A West Coast Christmas

Christmas was something that the girls particularly were really unsure about as part of this trip away. We have our traditions at Christmas in Melbourne and it was going to be strange to not have all our decorations and our trips into the city and other Christmas events we were used to as well as not being able to see any extended family. We decided that for some of this we would take the positive attitude and consider all the things we could do differently because we were away from our regular things. For example, the girls were really excited that the elves brought them Harry Potter stockings, something they wouldn't have had and we turned our Christmas somewhat Harry Potter themed when I found bon bons for Christmas day and figured why not, we have been listening to the audio books and it's only us to worry about. As it turned out the crackers were great as instead of junk toys they contained little baubles in the house colours which were the perfect size for our little tree.

Once we hit Perth again, our focus shifted to Christmas rather than sightseeing specifically. While the girls enjoyed the games room or the pool, I managed to snaffle a couple of opportunities to hit the shops alone to get what I needed. We had been collecting a few items along the way that had been stashed away but the whole travelling thing really makes the logistics of Christmas extremely challenging as there is only so many places to hide things. On one hand I was super organised with presents for everyone on the east coast, they had been sent over weeks ago, but I wasn't rapt in having to do most of the shopping for our girls at the last minute.

We managed to sneak in a few Christmas events too. When we arrived in Perth, Dave had to go into town to have a medical for his new job (still in the pipeline) so we caught a train in to meet him and had a wander around Perth City. We didn't get to do the Myer Windows or the gingerbread village or the displays at Crown. But we did get some other similar windows, a trail of light sculptures, a huge food market with the most amazing gluten free doughnuts, an old carousel ride, Christmas characters for photos, and a walk down a laneway that felt like it was from Old England. Our feet were tired but we had a wonderful time.

We also arranged to attend a local carols by candlelight so that wasn't missed and we enjoyed a free sausage sizzle, and a visit from a very generous Santa.

The other event we got to which does not happen in Melbourne was Perth's Christmas Festival at the showgrounds. There were activities to do like crafts and games, sideshow games, market stalls, food stands and rides. We rode dodgem cars, saw some native animals and birds, ate fairy floss and watched what would have to be the worst Avengers stage show I could have imagined. It was dreadful but hilarious at the same time. After finding ourselves some dinner we settled on the main arena to await the carols and fireworks. The carols were actually really good and included the nativity story told through rewording an eclectic mix of music from Journey, Frozen, High School Musical, Bon Jovi, and loads more. It was absolutely brilliant and the girls loved the fireworks display at the end.

We also had an afternoon where we headed over to check out some of Perth's northern beaches, while also paying a quick visit to Ikea. Jezy loved the dog beach we found and kept us entertained as she escorted every person past the place we were set up as they walked by.

By Christmas Eve we had the van decorated as best we could with some rope light and some visits to local op shops (keeping in mind that we usually go all out with our Christmas lights at home, it felt a bit lacking). The girls continued to enjoy the daily antics of our elves during which we found that Olaf spent several days hanging out with Charli's barbie Skipper. This turned into a running joke that Olaf was actually in love with Skipper, so when Christmas Eve came and they were allowed to touch the elves (because Santa can pick them up on his way through) they spent much of their day recording a movie about Olaf and Skipper getting married and going on a honeymoon on a cruise. Interestingly Skipper disappeared on Christmas Day with Rainbow and Olaf and turned up several days later, so we guess she had a nice honeymoon with her new husband.

One of our Christmas traditions at home on Christmas Eve is to sit and watch the Carols by Candlelight at the Myer Music Bowl on TV while wrapping presents. In my mind I was hopeful we could watch the carols in real time which would bring the time forward for us and allow the girls to watch the whole thing. Unfortunately 7plus wouldn't let us do this so instead we watched the rerun from the Sydney carols the previous night and then I continued my tradition of sitting up to watch the end no matter how tired I was. I should point out that we were quite tired by this point as the wind we had been experiencing all around the coast did not leave us alone. We discovered that it is very common at the bottom of the hills to get huge gusty winds particularly at night so I was kept awake alot listening to the flapping of our awning, praying that it wouldn't break. The girls watched their bit, laid out a colour changing candle runway so Santa knew where to park, and were allowed to open one present - the one they had bought for each other, another tradition that has developed over the past few years. They said goodbye to Rainbow and Olaf and it was off to bed.

Christmas Day dawned and we were in for a hot day. Luckily, having stayed in the park previously, we had earmarked our site specifically because it got pretty good shade for most of the day which reduced some of the heat. Due to our previous few days experience with the heat and watching the shade move, we made the decision to have a good breakfast (ham and eggs on the bbq - always) and have our main Christmas meal at about 4pm, with a bit of snacking in the middle. First order of business though was, of course, presents!! Santa managed to cater to everyone's needs and wants pretty well. We had breakfast and then wandered down to the pool for a swim and to try out the new boogie boards Santa had brought. On the way to the pool we walked past a lady and her daughter who were camped and had lots of dogs with them, most were tiny puppies, chihuahuas and chihuahua x pinschers, they were so cute! Anyway we had our swim, and headed back to the van to do some preparation for dinner. We played Harry Potter trivial pursuit (another Santa gift) and used the hose as an air conditioner.

As we got closer to our meal we began to set up the table and I began to consider the ladies we met that morning with the puppies as they had very little with them and had indicated that they were homeless. Feeling guilty that they may not have a Christmas meal and knowing that we had a substantial amount of food to eat, I offered for them to join us. It turned into a lovely meal and all the puppies joined us too so having them there created a really good distraction for the girls who may have otherwise got quite upset about being without family. From that point on the girls were in love with the puppies and went to visit them each day, sometimes bringing some back for a play on our site. Elly loved one of the chihuahuas which she named cuddles and was pleased to learn that they shared a birthday. Charli however preferred one of the x breeds which she named star, although she also kept pinching one for me to cuddle who we had named Sir Lix-a-lot as he was a licker. They were gorgeous puppies and the girls tried on many occasions to convince us to keep one but then one day we went out and when we returned they were gone, apparently they had all been kicked out of the park (the dogs had been extremely noisy), the girls were devastated but I guess it took the temptation away.

And just like that, Christmas was over. We ended up having a great Christmas, I was glad it was over in some ways as it meant I could stop trying to hide things everywhere, massive pressure removed. From here we began looking further forward to what 2021 would bring for us. Dave was still lining up the job he had been offered down south but was becoming anxious as the paperwork did not seem to be progressing far enough and our bank balance was getting very low so work was important. Originally we had thought we would stop for a few months in Geraldton while Dave did some work but we had all started to feel that we needed a break from travelling and living in a confined space as well as needing some routine. After much discussion as a family, we decided that we would look at stopping for the year, work, see how covid pans out and rent a house. We all felt that we would still like to stop in Geraldton, partly because the children had already made some friends there and I was keen for the opportunity to live near the beach. So we began to lay our plans to settle in Geraldton for the year and see what happens from there.