Did you lodge an official complaint with the Postal Ombudsman, Garry? I now have a case number and have received 2 emails from them already, although as I said they won't have any info for me until at least Monday. I'm equally as pi$sed off with myself 'cos if I'd sent it 1 day earlier, I could have resent the item (I have another one the same) and it would still have arrived in time, and I could have worried about the misdelivered parcel at my leisure, but because everything is now closed until next week, I'm totally stuffed.

Never again will I trust Australia Post to get anything right, even though it's the first time they've made a mistake on my behalf in several years. Of all the times to f*ck up, they couldn't have picked a worse one, and it has effectively ruined the only bit of enjoyment I'd expected to receive this Christmas. I'm absolutely gutted and I'll never forgive them for what they've done.