Bonne année à tous

I know it’s been a while…..apologies. Hope that you have all had a great Christmas and now a new year to look forward to.

We have just celebrated Australia Day again with what has become our annual party for all those not off in sunnier places. A record crowd this year including 11 aussies , some by marriage and having emigrated from elsewhere, but we still think of them as ours. Some even travelled from other parts of the country and stayed overnight creating a bit of a weekend party atmosphere.

we hang flags all through the house

an english friend brought along her friend

just one of the drink stops - not really representative
of the amount of booze consumed

first arrivals always congregate in the kitchen

Aussies exchanging experiences

four nationalities here, including an irish aussie 

Lots of coconut prawns, chilli crab cakes and kangaroo for that true aussie experience. And of  course, pavlovas, lamingtons and anzac biscuits to finish. Much french wine consumed as the aussie stuff is too expensive and difficult to get locally – there’s always a sacrifice.

disappeared in moments

One friend , wanting to share that aussie sense of humour, even read The Loaded Dog to the gathering. They loved the ending and for many of us it evoked memories of the australian countryside. Apart from the aussies we also had english, french, irish, italian and thai guests. We are grateful to have such an international community here and so many good friends. Even our canadian neighbours who had gone home for the winter phoned to wish us a happy Australia Day.

mellowing toward the end 

The party ran on longer than planned, naturally, so we are confident that a good time was had by all.

Bonne Année