Wednesday 21st December
Donnis arrived back on the Gold Coast at 10pm on a Jet Star Flight from Sydney to Coolangatta. Our normally precise choreographed collection technique was delayed. On arrival at the Coolangatta Airport I took a drive through the Arrivals / Departures pick up/ drop off area. Wow! The queue of cars waiting to pick up passengers stretched all the way back along the road almost to the Gold Coast Highway. I continued on along the road. Past Departures and went to wait in the little shopping precinct parking area.
Hmmm! Both Jet Star and Virgin had flights scheduled to arrive at 9.15 so perhaps they were late.
They were. Both planes were trying to get passengers disembarked and luggage unloaded to make room for the final flight of the evening.
I waited until ten past ten when Donnis flight finally touched down. It still had to taxi to the terminal and disembark passengers and they had to wait for their luggage. Finally 35 minutes later the luggage was collected Donnis was ready. I suggested she wait at Departures otherwise I may be delayed waiting in traffic. That turned out to be the case. I drove past all those cars waiting in line at Arrivals and collected Donnis at Departures and we were on our way home. We were home a little after 11.30 but one of us was jet lagged and the other simply tired after a long day.
Sleep was also late in arriving.
Thursday 22nd December.
An Aussie Christmas tradition gaining more and more popular each year is a seafood lunch on Christmas Day instead of a hot pork or chicken or in some cases Turkey in which somebody in the house has to spend hours in a hot kitchen, in a hot climate to have a big hot meal at midday. One of the main items in the seafood lunch, are, Prawns. Most people buy their, questionably fresh Prawns from Supermarket giants, Coles, Woolworths, Aldi or IGA. People who live near the coast and who have cash, line up where the fishing trawlers berth and sell their catch direct to the public. It is questionable if buying direct is any cheaper or fresher than buying through the supermarket. This year for the first time ever I joined those people. The plan was to arrive early at 5am and beat the crowds. It did not matter I arrived at 6am as the place was crowded since 5am. About 8 trawlers were in port. Some had only crabs or green prawns. Some trawlers were still arriving as I waited. And waited. Stocks were getting low and the man selling the prawns was heard to say that a strong wind warning may keep the boats in harbour and there may not be prawns for everybody.
Alecia and her Canadian fiancée will be with us on Christmas Day so the prawns and some Lobster Tails I have in the freezer will be a great lunch on the beach.
Sunday 25th December
Christmas Day.
Instead of the planned sunny day eating prawns at the beach we got thunder, lightning and rain periods.
Alecia and Tyler arrived in the morning. We took a drive to main beach where families had gathered with their tents and shelters for a day at the beach.
Naturally at The Spit we were caught in a brief storm.
Back home we set our table in the pergola beside Biggera Creek and had our fresh off the trawler prawns for lunch washed down with champagne.
It was a quiet Christmas Day but grateful we could share the day with Alecia and Tyler as their brief stay in Australia is drawing to a close.
Tomorrow we are off to The Pub With No Beer for three days. (Yes Virginia, there really was a Pub With No Beer)
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