A family Christmas in Australia

We are sitting in Erina valley. Locusts are loud, rabbits are playing on the lawn with the dogs and chooks. Mostly happy until a doggy visitor bounds along and everyone scampers for their homes. We arrived here today from McMasters beach. And so we will go back there ie the start of our holiday. Picture a deck overlooking a lagoon. Cockatoos and kookaburras sitting in gum trees. Parakeets, ducks and pelicans flying by. Dogs trotting to the golden sands with their owners laden with towels and everything beachy. Barbeques, reading, swimming with the occasional walk at Bouddi national park or along the beach in either direction. Everyday felt the same but had something slightly unique. Sometimes there was a slight breeze and sometimes high tide bought pounding waves.  Sometimes the sand was burning hot while at other times sank underfoot. Christmas day was similar to others except Santa came overnight and there was pavlova after the barbecue and crackers during. It is the first time all the Keats have been together at Christmas for 15 years. Now there is a new son law, grand daughter and soon to be born grandson and us to join the party. Connie sang the Aussie jingle bells. "Dashing through the Bush, in a rusty holden ute, kelpie by my side, eski in the back ...". Then we said goodbye to Matt and then there were 8.

Then we moved on ....

Today we swam at Avoca lakes and wandered around the Entrance (reminded us all of the UK beaches as we wandered along the promenade).