Christmas in Adelaide

The last time we spent Christmas in Australia with Granny Jenni, Pops John and Steve was 2014. Way too long ago! So after the AVS Christmas performance a couple of weeks ago the four of us hopped on a plane bound for Adelaide for a couple of weeks in the sun. Our trip over went without a hitch – although it was a long route via Fiji and Melbourne – and the girls were straight into the Christmas spirit making sugar cookies for Santa shortly after we landed in Port Willunga. They even cajoled Steve into decorating! We all enjoyed a fabulous dinner at The Little Rickshaw on Christmas Eve followed by a true blue Aussie breakfast on the BBQ Christmas morning as we opened gifts at Jenni and Steve’s in Port Willunga. Santa left a note that there was a Radio Flyer waiting in California for the kids on their return, it only took them a few minutes to start hatching plans for how they were going to put it to work!

It was an unseasonably cool start to summer in Adelaide during our time in town, but we still managed plenty of days on the beach up and down the metro coast. The color of the water at Port Willunga below Jenni and Steve’s house never ceases to amaze, the turquoise blue ocean and white sand could be mistaken for a beach in the Mediterranean or Aegean. So picturesque… Also quite fun to run into Jess Hargaves and her kids one day on the beach at Port Willunga as they were anchored in the bay in their 55 foot catamaran Orient. The kids had a blast taking the dinghy out to the cat and exploring the behemoth boat.

We of course couldn’t visit Adelaide without a few trips to the reef at Port Noarlunga, Pia Sherrah joined us on one of our adventures and we all had a blast boosting off the jetty into the deep. The jetty and reef at Port Noarlunga is always such a fun spot to snorkel for the kids, so protected and the amount of sea life making its home there is astonishing. Little Max stayed in the water there with Steve and I one day until his lips were blue!

It was fun to catch up with a few old friends and some family in addition to Jenni, Steve and Pops John. And to do so with some excellent food and great wines (thank you Johnny for the lobsters and prawns and Matt for all the exquisite wines…). The Brookman/Culley clan paid us a visit one day in Port Willunga, as did the Fultons, and we also enjoyed a meal in the Central Market with Henry and Tina one one of the cooler, non-beach days during our stay. It was a hoot to spend New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day staying with the Littles, McCabes and Greg and Danni at Sellicks beach, the first time the four families had all been together since our fantastic trip to Samoa in 2019. And the first time Matt and Anna had had 15 people sleeping under their roof! Kudos to Sam Little who, at age seven, took the crown to the inaugural Sellicks Beach ping pong tournament. Card games, dice cups, excellent food, magic beach weather and fantastic company made the 2023/2024 New Year transition one to remember. I actually made it to midnight, I can’t remember the last time that happened.

Steve kindly treated the four of us to a day at TreeClimb in Kuitpo on the day after Christmas. We experienced the sister course in Adelaide during our semester in Adelaide in 2022, but all of us agreed the Kuitpo version was a lot more fun. The kids had a ball zip lining through the eucalyptus canopy, big grins all round…

As is always the case with vacations, it flew by way too quickly. But I’m thankful the kids’ schools have started making Christmas break a two week affair instead of one, much more time to enjoy some R&R in Adelaide with the grandparents and work on our tans before heading back to the California winter. Thanks everyone for such amazing hospitality during our stay!