Australia: Boxing Day in Sydney

26 December 2013

Well, my first Christmas away from home and family was more than dull. Let's be frank. It was terrible. Sydney was rainy, gloomy, and gray. I would much rather have been at home in Michigan in the cold and snow, driving 10 miles under the speed limit because of icy roads, shoveling the driveway, and spending an extra five minutes just putting boots and winter gear on every time I left the house. Oh, I wouldn't have minded the extra ten minutes it takes to get the car running, brush off the snow, and scrape off the ice from the windshield. Had I had a nice sunny day down at the beach in 30-40°C (90-110°F) weather, maybe my tone would be different, but nah.

Christmas Eve wasn't bad, though. A friend of mine had some friends over at his apartment for a nice cookout on his new grill (or in Aussie terms, to have a barbecue on his new barbecue), which was fun, but I left around 10:30 because I wanted to maintain some semblance of Christmas tradition so I headed down to really the only church I know of, St. Mary's Cathedral, for part of their Christmas Eve services. Really, I just wanted to hear and sing some traditional Christmas Carols like our church back at home does for the midnight service, but I arrived at the Cathedral an hour late for that. It was packed, though, and every single seat in the nave was full with spare pews lining the outer aisles, but few spare seats; people were standing and sitting wherever there was an open spot on the floor. I did, however, find a seat next to a very nice Asian woman who reminded me a lot of my grandmothers. She was there for the services, too, unlike many of the tourists poking their heads in, but between songs and scripture, she was all ears and wanted to know what an American like me was doing in Sydney, why I wasn't at home with family, and why I would come to St. Mary's if I was not Catholic. I smile thinking about her because even though I'd never met her before and never will see her again, I sensed that she wasn't spending her holiday with many family members either, and so in some way we were supposed to sit next to each other and be a surrogate family for the next two hours.

The service was very nice and included your traditional scripture readings (albeit all sung on the same note like in all Catholic churches which I do not understand - kind of like the sing-speaking in "Les Misérables"), the classic carols (which when over 500 people join in with the organ in a massive Cathedral is amazing!), and all of those little other Catholic rites or call-and-response songs that seemingly everyone knows but follows no real melody and for an outsider like me is just complete confusion! But I did my best and I wasn't there to nit-pick the service. It was very well done and quite inspiring to share that experience with so many people! It's a good feeling to know that churches still do fill up these days, even if it is just for Christmas.

Midnight passed and the service finally came around to partaking in communion, which I know that since I'm not Catholic, I do not take at a Catholic church. I also know, from my Aunt's church back at home, that serving communion to a few hundred people can take over an hour, so with a Cathedral full of people, I figured it would take until next Christmas! I said, "Merry Christmas," to my surrogate-grandmother and ducked out of the Cathedral. Sydney was empty, and since I wasn't tired yet, I walked down to Martin Place (the Wall Street of Sydney) to see the Christmas Tree they had set up, and then walked up George Street to the Town Hall station where I caught the last train home.

Martin Place Christmas Tree, Christmas Day 2012

Since I've already mentioned how not-great Christmas was, I'll move on to Boxing Day! Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated in most other current or former British Empire countries and commonwealths. It is the day that workers would receive gifts from their employers upon returning to work after Christmas. Nowadays, most everyone has Boxing Day off and there are lots of festivities around the city, the most exciting of which is the Sydney to Hobart (capital of Tasmania) Yacht Race which begins at the Harbour Bridge. All of the boats, ships, and yachts then race out to the Harbour Heads, out into the Pacific Ocean and then follow the coast all the way down to Tasmania. It is a massive event and I was told to make sure to get a good view somewhere near the Harbour Heads, which I was going to do but not after treating myself to a breakfast fit for a king: scrambled eggs, french toast, real bacon, and pineapple - delicious! The time it took me to make and eat breakfast set me back, though, so I caught a bus out to Watsons Bay, the suburb right on the South Head, distraught that I was sure I'd miss the good spots because the traffic was heavy and people were everywhere! But as it turns out, I found a great little spot on the edge of the cliffs at the Gap Park where my view was looking directly north to the North Head, perfect for watching the Yachts come through the Harbour Mouth and turn to head south.

For a while there was no excitement other than watching the 14 helicopters flying around overhead like a swarm of flies. But then a series of motor boats rounded the South Head and soon enough Wild Oats XI came streaming through the mouth of the Harbour, sails full, and you quickly realise just how big some of this boats are! I was a good distance away and above the yacht, but comparing the size of the yacht to the size of the cliffs behind her at North Head, you came to the conclusion that there wasn't much difference! (Wild Oats XI, by the way, eventually won the race.) Soon to follow were a few more large yachts and a dozens more smaller yachts, each being accompanied by a speedboat and being followed by locals in their own speedboats, tourists on the Manly Ferry, and patrons out on the tall-ship, the James Craig. Once the yachts made their way past North and South Heads, they were in the open ocean, turned south, and started following the coast toward Hobart, their final destination, almost 1,200 kilometres away!



It was fantastic to watch and be part of such a large crowd, but soon the crowd thinned and I headed over to the Laings Point Reserve, spread out my blanet, took out a few papers and a beer and read in the shade of a tree, with beautiful views of the city all around! Overall, not an entirely bad Boxing Day...though I forget what I did with the rest of the day...