Hay guys and dolls. I know that not all of you will be interested in an Australia Day chapter but just give it a chance,I promise that it's really funny:)

"Happy new year Comrade." And then we went back to our room to complete the memory of the last time. That Dimitri had dressed up in all black and acted like a Strigoi. And it was a very happy start to the new year indeed.

RPOV

I unlocked the door slowly and quietly. I didn't want to wake the kids up or I would spend the next hour putting them back to bed instead of doing what I wanted to do. Namely eating, showering and cuddling up in the arms of my sexy Russian, in that order. I shut the door behind me and headed to the kitchen in search for the food that I know Dimitri left out for me. I looked on the table and...aha! A nice big plate of lasagna and veggies. I licked my lips as I popped the plate into the microwave and watched it heat up.

"You know you will get cancer if you stand to close to that thing all the time." I heard a low and sexy voice say from behind me. I smiled and walked over and wrapped my arms around Dimitri's neck as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. I gave him a long kiss hello not minding at all the change in my plans for the night. I would always want to be in my Comrade's arms.

"Hello to you too," I muttered keeping my voice just as low as his. "How was your day?" We had agreed to alternate who guarded and who stayed at home with the kids so neither one of us missed out on spending time with them, but still got to do the job that we loved.

"It was nice. Lissy's reading is getting better by the day and little Comrade is almost walking," Dimitri said with a proud smile. Lissy was now six and would start school soon. I was sad that my baby was growing up so fast, but at least I still had my little Comrade. And my big one for that matter, so we could always have more kids if we wanted.

"How was your day?" Dimitri asked walking over to get the food out of the microwave before it beeped and woke up the kids.

"It was...interesting," I said as I sat down and started shovelling food into my mouth at my normal fast pace.

"And what does "interesting" mean? Something good or bad?" Dimitri asked as he poured himself a glass of milk.

"Good. Just unexpected," I said smiling at him. I'm sure that he would love it, I was looking forward to it too. I just wanted to let him hang for a bit and watch him squirm.

"Roza," Dimitri growled in a voice that said that he knew exactly what I was doing.

"Ok, ok! Well today Adrian came in to see Lissa and to run an idea by her."

"And?"

"And he wants to take us all to Sydney this week so we can all see the city that our Sydney was named after," I told him finishing off my food and walking over to him to steal his milk.

"Sydney as in Sydney, Australia?" Dimitri asked, wide eyed.

"The very same. I told him that I would have to check with you and see if you were ok with it. And if you wanted to take the kids," I told him as I put my plate in the sink and went to have a shower.

"Why wouldn't I want to take the kids? I think that they would really enjoy seeing other places," Dimitri said trailing behind me.

"You're kidding me right? It's a hot little island in the middle of no where that is most famous for deadly things and a big rock! And don't you know their motto?" I asked looking back at him wide eyed.

"What motto?" Dimitri asked looking skeptically at me. He probably thought that I was just stereotyping Australia as a dead wasteland like I did to Russia. Except that back then it was an arctic wasteland.

"Come to Australia, where almost everything can kill you!" I said in a fake cheery voice. I had serious concerns about taking my kids there.

"Come on Roza don't you think that you might be exaggerating just a bit? I'm sure that it's not that bad. I hear that it's actually a pretty highly ranked place for a holiday."

"Yeah you're right. We should take our kids to this barren wasteland where they would probably get killed by a kangaroo or attacked by a drop bear."

"I don't think that drop bears are actually real Roza," Dimitri said in a dry humorless voice.

"Well you will forgive me if I want to take precautions," I said, striping and getting into the shower.

"So does that mean that you want to go?" Dimitri asked striping down and joining me. Mmmmm if he was trying to convince me then he was going about it the right way...

"Maybe. Apparently Adrian picked this week because it's going to fall on their Australia Day. And there supposed to be all this big celebrations and fire works and stuff. And it would be nice to have a holiday. Not to mention, get a tan. It's summer over there and there's so much sun that you might actually need sunscreen," I laughed quietly as Dimitri started rubbing some body lotion onto me.

"I think that a family vacation is over due. But I'm surprised that Adrian wants to go to such a sunny place," Dimitri said as he turned around so I could start lathering him up with lotion.

"What can you do, he's smitten with Sydney and had too much money for his own good. So we're going?" I asked.

"I guess we are. And with so much sun shine we might even be able to relax for a bit. I'm sure that there aren't many Strigoi in Australia," Dimitri said from behind me.

"Well then we had better get some rest. It's going to be non stop with all of us and the kids going," I said as I headed off to bed. But Dimitri caught me around the waist.

"So are you to tired to talk about...seating positions... on the plane?" Dimitri asked in a low and sexy voice that had nothing to do with travel talk.

"Mmmm you know I might be up for talking about... positions," I said dropping the plane metaphor and swaying my hips a bit as I walked into the bedroom, Dimitri racing behind me.

After a ridiculously long flight with thankfully a sleeping one year old and a very distracted with her book five year old, we were here. Sydney, Australia. I looked out the window and couldn't help my shock. It looked nothing like I thought it would. I had watched Crocodile Dundee a few times and always thought that the dirt road air strip was what the Sydney airport looked like. But I was surprised to find it was as big and busy as any airport back home.

"See, I told you that it's not the stereotype wasteland that you thought it was," Dimitri said to me as we fastened our seat belts for landing. I had actually done some research on this place before we came here. But I hadn't been looking at the scenery or landscape. I had been doing research on all of the deadly and dangerous things that could kill us while we were here.

"Did you know that they have the funnel web spider here?" I asked Dimitri as I looked outside the window again.

"I'm sure that it won't be anywhere near where we're going Roza," Dimitri said in a bored tone like he had about every other fun fact that I had come up with.

"Well what about all of the snakes? Did you know that Australia has the most amount of deadly snakes in the world?" I challenged.

"That can't be true," Dimitri said thinking that I was exaggerating again.

"Is to!" I shouted and got something out of my bag. "This is a list I got off of the internet on venomous snakes!" I took out the list and shoved it in his face.

Which snake species is the most venomous depends on the measure used. The average or the maximum venom yield from milking could be suggested, but these measures can be criticised as not reflecting the impact of a real bite. The measure generally acknowledged as best reflecting how dangerous a snake's venom is is that of LD50. The lower this number, the less venom is required to cause death. By that measure, the most venomous snake in the world is Australia's inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus). The table below gives the top 25 species in order, their LD50, and their distribution.

Snake Species LD50* Distribution

1. Inland taipan 0.025 Australia

2. Eastern brown snake 0.053 Australia

3. Coastal taipan 0.099 Australia

4. Tiger snake 0.118 Australia

5. Black tiger snake 0.131 Australia

6. Beaked sea snake 0.164 Australia

7. Black tiger snake (Chappell Island ssp.)

0.194 - 0.338 Australia

8. Death adder 0.400 Australia

9. Gwardar 0.473 Australia

10. Spotted brown snake 0.360 (in bovine serum albumin) Australia

11. Australian copperhead 0.560 Australia

12. Cobra 0.565 Asia

13. Dugite 0.660 Australia

14. Papuan black snake 1.09 New Guinea

15. Stephens' banded snake 1.36 Australia

16. Rough scaled snake 1.36 Australia

17. King cobra 1.80 Asia

18. Blue-bellied black snake 2.13 Australia

19. Collett's snake 2.38 Australia

20. Mulga snake 2.38 Australia

21. Red-bellied black snake 2.52 Australia

22. Small eyed snake 2.67 Australia

23. Eastern diamond-backed rattlesnake 11.4 North America

24. Black whipsnake 14.2 Australia

25. Fer-de-lance 27.8 South America

*LD50: mg/kg in saline by subcutaneous injection in mice.

I saw Dimitri swallow.

"See," I said smugly.

"That's in the outback Roza, I'm sure that we are not going to run into an Inland Taipan on the Sydney beach," Dimitri said soothing my nerves.

"But what about jelly fish!" I said.

"What about them?" Dimitri asked in an exasperated tone.

"Australia had the box jelly fish! They're deadly!"

"We won't be going out very far, I'm sure that that won't bother us."

"Ok...well what about-"

"Oh give it a rest would you!" Christian said getting annoyed. "Australia might be deadly, but we're only going to be there for a week! If it was truly the death trap that you're making it out to be then there wouldn't be anyone left!"

"Be nice Christian, she's just worried about her kids," Lissa said looking at Alex.

"So onto happier thoughts. I can't believe that I convinced the Council to let me go on this trip!" Lissa shrieked across the aisle from me. We were on a Court private jet that Adrian had booked so even though the flight had been long, it was still nice and comfortable.

"Well that might have something to do with you saying that this was a business trip and that you were working with the Australian govermimt to try and send some of it's people over to the Academy to train," I said with a smile.

"Hey say what you want it's a good idea. Australians might not be a big as that 6'7 Russian that you've got there, but they're very tough and resourceful fighters. I might even be able to recruit some of them while were here. After all, we have a whole week." Lissa said thoughtfully. She never really stopped being the Queen. Except when she was a mother. I looked over at Alex playing with Lissy. They were so cute together.

"You can do whatever you want with you holiday. I just want to make this trip all about my Lilly girl," Adrian said kissing Sydney on the cheek.

"You really didn't need to go to all of this trouble Adrian. I would of been happy just watching the Australia movie instead. It had some nice scenery." Sydney said, but she was looking out the window with interest.

"Nothing but the best for you my dear," Adrian said with a love sick look in his face.

After we landed, we found our hotels. We were all staying at the same hotel but had different rooms. So we wouldn't interrupt each other with our...holiday activities. We were all getting comfortable in our rooms of the hotel when I looked outside at the view. It was a big one, our hotel was right by the beach and I could see for miles. And people were everywhere.

"Don't these people have work to go to?" I asked as I unpacked my suitcase and got the kids settled.

"Today's a public holiday. It's Australia Day. If you want I can tell you some of the activities that we have set up?" the hotel guy said as he helped us with our bags. He had sandy blong hair and a strong Australia accent.

"That would be nice," Dimitri said politely.

"Well there's an all day BBQ and a jumping castle for the kids. There's also face painting and a couple of beach cricket matches that you can join. There's also beach volleyball and all sorts of things. But the main event is tonight. There's a big concert with live music and entertainment before the sky is going to be lit up with fire works!" he said excitedly.

"Really! Like on the 4th of July?" Lissy asked jumping up and down a bit.

"You bet," he said winking at her. "But it's not just the sky. See the Sydney harbor bridge out there?" he asked and we looked out of the window. It was a huge bridge with a big arch.

"Well all of the fire works are going to be shooting from there and the bridge will light up and at the end, fireworks will actually shoot out from the bridge lighting it in fireworks, it's a real sight."

Wow, that did sound good.

"Thank you for the info," Dimitri said with a smile.

"No problem. I suggest that you just go down to the beach and just see what you find, or what finds you," he said with a smile and was off.

"Well he was friendly," I observed immediately not trusting him.

"I heard that most Australians are, but I read all that in a holiday site so they might have just been publicizing a bit," Dimitri said with a thoughtful look.

"Well, only one way to find out. Let's hit the beach."

We walked down and into the crowds on our own because the rest of the Moroi wanted to stay indoors until it got cooler. We of course left some Court guardians with them for safety though. I looked around at the people and saw that everyone was laughing and cooking things on the BBQ and the Australian flag was everywhere. And I mean everywhere! I looked up at the sky and saw a big plane dragging a flag that was twice as big as the plane across the sky and people cheering. I looked around and saw that half of the woman's and and men's swimmers had the Australian flag on them as well. And the kids were running around some with pointy hats that looked like card board cut outs of The Sydney Opera house. And with there faces all blue with the flag across them. Some with a small flag on their cheeks. And some with little kangaroos on them.

"Wow," was all I said.

"Can I get my face painted mummy!" Lissy begged.

"If we can find out where," I said and we started walking. After a while and passing at least twenty BBQ, I got really hungry. Hey it's me we're talking about here! Don't act so surprised.

"Can we got some food Comrade?" I asked as we passed another BBQ. They had sausages and stake and onion and tomatoes, eggs and shrimp and-

"There's a BBQ right next to the face painting, we can get some food there," Dimitri pointed out.

We walked over and stood in line for a bit until it was our turn.

Hay guys, what can I do for you?" said a nice girl holding a paint bush.

"Well Lissy wants to get her face painted and I'm hungry," I said smiling back.

"No problem. The food is free or a gold coin donation if you want," she said pointing over to the food.

"Gold coin?" I asked wondering what she was on about.

"Oh sorry you're American. Well over here we have one and two Dollar coins and they're gold, so we just say a gold coin donation and people just chuck in what coins that they have in their wallets," she said, smiling at us.

"Oh, well we don't have any coins, will they take America money?" Dimitri asked while I was still trying to wrap my head around the different money.

"Naaa don't worry about it. Just help yourself," she said and looked at Lissy.

"Now what face design would you like sweetheart?" she asked.

"Kangooooos," Lissy said or tried to say.

"Kangaroos it is," she said. I went to go and get the good smelling food.

"Hey mate what'll it be?"Asked an older man with an apron that said 'what's a nice girl like me doing in a place like this?' I laughed and asked him if I could have a big plate to share with my family.

"Sure thing, what would you like?"

"Some stake, sausages, onion, tomato, salad, eggs and shrimp," I asked licking my lips. Everything looked so good.

"Shrimp?" the guy asked giving me a funny look.

"Yeah, this bug looking thing," I pointed to them on the BBQ. He just laughed.

"Naa over here we call them prawns but sure help yourself," he said giving me a huge helping of everything. While he was serving me I decided to ask about some things that I found on the internet but didn't trust.

"Soooo, is there really such a thing as drop bears?" I asked reading his expression closely.

"Oh fair dinkum there is. I'd watch myself if I was you. They can tell if you're not a local," he warned me. I walked back to the tent only to find that my whole family had been covered in little green kangaroos.

"I thought that you did red kangaroos. Like on the plane," I said as I smiled at little Comrade. The girl laughed.

"No that's just the Qantas logo. Over here it's a green or gold kangaroo. Those are our colors, green and gold. Well at least for sports."

She told us that we could stay under the shade to eat if we wanted, so we did. But something was up with my food.

"Hey Dimitri, does your stake taste weird to you?" I asked him as I smelled it.

"Yeah it does. Maybe cows just taste different over here," he said shrugging.

"Well that's not cow you're eating. It's kangaroo," the face paint girl said with an amused look. I almost spat out my food.

"It's what?" I asked shocked.

"It's kangaroo meat," she said again with a smile.

"B-but aren't kangaroos like your national animal? How can you eat them?" I couldn't believe my taste buds.

"True. And it might not look it here because were in the city, but kangaroos are actually more of a pest here. They eat all of our crops. But we don't eat them all that much. The meat isn't very good," she said as she painted another kid's face.

"But they're so cute and cuddly. Like koala bears," I said still shocked.

"There's no such thing as koala bears. There just koalas. And if you touch one, they will scratch you to pieces," she said with a straight face. My world was spinning.

"Are koalas pests to?" I asked not knowing why.

"No not really, there aren't as many of them and they don't eat our crops or jump out in front of our cars."

"Do they really box like they do on TV?" Lissy asked.

"Yep. But only when they're threatened. You know my sister got punched in the arm by a kangaroo. But she had it coming. She tried to touch it's Joey."

I decided that I had had enough bomb shells dropped on me for now. So we thanked her for her help and then went down to watch a cricket game. And I got to say that it was more than a little different from what little I had watched on TV. When I saw it it was real professional and thought out. This was far more relaxed, with people laughing and diving in the sand and doing really easy shots for the kids that wanted to play. We must have looked a little lost because this young boy came up to us and asked if we wanted to play or know the rules.

"Well I saw it on TV, but what it this?" I asked gesturing to the players that were mucking around.

"Oh this is back yard cricket. It's the same but it's really just for fun."

"Hey, are drop bears real?" I asked hoping that the guy at the BBQ was pulling my leg. But the boy just shrugged his shoulders.

"I've never seen one. But you wouldn't in the city. Maybe in the country somewhere," he said before walking off. I just couldn't get a straight answer could I?!

Well it was nice to know that these people knew how to have fun. After we watched for a while longer, we walked alone the beach side shops to see if we could get some Australia Day souvenirs ...when I saw it. I couldn't help myself.

"Hey Comrade," I called out and got Dimitri's attention. "What do you think about me wearing this in the beach?" I asked and held it up. I saw Dimitri's eyes widen and darken at the same time.

"I think you would look more beautiful than normal Roza," he said in a low and husky voice. I decided to buy it and change in a bathroom that we found. I came out a few minutes later and the look on Dimitri's face was priceless. I was wearing a small deep blue bikini with the Australian flag on my breasts and butt. And Dimitri apparently liked what he saw, or judging from his drooling he did. Before I left the shop, I decided to ask the store girl.

"Are there really such a thing as drop bears?" she cracked up laughing,

"No ha no there's not. Or hoop snakes for that matter."

"What are hoop snakes?" I asked worried that I didn't research enough.

"It's this snake that bites onto it's own tail and goes in to a circle and chases after you," she said and I must have looked shocked because she just laughed again.

"Don't worry they're not real either." I didn't really know who to believe at this point so I just nodded and left the store. But not before getting some cute Australia day stuff for Lissy and Comrade.

We decided to go swimming because it would be a shame to come all the way to Australia and not get in the sea. We kept it shallow so the jelly fish didn't get us. Or the sharks for that matter. But it was still really fun. Dimitri went deep holding Lissy and showing her how to duck under a wave when it was too big to body surf. While I stayed on the beach and built sand castles with little Comrade. After an hour we switched and then I worked on my tan because it was still really sunny and it was already 6PM.

It was getting late and people seemed to be moving onto the beach near this huge stage that had been set up just for today. I guess that people wanted to get a good view. We decided to join them and sat down on a towel next to this nice looking old couple.

"G'day yoa mate welcome to staking kidney," the guy said to us with a smile. We looked at him blankly. Was he speaking Australian? Did they have their own language here?

"Ummm hi?" I said hoping that that was what he just said to us. But instead of answering, he burst out laughing. People did that a lot here.

"I'm sorry for my husband. He loves torturing the non locals. That was old Aussie slag for hello welcome to Australia," his wife said with a kind smile.

"So people don't really talk like that over here?" I asked hating every TV show that I ever saw that was based in Australia. Apparently it had all be wrong.

"Some do. But no not really. Is this your first visit? Or have you moved here?" she asked hitting her husband lightly when he didn't stop laughing.

"Just visiting," Dimitri said with a smile.

"Well you're in for a real treat when the fire works come. It's a real sight," the man said recovering from his laughing fit. Just then the band started playing a song called "We will rock you." It was really catchy and I actually found myself singing along at the end. It was then followed by "We are the champions," the one that was often sung at sport events. Then a man got up on stage and started talking about what Australia Day was all about.

"That's the main thing that we're all here for. And it's two words. Mate ship. When things get tough, we role up our sleeves and lend a hand to your mate. And that's what this next song is about. It's called "True Blue." And he started singing.

Hey True Blue, don't say you've gone

Say you've knocked off for a smoko

And you'll be back la-ater on

Hey True Blue, Hey True Blue

Give it to me straight, face to face

Are you really disappearing

Just another dy-ying race

Hey True Blue

True Blue, is it me and you

Is it Mum and Dad, is it a co-ockatoo

Is it standin' by your mate when he's in a fight

Or just Vegemi-ite

True-ue-ue Blue, I'm a-asking you

Hey True Blue, can you bear the load

Will you tie it up with wire

Just to keep the show on the road

Hey True Blue

Hey True Blue, now be Fair Dinkum

Is your heart still there

If they sell us out like sponge cake

Do you rea-eally care

Hey True Blue

True Blue, is it me and you

Is it Mum and Dad, is it a co-ockatoo

Is it standin' by your mate when she's in a fight

Or just Vegemi-ite

True-ue-ue Blue, I'm a-asking you...

True Blue, is it me and you

Is it Mum and Dad, is it a co-ockatoo

Is it standin' by your mate when he's in a fi-ight

Or just Vegemi-ite

True-ue-ue Blue, True-ue-ue Blue

People were crying by the end and everyone seemed to know the song. I was surprised to see that Dimitri was really moved too.

"What's the look comrade?" I asked bumping his shoulder.

"The song. It's kind of what it's like to be a guardian only it's not. We're always told that they come first. But here it's your mate. You look out for each other and are there when your friend needs you. It's just nice is all."

That surprised me a bit. But really he was right. How much better would our race be if we all just looked after each other instead of thinking that our lives were pointless and to be thrown away when the Moroi wanted them to.

"Well hey, my all but blood sister just happens to be the Queen. Maybe I can change that a bit," I said to cheer Dimitri up. It seemed to work as his full on smile came onto his face.

"Is it time for the fire works yet mummy?" Lissy asked.

"Soon baby. We need to meet up with the others first," I texted Adrian and Lissa and we all met up at a high spot on the beach to see the fire works.

"Hey Liss how was your day," I asked after we all met up.

"Confusing! Did you know that people don't say "g'day mate" as a greeting? Only some do and mostly only on Australia Day!" Lissa said shocked.

"I know! And they don't call them shrimp here. They're prawns!" I said back.

"And no matter who I ask I can't get a straight answer on the whole Drop bear thing! Are they real or not?" Lissa screamed.

"Well what about spiders and snakes? I haven't seen one since I got here! I thought that this place was supposed to be crawling with them?" I asked both happy that my family didn't get hurt and upset that I did all that research for nothing.

"And where are the boomerangs? I haven't seen one here like at all!" Lissa continued.

"Any they eat kangaroo meat here! I though that that would be illegal or something!"

"They eat emu meat here too! And they don't even like it! It's to oily!"

"TV has been lying to us!"

"Are you getting any of this?" Christian muttered to Dimitri.

"Every other word or so," Dimitri muttered back.

"Alright everybody! Now I want to hear a nice big count down, are you ready?" a man shouted and got a roar in response.

"Ok then

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

BANG!

And then the sky opened up! There were fire works everywhere. Different sizes and shape and colors, it was just like back home. The Sydney harbor lit up and fire works started shooting out of it! I don't think that I have ever seen anything quite like it. After about five minutes there was the biggest one of all. Then every started cheering and kissing each other. I looked over at Dimitri and smiled.

"Happy Australia Day Comrade."

"Happy Australia Day Roza." I dimly heard the other two couples say the same. Then Dimitri leaned in and gave me a kiss. It was a very nice holiday indeed.

Well there you go. I hope that I answered some of you questions about us Aussies. I'm sorry that there wasn't much Strigoi action but I still hope that you liked it. Happy Australia Day for 2015