Christmas and New Year

This year's Christmas was a bit different from the previous Christmases I've had. With 30 degrees and sunshine, without family and loved ones, it is difficult to get into the right mood. The fact that the whole city is decorated for Christmas and people are walking around with Santa Claus hats only makes it worse.

Then we started preparing together. Some took care of the pizza, others the punch, and I was part of the tiramisu team.

After the preparations were done, we went to South Beach in Fremantle in the evening, where we made ourselves comfortable in a large group, enjoyed the time together, and talked about the respective traditions in each country and family.

After dinner, we went for a swim in the sea and then back to the hostel around 1 a.m., where everyone contacted their loved ones for a nice end to the day.

The next day, almost everyone else in the hostel had left, so we had the kitchen to ourselves. The potato gratin was prepared, the chicken squeezed into the oven, and the wine opened.

(please forgive the image quality, I didn't take any photos that day, only received them via Facebook)

When everything was ready, we feasted royally and I think a bit of Christmas spirit actually came to everyone, in the company of the dear people we had gotten to know and appreciate in the few weeks.

For dessert, there was the tiramisu, which was surprisingly delicious despite the limited means of preparation. Happily and full, we watched a movie together and the day ended calmly.

In the following week, I finally found a job at a brewery. The brewer there is even German and needed someone for the bottling on one day a week. Not much, but still.

And then it was almost New Year's Eve. There were many options for what to do. I decided to go to a bush party with a few people from the hostel. You can imagine the whole thing as a small festival in the Australian bush. It's not really legal, but it's cheap and awesome, to put it casually. It started on Saturday, the 29th, 1.5 hours by car from Perth, with a lot of stuff.

Loaded up with everything for 4 days

When we arrived, we unloaded everything and set up the camp. Carpets, a table, sofa, bench, sunshade, hammocks, lamps, and everything else you need, or don't need.

Setting up the camp

After that, we explored the area, made some acquaintances, and waited for the party to start.

Mainstage

Finally, around 6 o'clock, the music started and we danced a bit. Everything was still a bit calmer on the first day, and after burning off the excess energy, we made ourselves comfortable with a few beers at the camp. The next day, a few more people from the hostel arrived and the party really got going. We celebrated for a long time, and more and more people showed up to get into the New Year together. After a relatively short night, we had a lavish breakfast of untoasted toast and strawberry jam, a bit of techno and drum and bass for dessert, followed by a few beers and toast with salami for lunch/coffee. Slowly but surely, it got dark in the bush and everyone got ready for the new year. At exactly 12:00, the speakers of the mainstage were turned up and all the people who were there gathered on the dance floor. Due to the dryness in the Australian bush, there was a lot of dust kicked up by the dancing people, making it almost impossible to breathe. Nevertheless, it was a breathtaking spectacle, and all without fireworks, due to the high risk of bushfires.

The next day, it was time to leave again. Motivation was hard to find, and we were all probably never so dirty. But what needs to be done needs to be done, so around 3 o'clock, we packed up the camp and loaded up the van again. After finding a replacement battery for it because the first one was empty and had destroyed the alternator, we finally headed back to Perth.

Finished, happy, and dirty on the way back

There, we unloaded the van and by 8 o'clock, we were back at the hostel.

None of us got any older that night, and on Wednesday, my first day of work at the brewery started.

Wishing you all a happy new year and greetings from Australia.