Christmas with the Cooly Kids

After our flying visit to Sydney, we hopped on yet another plane and headed up the East Coast to Coolangatta, in Queensland, for Christmas in the sun with Gareth's brother Dai and his wife Di. To get into the Christmas spirit Gareth was wearing a Santa hat and I had a furry Christmas pudding on my head - it was a good idea in my head but walking through the airport I felt just a little bit self-conscious.

Dai and Di have just emigrated to Australia so we caught up on the gossip from home as we settled into our home for the next three weeks. After all this time unpacking and packing our rucksacks almost every other night it was bliss to unpack our things into our bedroom, knowing we would be here for a while. Most importantly, there was a washing machine for Gareth to wash his stinking trainers which had been smelling more and more like a pair of decomposing rats in recent weeks.

Dai and Di's apartment is a stone's thrown from the white sand beach, with a view of the sea from the balcony (very handy for Gareth to check the surf every morning). We'd already decided on our plan of action for our time in Coolangatta - we were going to relax, live like locals and indulge in a bit of retail therapy - and that was exactly what we did for a week until Christmas.

Tipsy cowboy Rees

It's very strange being in the sun at Christmastime - but we still managed to get in the mood.

No really, this is our own hair

Gareth's entries on the blog might have you thinking I'm nothing but a cocktail guzzling undomesticated old soak who couldn't tell one end of frying pan from the other but me and Di kept ourselves very busy preparing everything for Christmas - icing the Christmas cake (with the help of a clingfilmed wine bottle in the absence of a rolling pin - this always works better if you drink the contents of the bottle first), making homemade cranberry sauce and stuffing and buying up the bulk of Queensland's Christmas cracker supplies. On Christmas Eve - all jobs done - we joined the rest of Coolangatta - and Santa himself - for Carols and Fireworks on the Beach. I'm not sure how well this combination would work in Dewi Sant in Tumble but it looked pretty special on the beach in Oz.

Dai's beard had got really out of control

"Yes, we have been very, very good this year"

Christmas morning we were up very early for the Grand Webcam Plan. At 5am we got ourselves out of bed and drove to Currumbin, a little way up the coast. I think that 5am is the earliest I have been awake on Christmas morning since - well - last Christmas probably. In Australia, there are loads of webcams set up so that you can check the surf conditions, and it just so happened that the webcam on Currumbin beach also had a view of the car park. So while our families waited and watched online at home, we bounced around the car park like nutters, wearing Santa hats and waving wildly. Luckily it wasn't too busy in the car park but I'm sure the people there wondered why four crazy Welsh weirdos were running around in circles, waving at a brick wall and talking into mobile phones. Still, the plan worked and although we were a bit fuzzy on screen, we were definitely there!

"Can I get two chicken dopiazas, a lamb bhuna, pilau rice and a plain naan to take away?"

Back at the apartment we tucked into a breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup, strawberries and ice cream, accompanied by champagne brandies - well it wouldn't be Christmas otherwise would it? It was all wolfed down pretty sharpish because it was the only thing standing between us and the pile of presents under the Christmas tree.

I think that Gareth and I must have been very, very good all year because we did very well with our presents. Between us we had quite a few urgent replacements for items in our rucksacks, including new clothes, toothbrushes and possibly best of all, new pants. (You may notice that in future pictures we've moved away from our brown, green and orange theme to blue and pink - that's clothes, not pants. Don't worry we're not going to be showing you pictures of our pants.)

Dressed in new clothes we packed up the picnic hamper and headed off to the beach for a Christmas day sunbathe and splash in the sea. The day had started off a bit cloudy but luckily it all cleared and the sun came out for us.

The sun in Australia is very strong - you should ALWAYS wear a sunhat

We all headed into the sea with our Santa hats still on and it was all going swimmingly well until Di got out of the water after being stung by a bluebottle jellyfish. The boys had already had a couple of minor run-ins with the little buggers whilst surfing but this one was obviously a monster. It had managed to wrap its tentacle around Di's leg a few times before finishing off with a little 'whip' and leaving evil red welts on her leg. So we headed back to the apartment for some ice treatment and luckily it didn't take too long to work and ease the pain.

We'd planned to eat our Christmas dinner on the balcony looking out to the beach but the high winds that picked up during the day put paid to that. Eventually we sat down to dinner, only about an hour later than we planned, and considering the limitations of Di's oven (one setting - fierce) I think between us we did very well indeed and our dinner was delicious.

Just like home, only 9470 miles away

Boxing Day brought rain and cloud, but we braved it anyway to drive to Mount Tamborine. The views from the mountain are supposed to be spectacular but we couldn't really see anything and ended up playing pool in a bar along the way. When we got back to the apartment we decided that seeing as Australian TV is so dreadful we would hire a DVD. The boys went out and came back with 'Walk the Line' - the Johnny Cash story. It's very good if any of you are thinking of watching it. Next night we let the boys choose again and they picked something called Inside Man. That was dreadful and me and Di fell asleep before the end. Obviously beginners luck!

The pro circuit beckons for Gareth

The rest of the week went by quickly - we kept ourselves busy stuffing ourselves with the Christmas leftovers and getting ready for our New Year trip to Sydney - and Gareth will tell you all about that soon!