Bart Bear's Blog

Santa played a mean trick on me this year. He left my present under Unka Mark and Aunty Vicki's tree, so I had to wait until lunchtime to get to it. All morning I was taken around to other places for breakfast and morning tea and had to watch Oldies and kids unwrapping presents. That's really tough on an impatient small bear. Eventually we made it to MY present. Just what I had asked for, my very own bobsled. That covers a vital gap in my transport fleet. I can now zip around in snow. All I need is snow, which doesn't fall in Canberra very often, but when it does I am ready. In the meantime the bobsled has tiny wheels that let me zip across the tiled floors. Note the Royal Australian Bear Force markings. This goes with the RABF aeroplane Santa bought me last year. I suspect that Santa contracted the construction of both vehicles out to one of his larger elves. I can't say which one, just in case I spoil future jobs, but the photo of the Oldie with the weird hat and the mug of Jingle Juice is a strong hint for you.

Labels: Christmas, Santa

Just 4 more sleeps before Santa comes. It is a very busy time of year for us. Everything seems to come in the same few weeks: the Oldies wedding anniversary, bro Trent's birthday, grandkids (the Oldies' grandkids, not mine) to drop presents off to, and most importantly of all MUM'S BIRTHDAY. I am not allowed to tell you how old she is, but it's a lot older than me, that's for sure. Mum's birthday is tomorrow. Then it's out with the Santa lures and settling into the impatient wait. Of course there is a lot more to Christmas than Santa, but small bears tend to leave the heavy philosophy to Oldies and concentrate on the fun. No matter how you celebrate Christmas, I wish you all a happy and safe holiday season. And I will report in again soon after and report on how Santa did this year.

Labels: Christmas, Santa

Last week we went down to the special Christmas Barn at Bredbo. This place has just about every Christmas ornament, tree, Santa statue, reindeer or snowman that you could ever think of. Mum and I love the place, Dad just grumbles along to carry things. When I climbed up the lamp post to see what was up there, I looked across the hedge and there he was - Santa, sound asleep on what I thought was a giant, very bent, banana. Well, Mum tells me that that was the crescent Moon, but I know enough about the Moon to know that it doesn't work like that. Anyhow, Santa was there asleep. I tried waking him up. I climbed up and tried tickling his nose, I tried bouncing on his tummy. I even yelled "Wake Up Jeff" just in case that was his secret identity. Nothing worked, so I whispered my request list into his ear and hope that his brain recorder was working. I will find out in just 9 more sleeps. Here's hoping.

Labels: Christmas, Santa

Last night we went for a drive to check out one of the sure signs that Christmas is getting near again. There are many streets where the people dress up their houses with gazillions of Christmas lights. I always like being driven around to see them. The photos are from two of the best displays I have seen so far. The top row is a house in Bissenberger Crescent in Kambah. This house was on TV the other night in a program on Australia's best Christmas light displays. The whole house and garden is covered in lights. The garden is like Santa's cave, full of toys and elves. If you look hard you can see me sitting by the entrance, hoping that Santa will come by. The bottom row shows the biggest and best-lit Christmas tree that this small bear has ever seen. It is in Tennyson Crescent in Forrest. The garden here is also covered in lights that make it a cave. All the lights on the tree and in the garden are controlled by a computer and they change colour and turn on and off in time with music. It is wonderful to see and hear. To top it off, every so often Santa lands on the roof of the house, walks along the roof, and dives down the chimney. I love Christmas light displays, and really think that these ones will take some beating.

Labels: Canberra, Christmas, Santa

In just about every story about castaways there is a time when the hero is forced to live in a cave near the beach. On our Narooma trip, Scruffy and I found an ideal cave for castaway bears. It is near the entrance to the little harbour. There are lots of rocks there that have been eroded into strange and beautiful shapes. Most of them have holes and caves in them. This one was just above the high tide line and had everything that castaways would need. A little beach near the front, lots of small rock pools where small fish get trapped as the tide drops and shellfish on the rocks. If the Oldies had left us there, Scruff and I would have been able to survive happily for a long time. We might even have learned to swim.

Labels: beach, New South Wales, south coast

You probably guessed that I have been away again. This time we spent several days down at Narooma waiting for the sea to calm down and the rain to go away. We were hoping to get out to one of the few lighthouses in New South Wales that Mum hasn't got photos of yet. It is on Montague Island and is one of only two island lighthouses in NSW. The lighthouse went into operation in 1881 and was upgraded to automatic operation in 1986. It is 9km offshore and you should be able to get to the island on one of the tours from Narooma. We didn't get there. The weather was too bad some days and there weren't enough customers on others. The only photos we managed to get were from our apartment balcony. Considering that Dad took this one between rain showers near twilight, it's not bad. Maybe next time we are going through Narooma we will get out to the island and get better photos.

Labels: lighthouse, New South Wales, south coast