Australia, Part I: Smokeytown

Did you know that there's a place Down Under called Smokeytown? And that Dylan's mom, stepdad, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew live there? On Smokeytown Road? Sounds magical, dunnit? The customs people always ask us if it's for-real, too.

We spent our first days here saying hellos, having cuppas, (doing lots of laundry), and meeting the resident chickens, sheep, and kangaroos. Paul, Ada, and 2yo cousin Ahlwan took to each other pretty quickly and enjoyed each others' company for the remainder of our stay. Of course there were bickers here and there about this toy or that, but they always smiled seeing each other and hugged or waved goodbye. Very sweet. Dylan's mum, Susan, treated us to a yummy lamb roast - per D's request - and we took a ride on the ferris wheel they put up for Christmas in Ballarat, the big town nearby. Also, there were meat pies for lunch, of course.

Allow me to interject some silly commentary on Australian weather here before we get going with photos; I say "silly commentary" because it's not silly at all to an Australian, particularly one from Victoria, but it's be a bit of a shock to any visitor who stays for 2 weeks in December expecting the sort-of equivalent of a Midwestern summer but really gets any combination of temperatures between a-little-above-freezing to yes-quite-hot-indeed. So, some pictures, even from one day to the next, have us either in coats or sweating in as little as possible. 

That first weekend was a busy one. In fact, we were almost nonstop the whole week, but it only very rarely felt like too much. Perhaps because our two kiddos still nap, we have this scheduled midday low, even if that's multi-tasked with driving 2 hours to get somewhere. Anyway, that first weekend had us driving a couple of hours to the other side of Melbourne for Susan's side of the family's Christmas 'Do on Saturday and then celebrating Susan't 60th birthday with a gigantic party at their house on Sunday. Now, we don't do things by halves, as you know, so of course we planned more on the Saturday than just the Christmas party: we scheduled a visit to some of Dylan's cousins at their very own café and coffeehouse, Store House Mt. Evelyn and we visited Granddad Knoll in the home where he lives now that he's suffering from dementia and his wife's died earlier in the year. Those two important things managed, we headed off to the party for a big get-together of that side's extended family. Lovely! Adeline got to meet her namesake, too: Joyce Adeline Nelson, Susan's mother. Great Nanna said she was "chuffed", which I love. 

The next day's party was  awesome, too, as it combined Susan and Gerry's families, and we got to catch up with Dylan's brother, sister-in-law, and niece and nephew (before going their direction the following weekend anyway). After two days of chilly weather, finally some warm breezes for the outdoor party under tents. Guess what Australian rite of passage I, then, encountered! Out goes the cool weather, in come the flies. Waving the flies from your face is called the Australian Salute. Nice.

Monday was a bit of a slowish day with late brekky and more cuppas - always with the cuppas - and after naps, Susan had Ada and Paul's help picking the most amazingly beautiful, perfectly ripe cherries from her backyard tree. Honestly, how many times, unless you grow cherries yourself, do you get to have a whole week with chock-full bowls of fresh-picked cherries sitting on the table where you can actually have your fill? I didn't know that there was even a level at which I'd have my fill of cherries. Yum. After the cherrying, we went yabbying. Not familiar with that? Ah, well that's the Aussie term for catching crawfish in a pond, like the one at the bottom of Susan & Gerry's hill. And take a wild guess who's good at it: Pauly-D! He couldn't get enough, and his skill of throwing out the net or meat-on-a-string got better and better. He was one proud yabby-catcher. They taste almost exactly the same as crawfish (especially when Dylan throws together some cajun spices to cook them), but their claws are a bit fatter and meatier; yes please! We yabbied a couple of times during the week in the the lull between naps and dinner.

Tuesday was a beautiful day with beautiful weather, and we spent it superbly. Susan, Gerry, Shalome, Fehraz, Ahlwan, and the 4 of us went to the Ballarat Wildlife Park, and what an entrance we had! You walk in to feed the roaming 'roos! We saw all the regulars: kangaroos, wallabies, emus, koalas, cockatoos + some special ones: awake wombats, echidnas, a massive crocodile, and even a Tasmanian devil. For the very first time, Paul spent money of his very own on something of his choice; Great Nanna and Great Poppa (Nelson) gave him and Ada each some Christmas money, and Paul's first request was a tiny clock with a kangaroo face. He even handed the cashier his money and got his change. Ironically, Shalome made us kangaroo spaghetti bolognese that night, and P was okay with that thought; we said, thanks, kangaroo!

The next day - that brings us to Wednesday, yes? - started with a beautiful scavenger hunt in a maze of a garden in Smokeytown. I was looking forward to a nice garden-y walk, but when I learned that there was a hunt (read: competition) involved, it got a lot more fun! You had to take all the dead-end-y paths to find the clues. It was really very well-done and really pretty. Paul had Dylan running everywhere, and I could hear him giddily laughing from a couple of unseen paths away. Paul, not Dylan. So cute. After all that expelled energy, we had the best real croissants and pastries Victoria has to offer, which happen to be in Smokeytown's neighboring village of Creswick, where Shalome works a couple times a week. The owners are French and French-trained, and they serve the most authentic croissants I've ever had outside of France. That evening, Dylan and I went out for a pub meal just the two of us, and we hear Gran & Pa had a good time with Paul and Ada. While D and I were driving home, though, we came uncomfortably close to hitting a roo. They're behaviorally much like deer in the US, so it's a scary thing should you hit one. Anyway, our heart rates down a bit, we saw an echidna on the side of the road! That's always a treat, as they're shy little things that keep to themselves.

Our last full day with Susan and Gerry was unplanned, which felt great. And was very hot. We just lazied around the house poking around the different trees and animals and playing near the pond again. I did more laundry in preparation of our shifting places, and we stuffed ourselves; Susan made Cornish pasties for lunch and Gerry made a huge lasagne for dinner, per my request. Oh goodness - we just ate the day away. But when it's so hot, it's hard to do much else other than sit around a table in the shade eating and drinking.

We packed up the next morning, already Friday the 18th, and headed during nap time down to Cudgee, where Timshel, Shelley, Reuben and Grace live in their very own, homemade straw bale house that works. I probably said the same 2 years ago when we stayed there, but it's truly amazing how they've made this house work for them to stay cool inside in the summer and warm inside in the winter. Hats off. But first, we stopped in Mortlake for a cuppa with Dylan's dad, Wayne, and reintroduced Paul to him and first-time-introduced Wayne to Ada.

Leaving Smokeytown was a bit of an ordeal for Paul, quite honestly. He was very much looking forward to playing with Reuben and Grace, but somehow, he thought that leaving here was leaving Australia ... and, therefore, didn't understand why we weren't flying to Nana & Pappy's in Houston right then. It does make sense in one way; much like when he says something about "Texas", he often means specifically at Nana & Pappy's house. In the same vein, he associates "being in Australia" specifically with Smokeytown now. We didn't hear it until afterwards, but he did ask, once we were already landed in Melbourne and at that hotel last week, "when are we going to Australia?" It's all a lot for an almost-4-yo to take in, really. Time travel and visiting family in places you don't remember is a bit full-on. Considering, they've both done beautifully. With the exception of one scream-y bedtime at Timshel & Shelley's, they've been pretty breezy.

Now, I'm about to push that publish button before I put photos in because I'm sitting in a dark hotel room during nap time, and I'm not guaranteed enough time to work on photos. I do want to hit "go", though, before we start to fly back ... tomorrow ... on Christmas Eve. It's all very bizarre. Have no fear - there are tons of photos.