Blog Archives

Two Dates and a Group of Mates

24/2/2013

Four days at work zipped by quickly after the long weekend at Wilsons Prom. I had to pull together and organise some filming for a corporate video quite quickly which involved getting people to places with permission and we even did some of it at our apartment. Hard work but fun.

Friday came round quickly and it seems like it was ages ago that I had set the date with Kim but how fast days pass by! I finished work promptly and had time for a couple of vodkas before heading to meet Kim. We had such a fun evening giggling away whilst seated at the sushi bar. A mojito each and a bottle of wine each certainly helped conversation flow. After dinner we had espresso martinis before heading home.

It's been in warm in Melbourne the last few weeks with temperatures over 30. Our air con broke last weekend which didn't matter too much as we were away but Monday night was horrible. We even tried to buy a fan but they'd sold out! I slept with an ice pack under each arm!

Saturday was spent recovering from the night before and then followed by another fun evening this time with Ling, Noah and Stef. We had dinner in Camberwell followed by dessert at a frozen yoghurt place. We stopped to admire a gorgeous sunset en route to dessert. The girls were on good form as always and the boys just put up with our inane chatter about men, Valentines Day, make up and fashion.

It's only 3 weeks until our 3 week trip back home! It has come round so soon and we're really excited. Between now and then we have lots on - dinners, catch ups, Melbourne Food and Wine Festival... When Steve and I go out we talk a lot about this trip. My second date this weekend was with Steve and we had a lovely Sunday lunch in a cute courtyard in Fitzroy.

Amelia is beginning to experiment with food and she's definitely a Chinese baby as she goes mad for rice! Here she is enjoying bread for the first time.

0 Comments

A Weekend with Wilson at His Prom

17/2/2013

0 Comments

When we arrived 2 and a half years ago, one of the things people told us was a "must do" was Wilsons Promontory or "The Prom" as it is more widely known. It's taken us a while and for me to magic up the desire to camp in a place where there are wild animals, snakes, lizards, creepy crawlies, leeches etc...

I guess the road trip in the camper van helped prepare me as well as one night in a tent last year. Oh and the prospect that I'd booked accommodation at the more "deluxe" end of the spectrum.

Friday was a tough day at work so it was good to have a getaway planned. We hit South Melbourne market early on Saturday morning to stock up on provisions and to fuel up our bodies for breakfast and then hit the road for the 3 hour trip to The Prom. Yep I slept for most that journey...I don't usually see pre 9am on a Saturday so this early start took it out of me!

Driving into Wilsons Prom was beautiful with views of bays and greenery galore. The area has been subject to fire and flood in the last few years and certain tracks and roads are still closed. However it's still incredibly beautiful.

We picked up keys to our Wilderness Retreat. There are about half a dozen permanent tents raised off the ground complete with timber flooring, electricity, hot shower, bathroom, fridge and a comfy bed in a secluded area that also has its own BBQ and communal kitchen area.

It's still in the wild and we spotted a bounding roo cross the path a couple of times during our stay.

We used the BBQ area both nights we were there. Not every tent was occupied so the two grills were always freely available. Each night was a meat and veg feast and Steve continues to reign as my BBQ King.

On the Sunday morning we set off on a 6km rainforest walk. It took us uphill, high up the Southern face ofnMount Bishop.

Along the way we didn't see much wildlife but certainly heard something in the bushes grunting and snorting and also a woodpecker or two.

The walk encompassed stringy bark forest, warm temperate rainforest and views of the Prom's coast.

After this walk we paid a quick visit to Whisky Bay which was a more strenuous walk than we anticipated.

After lunch we decided to spend the rest of the day at Picnic Bay enjoying the sea and the sunshine and a bit of a snooze.

We left the Prom this morning after a quick visit to Squeaky Beach which is probably the most popular of all the beaches. It's easy to see why as the sand is soft and white like Whitehaven Beach (Whitsundays) and it squeaks when you walk on it.

This morning it was pretty secluded. Shame we couldn't stay much longer.

Our weekend getaway was lots of fun and very relaxing. We enjoyed the solitude of the walks. Although the campsites were full (except for Wilderness Retreats) it didn't feel that way and there were about 25 people on the beach during the time we spent at Picnic Bay. Our first beach visit on the Saturday evening was to Norman Beach and that was also very quiet albeit windier and less sheltered than the other bays.

We were told that Wilsons Prom is a very beautiful corner of the World and we can certainly vouch for that. We loved the combination of granite mountains, open forest, rainforest, sweeping beaches and coastlines. If only we had more time and can visit again...

0 Comments

Ma Babeee Just Cares for Meeeee

9/2/2013

0 Comments

I've left it two weeks since the last post. Things have been busy at work so I didn't fancy spending more time in front of an illuminated screen. The good news is I think I have pushed through a lot of the work I had and I don't think it will be as all encompassing as it has been. This is the life though isn't it in the 21st century - periods of intense work and the less intense periods.

And two weeks ago, during the Festival of Minda, also known as my birthday week, Steve sent afternoon tea to me at work and a beautiful box of Burch and Purchese arrived. For those that watch Australian Masterchef, may recognise the name as Darren Purchese is a bit of a sweet thing king. He has also taken last year's second runner up Kylie Millar under his wing and together they are confectioners extroadinaire.

I didn't eat them all at work and brought them home to share with Steve. Our favourite was the mini gold bullion bar of chocolate with salted caramel. The chocolate was like a delicate shell with this amazing crisp crunch. That's not to say we didn't enjoy the smashed white chocolate slab speckled with intense freeze dried mint and freeze dried strawberry slices and the mint, white chocolate & pistachio persuaders which are like crumbly biscuits and so good with a cup of tea.

Last week I had a day out of the office and with a small group of colleagues headed to Yallourn which is 150km East of Melbourne in the La Trobe Valley.

We caught a train (first time on a cross country train for me) which was comfortable and headed to Moe where we were picked up by two colleagues who work at our Yallourn office.

So what is at Yallourn? You will find one of EnergyAustralia's brown coal power stations which supplies approximately 22 percent of Victoria’s electricity needs and approximately eight percent of the National Electricity Market. It is a huge and towering sites - the lift goes up to level 18 and the views are pretty spectacular.

Adjacent to the power station is Australia’s second largest open cut mine is adjacent to the Yallourn power station and annually mines around 18 million tonnes of high moisture brown coal.

You can see on the left hand side of the picture of the view a pipe heading uphill to the power station. That is part of a massive conveyor belt that transports the brown coal from the mine to the power station.

The mine itself is vast and the machinery is so huge it's like watching Transformers. The picture above is the dredger which slices down the mine removing the top layers to get to the coal. Then the huge Caterpiller (there's a picture above with lots of people on it) scoops up the coal. I was surprised by how soft the coal was - like soil and how huge the Caterpiller was.

It was a really interesting day out and definitely gave me a better understanding of the business I work for.

So I've talked about work, so time to talk about play. In the last two weeks, Steve and I have enjoyed the odd quiet date night trying new restaurants.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this but whilst we were on holiday during Christmas break we came up with a list of restaurants we want to try in 2013. Other people make resolutions, we come up with an eating has plan! That has kept us busy in the last few weekends.

We've expanded the dates though and last night had dinner with friends too.

And this weekend is Chinese New Year too. So how are we celebrating? Well we haven't had Chinese food although we did take a walk along the Southbank and enjoyed the festivities and decoration.

We spent Saturday morning shopping and having fun buying gifts to take home. Gifts for this little one pictured below...

0 Comments

Two Dates and a Group of Mates

A Weekend with Wilson at His Prom

Ma Babeee Just Cares for Meeeee

Authors

Archives

Categories