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| Richard in Matthew and Sarah's kitchen |
We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant which was very busy. Then we spoke on WhatsApp to Laura and the Hernandez family, who were still celebrating Christmas Eve. We met Matthew and Sarah in the hotel lobby, and had a coffee in MacDonalds. Then we all took the 302 bus to Box Hill, where they live. Our first visit.
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| Christmas lunch 2017 - a nice picnic of meat and cheese |
We visited Matthew and Sarah's apartment which was very nice and modern, although quite small. They served us Prosecco and we exchanged small presents. I got some earrings and R got a cheese cookbook and a wine guide. We gave them a few mementos of Grandma too.
We had a lovely lunch of hummus, cheeses and meat with olives and bread, plus some ripe cherries. We then got an Uber to Elwood beach. It was breezy there and we walked along to St. Kilda, which was quite crowded. We went onto the sand and I took some photos.
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| On St. Kilda beach, Christmas Day 2017 |
Then we got a tram back to the city centre and rested in our room.
In the evening we all went for a Chinese banquet at Quanjude. We ate wonton soup, scallops, whiting, a whole Peking duck with pancakes and hoisin sauce and jasmine tea, followed by fried rice with beef and mandarin sauce, black mushrooms with bean curd, and baby pak choi. A delicious meal!
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| Our Peking duck dinner |
We said goodbye to Matthew and Sarah, returned to our hotel and started packing for tomorrow's flight to Adelaide.
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| Matthew waiting to start |
