Saturday, 26/12/2015

At already 7am there were people walking in the house. I was awake early as well. On Boxing Day, it’s tradition in Australia to watch cricket on TV. That means that all of us sat in front of the TV and watched the spectacle. I have to admit that it’s not really exciting to see cricket on TV. Many people just stood on the field doing nothing, there are three moderators and they have to talk about random things because there is not much to say. After already 10 minutes, half of the people left their seats on the couch already. Many people asked me if it’s interesting for me. After about one hour I gave up and went outside. It was nice to see once I think, but I don’t think I’ll become a cricket-watcher.
There was breakfast already. Like the day before they put sausages and bacon on the BBQ and there were eggs and cereals.
We had a great morning in the garden, played some games like Frisbee and had much fun.

It felt like the breakfast was just 10 minutes ago as we had lunch. The leftovers had to get eaten. The food was still good and I still loved the salads.

Then Brett’s sister Alyce came with her husband and three kids and it was already the third time that the kids got presents.

Really traditional, there was a Christmas cake which was cut by 83 year old Grandma Esme. She gave a speech where she thanked everyone, said how happy she is with this family and that she couldn’t imagine anything better, the tears were running and that was really emotional. This was a touching moment. Indeed the family is great!

Even if everyone is close together for two days there were no fights. Everyone is really nice to each other, everyone is welcoming, everyone helps and I am also treated as a long time family member.
That’s really great and a big honor for me to spend Christmas in this lovely family. I couldn’t think of anything better and I’m really lucky.
The 24 year old son of Judy, Zac took us for a drive to one of the farms. This is a cotton farm as well and quite big. There is a big house, garage and even a tennis court. We drove over the muddy paddocks with the ute. The landscape looked beautiful and the weather was perfect. I saw and learned a few things and it was great to see it.
It’s fascinating how many people have land in Australia. It’s so nice here and I would like to live here.

After that we drove to the cemetery where the Grandpa of the kids is buried. He died a few years ago in a tragic farm accident.
Because the farm is too far outside there is no refuse collection. So we drove to the dump to unload the trash. It was really smelly. There was also a car and some interesting things.
As we were back the guys asked me if I want to do a trip to the river. Sounds good, were my thoughts. I just didn’t know yet why the boys wanted to go there. As we sat in the Ute I knew why. They went shooting. As a vegetarian not the best thing to watch. Every time we stopped I closed my eyes and ears. Good for me that they couldn’t shoot any wildpigs or kangaroos that day. They asked me if I want to learn how to shoot but it was just too loud and I thought it’s too dangerous for me to try – I’m so clumsy. I just held the gun and was happy with that. Chris was really good and shot at trees.

Cameron came to the paddock with his dirt bike. Chris and Lachlan drove back with the Ute but as a passionate motorbiker I wanted to join Cameron. It felt like 200 km/h as we drove over the paddocks. If I wouldn’t know that the 21 year old Cameron drives the motorbike probably longer then he can walk, I think I would have peed my pants but I enjoyed the wind while driving.
We drove around the entire farm and it’s huge. At this point I shouldn’t probably admit that we didn’t even wear helmets.
Until he showed me I didn’t even know that cotton is a flower. Cameron explained a lot and I learned much. The watering system is also great and works via a satellite.
A few days ago there was a big storm with hale. This destroyed a big part of the harvest and some houses still don’t have electricity. Good, that Judy’s farm has electricity.
Cameron also drove up the dam with me which is really steep. My heart dropped but I grinned. As we were on the way back it started to rain a little bit. Even faster we drove to the house and I enjoyed this ride so much and was happy. It’s a good experience to speed over wet paddocks with a dirtbike. Maybe I change from a road to a off road bike when I get home 😉
We weren’t prepared for it but we didn’t even enter the backyard as we felt cold water running down our bodies. The backyard had changed into a huge water fight and everyone was soaked wet. The best: Even 83 year old Esme was in the middle of it and had fun. All of the family were happy to soak everyone else and none (except baby Charlie) could escape. Even my shoes were wet and it was funny. I had a dog-bowl, there were water-pistols and hoses. We had so much fun and laughed (again) so much.

Unfortunately we had to say goodbye then. The farewells were as warm as the welcomes and the time here. Everyone wished me a good time and they said thank you that I was there. I’m really glad that I got to meet such a great family and could spend Christmas with them.
Then we drove to Brett’s Dad Geoff who also lives in Toowoomba. There were Brett’s sisters Renae, Alyce, the husbands and kids. Because the children still didn’t have enough presents (joke) they got more for the fourth time already. There were some tears because Santa didn’t bring the right presents but soon everything was good again.
Geoff plants a lot of veggies and fruits in his garden and showed us everything which was interesting. I found corn and put it on the BBQ. The food was – who guesses: meat and salad. The corn tasted really good.
For a while we sat down with a few beers, talked and watched a bit of cricket. It was a nice, relaxing evening after all that action the last days.

Back at Lyn’s house she welcomed us friendly and had washed my clothes already. We watched a bit of Lord of the Rings but were too tired and went to bed soon.
A great, eventful, funny second Christmas-day (boxing-day) was over. I’m already sad to leave this lovely family tomorrow.

Greetings from the waterfight
Nadine