Christmas Wishes & New Year Plans

We have been a wee bit self-indulgent, neglecting any house-type decisions, and instead spending time with family and friends over the Christmas period. Which is what we believe Christmas is really all about (although with Viktoria's family involved, even a game of "Snakes & Ladders" has the potential to become a blood sport).
But we have still made time to go for walks in the bush surrounding our current home in Queensland. Even setting off before 6am, the air is already dense and humid. The heady scent of humus greets you as you crunch along foot worn paths. Leaves hang heavy on eucalyptus trees, their bark splitting and peeling to reveal fresh skin, a startling shade of burnt umber.
At one of the last stands of Bunya pines, the cicadas' song is so loud you need to block your ears. Their call waxes and wanes, until you come to the still-running creek which bubbles through bold slabs of grey granite on its way to the valley below.
The sky is that crazy shade of blue so unique to the subtropics.
You're already peeling off a T-shirt, dripping in perspiration, before you make it to the front door.
We will miss the Queensland bush - its colours, its smells, its sounds. But we won't miss the Queensland heat.
Following a couple of days R&R, in the New Year, Viktoria is going to make a concerted effort to get the whole "get the block cleared, get some access to the build site" organised.
Until then, we hope that you, your families and friends, had a safe and happy Christmas and that the New Year brings promise.
V&A