An Outback Christmas

While I was in Mt.Isa I took a few photos on Christmas Day to show my friends in the Northern Hemisphere how some families spend the hot and often muggy day in Australia. I believe it is extremely cold in some countries at the moment so the photos might cheer some of my readers up as they look ahead to the brighter days of summer.

If we had been left to our own devices we probably would have given Christmas lunch a miss as we were so tired as bub had only been home for a few days and most of the residents were feeling quite lacklustre from being sleep deprived :-) However, a friend had asked us to join them for a Barbeque after church so we made the effort and eventually arrived when the meat was well on the way to being cooked . To my surprise it was being cooked by a young man who I knew as a teenager when he lived here in town. It was lovely to catch up with him after all these years. 

For lunch we all 'bought a plate' and enjoyed a variety of salads with the meat and finished off the meal with pavlova and trifle. Punch was in plentiful supply and everything was just plain and simple. Our hostess has good old country hospitality and she and her hubby have worked hard to make their home a very pleasant place to entertain friends and family. The pool was a big hit with my granddaughters and they spent most of the day there. The house is surrounded by Frangipanis in all colours which have been grown from cuttings.

After lunch I took a walk around the garden and was amazed to see the variety of plants which were growing so well despite the harsh climate. There were a lot of succulents including Euphorbia ...

  

...another succulent which I think we may have growing here but I want a boot like this one too :-)

This bush has orange berries and a little purple flower and grows really well in Mt.Isa apparently.

There are pomegrantes growing....

 

...and the beautiful Bouganvillea  which I was told is rather easy to keep in check (if you know how to grow it properly).

Then there was this plant which I hope someone can identify. Apparently it is a weed but it is so pretty as it seems to have a delicate lacy edge. I do hope it isn't a pest 

The Desert Rose is quite stunning and easy to grow in the Outback. It just shows what you can grow when you persist and with a lot of trial and error a beautiful garden can be grown even in the harshest climate without getting an excess water bill. I was very impressed by the variety of plants and came home with a few cuttings as all gardeners are generous with their plants I have found.

Isaiah James slept for most of the afternoon while Mum caught up with her friend. The day was overcast so it was perfect weather for the young ones to spend time in the pool and for everyone to just share a meal together and chat.

All in all it was a very pleasant day and I was glad that we made the effort to go out. It will probably be the only Outback Christmas I have as summer is not the best time to visit. Nanna braved the heat this year because our little man was arriving in time for Christmas.

I do hope that everyone enjoyed their Christmas wherever they were around the world. I would love to experience one white Christmas but I doubt that that will ever happen as I have no desire to travel overseas and I would probably miss the sunshine anyway :-)