan for six months, it actually sounded pretty darn good. By the time we had our foot-long sandwiches in front of us, it was beginning to seem like the best idea ever! It sounds funny, but it was a very appetizing Christmas dinner!

Full and content, we walked around Chinatown a little longer. We were half-heartedly looking for a pub or somewhere to sit outside and have a drink or two. Never finding anything that seemed fitting to our mood, we thought we would just grab a bottle of wine from a bottle shop (Australian for liquor store) and take it back to the hotel. To our disappointment, they were all closed for the holiday. At this point, we were so tired we didn’t really care. We went back to the hotel and called it a night. Not bad for our first Christmas as a married couple!