Blues on the Bay

A friend of one of my co-workers organized a night on a big boat, on Port Phillip Bay with a blues band so a bunch of us decided to check it out. It was so much fun!! The band was great and the weather was perfect. We went all up and down the Bay from the Telstra Dome down past Williamstown. The Telstra Dome (now called Etihad Stadium) had some of the lights on which was attracting bugs which in turn was attracting seagulls. The seagulls were reflecting the light off the stadium which made them look like giant fireflies.

The view of the Docklands was really cool especially the Southern Star ferris wheel. Too bad it had to be shut down after the heat wave. The thing was only working for a few weeks when it buckled under the 45 (c) degree heat. It is mostly sad because when it shut a lot of people lost their jobs and at this time that is the last thing you want to happen to anyone. Hopefully it will be up and running again soon.

We cruised past the docks were all the ships brought in cargo which at first I thought was going to ugly be it was actually very interesting to watch how they loaded and unloaded all these massive boxes. Matt was telling me how many cargo containers have been lost off ships. There have been yacht that disappeared in Bass Strait and one theory is these cargo boxes that go over board float a few just below the surface and if a boat hits one they can rip off the keel causing the boat to sink. Happy thoughts I know!! But I did enjoy watching the whole process.

Easter Weekend

My Easter weekend started off beautifully when my new team leader at work came in with hot cross buns. This is the first time I tried one of these traditional Easter fruit buns and while not my favorite thing in the world it was nice to kick off the Easter weekend with something traditionally Australian.

The rest of the weekend we planned to do something not so traditionally me...go camping. I haven't been camping since I was about 11 and really never thought I would be too keen to get in a tent again. But then my friend Sophia asked if we wanted to go to Omeo and camp and for some reason I said yes. So Matt borrowed a tent, we packed up the car and drove up to the High Country. We drove up through Gippsland to the Great Alpine Road which is a beautiful drive up into the Alpine Region of Victoria. We stopped for a delicious country bakery meat pie. Yummmmmm!!!! For some reason the country bakeries are always so much better. Along the way I noticed there were quite a few stuffed people. Not people stuffed with country bakery pie but "stuffed" people. Very popular in the high country!!

Our campsite was the bottom of a lovely valley right behind the main street of Omeo. I don't know if it was because we were in a BMW or our tents were a tilting a little but a few people asked if we need some help. Everyone was really friendly. We got a camp fire going (in a fire drum of course!! Must be really careful out in the bush) and settled in for a lovely night of sizzling sausages and relaxing around the fire. Some of our camping neighbors came over to have a drink with us and told us all about relocating from a small town in Scotland.

The next morning was the main event for the year in Omeo...the Omeo Rodeo. This is another thing I never thought I would do but I must say it was not only fun but educational. I only thought bad things about rodeos from all of my PETA days but minus the bull riding it is just a display of all the things that cowboys/girls have to be good at to do their job. You have to be able to break a wild horse, you have to be able to ride horses really well, you have to be able to lasso a cow. While I'm not so sure about needing to bull ride the bulls didn't seem too upset after the eight seconds (if the rider was lucky) was over. They just trotted off and ate some grass.

We headed off to the local pub and met some more entertaining people. Lots of Cowboys and Cowgirls!! Again, everyone was very friendly. A few of the girls we met had worked in the States as nannies. We had a really great time and the view was awesome.

Some how there are always reminders of home. I asked this fellow why he was wearing a Jacksonville shirt and he told me because it was 16.99 at the local Big W (aka Wal-Mart). Fair enough!

Easter morning we woke up to the sounds of a very early rising rooster followed by kookaburras laughing away, then a general chorus of native birds. The ground was always scattered with fresh roo droppings so I knew they were around but didn't see any until Easter morning. As I went running up the hill to get a better look in my pajamas and Easter Bunny ears (Matt said I probably really confused the kangaroo in my ears) I noticed the ground was covered in purple thistles, my favorite flowers.

We cooked up eggs and sausages over the fire for Easter breakfast. Of course the Easter Bilby was smart enough to find us out in the bush and brought over some chocolate Easter eggs. After playing with Millie, our neighbor puppy, we packed up our tents and headed back down the Mountains.

There was one more spot for some good ol' tourist pictures on the way home. The Spud Shed near Trafalgar has GIANT potatoes with GIANT forks sticking into them. Matt just begged me to stop and get a picture. He just loves cheesy tourist shots.

My niece, Natarsha, turned just turned five so Matt and I went to her birthday party. The place in Sunbury was great. All the rooms were painted either with fairies or mermaids or some other popular kid theme with the biggest child sized hamster tube I have ever seen. All the little kids loved it.

We also went down to the CBD to do a little shopping. David Jones had a really cool display with a lot of the costumes from the movie AUSTRALIA. There are always cool costume displays around Melbourne. The Art Center often has free exhibits featuring dance costumes or rock star costumes. Great Fun for me!! Even when you are just walking along shopping you can run into a lovely little unexpected exhibit.