The Christmas in July celebrations were held in the magnificent Aylmerton House in a village of the same name, not far from Mittagong in the Southern Highlands. The grand sandstone house with extensive gardens was the perfect setting for a sunny, but crisp, winter getaway. On Friday a few people stopped off for a walk from Rockford Bridge to Mermaids Pool near Pheasant’s Nest which punches above it’s weight as a spectacular water hole on the Bargo River. In the evening Andy cooked up a vat of spag-bol, and as is tradition, there was some pilfering of the wine reserved for Saturday as the evening wore on. Next year we may need a UN presence to keep the peace.
Come ‘Christmas’ morning, bacon and egg rolls were served to aid recovery where required and people headed out to the Box Vale Walking Track with winds up into the hills on the north side of the Hume highway following a disused railway line to the charming Nattai Gorge Lookout. Luckily the precipitous drop down the former incline railway and bush-bash through the gorge was closed, so we had to go back the way we came. Once back at the car park, some sensible people decided that was enough fresh air for the day and headed home, while others were lured by the promise of koalas at the Mansfield Reserve. Despite everyone’s best efforts, there was nothing but two echidnas to rub together and a lot of mud so they too headed for home, with Rick’s car stopping to help some folk who had parked on the verge and got their car struck.
By 5pm everyone had scrubbed up well and it was G&Ts, cute Bocelli-snowpeople-canapes and Secret Santa in the drawing room. No candle sticks involved. With two functional ovens (for a change) dinner was served early (!) in the magnificent dining room with a roaring fire. Anne’s mum’s Christmas puds were excellent and before long it was time to retire to the living room to snooze on the sofa eith more cards against humanity.
The weekend wrapped up with the usual full-English and a very orderly queue on Sunday morning.
