Spring & society

Well there has been a bit of this lately...

It started with marvellous Spanish lunch at Movida (Hosier Lane) with Dermo & B, all good fun...then an Italian lunch at Cicciolina in St Kilda with an old friend from the UK, followed by some dinner parties, a 30th birthday party and a very boozy Moroccan Sunday lunch.

That was just the first 3 weeks of September. It must be Spring.

The wonderful citizens of Melbourne have survived the dreaded mid year seasons [winter and the football] and have their party shoes on to celebrate the return of one of my favourite seasons - Spring.

Not only the season has changed. Thankfully so has the fashions. The winter coats and [football] scarfs have been folded away for lighter clothing and more tailored wear. The skinny cigarette jean is [unfortunately] still rearing it's sickly head however the fashions this summer are looking rather becoming with lots of stripes and [shock horror for this Melbournian] lots of colour. However I'm sure black is still very much welcomed at the luncheon table.

So the fashion and the food hold me no concern. Since going to the gym I can justify the food and puddings rather easily. It the amount of the wine and hard liquor that I seem to constantly be plying into my body during Spring's return that is.

So given this when I heard that my old boss (now an ex pat in Singapore) was in town I was going to catch a quick drink at Riverland on Friday night. And I did...then another then another then dinner then the Prince of Wales and finally ( to my horror ] the Xchange hotel dancing on a podium and realising that maybe as my sister and her family were arriving the next day I best get myself home. And woke up Andrew when I got it [oops].

Bless Spring!

You Tube:Tina Fey or Sarah Palin?

I love Tina Fey - especially when she is doing vice presidential elect Sarah Palin -enjoy!

Cyanide and Happiness

The Spring Weekender - guests of nature Pt 2

Other than the scenic trip ocean drives are, the landscape on the Australian coast is not just beautiful, but so peaceful and serene. It always helps to clear my head and to relax.
The Beach is such an OZ icon. Growing up in Western Australia, the beaches are white sands & the Indian Ocean - quite stunning. The Victorian Coast is different as it's more earthy and rugged, as if it's endured many changes and lifetimes.
The Bridge over Separation Creek - I love how the bush meets the sea.
A close up of the river stones. I so wanted to steal these for the garden but realised the petrol we used to drive here was already a bigger carbon footprint I wanted to leave on the plan [my green conscious couldn't live with guilt].

We went to Kennett River on Saturday afternoon to go for a walk in the bush and to see the koalas. I love the above shot as the eucalyptus trees in the forest are so tall. And yes it was so peaceful.

What still amazes me is the amount of koala's in the trees - I have never seen so many outside a Zoo in my life. There they all are - sittin' up like Jackie - eating & sleeping away - well they don't really do much else. And don't need to.

I quite like this one - He [or she] looks like a very old soul - especially like the big button noses. It comforting to see so much wildlife in their natural setting.

To any visitors out there - never try not to pet them as they are still wild animals and can quite nasty - although you'll never guess to look at them.

However the birds are a different story as they are far more interactive. The Parakeets and the Rosella's are happy to feed straight from your hands. This time they came to us on the balcony.

White Gallahs - they look nice but they are really the bullies of the bird world. They are very large and make a god awful racket in the morning.

And yet another OZ Gallah - this time with 2 birds in my hands. These birds are almost like pets. The colours of their feathers are so vibrant.Two days and nights were just not long enough on the coast. Hopefully the four of us can do this all again at the end of Summer.

The Spring Weekender - down the coast Pt 1

As Melbourne's winter has been so incredibly cold and any invitation to escape it, even if just for a moment, is always welcomed. When B & D said we could all use a relatives beach house for the weekend we jumped at the chance. To manage to time it at the start of Spring was pure luck.We were staying at Wye River, a little hamlet hide way on the Great Ocean Road. The Great Ocean Road was built as a memorial for those fallen soldiers of WWI. It is an ocean side road from Torquay all the way to Warrnambool on the south west coastline of Victoria. Its one of my favorite roads in all of Australia - twisting and turning around the coastline with ocean views virtually the entire way. It is around 280 kilometres long so its a long slow relaxing drive.

I love signs like this - apparently many tourists have almost driven off the many cliffs to their deaths or head on collisions on the road - hence the above sign was born.

This the view from the house - straight to the ocean - quite amazing and very peaceful.
B & Andy in the frame - there a few towns on the road built after WWII as beach side getaways for Melbournians. Once you'll find only cheap cement cottages - now are slowly being demolished for million dollar homes...like the below.Our accommodation was not as salubrious or Architectural digest as this one - however still cosy for the weekend - the log fire was essential for the cool nights on the coast.
The view from the beach - you can see the houses are dotted between the tree tops - again very pretty. Below is very lovely Wye River Beach - it was a little cool but the sun was out and that made up for the wind !

Although we spend most of our time in Wye, we did drive to the equally pretty Apollo Bay for breakfast on Sunday.
Main Street- apparently in Summer you can't move, let alone find somewhere cheap to stay.

Apollo Bay has these rolling hills that surround it - it feels almost like Ireland (without the accent or the cold - mostly). Below is the harbour, again very picturesque.

As I havent been on this part of the coast for over 5 years, I completely forgot the nature and landscape and how both don't mind the interaction with the visting city folk.

To be continued...