Visitors from overseas

After 13 months in Australia, I finally get my first visitors (not counting Dom, who popped by about a year ago but not primarily to visit me) – mum and Keith braved the 2-day long-haul flight of evil and arrived in Sydney on Friday. I sat in the arrivals lounge listening to Kermode’s critique of The Golden Compass on my ipod (I saw the film last week: V disappointing) and awaiting a glimpse of the couple in their first venture to the Southern Hemisphere. Of course I was at the wrong gate and they were waiting at the other end of the airport, but we finally met up and it was good to see them after all this time. Airport arrivals lounges are strange places, especially at Christmas. There were clearly many people coming home for the festive season, and some arriving in Oz for the first time, and I was shocked at the amount of people filming these grand arrivals on their camcorders rather than just running into the arms of their loved ones. This era’s obsessive self-documentation can be rather cold and inhuman (… says she, blogging away).

Anyway, exhausted and jet-lagged, mum and Keith soon retired to their Bondi Beach flat which I found for them for the duration, and I too collapsed after a tiring few weeks.

A rare chance to relax on the hilly clifftop walk


Since then I’ve been busy showing them round my ’hood: starting of course with the beach. I dragged them on the clifftop walk from Bondi to Bronte, and introduced them to the perils of the Pacific Ocean currents at Bronte Beach: mum was most perturbed to see me being regularly swept under the waves and buffeted about by the sea. The eastern beaches are essentially surfer beaches, and the currents are lethal – the huge troupes of lifesavers are not sitting there twiddling their thumbs, that’s for sure. With not one but three rip-tides, Bronte is considered by many to be the world’s most dangerous beach. Great choice for me to start them off on their Australian adventure!

We’ve sampled a different breakfast establishment every day so far (breakfast is definitely what Sydney does best) and Katipo on Bondi Road is the current front-runner. Today (Christmas Eve) we awoke at 5am for the Great Sydney Christmas Eve Tradition: the Sydney Fish Market. The fish market is open 364 days a year, and in the run-up to its one day off, it opens at 5am on December 23 for 36 hours straight through to 5pm on Christmas Eve. Because Southern Hemisphere Christmasses are hot, and root vegetables are not at all seasonal, the ‘traditional’ Christmas dinner tends to fly out of the window in favour of lighter, more summery fayre such as fish and summer vegetables. 80,000 people pass through the fish market on Christmas Eve each year to stock up on seafood for the festive season! During this time, 120,000 tonnes of prawns are sold, 90,000 dozen oysters, 55 tonnes of salmon, among many other delicious fresh offerings.



Some of the crowds at the fish market


I took advantage of mum’s jet-lag to meet at the crack of dawn, and after a bus ride, train ride and tram ride we finally made it to Pyrmont, following our noses for the rest of the way. Despite the early hour, the crowds were astonishing, as people scrambled to secure the choicest fish steaks for their Christmas meal. As fast as the stuff sold, fresh catches were being brought ashore: fishes were swiftly filleted in back rooms and hastily brought to the counters… The freshness certainly couldn’t be in dispute here! After wandering round for a while in awe, Keith raised his voice above the din and ordered a yummy selection for tomorrow: half a kilo of King prawns, half a kilo of Tiger prawns, some swordfish steaks, ocean trout and some delicious barramundi. I’d not heard of barramundi before I came to Oz but it’s without doubt my favourite fish here. We’re gonna ‘whack them on the barbie’ tomorrow, and enjoy them with champagne and salad in the sunshine. Watch this space for news of how mum copes without pigs-in-blankets and granny’s bread sauce…

In a climate which is not exactly conducive to feeling Christmassy, and far away from family and friends, it’s cheering to have mum and Keith here to celebrate Christmas with me. I hope you and your families have merry and safe Christmasses, and I look forward to being in touch with everyone in 2008.

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