What Australians Do For Christmas (By Ruth and Mommy)

In a nutshell:  They picnic or barbecue, go on vacation, or go to the beach.   I'm sure some do go to church, but I passed at least 10 churches today in our wanderings, and I didn't see much of a crowd or parking or traffic problems near any of them.  I did see a lot of people carrying gifts around, but those gifts were certainly purchased earlier; the only shops open today were gas stations.

Picnickers at Royal Botanic Gardens

Isaac was invited to a friend's dad's friend's beach house for the day, so off he went to the Mornington Peninsula.  Ruth and I headed into the city on the (free for the day) tram.  There was an "Orphans Christmas" at Federation Square that promised outdoor movies and kids' games and activities.  "Orphans," I assume meaning those with nowhere else to go on Christmas.  I saw tons of tourists, Muslims, Sikhs, and us!

Christmas in the summer is too bright!

Sadly, by the time we got to the Square, the activities were almost done.  The movies playing were Australian-made shorts, but with inane Christmas music playing over them.  (I love Christmas music, but playing "Baby It's Cold Outside" when it's 28 C is ridiculous.  Plus we couldn't hear the movie because of the music).  They had promised The Santa Clause, but rather than wait around, Ruth and I headed south over the Yarra.

We walked through Alexandra Gardens, Victoria Gardens (named for Queen Victoria), King's Domain (I think named after George V, because there's a statue of him in the park) and finally made it to the Royal Botanic Gardens.  At this last stop we found picnickers on every shady, and some not so shady spots.  

All the gardens are just beautiful.  What I especially like about them is they are surrounded by very urban, downtown areas.  Then wham, cross the street, and you're in this bucolic wonderland.  The Royal Botanic Gardens are huge, and they have a great variety of different types of plants - a bamboo garden, a succulent garden, Queensland plants, a lily pond, etc.  Ruth was complaining of tired legs before we even got to the RBG until . . . we discovered you can find FAIRIES in the garden!  There is an app you can download that gives you a map to find seven different Disney fairies.  I immediately downloaded the app, and Ruth began RUNNING all over the park to find them - tired legs apparently cured. 

Below are some photos from Alexandra Gardens . . .

From Victoria Gardens -

And the Royal Botanic Gardens -

From Ruth:  "I found five of the seven fairies."

On the way back, after three solid hours of walking (the RBG alone is over 90 acres), Ruth was tired.  We cut through the Shrine of Remembrance plaza to get to St. Kilda Road to get a tram back north across the river to Flinders Street, then transfer to our tram home.  The Shrine is so beautiful; my photos below don't even do it justice.  It's gigantic, which is a testament to how highly esteemed those ANZAC members who fought and gave their lives are in Australia.  I didn't have time to explore fully, because Ruth was close to exhaustion, but it is definitely on the "go back to see" list.  Maybe on Australia Day, which is coming up soon.   Definitely worth its own blog entry.

From the Shrine -

 We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, in whatever way you observe.