Blaue Weihnacht

Heute ist schon 'Boxing day' und wir haben unser erstes Weihnachtsfest unter blauen Himmel, Sonnenschein und 31 Grad verbracht. Heilig Abend ist den deutschen heilig, also haben wir bei Christine, einer deutschen Kollegin, gefeiert.

Wir haben eine 3 kg Gans in den Ofen geschoben, 3 Stunden gewartet, in der Zeit eine Schwarzwaelder Torte 'versucht'. Naja, es hat gut geschmeckt, aber die Lagen sind dann doch einzeln zerfallen.

Die Gans war garnicht so leicht zu zerlegen, Christine hat mit der Schere in all Richtungen geschnitten, guten Appetit.

Our first guests were Shona and Andy, and the car. A Lotus. Well, I had to document that moment. Shona is our secretary and takes care of the daily routine at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, I work for them.

The table was completed with Sueli, our former financial administrator at the Oceans Institute. She has now a new job. She brought her tasty vegetarian food, an italien speciality.

Wir hatten auch einen Weihnachtsbaum, etwas anderer Art. Sah mehr wie ein Herbststrauss aus. Christine hat Plaetzchen gebacken fuer jeden, nun habe ich also einen Ersatz fuer Martin's jaehrliches Weihnachstpaket das wir sehr vermissen.

Geschenke hatten wir auch, am 25.12, ausgepackt vor dem Beach Ausflug. I got an Eco T-Shirt in a green pot and my coffee perculator made of stainless steel. Andrew got the Tom Tom (kind of Save Dutch Economy act) for our lovely Ford Ka. And he got his new snorkel kit, all included, ready for Ningaloo Reef, our big coral reef at the western coast.

Yes, we did it, we spend Christmas Day at the beach in our new tent with Tapas. We used Andrews new Tom Tom to find Swanbourne beach, a lovely place. Weather was great and I even plunched into the Indian Ocean, at least 25 degrees warm water. No sharks this time, I stayed 5m from the shore to be sure. Few beaches are closed because of shark sightings.

Well, that was a rather different Christmas. We missed one tradition in Australia, the Chrsitmas Sales. All over Australia the shops sell everything for 30% less.
The North and Victoria were not so lucky with the weather, they were hit by a strong Cyclone with hail as big as golf balls.
We are off to Melbourne soon and hope that the storm has passed.

Merry Christmas!

Just doesn't feel like Christmas

Iedereen is volop bezig met Kerst-inkopen en afgelopen week konden wij aan de Uni van de ene naar de andere Kerstborrel hoppen. Hier begint de borrel zo rond 12.00 'smiddags tot ..???. Jens zit bij 3 verschillende instituten, dus heeft hij 3x een Kerstfeest. Afgelopen donderdag hadden wij gezamenlijk de Kerstborrel van de School waar wij samenwerken (School of Eart and Environment) gevierd. Het was aan een baai, achter de campus van de Uni waar de Swan River stroomt. De opkomst viel erg mee, zo'n 90 personen.
I finished my X-mas shopping yesterday. So I can relax and enjoy the festivities now. On X-mas eve we're visiting Christine, a colleague from Jens of Oceans Institute, together with 2 others colleagues. We plan to cook a goose! But all the decorations and X-mas carols still can't put me in the mood...cause the weather keeps getting warmer and hotter. That can't be Christmas??
I'll leave you with some photos of our X-Mas party down at the river.