Christmas Eve

It is now 5:00 Christmas Eve, Australia time. In a normal year we would be just sitting down for 5:00 Mass at Our Mother of Sorrows before heading to my Mom's for Christmas Eve. Instead we are heading to Coff's Harbor having spent a wonderful day in Port Stevens.

They say today is a " scortcher". In Auusie terms that's a day above 40 degrees Celcius-- to be exact today is 45 degrees-- that would be about 113 degrees. We are glad to be in the air -conditioned car. Thankfully, while it was toasty in Port Stevens, it wasn't 113.

This morning was Shannon's Christmas gift which took the family to an Aussie Aminal Park- we saw tons of native Australian animals and many not in cages. And yes, we were able to see and pet Kangaroos and Koalas. The Koalas are softer and more cuddly than any stuffed animal koala we have ever seen. We learned that all they do is sleep and eat the leaves of the eucalyptus tree. These leaves are very low in nutrition so they pretty much sleep most of the day (about 18 hours) and wake only to eat. Petting the Koalas was the highlight for Caitlin (and for Deb).

The Kangaroos are suprisingly soft-- almost velvety and they are so gentle. The kangaroos-- about 25 or so, were not in any kind of a cage--just "hopping about". We saw big ones almost as tall as Connor and tiny little babies. Several moms had joeys (baby kangaroos!!) In their pouches. But unlike the picture perfect postcard that has the babies head up in the pouch, these were mostly head down which makes perfect sense since they are in the pouch to nurse!! The things you learn!!

Connor (and Sean) were especially taken with the Kangaroos. Shannon, on the other hand, was taken, early on, by a yellow haired goat she affectionately named Goldie. And Goldie was equally taken by Shannon following her around like a puppy dog. So yes, in the midst of all the Aussie wildlife Shannon was most taken by "Goldy" the goat. Life is strange sometimes!! We also saw long necked turtles, pelicans, blue tongued lizards, wombats, camals, emus and. ostritch The Emu is the largest bird in Australia and has three toes-- not to be confused with the Ostritch, the largest bird in the world which has only two toes. This would make a great Trivia Pursuit Question.

It certanly will prove to be one of our more exotic Christmas Eves. . We will miss spending Christmas Eve with extended family, but we were thinking about you. Have a wonderful time celebrating and enjoying each other. . Deb, Sean, Caitlin, Connor and Shannon