Category: Melbourne

Our holiday in photos (and a few words…)

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We began our holidays at Rainbow Beach, in this apartment, with this view:

 There was “incy wincy” cake:

 and books to read:

and more beautiful views:

 Then there was Melbourne. And what does Melbourne mean? Melbourne means coffee:

Then there was Wang. And Wang meant catch ups;

meeting new friends:

more coffee;

and more coffee:

and good times at old places:

and more catch ups with old friends:

and more meeting new friends:

Remember these guys?

Then back to Melbourne for some underwater fun:

and more catch ups:

and of course, more (awesome Melbourne) coffee:

Lots of lovely times at the park:

And a few snoozles in the car:

 And so many cuddles with Big Brother;

 Nanna;

And Poppy.

And one of the best things of all; ice creams in the car after a long drive.

A truly amazing mix of complete relaxation, delightful catch-ups, crazy toddler getting cabin fever in the car, yummy coffees and not-as-bad-as-you-might-think Victorian weather. Hubs is on his way back to Townsville in our “new” car (we bought Mum and Dad’s land cruiser off them) and the kids and I are in Brisbane (Woody Pt) until the 11th of September. Might see you round 🙂

Gastro Boy

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We are all currently recovering from a bout of gastro that Chanbe may or may not have brought home from mothers group or day care. Oh, and we also shared it with the rellies we stayed with in Melbourne (sorry AA & Co!) before Chanbe and I flew to Brisbane on Tuesday. Oh, and now my Dad is feeling unwell. Did I mention we are up here for his retirement party on Saturday?

Yeah, I’m feeling pretty bad, and not in the “funny in the tummy” way. I’ve got the guilts, big time. I know that these sorts of illnesses happen a lot with kids, and we have been very lucky not to have had too many bugs go through the family (so to speak). It’s the “passing the sickness on to others” that I’m feeling bad about. I know people understand but I hate being the one to pass it around.

Sorry everyone! Will a cute baby-cino photo help? Feel better soon!!

babycino

 

They arrived!

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Hubs and I arrived home last night after 3 days and 2 nights away together, alone, in Melbourne. I had a wedding to officiate, so we decided to make a weekend of it. Chanbe stayed home with Mum and my aunty Mandy (Mum’s sister), and it was a great weekend all round! Hubs and I got to relax, unwind and do not much at all, while Chanbe got to stay at home and get spoilt! (Thank you thank you thank you Mum and Mandy!!!!!)

And waiting for me at home, were these:

And the bigger picture?

Yes, I’ve started packing. (Well, emptying out cupboards and stuffing the contents in bags. Packing, right?) Anyway, more about that later.

I still haven’t decided which one to read first. I’m leaning towards Vivian’s autobiography I think. I’ve had a lot of free time the last few weeks, and now that I actually have something specific to read (apart from random blogs) I don’t have the time to read it! Oh well, things will settle down in a month or so (won’t they???) and I’ll hopefully get cracking on them then. Who knows? I might even remember to tell you about them once I’m done!

Back to the packing. I found a house on Thursday in Wang that was just GORGEOUS!! And in our budget and in a nice area. Tick tick tick! We had looked at a couple the day before, and although they were okay (read: liveable) they certainly didn’t get us that excited. But the gorgeous one? It’s just so US. Hubs hasn’t actually seen it yet. Oh yeah. That’s how much he trusts me. I know what he likes and I know what he wants (a shed) so I’m super confident he’s going to like it as much as me. (It has a shed.) We put in the application at 4pm on Thursday and by 5pm, 3 out of 4 of our referees had already been contacted! How on the ball is that! Considering the debacle of finding a rental in Wang last time, I didn’t hold high hopes of dealing with real estate agents, but so far so good. We haven’t got the house yet, but I’m hoping to hear today. And hoping to be moving by this time next week.

So how about that packing?

bbbbbbbbad to the bone

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Guess who?

(I’ll give you a hint: It’s not me or Chanbe. Or The Stig.)

Did you guess?? So yeah. Now my Hubsband rides a motorbike. I guess he felt like he had too much free time, what with studying/working full time, raising an (almost) 1-year-old, being an attentive wonderful Hubs, gliding on weekends…. Ha!

Hubs first broached the subject of getting his motorbike licence a few months ago, and at the time I thought that it would be something that would happen in the next year or 2. Instead, it happened in a few months. He did a course and got his learner’s permit, and in Victoria, that pretty much means you can get yourself a bike and ride on your own. Crazy, no?? The learners course is in a carpark at the Wangaratta airport. No traffic and no speeds over 30kph. And all of a sudden they’re allowed to ride a motorbike up to 650CC in the big wide world??????

So then it was time to look for a bike. Hubs jumped onto eBay, and Hubs being Hubs was quite taken by a couple of fixer-uppers (or “orphan bikes” as my Dad calls them) but I suggested that could be something he looked into later down the track when he has an actual garage to do the fixing up. And then he found it. A 2006 Kawasaki Eliminator. Who on earth had the great idea to call a motorbike an Eliminator. As if I’m not scared enough!!

And the icing on this danger cake of insanity? We had to pick it up from Melbourne. 350km away. So we left Chanbe behind with my parents who are staying with us at the moment, and set out on Sunday at 8:30am. We made it to Melbourne in great time and was at the guy’s place at 1pm. Hubs took it for a burn safe ride around the back streets to get a feel for it, and we were on the road. Well, kind of. It took us 20 minutes to go about 2km because of Melbourne traffic, and we weren’t even in town!! I was in the car following Hubs and I don’t know that I have ever been more terrified in my life. But he navigated his way beautifully and we were soon out of the busy traffic and onto the safety of…. the freeway.

We arrived at the motorbike accessories shop and I started to calm down a bit. It seems that Hubs is a bit of a natural. He looks like he’s been riding for years, and he loved the freeway riding – much less stressful than being in the middle of traffic. We suited him up with a new helmet, jacket, gloves and pants. He sure does look the part. We then started to head home. It was 3:30pm by this stage, and by the time we stopped a couple of times for fuel, and for a rest in Wangaratta, we didn’t get home until 9:30pm. It was a ridiculously long day, and we were both happy to be back home.

I must admit that I love it. I’m not saying that I’m not going to worry every time he gets on and rides away, but there’s something very sexy about a man on a motorbike, oui?

I should be napping…

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We had a pretty rough night with Chance last night, and he’s having a very good nap at the moment. I know I should be too, but there’s just too many other fun things to be doing! Like catching up on my Google Reader, reading my emails, and sitting on the couch drinking coffee, enjoying my view.

We all arrived back home to MB late Saturday night (about midnight!) and had a really great relaxing day yesterday in preparation for Hubs’ first day at his new position today. We left Brisbane on Friday which was a bit sad, but we had a lovely time visiting, although it was bitter sweet. It was so lovely seeing Hubs again after almost 2 weeks away. We headed over to Nathan and Cal’s for dinner and sleepover which was, as always, lovely and relaxing. We had a bit of a sleep in Saturday and after some brekky, headed over to Uncle Wayne and Aunty Alida’s for lunch. And boy were we in for a treat!

AA knows how much we love home-made gnocchi, so that’s what was on the menu! We were lucky enough to get there while it was all being prepared, so I was able to get some handy hints for my next attempt.

Served with a tomato sauce (home made too, of course!)
Chanbe’s first gnocchi!

After lunch (which included tiramisu for dessert!) we headed to Albert Park to watch Chance’s Godfather, Dr Luke, play a friendly game of footy. Not long after we arrived, one of the guys was injured so they asked Hubs if he’d like to play. Would he ever!

(That was a pretty dumb photo to take – Hubs is out there somewhere!) Hubs had a great time, and although he got a bit battered and bruised, it was good to have a run around with the guys. He helped set up a goal and made a few good tackles, including one on Dr Luke! We cheered on from the sideline on a lovely Melbourne afternoon.

It must have been our cheering, as Dr Luke kicked a total of 15 goals!

We left the park around 5pm and headed to Wangaratta for dinner with Kyra and Stephan and Frederick, arriving around 8pm. We were treated to delicious lasagne, salad and garlic bread. It’s always so hard to leave their house and the time flies by so quickly! We dragged ourselves away at 10pm and after a fuel stop, got home at 11:45pm. We collapsed into bed and Chance had a pretty good night so that meant we did too.

After such an emotional, albeit wonderful 2 weeks in Brizzie, the day of family, friends, and great food, was just what I needed to lift my spirits.

Chance has been asleep for over an hour and a half now, and it’s almost time for lunch. (Looking at those gnocchi photos has made me hungry!) And the sun has come out, so we might go for a walk after we eat. This is the view I’m looking at right now. Pretty nice, huh?

MIA

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I spent a few days in old Melbourne town this week, hence my absence in the blogging world. Plus, you know, I’m lazy busy. I went down to the capital to see my friend A-dele who was down from Brizzie for a conference, and I took the opportunity to catch up with a few other friends as well. I also dressed Chance in on of the very (very) few outfits that I have actually bought him:

And a way-too-cute close up to highlight the reason for the purchase:
What’s that? You’d like another one? Oh, okay then…
So clearly as soon as I saw the little feet on the onesie I simply had to buy one for my Littlefoot. Oh, and don’t tell Hubs, but I also bought it in white with silver trim for the girls we’re going to have. Hee hee!! Fun!!
The trip was HEAPS of fun and it was so nice to see our friends again. Chance hung out with his little friends who just adored him:
I was a little nervous about taking Chance on my own but I had a great trip which was made even more smooth by driving our newest member of the family, Sherry. Chance was an absolute dream and slept the whole way, there and back, and although we missed Hubs and he missed us, it gave him the opportunity to catch up on scary/non-Wifey movies (e.g. Resident Evil.) I’ll tell you about the other trip we had tomorrow…

Simple things done well

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The thing about Hubs is that he’s easy to please but hard to impress. (Luckily for me I’m totally awesome so he was totally impressed and just had to marry me! Ha!)

(Moving on…) I may have already mentioned that I can take all day preparing an elaborate 3 course meal for Hubs that he’ll enjoy just as much as spag bol or chicken salad, as long as they are done well. So when we were over at Aunty Alida and Uncle Wayne’s on Friday and Aunty Alida asked if we’d like ham and salad rolls for lunch, Hubs got very excited. I know what you’re saying. Ham and salad rolls? Big whoop. But when something simple like that is made with love (and avocado) then it will always be a winner with us Hubs. And you know me – I love anything that someone else makes for me!

And of course, they were awesome!

This visit kicked off a super weekend in Melbourne for us. More to come…

Home sweet home (finally!!!)

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It has been one crazy week. We left Brizzie on Monday morning (it seems like weeks ago, not days!) and flew back to Melbourne on route to Wang. About half an hour before we were due to land, the Captain made an announcement that due to changing winds in Melbourne, we may have to redirect to Sydney or Canberra. Hubs and I started talking about what we would do if that happened, but decided to just wait and see, and thankfully, we were able to land safely. We picked up the kombi and headed straight to Nathan and Cal’s place – our home for the following 2 nights. Poor Chance didn’t know what was going on – the number of different places this kid has slept, I tell you what. But as usual he adapted wonderfully.

We had made plans to have dinner with Hubs’ aunt and uncle and cousins on the Tuesday night so we headed over early to do some shopping beforehand. Unfortunately on the way there, we ran into some car trouble. Long story short, we had to leave it at the mechanic overnight, so Hubs and I decided to get serious about buying a car – something we had been talking about for months. We jumped on line and lo and behold, found a car that ticked all the boxes. We took it for a test drive and committed to buying it there and then on Wednesday.

It’s a burgundy Ford Falcon (yes, we’re in the country now) Futura LPG station wagon. This is the first car that Hubs and I have actually chosen and bought, both separately or together. All of our other cars have been bought from (or given to us by) family or friends so it is a really exciting thing!! Another long story short, we were supposed to receive the bank cheque we ordered (only drawback of being with ING – no bank) on the Thursday and leave that afternoon, but it didn’t arrive til Friday morning so we didn’t get home til yesterday at 2pm. I got to drive “Sherry” home and what a ride! It certainly has some power behind it!

So we walked in the door, emptied the car of all our stuff and proceeded to do absolutely nothing about it. We were then invited to our friend’s place for lunch today so we only just got around to starting to unpack an hour or so ago, hence my presence in blog world! Hee hee! Chance is being an absolute dream, just chilling on the floor and being mesmerised by the mobile hanging over him, so we are actually getting a lot done. Blogging was a big priority for me! I’ve really missed it! I was worried after my hiatus that I wouldn’t really get back into it, and am so glad I’m a keen bean.

I have lots of half-thought-of posts in my head, including the one I plan to write on Monday/Tuesday, entitled something along the lines of “Day 1 of just me and the kid” or something perhaps a bit more eloquent.

Aaaaaaah it’s good to be home.

A review

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After Hubs and I attended the Swap Meet in Melbourne a few weeks ago, we went and had coffee and cake at Cafe Cirino in Williamstown. We chose it because, well, it was the first place we came across, and the thing about Melbourne, is that pretty much no matter where you go, you get good coffee. It’s not always good service, but the coffee is always good. Or in this case, fantastic. Hubs ordered an affogato, which is what he always orders these days, and I ordered a large soy cappacino. We also grabbed a piece of almond orange cake to share. This is what came out:

And it was all… so…. goooooood. Including the service! The cake was moist and delicious. The affogato was creamy and beautifully presented. And my soy coffee? Well, let’s just say I gave Meg Ryan in “When Harry Met Sally” a run for her money.


Even as I’m writing this, I’m remembering how good it all was. The weather was lovely, I had my gorgeous Hubsband sitting with me, holding my hand, and the delights we were served just topped it all off. There are so many times in life that could just blend into your day/week/month/year, but it’s nice to cherish those little moments of loveliness, and this was definitely one of those times for me. No frills, nothing fancy, just a whole lot of goodness.

Another Swap Meet

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After going to the swap meet in Shepparton a few weeks ago, I wasn’t about to start doing cartwheels when Hubs said there was another one he wanted to go to in Melbourne. “But this one’s a VW only Swap Meet” he says. Like that’s supposed to make it better?

I was a little sceptical but we got up at 7:00am on the Sunday after the game as we wanted to “fight the crowds” and “get a good parking spot”. The swapping and meeting started at 8am and we arrived around 8:30am at Williamstown. As we were “looking for a park” we saw a few VWs and then drove right past the venue – there were parks right outside!! Obviously this meet was a lot more low-key than the last which was absolutely fine by me!

We actually had a really nice time chatting with fellow kombi and VW owners about this and that and Hubs bought himself some carbis!

I’m not sure that he needed all 3, but considering he also wanted to buy a whole “new” engine that I talked him out of, I let it slide. Thankfully there wasn’t the junk at this meet that there was at the last meet, and it was wholly VW-related. Some of the cars were just gorgeous!

And some had the potential (maybe… eventually…) to be so:

And one kombi in particular, around the same model as ours (1977) was fully restored. It was nice to see what our kombi could maybe look like one day…. (but, you know, with our own kids…)

And of course there weren’t just kombis! It was a VW affair after all.

I had some photos of some beetles as well but don’t seem to have them with me right now. But you all know what they look like 🙂 It really was a nice way to spend a Sunday morning and afterwards we went and had a coffee and cake, but that deserves a post all of its own.