Christmas in Healesville
The days after Christmas and New years often feel quite surreal to me. There seems to be no sense of what day it is and if nothing is planned, those 6 days can drift by in a state of haze. After a year of grueling repeated lockdowns and travel restrictions in 2020, we take the opportunity to make a plan to do something after Christmas, and go on a road trip with some friends.
We head out to Healesville, 2 families of 4. Even though we’ve only recently got to know this family, it seems like we’ve known them for an eternity - a combination of complementary personality types and shared experiences growing up help us instantly click - it’s funny how sometimes even us adult introverts can still make friends at this age. Our children are all similarly aged, the older two are 6 months apart and the younger two, also 6 months apart. It works out very well indeed, nap times coincide and the children have friends to entertain themselves with (sort of). Highlights of the road trip include a lunch date to a winery, a dinner of home cooked crab noodles & prized copycat Bedok Corner cheng tng by yours truly, morning coffees & croissants at Habituel, a visit to Healesville Sanctuary and of course, no family summer holiday would be without multiple trips to the playground & ice cream stops for the kids. The rest of the meal times in our temporary home are a big circus, as you expect, but good all things considered.
The Christmas season is often a time for families to gather, but with family being a continent away, I’m glad we have friends to call family.
Photographed on Contax G1 on Kodak Portra 400