December 24th/25th
On Christmas Eve evening we ate our sweet and sour stir fry with spring rolls overlooking Port Fairy's rocky coast and watched surfers bobbing in the ocean like seals as they waited for waves. A kangaroo popped its head up just as we finished eating which was a nice surprise. We then went into Port Fairy, had a drink in The Caledonian – apparently the oldest pub in Victoria – which was full of old men with beards (were they all playing Santas this year?). We consequently left after one and hopped across the road to a livelier bar where random fancy dress hats were being passed from head to head on a dance floor we soon became part of.
On Christmas Day morning, Eva and I went to church (probably motivated by my endeavour to try and put some meaning into a Christmas so far away from home). The service was pretty dull but the singing was entertaining (people seemed to be singing different melodies from one another and there was one carol during which the people behind us sang a line ahead of everyone else.) The priest also looked like Rolf Harris and a little girl played a harp beautifully so it was worth sitting through. After church, we drove to a petrol station to use the shower we had spotted there the day before. There was hot water and I remember thinking, “there is a Lord.”
We breakfasted in the grounds of Tower Hill Game Reserve where we saw our first koala bear, emus and a kangaroo. As we have been staring at eucalyptus trees for weeks in search of koalas, it was kind of Nature to provide one for us on Christmas Day (we were beginning to think that the “Beware of Koalas” traffic signs were just a joke). After our fried egg and salami sandwiches, we set off to drive along The Great Ocean Road. Unfortunately we didn't seem to be the only ones who had decided to spend Christmas Day this way. Our plan to have dinner watching the sun set over The Twelve Apostles (limestone rocks separated from the coast by erosion) was soon ditched when we struggled to get through the crowds of photo-hungry tourists to the viewing platforms (I keep imagining people all over the world returning to their homes and all making the same photo albums). We consequently drove on to Apollo Bay where we cooked up our pasta alla carbonara, opened a bottle of wine and plugged my ipod into some speakers. When my spirits had been lifted, I went to phone my mum to wish her Happy Birthday but spent about 3 hours failing to get through to her and went to bed feeling miserable, angry and sad. With the 11 hour time difference between the UK and Apollo Bay, however, I managed to get up on Boxing Day, buy a new phone card and get connected to home just as my mum was getting into bed on Christmas Day night. I burst into tears with relief - it's bad enough being half way across the world for Christmas but I would never have forgiven myself for not having managed to call my mum on her birthday. Both my mum and sister laughed at me on the phone for getting so so upset about Christmas and not being able to call. I asked them why they were laughing and they replied, “Because we know you so well.” I knew what that meant. I was blowing things out of proportion, trying to force something that was never going to be (an English Christmas in Australia) and I laughed at myself too. These two days were the lowest points of my trip so far. I know I'll be fine now Christmas is over.
