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Birthday Celebrations Galore

28/1/2013

Last Monday (21st) was my birthday so I've been celebrating and making others celebrate with me from the week before!

Tanya took me out to dinner. Kat was in town for the tennis and we enjoyed dinner at Movida.

Steve and I went to the tennis. I love Melbourne during tennis time. I enjoyed going round all the different sponsors and picking up freebies. See photo but Steve gets a bit annoyed as apparently we are there to watch the tennis!

So we saw Serena and Andy Murray on Rod Laver where they played effectively and won their games pretty easily. We also went to one of the other courts and watch Laura Robson lose to Sloan Stevens. She was very popular with the crowd though.

We caught up with Kat and Emma on the Sunday and had a great evening at the Press Club and were looked after so well by the crew there. Thanks George for the champagne, extra courses and birthday card.

Steve toiled away in the kitchen and baked me a cake.

He also organised a sweet treat delivery from Burch and Purchese to arrive this week at work which I have yet to open and enjoy. I'll share that in the next post.

This weekend, we enjoyed an evening at the theatre with Rachel and Tim. On our way there we had a "Melbourne moment" where we looked at the skyline and were just so happy to call Melbourne our home for now.

We saw "Warhorse" and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not quite reduced to tears like the people around us but definitely in awe of the mechanical horses and the staging of the play. We even had post theatre drinks right up until closing time. It's been a while since we've been out so late!

As well as all the lovely things Steve has done for me the last week or so in the name of my birthday, my gift was lunch today at Vue de Monde. For those that don't know Vue de Monde is Melbourne's priciest restaurant and has been Restaurant of the Year for the last two years.

It's a culinary epic of a journey and such an experience. As we finished our meal we took a few minutes to enjoy the views from the balcony which offers amazing views of the city from the 55th floor.

So birthday celebrations end now after Steve does the dishes and makes me a cup of tea of course. I think that's probably the last I can push it using my birthday as an excuse! We're now pretty much into February and then in March it's time for our trip home to UK which I'm so excited for.

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Busy Season...

12/1/2013

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As the holiday season finishes, the busy season kicks in and it does it with a BANG!

This was the first week back at work for both Steve and I and pretty much that is all that has happened....work!

I had catch up lunches with Jacqui and Stef separately but other than that it was a pretty work heavy week until the weekend of course!

Steve and I got to relax over dinner on Friday night and I enjoyed a Saturday to myself whilst he went into the office...did I tell you it was busy season?

Saturday night we headed chez Barnes and were showered with hospitality from Cam, Karly and Indy. Chris was in charge of the BBQ, Cam took the lead on margaritas and Indy provided us with much much love. The next time we see family Barnes will be in Sydney as they're heading that way shortly. We will miss them so much but wish them all the very best.

And finally some Christmas pics of Amelia Grace...

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The Great Aussie Summer Holiday

12/1/2013

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Steve and I left Melbourne on Friday 21st December and flew to Sydney to pick up a campervan for our Sydney to Brisbane road trip. Christmas is the height of Summer holiday season on this side of the World and planning had been somewhat traumatic as we juggled minimum night stays at camp sites and made decisions on route.

It was exciting for us though and we spent the morning familiarising ourselves with our home on wheels. We had our own chemical toilet and shower (only used in emergencies and we didn't end up using the shower) and other luxuries included a good fridge, stove top, microwave, outdoor BBQ, TV and DVD player and a bed bigger than the one we have at home!

It was a big vehicle and there was enough storage space for us and Steve got used to driving it around and finding big enough parking spaces.

First stop was the Blue Mountains. We arrived on an overcast day but the day after was beautifully sunny and we had some great views of the range. We enjoyed cable car rides, a train ride down a disused mine shaft at a 53 degree incline and also various walks along the cliff top.

Next stop - Hunter Valley. We had a great day exploring the region ourselves and then on Christmas Eve we went on a tour with 4 other people with a company called Two Fat Blokes. Our guide Jan (one of the two fat blokes) was great and he took us around some good wineries to reflect the best of the region. Again we had some beautiful weather and really saw the area at its prettiest and drank the area's finest!

We also stocked the campervan fridge for the rest of the trip naturally! As part of the tour we visited a boutique brewery so it wasn't wine all the way.

Every Great Australian Road Trip needs kangaroos! And we saw a huge get together of them.

We adjusted to campervan life which incorporated G&Ts outside, BBQ dinners and a generally slower pace of life...

Christmas Day came and we were greeted by a kookaburra. Christmas lunch was very much picnic style and after lunch outdoors it started to rain and it turned grey and it was actually cold. Properly cold!

So we stayed indoors and watched DVDs; finished off Game of Thrones and made a start on Homeland. We read books and it was all very quiet.

Boxing Day was less rainy but still grey, cold-ish and windy. We had booked to go sand boarding in the area and apparently in spite of the weather it was still going ahead so we made the trip there.

A bus took us to some vast sand dunes and we received instruction on how to board down. I was too afraid and made a couple of half hearted pathetic attempts down from about halfway up the dune! Steve fared much better as you can see. I also blame the wind whipping up the sand into my contact lenses!

After Boxing Day we started travelling by the coast northwards and the weather vastly improved. This was a good thing as after avoiding the rain and staying indoors in the van for two consecutive days was giving us early symptoms of cabin fever.

Such beautiful coastal scenery. A memorable spot was in a place called Seal Rocks between Port Stephens and Port Macquarie and there was a perfect corner with a bench and table for our lunch. Create in memory of "Andy", and called Andy's Corner, we're grateful to have been able to share it. We made a sandwich in the campervan and had a great lunch stop.

We had a couple of beach days en route and adjusted to life as beach bums. Pretty good work when you can get it!

As well as beaches and sunshine the other amazing thing about traversing the coast is finding seafood! We stumbled across different fish markets and oyster farms. We bought mussels to cook back at camp and also enjoyed oysters, prawns and bugs.

We reached Byron Bay on 30th December and settled down for a 5 night stay. Byron is gorgeous and we loved the seaside town. The beach was gorgeous, there were shops galore and restaurants and bars to try.

We went on a snorkelling trip on New Year's Eve to an area called Julian Rocks which was a 5 - 10 minute speedboat ride from the beach. There wasn't as much coral as a Great Barrier Reef but visibility was great, there were lots of fish of all different shapes, sizes and colours and we saw turtles!

To aid the holiday feeling we spend an afternoon in a spa getting massages and in between enjoyed some sun, sea and sand.

Byron itself was extremely busy with lots of young people there. Our camp site had a Spring break feel to it with bright young things everywhere. The girls would queue in the amenities block from 4pm getting ready for the evening with hairdryers, straighteners, curling tongs...everything!

The boys had scooters, skateboards, six pack abs and singlets and in order to fit in we needed two of the above and we had nothing! Nevertheless it was fun to feel young and watch all the shenanigans.

We even had wristbands to wear to show were residents. To be fair to the young uns, we weren't disturbed by raucous partying and security around the park was good. Steve saw a ute with a tarp sheet in the back and filled with water make the rounds - pool party on wheels. Needless to say we weren't invited!

Our final stop was Brisbane so we left Byron Bay and headed north stopping at Surfers Paradise for lunch and a walk along the beach.

We spent our last night just outside of Surfers and the next day returned our home on wheels at Brisbane airport. A fairly uneventful flight later and we landed home. Usually going home at the end of a holiday is depressing and landing home takes adjustment. This time we landed and it was a sunny 27 degrees. We still had the weekend ahead of us; hearts were light and the minds were free!

Such a great trip - fun with activity but plenty of downtime. Definitely one off the bucket list; it is an Australian dream thing isn't it that whole campervan trip.

Our holiday didn't finish though after landing in Melbourne! We had some friends from home visit. Nicola and Lee stayed with Rachel and Tim for a few days and we made plans to go to the Yarra Valley together on the Sunday.

Given we were going back to work on Monday, Steve offered to be guide and drive. It was a whole heap of fun enjoying the Yarra and visiting some of our favourite wineries whilst chit chatting and catching up.

And then Monday arrived and it was back to work...the end of the holiday season but what a good one it was!

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Birthday Celebrations Galore

Busy Season...

The Great Aussie Summer Holiday

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