Christmas in Australia (on the East Coast)

Ever wonder what Christmas is like in the summer? Is it really that different from being out in the cold? Is it still okay to call it a white Christmas if you’re surrounded by white sands?

As it was our goal to bring you the most accurate facts about the land down under, we decide to split the research by traveling to the east and west coast of Australia to find the above answers.

My assignment was the East Coast while Island Rice was responsible for the West. I decide the best way to immerse myself was to visit a good mate’s family in the sunshine coast of Queensland just opposite to Fraser Island on a beach house at Rainbow Beach. It wasn’t going to be easy to just lie on the beach and by the pool all day, but I was willing to take that sacrifice all in the name of research! I wanted to answer the question of “how does an Aussie celebrate Christmas”

The answer was simple: Our morning begins with the world tradition of opening presents by the tree to see what Santa has brought. Then we head to the beach for an early morning tropical fruit breakfast followed by a dip in the ocean. As exhausting as that was, it was now time to prepare for Christmas brunch. The meal was kept simple, as we cracked open some mud crabs, plated out some fresh oysters, got ourselves a few pounds of prawns and we were set. After the meal, we needed to burn off some of the calories so what better way to do it then by going back to the ocean for a surf?

Not bad so far eh? Well, it gets better. Upon our return, we then have our Christmas dinner, which consisted of turkey, duck, chicken, lamb, and one big honkin piece of ham. Unfortunately there was no more room for a cow, but I think we were okay for meat. Oh, and for the vegetarians out there, we had plenty of rabbit food as well.

The rest of the day was spent mostly in the pool with a few cocktails and some floatation devices to try and stay cool from the scorching sun. We end the night off with a fire and some pudding. Why we needed a fire in 35 degree temperatures didn’t really make sense to me either but hey neither do vegetarians so I don’t bother asking.

Major thanks to the Blurtons for putting up a stranded Canadian in a foreign place and making him feel extremely welcome in a time when it was needed most…

- the lone asian