Mornington Peninsula

This last weekend we hired a car and took a day-trip to the Mornington Peninsula. It's about an hour-and-a-half from our house and is home to wineries, gardens, natural hot springs and several popular beaches. The weather forecast called for scattered showers last Saturday, so it was a bit of a gamble. Indeed, it was kind of gloomy when we picked up our car, and the clerk at Budget warned us that it "was not a good day" to go. Hmmm... too bad we were signing the rental papers as he said that. So we headed to Mornington.

The first thing we did was get lost. It was a little stressful, I won't lie. I (Anthony) don't like being lost. I also refused on principal to use the new tollway (Over $20 to use a road?!?). So that didn't help. Luckily, our first destination was the Peninsula Hot Springs. So when we (eventually) made it, we were able to relax for a while. It was quite nice.

Although it rained a little on our way to the peninsula (which didn't help with being lost), the weather actually cleared pretty quickly and it was sunny and warm most of the day.

After the hot springs, we decided to head to the Enchanted Gardens, which included several large hedge mazes and other such attractions. Even though most of the day was sunny, the moment we arrived at the gardens it started to pour down rain. We passed on the gardens and instead decided to drive a bit longer.

We headed to the Cape Schanck lighthouse, which actually still operates (unlike most scenic lighthouses). The sun came back out, which is good, but what we didn't realize about Cape Schanck is that it is apparently the windiest place on earth. It was very scenic (see some pics below), but I have literally, no exaggeration, never felt wind like that before. There is a boardwalk down to the beach and we were warned, in all seriousness, to be careful as we progressed down the walkway because the winds got even stronger and we could actually get blown over the side railing! We decided not to go any farther.

We drove along the beach on our way home and found that most of the beaches were lined with "beach boxes", which are apparently little colorful beach huts that people use for lounging at the beach in the summer.

Oh, and perhaps the highlight of the trip was that we stopped by the hardware store (since we had a car) and bought a barbecue grill and an outdoor table set. It had been about 5 months since we have been able to BBQ. We've now had it every night since. I'm not sure how we lived without it.

Port Melbourne Tour

Last Saturday, we were planning to go to the Maritime Museum, but after enjoying a lazy morning drinking coffee and "vegging", it was too late to get to the museum before they closed. So, instead, we walked around our little town of Port Melbourne and decided to take some pictures for you all so you know where we live :) It was really sunny and actually too warm for the fleece jackets we were wearing!! Great news for us since we just went through our 2nd winter of the year!

The picture above is of our building - we live up on the 6th floor (of 9). There are four buildings in our apartment complex with a little courtyard in the middle. It's secured by locked doors that only open when your swipe your key. You can see the courtyard below.

This is looking down from at Bay Street from the stairs that lead out of our apartment complex.

The pics below are of Bay Street - the street we live on. The bus stop is right here on this street, so it's a pretty convenient way to get to work in the mornings. (Anthony and I have been able to ride into work together most mornings. He gets off one stop before me, so it works out perfectly!) Bay Street has everything we need: grocery stores, cafes, restaurants, a post office, lots of little shops, a cute wine store with free tastings on the weekends....what more could we need?

It was such a beautiful day! Lots of people out walking their dogs, playing in the sand with their kids, and flying kites.

The Spirit of Tasmania is a small cruise ship that sails to Tasmania every night from Port Melbourne. Someday we'd like to take it over to tour around Tasmania...probably once the weather gets a little nicer.

Yah for the first signs of SPRING!

This is the closest tram station is to our place. There are a bunch of restaurants along the water - the ones we've tried so far have been good.

Here's a short little video I took from a dock in the water. It's looking back on the street. We love Port Melbourne!

There are a lot of statues and historical monuments along the walkway by the water. There's also 2 lighthouses (1 in the water & 1 on land) that used to be used for navigation for ships coming into the port. If the beams were lined up, then they knew they were coming in straight. Very interesting. The lighthouses aren't really used for navigation anymore, but they do still light up at night.

There was a bit a breeze that day. When we got back to our house, we could see tons of sail boats out on the water. I love our little view of the bay :)

We've also attached a little map below so you can see where we live (it's the blue marker). For reference, it's about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from our apartment to downtown Melbourne.

Since we didn't make it to the museum on Saturday, we decided to get an earlier start and go visit it on Sunday. After wandering around for awhile looking for it, we came across a couple of parking attendants and asked them if they knew how to get there. They informed us that the museum was closed for renovations. Sad. We'll just have to try again later, I guess.

Instead, we decided to take the tram to St Kilda Beach area since we haven't been there yet. It was actually a pretty windy and cool day, but because I thought we were only going to the museum, I was in capris, flip-flops, and a short sleaved jacket. Of course, by the beach the winds were even stronger/colder! So, we didn't stay very long. I did get a little video of some kite surfers though!

St Kilda Beach Park is about 4 kilometers from our place in Port Melbourne and there's no convenient public transport between the two towns. So, we just decided to walk home. This really reinforced the bad choice of wardrobe on my part! My feet hurt for the next two days! But, we found a cute little coffee shop along the water about 1/2 way home, so we stopped and warmed up before finishing our journey. I'm definitely looking forward to going back with the appropriate shoes and warmer clothing though! :) Here's a little collage from the St Kilda trip.

We hope you all have a great week!

Travelogue

Well, it has been a little while, but I thought I would give an update on some of my recent travels.

I was able to make a quick trip to the US a few weeks ago for a work training in Chicago. I stopped by Vancouver on my way, and it was great to get to see family for a few days. The trip there was a little crazy though. My flight out of Melbourne was delayed because the baggage system was down at the Melbourne airport. I had to stand in the check-in line for over an hour. When we finally got on the plane (1.5 hours late), we then had to wait on the tarmac another hour because they said it was taking longer than anticipated to gather all of the bags. At that point, I was pretty sure I would be lucky if my bag ended up on the plane. It didn't.

I also missed my connecting flight in LA. The whole thing was generally pretty chaotic and required standing in several more long lines. I've never been a big fan of the LA airport. However, I will say it felt like home when I asked a food vendor at the airport for a cup of water and they promptly filled the cup with ice. I haven't had ice-water since leaving the States (outside of my apartment, of course). Why don't Australians appreciate cold water like I do?

I had to borrow my brother's clothes (thanks Tyler!) for the three days I was in Vancouver. My bag finally arrived the evening before I left for Chicago. My suitcase looked like it had seen better days, but I was just happy to have my clothes before leaving for Chicago. My training was nothing special, but I did realize how much I missed Americans.

Do you know what else I missed? Side dishes. For instance, we had a "boxed lunch" on our last day of training that included a sandwich, a bag of chips, a side of fruit salad, a side of pasta salad, and a cookie. That was probably a bit much, but an Australian lunch consists of a sandwich and nothing else. It drives me crazy! I'm sure eating side dishes with every meal doesn't help our waistlines, but I feel like after I eat a couple bites of something, I want a bite of something different to mix it up. In Australia, I have given up asking for side dishes (eg, requesting a bag of potato chips at a sandwich shop) because I only get looks of confusion.

So it was good to be in the US again, but it was also nice to get back to my adopted home in Melbourne (especially because that's where Kristi was!) Unfortunately, one week after being home, I was sent to Adelaide for a one-week business trip. I discovered mainly that Adelaide wasn't too exciting; Although, at about 1.5 million people, the city reminded me more of the type and size I am used to in the US (ie, Portland and Sacramento). In that sense, it reminded me of home.

Travelling domestically in Australia is something quite different than travelling in the US. For instance, I've now flown on three round-trips in Australia and I have never once been asked to show ID - not even to get my boarding pass. In fact, you aren't even required to have a boarding pass to get through security. And speaking of security, they look at you funny if you take your shoes off, all liquids are allowed, and although they do perform spontaneous bag searches, they ask you politely if it is okay if you are selected (what if you say no?). I set off one of the alarms once (I think because they told me to keep my belt on), and the lady just told me to go back and "run" through the second time. It didn't go off and I was on my way.

On my way from Chicago back to LA on my US trip, I happened to be sitting next to someone who was from Australia. She asked me if American Airlines was one of the "discount" carriers in the US. I said "of course not - this is one of our full-service airlines". She looked puzzled and asked me what "full-service" they provided. Indeed, they charge for in-flight snacks and checked bags and don't offer any in-flight entertainment, or any other perks for that matter.

Meanwhile, on my one-hour flight to Adelaide on Qantas I got a complimentary newspaper, complimentary in-flight entertainment (TV shows), complimentary drinks (including free alcoholic beverages), and a full hot meal (which I thought existed only in old movies). And, they didn't charge to check bags. Travel in the US now seems a bit lame.

Now I am back and don't foresee having to travel again any time soon, which is nice. However, Kristi and I are looking forward to going to back the US for a longer visit over the holidays. We'll hope for smoother travels!

Melbourne Museum

We haven't had much to blog about lately, so we decided to venture into the City this last weekend and visit the Melbourne Museum. It is kind-of like OMSI in Portland with different exhibits that frequently change, as well as an IMAX theater.

There was an actual rain forest that had cute little birds flying around, some different kinds of fish, and a pretty waterfall. It felt like we were somewhere tropical...we can dream, right?

They had an exhibit called, "The Melbourne Story", which was all about the history of Melbourne. These pictures are in a replica of a house built to show the living conditions in the late 1800's. This tiny house would have held 2 adults and 9 children. I can't even imagine!
A few more pics from the Melbourne Story:

This was just for fun :) It's an old roller coaster car.And you can't have a museum without dinosaurs!

The museum also had a thing for "stuffed" animals. They were all over and a little bit scary actually. I took a couple of pics to show you what I mean. This one was actually kinda cool.

This one is Phar Lap, a famous Australian racing horse. There's a movie about him and a whole exhibit dedicated to him. It's just the "stuffed" version that's a little weird.

After the museum, we walked around the Carlton Gardens, which is actually just a big park. It was pretty though.
Next door to the museum is the Royal Exhibition Centre (yes, I know I spelled it that way!). It's the largest building in Australia. I love the architecture and culture in the City!


We ended the day with dinner in Chinatown.

Not Again...

After only being home for a week, Anthony got a message at work that they needed him on a job in Adelaide (South Australia) for this whole week. He left this morning and won't be back until Friday night.

So, once again, I'm home alone :(

At least it's only 4 nights instead of 11 this time!