Christmas Down Under

I know that I'm a week early but I'm leaving Australia on Friday to go to New Zealand for three weeks so it's now or never.  This will be my second southern hemisphere Christmas and I still just find them incredibly weird.  It's not supposed to be sunny and warm/hot on Christmas.  It's supposed to be cold and dark and snowy.

Gingerbread Luna Park

Last year for Christmas, Ross and I had ice cream on the beach at Oriental Parade in Wellington.  It had been a pretty cold and rainy summer in Wellington but we lucked out with a warm (~70) and sunny Christmas Eve and Christmas.  We went over to Ross's advisor's house and had Christmas lunch with him and his family and I have vague recollections of getting sunburnt sitting in the backyard after lunch.  

Along the Yarra River in Melbourne

This year Ross is in Antarctica so I'm meeting my college roommate and one of her friends in Wellington for Christmas.  They will have already been traveling around the South Island of New Zealand for about a week by the time that I see them.  We're going to celebrate Christmas in Wellington and then slowly drive up to Auckland, sightseeing along the way, until they fly back to the States on the 31st.  After that I'll slowly make my way back down to Wellington, camping along the way.  Assuming that there aren't weather delays or mechanical issues, Ross should be back in Wellington on January 5th and then I fly back to Melbourne on January 13th.

Festive flowers

I've been able to get out and see some of the Christmasy stuff around Melbourne the past couple weekends and, I must say, Melbourne is pretty magical at Christmas time even though its in the 70's-80's, with a few mid-90 degree days thrown in for good measure and it doesn't get dark until around 9 p.m. 

Decorations along the Bourke Street Mall

There is a Gingerbread Village in the Melbourne town hall that benefits the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation and it is incredible.  This is the 6th year of the event and this year it used 500 kg (1100 lbs) of gingerbread, 360 kg (793 lbs) of royal icing and 150 kg (330 lbs) of marzipan to recreate a number of the Melbourne landmarks. I was about the only person in line without kids, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Royal Children's Hospital

St. Kilda Beach, complete with fondant shark

MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds)

Flinders Street Station (train station)

Melbourne Zoo
There were fondant kangaroos and pandas and more!

Last night I went down to the CBD (aka downtown) for the light display.  There are Christmas-themed light projections that happen every night from 9-10:20 p.m. as part of the Christmas Festival in Federation Square and at the State Library (also in Docklands but I didn't make it that far).  It was pretty cute and I was amazed by the number of young kids running around at 10:00 p.m.   

Melbourne Town Hall

Melbourne Town Hall

State Library

State Library

State Library

Federation Square

Federation Square itself is pretty decked out for Christmas with a giant tree and Santa's workshop.  It been even more crowed than normal with the holidays fast approaching and the influx of tourists for the summer season.

Federation Square during the day

Federation Square at night

Fed Square Christmas Tree at night

I am sure that there is a lot of other Christmas stuff around Melbourne but I've been traveling a bunch for work lately and haven't gotten out exploring as much as I would have liked to recently.  I hope that this finds you and you're loved ones well and enjoying the holidays, wherever you may be!