And So I Don't Forget...

Playing in the Snow

A few weeks ago the weather turned particularly cold, by Melbourne standards at least, with snow on the nearby hills. Mike, Milly, brother-in-law Dan, cutie niece and I headed up to Lake Mountain to play in the snow. We brought layers upon layers of clothing and my sister-in-law Peta had even remembered to send us off with a carrot for snowman-making. 

We stopped at Healesville's Beechworth Bakery for morning tea on the way there and had a late lunch at the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice-creamery on the way home. Everyone felt quite refreshed at lunch, all of us excepting driver Mike having napped in the car. Really, not a bad way to spend a wintery Sunday! 

I'm not sure why but I love this photo. I think it's her venturing off, yet looking so small. She turns 4 next month; I can't believe how fast time disappears! 

It was her second trip to the snow that weekend, having gone with her Mum and little brother on Friday. He hadn't been a fan, not liking the cold, so they'd stayed home this trip, but she was bouncing out of the car, eager to start crunching about.

I don't think you northern hemisphere, cold climes people understand just how excited we get about a little snow! :)

My little abominable snowgirl, in camouflage. 

Posing with her Olaf. Look at how proud she was! 

Snowball fight! 

Thanks for the family photo Dan! I need to remember to hand over the camera more often as I don't have many of the three of us. 

She's definitely my niece; always happy to take a selfie with me. :)

Anglesea Getaway

Last week we headed to the coast for our first little getaway as a family of three. 2 nights in a little AirBnB unit in Anglesea, about an hour and a half drive from home, was a perfect low key, no stress introduction to travelling with our little one.

A bustling area in the summer high season, it was relaxed and quiet being autumn weekdays. Perfect for travels with a baby who slept beautifully through 3 out of 6 meals. That seems to be what we did; eat well and take walks along the beach.

Dinner at Rose Chinese Restaurant, breakfast at Anglesea General Store, lunch at Aireys Pub. After an unsettled afternoon for the little one, we had (average tasting) takeaway pizza back in our unit for dinner.

The weather was beautiful for our final day. We breakfasted, well second breakfast because it's not a quick process to get out of the house nowadays, at 4 Kings (I think it was called) before spending some time on the beach. I couldn't resist dipping my toes in the water, which was predictably frigid. I didn't get a chance to introduce Amelia to the beach as she slept peacefully for every visit, but our pram does cope surprisingly well with cross countrying in soft sand.

One last stop at Bellbrae Estate for some wine tasting and feasting outside in the sunshine before heading back home. And little miss sleeping that whole car trip was the perfect end to our time away.

 

A Quick Trip to Perth

Next weekend Mike and I were intending to go to Sydney to watch Clarkson, Hammond and May Live (the new incarnation of the Top Gear Live show). On Wednesday, while considering which hotel to book, we realised that instead of buying tickets to the Sydney show, my darling husband had instead bought tickets to the Perth event a week earlier. Yep, oops!

So, two days later we were catching a plane across the country for my first ever trip to Western Australia.   

We began Saturday driving to Fremantle, just half an hour from the centre of Perth. After a wander through the market, and a stop for cupcakes, we took a tour of the Fremantle Prison. The prison operated from convict times up until 1991, when it closed down due in large part to the toilet facilities in the cells not having progressed beyond buckets.    

44 people where hung at Fremantle Prison however the oak beam on the gallows saw over 100 deaths, having been relocated when a different prison closed down. Bureaucracy cares about the oddest things sometimes. 

In the afternoon we took a two hour boat cruise up and down the Swan River. We saw some insanely expensive waterfront property, including the home of Australia's richest person Gina Rinehart, but really the cruise was just ridiculously relaxing. 

We finished off the day with the reason for our trip, Clarkson, Hammond and May Live. I did enjoy the show, but I loved seeing Mike almost giddy with excitement. I'm not sure he's ever been so concerned with not being late, and said it was 'Good to see the boys in fine form'. 

After breakfast on Sunday, we drove to King's Park for a last look around before heading to the airport for our midday flight home.   

We didn't really do that much, and it's an awfully long way to fly for a day and a bit. but it was a pretty darn great weekend. Relaxing, low key and fun. Just what we needed. 

Camping at Cathedral Ranges

Who: 10 of us, a larger group than normal. (Mike and I, Chris, Erica, Tanya, Dave, Gareth, Lierin, Ben and Esther). It was Esther's first time camping, and maybe Lierin's as well.

Where: Cathedral Range State Park, a favoured spot we've visitied again and again and again.

Food: Lamb roasted on the spit with potatoes, sweet potato and corn for Saturday night dinner, followed by Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding cooked in the coals. Breakfasts of pancakes with banana and strawberries, and bacon and eggs with toast. Toasted sandwiches for lunch one day (which taste so much better when eaten in the cold outdoors) and burgers the next.

Weather: Chilly, enough to keep the fire burning all day with us cozying up extra close to it when night fell. There were a few moments of passing showers, but the downpour stayed away until Mike and I were tying down the trailer for the trip home. Mike figures the weather was such we didn't use up all our good mojo and can chance another trip before winter's end.

Sighted: 4 kangaroos calmly nibbling on grass at the edge of our campsite. A wombat by torchlight; Mike was pretty delighted when he realised it wasn't a rock and he could show Esther her first wombat in the wild.

As we were sitting around the campfire after dark I had the thought, this is it. You know that touch of envy sometimes experienced watching TV ads of friends having a great time, this right here is what they are portraying. It may not look the same, we're not taking a roadtrip on a summer afternoon while drinking Coca-Cola, but the connections and history together, the shared jokes, laughter and teasing, talking as we ignore the passing of time, the escape from daily obligations...it's all here. This is awesome.

Wombat Rodeo

After not having visited Healesville Sanctuary in years, Mike and I were back again for the second time in a month. The draw card, spending time with our cutie niece and nephew. 

I received a text message the night before from my sister-in-law, who'd told my niece 'we are going to see Mike and Lanie tomorrow and some of the animals we would see and she got all excited and said "that's perfect".' Love her!

With a two year old, the reality didn't quite match her anticipation and there were some frustrations, but it was great spending time with them regardless. (Not sure I'd be saying that if her parents weren't there and I was the one dealing with her two year old logic!)  

My favourite part, snuggling with Mr Cutie as we wandered the Animals of the Night exhibit.

Mike's favourite part, visiting with a wombat up close in a Pat and Play session. The ranger was a little horrified when the wombat took a nip at my nephew's foot, but all toes were accounted for. No tears, no harm.

I think he got his own back though. (Ranger approved, couldn't stop laughing in fact.) Ride'm cowboy!  

No wombats were harmed in the making of this blog post. ;)

Avalon Airshow

After work last Friday I hoped on a train to join Mike at the Avalon Airshow. He'd been there all day, visiting the exhibits and watching the aerial displays, but we thought a few hours of plane watching would be enough for me. ;)  

Photo credit to Mike for most of these photos. 

But the real reason I was there, Mike promised me fireworks! 

And he delivered. 

It began with a mighty kaboom and wave of heat as a wall of fire ignited, before moving onto the pretty colour and light. Just amazing. 

As we walked back to the car (where we napped for an hour before even attempting to leave the car park) Mike asked me if I wanted to attend the next airshow in two years time. While I'm not sure about that - those tickets were darn expensive! - it was interesting to watch and seeing Mike so excited (he said I wasn't allowed to call it 'geeking out') was a joy. The fighter planes were all leashed power and LOUD and the skill of some of the pilots was phenomenal.  

Even I could see, planes just aren't meant to be able to do that! 

 

White Night Melbourne

On Saturday I celebrated the birthdays of two friends with an evening in the city during the White Night Festival. It was a hot, sticky summer's night and the centre of Melbourne was teeming with people; I heard an estimate of half a million people.    

We saw only a few of the installations - and some of them were very odd - but this was definitely my favourite, Wonderland. Light projections on the Forum Theatre.

The evening began with a drenching from a summer storm as we walked to the tram stop and ended with me walking barefoot through a golf course at 2am in the morning, quite lost after we took a 'shortcut' back home.

I laughed and laughed. 

Hiking the Cathedral Ranges

On Saturday Mike and I, with friend Naomi, spent the day hiking the Cathedral Ranges, as training for our Inca Trail hike next month. (Next month! Holey moley!)

We lucked onto a beautiful spring day.

These two actually like hiking! Personally, I think they're a little weird. ;)

It was a challenging hike. At least 12km by the time we got back to the car, it took us around 7 hours including rest stops. We made good time to our lunch stop, but that turned out to be the easy part.

The ridge line was quite technical - clambering over rocks, often with a sharp drop on either side. My nerves were none too fond of that part!

I will say though, the views were amazing.

5 Things that Happened on the Weekend

1. BoyF met me in the city Friday evening and we cosied up in an Italian restaurant on Royal Arcade (one of Melbourne's laneways), sharing antipasto and pizza and chocolate cake for dessert. Afterwards we caught the tram to Etihad Stadium, battling the wind as we crossed the bridge on a blustery, cold Melbourne night, to watch Geelong beat Essendon in a closely fought football game. Carn the Catters!

2. Our plan for Saturday was to browse the shops in Daylesford before continuing to Mount Macedon where we would go on a hike. Daylesford was freezing, and I'd managed to forget my scarf and coat, but we found a nice cafe for lunch and BoyF loved the antique shop specialising in car memorabilia. As we got closer to Mount Macedon we could feel the temperature drop even further so hiking plans were abandoned. We sussed out the hiking trail for next time - seriously, I'm meant to walk up there? Is that even a path?! - then drove to the lookout at the top. With the car binging the temperature was now less than 4 degrees, we got out into the rain and mist and wind gusts to walk to the lookout. Ummm...yeah. When our plans go awry, I love that we laugh.

3. In the evening I decided to reorganise scrapbooking supplies, which consisted of dumping a large porportion of my embellishments into a big pile on the floor. I discovered a whole lot of pieces I'd completely forgotten about, decanted lots of packages into little ziplock bags, threw out very little and now have small drawers holding travel, birthday, wedding and number embellishments.

4. On Sunday we bookended the day with friends, breakfasting with Nicole and Paul at the Pancake Parlour and later meeting Gareth and Lierin for dessert. Mind you, at 8pm at night they'd just finished having lunch so we ended up only having drinks. BoyF and I felt a little deprived; we were looking forward to that cake!

5. In between I spent time hanging out with BoyF in the shed as he worked on wooden boxes for our wedding. I used the big circular saw, under supervision, and reminded myself of a little kid wanting to help Daddy when I sorted the drill bits back into their appropriate slots. I also reorganised the pantry, something I'd been meaning to do for weeks, as well as the cupboards under the sink in the kitchen and the laundry. They were simple things, but they leave a good feeling.

What happened on your weekend?

 

Winter Solstice Weekend

Shortest Lunch stop 1: Yileena Park winery where we started the day with wine tastings and a burger.   

Shortest Lunch stop 2: Steels Creek Estate where we had the most amazing potato and goats cheese gnocchi. Some shiraz braised beef short ribs too, but I'm still thinking about that gnocchi!  

Stop 3: Neds Gully camp site in Cathedral Ranges State Park. BoyF and I had the entire camp site to ourselves - very peaceful. 

The only access to the camp site is across this little suspension bridge. I'm really glad we didn't pack too much! The biggest issue though, the toilets are on the other side of that bridge which isn't the most convenient for late night trips! ;)   

After setting up camp and having a quick cup of tea, we set off on a walk. BoyF was greatly amused when I made a comment about having been walking for quite a while; we were only six minutes in!

We made arrived back at camp just as dusk was setting in, about 5 o'clock, and enjoyed a drink around the fire. Mike made chilli con carne for dinner by torchlight and we shared a bottle of red wine before heading to bed about 9:30. We were pretty impressed we'd managed to stay away that long. ;) 

Next morning we set off for a serious hike - hours and hours of walking. Although this isn't how I'd generally choose to spend my weekend (although BoyF's a weirdo he actually enjoys hiking!) I've signed up to hike the Inca Trail in November and some training is called for.

Yep, I need to train for my honeymoon.     

We walked up and up Neds Gully Track to Neds Saddle, then along a rocky scramble of a track towards Little Cathedral Peak. There were some great views but none when we stopped for lunch, we were above the clouds.  

Then it was time to head back. Along the rocky scramble of a track. Down and down and down. Back to the campsite for a quick pack up and home. A much needed shower, then back out to BoyF's parents house for dinner.   

It was a big weekend. Exhausting, but good.