Meabel1

I know this may seem a odd question but what Christmas decorations are ther in Oz??

Just sorting out attic and wondering what Chrimbo decroartions to take ......................

Bordy

Same as in UK only a lot more outdoor ones over here.

Bix

Careful what you take as previous threads have said xmas decs are one of the things AQIS are hot on.

Don't take anything with cones or leaves etc.

Trevglas

Places like Bunnings sell christmas fairy lights by the metre!

You can also see some bizzare sights, such as some poor guy dressed up as Santa whos job is to stand outside some shop/garage etc in the blazing (45 deg) sun all day.

Slightly off topic, but how do the rest of you in Australia cope with Christmas here?

I always finish up with everything being left to the last second, because it doesnt seem like Christmas because its not freezing cold/grey/ damp and the shops just are not that crowded!

Ceri

Last year I left it until Christmas eve. did the food shopping, the booze shopping, bought presents, wrapped the presents and put up the tree all on the 24th.. and it still didn't feel like Christmas. Time I did all that.. I was P8ssed as a newt. And it still didn't feel like Christmas.

Last Christmas a few of the shopping malls had all night shopping, a pilot scheme.. and they were packed.

Christmas never feels like Christmas to me in warm weather ( and that's after 12 years of warm Christmases). Usually I start buying presents two to one week before Christmas , food a week before, fresh food like seafood, bread and salad I always get Christmas eve morning. Presents to send home.. I usually leave that to the last moment as well.. about a week and a half before Christmas I tend to post them.. and then worry if they will get there in time. Usually end up sending them priority mail, or with a courier.

I hate Christmas. It's the same old thing .. poxy BBq's .. yawn.. plastic fake Christmas trees and decorations that look odd in the heat. If I had the choice I'd fly out of here every Christmas. I miss the hustle and bustle, I miss the cold of it , big family gatherings , family arguments and everything that goes with a real to me Christmas.

Depends what Christmas decorations you have and if you want to keep them. If you have some really nice and unusual ones that you don't want to part with.. keep them. If you have a fake tree... throw it.. plenty of fake cheap trees here in the shops. If your decorations are just plain bog standard - throw them
Lights throw them.
A lot of the decorations here are cheap and nasty looking ,like in Kmart .. Chinese cheapies, not really very nice quality, and a bit boring. Hard to get some of the more upmarket, pretty unusual decorations.

Hate it, hate it , hate it

ABCDiamond

They are on Christmas Eve !! It must be everyone leaving everything to the last minute

sue48

We have only been here for 1 xmas so far. We had family come over to spend it with us, so it was a great novelty to have a cold lunch and go to the beach. Where incidently we were wearing santa hats and splashing around in the sea so we became the focus of all the visitors on the beach who then took out their cameras to get a shot of these mad Poms.
It was fun but I am sure I am gonna miss all the festive fun back in the UK

bob and ginnie

After 33 Christmases now in the heat, I still miss the times I had as a kid.
The first Christmas, all those years ago, I spent lying on the beach at Scarborough, Perth, Western Australia, as most young blokes of 21 would . . . but it didn't feel any different to any other weekend down the beach in the long hot summers here.
Now, it's having the kids get all together for those "special" times when family is one again for once a year, at least.
Christmas can be one of the most melancholy times of the year for me, if I dwell too much on the past. I try to just let it wash over me, so I don't have to think back on the long cold nights that were the English wniter-time, walking past people's windows and seeing their Christmas tree ablaze with lights, and the shops all lit up with festive signs. I don't know whether I'm getting old . . or what . . but it just seems so bloody fake nowadays, whereas years past, Christmas, or the real meaning of it all, meant something to some people, and there'd be the Christmas greetings passed on to others.
Now, with political correctness, school kids are no longer allowed to sing Christmas carols or do nativity plays in South Australian schools (State schools, at least) in fear of "offending" others since 1995.
Seems we don't like multi-culturalism . . . it's NON-culturalism.
South Australian are growing up not knowing all the carols that their English cousins know off by heart!
Some Christmas here!

jad n rich

Dont mention it, the wifes family in UK go over the top with it all, booking some remote country house, log firers, frosty walks, mammoth turkeys, real tree the mere mention of Christmas here causes depression and "WTF wants Xmas in 45 degrees" type rants. Of course not helped by Chrstmas sale catalogues appearing in JULY.

If anybody wants to donate $15,000 to send the family home PM me

Ceri

It's one time I even miss mum-in-law LOL , and that's saying something!

Every boxing day ..everyone in the family is supposed to gather at her house... all the distance rellies the lot( and I mean everyone ... we are all supposed to go to her house from miles around... she gives me grief on the phone every Christmas when we phone home .. "you should be here!") . And she hands out the xmas presents.. reads all the cards.. like if she's the queen.. and whoa be tide if you don't go..lol

I even miss that ..LOL .. I must be desperate. I miss my christmases. boo hoo.. good and bad. Christmas is just not the same here

Megalania

Snowy Mountains and WTF for a fraction.

jad n rich

Guaranteed Log fires too and roasted bush fowl, especially after a drought

:scared:

Thanks for the suggestion tho.

Megalania

Queenstown NZ for similar fraction.

jad n rich

Turkey - has anyone managed to buy it here apart from at Xmas or Easter?

I mean the real bird too, not the frozen flavoured turkey roll they bring out when you ask for it. Real turkey you stuff and bake or turkey portions breast meat preferably.


Megalania I think you'd better leave this one alone

Don

One issue with NZ is that whilst the skiing is OK, the slopes are quite a distance from the hotels. So you need to factor in transport of one kind or another.

QT has got a lot of competition in the hotel/ hostel field so usually offers pretty good room rates.