Christmas in Brisbane, Australia.

A few years ago I enjoyed Christmas in the tropical state of Queensland, specifically in the city of Brisbane, where my good friends Andrew and James live, the parents of the three beauties of which I am their mommy number one, Odi, Otto and Red. I already told you about them in my post about Brisbane. One of my favorite activities when I’m there is taking them for a walk. Their favorite place is Nudgee Beach surrounded by mangroves and with a tide that leaves us room to run around five in the afternoon.

Odi is the fisherdog of the three, Otto and Red run in the water, sometimes we go a little deeper for them to swim. There we can witness a beautiful phenomenon of nature, when a huge group of blue crabs move in droves before burying themselves in the sand. It’s wonderful, although we have to keep the three curucú away, because they think it is funny  and they scare them away. 

One rainy day we are going for a walk around the center of Brisbane, there is a very cool riverside promenade, which has front row views of the famous Story Bridge

Going back to Christmas, I lose track, one afternoon Andrew and I go to the Brisbane Museum, which is inside City Hall in King George Square and we stay to see the Christmas light show that they exhibit on the same building, these are moving images that tell a story, I love it, the protagonists belong to the flora and fauna of the country.

As we leave, we are about to cross the traffic light when, suddenly, we witness a mega lightning strike over the Town Hall tower clock. It’s a shame  I don’t have my camera handy because it would have been a National Geographic photo. In a few seconds the skies open and all the water from its tanks falls. The car is close, but we arrive totally and completely soaked, I have to laugh. I never had such a downpour fallen on me in my whole life, so all there is to say is:  welcome to Queensland!

The Christmas decorations of the Saabi café are beautiful, the guys have good taste. I miss having breakfast here, greeting the acquaintances I have made over the years, always welcoming me with smiles and love. 

We celebrate Christmas Day at home, with part of the boys’ family, we decorate the table very nicely, with its crackers included, something very typical in many Anglo-Saxon countries. It is a decorated Christmas tube, and it opens as follows, with the right hand you take one of the sides of the tube of the person you have on the left, and with your left hand you take one of the sides of the tube of the person to your right, we end up with our arms crossed, when someone says, pull! We all pull at the same time, inside there´ss usually a paper crown, which we all wear, and the one who pulls the whole tube reads the Christmas message that is inside with a little gift. 

We exchange gifts and look what the Australian Santa Claus brought me, vegemite, that black paste similar to the English marmite that does not exist in other parts of the world, and that you either love (like me) or hate, it is usually served on toast with avocado or butter, you only have to spread a little bit, it isn’t like nutella.  The tim tams those Australian cookies you have with tea and that I showed you in an instagram video how to eat them.OK I’ll refresh it, bite the sides to turn it into a kind of straw, put the cookie in the tea, sip it and that makes the cookie soft and boom, ideal to eat it. And finally the minties, mint candies that you can always find in the Aussie pockets. 

On December 26, St. Stephen’s Day, or Boxing Day, in the Anglo-Saxon countries, name that comes from the old practice of giving boxes of money in the winter holiday season to all those who had given a good service throughout the year. We celebrate it at Andrew’s sister’s house, where the whole family gathers. They have a big house and there they set up a giant table where there is no shortage of crackers. It was great to see them all again, and all that in the tropical heat. When you come from the Northern Hemisphere it is strange to spend a Christmas in hot places, although I must say that I have spent so many in the Southern Hemisphere or tropical places such as Montevideo, Johannesburg, Barbados, Antigua, Miami or New Zealand among others, that it doesn’t really seem strange to me anymore.

The next day we go for a walk in the New Farm park with all the dogs of the family, we have a drink, enjoy the warmth, the relaxation, without haste, simply enjoying “being” or as they call it now, slow travel.

In that park there is an old power station, the Brisbane PowerHouse converted into a place of events, exhibitions, theater, which supports many artists, and there we go to see Katie Noonah perform that night, an Australian singer that I didn’t know then and fascinated me.

For New Year’s Eve James’ sister who lives in Melbourne visited, we go for a walk on Nudgee Beach, they cook (I set the table, cooking is not my thing) we enjoy a vegan dinner at home and on TV what are perhaps the most famous fireworks on the planet, those of Sydney, which I already had the opportunity to cross off my bucket list.

And the book I read those Christmas was a classic of American literature “Little Women” (1868) by Louisa May Alcott. Little remains to be said about this gem that, even though you might have seen the film, I recommend you read the story of the four March sisters at this time. 

Happy Holidays