I must have spent more time thinking about Christmas Day than any other day on this trip. This is the first time I’ve spent it away from family, so I was keen to make sure that I’d be in company for as much of it as possible. I’m pleased to report that Melbourne came up trumps and my Christmas was as merry as it could be so far from home!
The celebrations began for me on Christmas Eve at St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral. I attended the beautiful Service of Nine Lessons and Carols, modelled on that at King’s College Cambridge, but with a few interesting variations. Each reading was given in one of the many languages spoken in the city, and references to “winter’s snow” were replaced by ones to “summer’s sun”!
It was great to “come and adore Him” on the other side of the world and the preacher drew out many lessons from the Nativity story that were pertinent to the current national conversation in Australia. He was preaching again at Midnight Mass, for which I returned later. On Sunday the service was taken by a cricket fan who couldn’t resist a few digs at the Poms…
In between the services, I headed down to the Yarra River for dinner and drinks with some of my former students, who’d let me know they were in Melbourne for the cricket.
On Christmas Day, I attended a community lunch at CrossCulture church. The people were friendly, and I was invited to a café (several were open in this multicultural city) by some of them afterwards. I also had a jolly good singsong with a chap who was playing carols on the piano!
From my extensive research to avoid being alone (!), I’d discovered that a local social club was holding a Christmas picnic in the Queen Victoria Gardens. I arrived for the end of it, kicked a ball about for a while, was given cake and found myself invited to various other events later in the day!
First, however, I decided to go on a walk to the Shrine of Remembrance and into the Botanic Gardens. Despite an air temperature of only 17 degrees, one of Melbourne’s coolest Christmas Days on record, it felt warm in the Sun and it was lovely seeing families enjoying the day outdoors together.
All public transport around Melbourne was free on Christmas Day (as indeed it is at weekends this Summer), so I next decided to honour an Aussie tradition and head to the beach.
The park behind the beach was quite bracing in the wind, but that hadn’t deterred locals and tourists from spending the afternoon there. I found a couple of groups willing to let me join their games of cricket, in which any mistake was of course likened to those of the England XI…
The hostel at which I’ve been staying in Melbourne is very efficiently-run, friendly and sociable. On my first night there, I’d been whisked from the rooftop bar for games and a bit of dancing at a jazz club, and the next evening I returned to find that someone in my dorm had bought his two roommates Christmas presents!
I had my Christmas supper in the hostel’s dining room, with a delightful group of French and Italians. I’d stocked up on smoked salmon and a few other treats the day before and was soon sharing food and wine in the convivial setting.
Later in the evening, I followed up on an invitation from the picnic and made more new friends at a vibrant bar near the hostel.
As lunchtime approached in the UK, it was lovely to speak to family, rounding off a very different but nonetheless happy Christmas Day.
Another highlight of the week has been reconnecting with Chantal, the fourth and final friend from Paris I’ve had the pleasure of seeing on this trip. We had a splendid lunch and catch-up at Afloat, a restaurant on a Yarra barge that has understandably become a hit with Melburnians.
Of course, there has been another reason for my visit to Melbourne, but that has been sufficiently exciting to have earned its own post…
Around the World in 70 Days 
Leave a comment