We took our time getting up on Christmas Eve because our
fight from Cairns to Melbourne wasn’t until 12:00 PM, but as we were still
adjusting to the 14 hr time difference, we still arose around 6 AM local! So we
just went down to the hotel restaurant and had a huge breakfast, settled up
with the front desk and got a taxi over to the airport.
Although an older terminal from the outside, the inside was quite updated and Erin found plenty to keep her occupied for our 2 hour wait for takeoff. The flight was non-eventful and we soon landed in Melbourne and were on our cab ride over to Neal and Sandy’s house. They had mailed us keys as they were flying in the same day from a family outing to Alice Springs. But as we got to the door it was open, Jenn knocked, and as luck would have it they had just arrived minutes before us! Great to see our good friends and were happy to see both their sons and a friend Katie there as well. So hugs and handshake all around, hugs for Neal and Sandy, introductions to Katie from Singapore, and handshakes for the boys as that what young men that age to. We had a scrumptious snack that Sandy, Jay (son), and Katie, made and then headed to downtown Melbourne to partake of some Aussie Christmas spirit.
The city was alive even though we didn’t get down there until after 6 PM.
It was amazing! Most places I have been on Christmas Eve are ghost towns that time of the evening, but there we street performers, decorated windows like Macy’s in NYC with crowds looking at the displays, and a cool gingerbread house exhibit.
In addition, Sandy who as Neal lovingly calls the “New Face of Melbourne”, gave us a guided tour of some of the local landmarks along the way including the Kangaroo Gargoyle!
We wandered back thru China Town on our way back to Neal’s place and had a wonderful late dinner of Sandy’s “famous lasagna”, had a few laughs and drinks and then called it a night. So it is now 6:30 AM local (2:30 PM on the 24th, Atl time), and we have awoken for Christmas here in Oz. The place is coming alive, we are soon leaving for Church service, and I can’t wait to spend another day here with our friends here in Melbourne
Although an older terminal from the outside, the inside was quite updated and Erin found plenty to keep her occupied for our 2 hour wait for takeoff. The flight was non-eventful and we soon landed in Melbourne and were on our cab ride over to Neal and Sandy’s house. They had mailed us keys as they were flying in the same day from a family outing to Alice Springs. But as we got to the door it was open, Jenn knocked, and as luck would have it they had just arrived minutes before us! Great to see our good friends and were happy to see both their sons and a friend Katie there as well. So hugs and handshake all around, hugs for Neal and Sandy, introductions to Katie from Singapore, and handshakes for the boys as that what young men that age to. We had a scrumptious snack that Sandy, Jay (son), and Katie, made and then headed to downtown Melbourne to partake of some Aussie Christmas spirit.
The city was alive even though we didn’t get down there until after 6 PM.
It was amazing! Most places I have been on Christmas Eve are ghost towns that time of the evening, but there we street performers, decorated windows like Macy’s in NYC with crowds looking at the displays, and a cool gingerbread house exhibit.
In addition, Sandy who as Neal lovingly calls the “New Face of Melbourne”, gave us a guided tour of some of the local landmarks along the way including the Kangaroo Gargoyle!
We wandered back thru China Town on our way back to Neal’s place and had a wonderful late dinner of Sandy’s “famous lasagna”, had a few laughs and drinks and then called it a night. So it is now 6:30 AM local (2:30 PM on the 24th, Atl time), and we have awoken for Christmas here in Oz. The place is coming alive, we are soon leaving for Church service, and I can’t wait to spend another day here with our friends here in Melbourne
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