Holidays in Fremantle

My first holidays away from home! I wasn’t sure what to expect. Living in Reno for 5 years, I’ve been used to west coast Thanksgivings, but I’ve never been away for Christmas.

Thanksgiving, Jerremy and I hosted a Friendsgiving- complete with mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, and BBQ chicken on the grill (we had to improvise, no oven). Oh, and stewed cinnamon apples (again, no oven, so no pie!)

A hot Christmas. At the beach. A bit different than what I’m used to! Normally the month of December is full of holiday activities - cookie exchanges, Hallmark Christmas movies, and family gatherings. This year, it was full of summertime activities - tanning, swimming, and BBQs.  

My parent’s went above and beyond to ensure I had a good holiday - sending weekly cards with pop-up decorations, a stocking full of my favorite candy, and a pack of snowflakes I used to decorate my prison cell (yes, I slept in a prison cell). Family and friends sent cards and video chats which made the homesickness much more bearable!

Staying in an international backpacker’s hostel, we made a point to try to celebrate everyone’s traditions. For a lot of countries, Christmas is actually celebrated on the 24th. In Belgium, it’s traditional at midnight to shake everyone’s hands, kiss both cheeks, and say “Peace be with you.” We listened to songs from around the world. Then, we made our own celebration Freo style! We opened the hostel to current and past guests, hosted a BBQ during the day, and then headed to the beach for a swim and sunset. I had to work from 7am-3pm, but with the lunchtime BBQ, I could join in the party in between duties at the front desk.

Also, what’s Christmas without gifts?! A group of us did a Secret Santa exchange - finding gifts for traveller’s with limited space in their backpacks is tough, but we all gave a consistent trend with games (I got Pun-Believable…the punniest of games).

New Year’s Eve. I’ve never been one for a crazy night out, paid entrance at a bar or club…and you can bet on a backpacker’s budget this wasn’t the year that would change. Instead, we planned to spend the evening at King’s Park in Perth with drinks and a picnic to watch fireworks over the city. We went from 3 of us, to joining Stefano from Rottnest back from his travels up north along with people he met along the way, to friends of friends of friends joining to make a group of 30+ people. Exactly how I want to ring in the New Year!