We survived Christmas Day unscathed by food and alcohol excess or any other crisis that this time apparently provides for some. We caught up with all three children and their families via Skype and telephone, as well as Chris’s sister and extended family in England and my parents in New Zealand. So all in all a successful family get together albeit by distance.
The morning was spent walking in the Belair National Park, undertaking the Waterfall Hike, a three hour walk which we did within that time including the time to access the beginning and end. This city national park really is lovely and wild, in contrast to Sydney’s Lane Cove National Park, which is wild and has water, trees, birds and dragons but not a lot of appeal. The park here in Adelaide is extensive, has all that Lane Cove has, as well as a true sense of remoteness as one climbs to the top of the peak within the Mount Lofty Ranges, the networks of fire trails and the spectacular distant views over the city toward the coast. The trail we took heads upward for the first hour and then descends following the dry riverbed which has once upon a time carved great ravines out as it plunged over the rocky escarpments toward the sea. Yesterday those “waterholes” at the base of each waterfall were simply lush basins of blackberry and other greenery creating oasis for birds and other creatures in this otherwise wooded park. We looked out for the yellow tailed black cockatoos that apparently inhabit this space but were disappointed. Koalas were no doubt in residence, however when we were able to gaze up into the trees rather than watch very steep footfall, we saw none. But we did see emus in the park as we set off, not too far from the caravan park. As we emerged into the wider valley of the park and returned to our caravan, we felt entirely righteous about having done enough exercise, enough to justify the binge eating that was to come. Our breakfast and the lunch of Chris’s choice, scrambled eggs on toast, were both within the allowable calorie intake but our dinner of roast turkey and a mountain of roast vegetables of every kind imaginable, followed by Christmas pudding and custard for Chris, and a can of peaches, a cup of yoghurt and a ladle of muesli for me, were not. The scales this morning confirmed this, but then that may have had something to do with the fact that all the above was washed down with far too much wine, which is these days a rarity.
This morning was spent dealing with laundry and following the first day of the cricket test between Australia and India. This was all sacrificed after lunch for the more loftier pursuit of cinema; we drove to a boutique cinema close to the city to see the newly released “The Iron Lady” starring Meryl Streep, which we both enjoyed immensely and expect to be nominated for the Oscars and which we would thoroughly recommend.
We had intended to call into supermarket to stock up in readiness for our departure tomorrow. It seems however that Adelaide is closed for Boxing Day. Curiously this reflects the attitudes that were so prevalent in the 1970s when Chris was here.
Our return to the caravan park was early enough to catch the tail end of the first day of the Test; an indecisive game so far, but then, it is a five test, and anything can happen in the meantime.
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