A Very Aussie Christmas (or..."that tea thing is for real men too")

Ben and I celebrated our Christmas down under yesterday in what appeared to be a very Aussie-like celebration.  We opened our presents at our apartment - the Mario Brothers Brawl was a big success and will probably be nice to have for the remaining six weeks of our stay.  Ben also received Monopoly - Australia Edition (will also be nice to have a game here - especially one that can take days to win - sorta like cricket, as I now know).

After presents, we went to Yass to have brunch with Amy and Matt.  They made a fabulous brunch, with Amy's 3-Day sticky rolls and eggs benedict with balmain bugs and lobster.  Don't let the name fool you; balmain bugs are great.  They're like a cross between lobster and crawfish (though much bigger than crawfish).  Amy also made a macaroon tree, which was having a tough time staying on the plate until Matt brought out the caulking guy (i guess caulking is Australian for glue).  Ben and I made mohitos and fruit salad.

After Amy and Matt's, we went to Alec and Fanny's (Alec is also faculty at UNSW).  Bigger group there.  One of their friends, Nick, brought his cricket set and taught us all how to play cricket, which we did until storms moved in.  You'll notice below that our "wicket" is actually a trash can (sorry...this is Australia, it's a rubbish bin) - that was to give all of us newbies a fighting chance to actually hit the wicket.  Nick was a great coach and instructor, but grew more and more exasperated with every time he yelled "it's not PITCHING it's BOWLING."  

I now understand cricket much better and the reason why one of the three forms lasts for days - literally.  Though I question (aloud, much to Nick's frustration), whether cricket can really be considered a sport, due to all of the "tea breaks."  Still confounding...

Ben had a great time with cricket, the two dogs (boxers I think) and the alpacas.  

Merry Christmas