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.

Dimmey's Mural

Dimmey's is a discount clothing/linens store that has been in Melbourne since the 1850's. On the side of the store in Richmond there is an awesome mural documenting the history of the store and all of Australian history and popular culture. The mural was done by Hayden Dewar and took several years to complete. The work is incredible and has been mostly treated respectfully by other street artists.

The mural starts in sepia tones featuring a Ned Kelly wanted sign and portraits of the explorers Burke and Wills.
Vibrant colors come in about a third of the way though with loads of Australian icons like Blinky Bill, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (the Australian answer to Lassie), Dame Edna and of course Steve Irwin. There is even a small corner where Dewar portrayed himself painting the wall. The mural is a great way to get a brief in Australian history.

Flying Foxes at Yarra Bend

I was whining that I wanted to go see some animals but since we are Bosley sitting there are limited dog friendly animal reserves (actually none). We decided on just going up to Studley Park and having a picnic. The place was chocked full by the time we got there and there was no where to park so Matt drove around to a less populated area, Yarra Bend, that was still doggy friendly. What I didn't know was this is home to a community of 30,000 grey headed flying foxes (aka fruit bats). The trees are absolutely full of them and they are awesome to watch. They hang upside down because they expend much less energy than they would if they tried to sit upright. They sleep and stretch and preen each other while making a fare bit of squeaking noise. Many people see these lovely little creatures as pests. There were stupid golfers from the golf course next door hitting balls at their tress while we were there. What a lot of people fail to realize is how important these bats are. According to Victorians Advocate for Animals president Lawrence Pope "After bushfires, they help revegetation by carrying 50 times more pollen than birds and bees." They are also vital to the timber industry. Flying foxes can travel over 100km a night not only spreading the pollen that collects in their fur but seeds from the fruit they have eaten. I think they are beautiful with very cute little faces. There are walking trails that follow along the river right under the trees some of the thousand of bats are hanging in. It was a wonderful surprise to see these fantastic creatures hanging out in their natural habitat.

False Pretenses

I feel I was lead to Australia under false pretenses. My dear husband made big, bold statements about the weather in Australia being much less severe than any where in the world. He must have temporarily forgotten about the ten year drought. Since I have moved here there have been cyclone warnings with massive floods up in the north. You all saw on the TV the horrible tragedy that occurred with he bush fires after a record breaking week of heat. The wind gets pretty crazy here. The wind was so bad one day I saw a metal plate fly off a restaurant sign and come inches from cutting off a girls arm. No severe weather here.

Last night Matt was watching NASCAR in the living room so Bosley (who we are doggy sitting for the weekend) and I were in the bedroom watching anything else but NASCAR. I am laying there minding my own business when the room starts shaking. THE ROOM WAS SHAKING!! Matt said "it must have been a truck driving by." Not so much, Earth Tremor would be more like it. 4.6 on the Richter scale. My first quake....good times. While reading about earthquakes in Australia I was certainly pleased to see this map of heavy landslide occurrences. FALSE PRETENSES!! Oh well, at least there are really cute animals.

Rockabilly and Super Hilly

The Kustom Lane Gallery had a fundraiser this weekend for the Bush Fire Victims so Matt, Tara and I went down to check it out. This is the PERFECT gallery for Matt and I...lots of art and lots of cars. Many people were all gussied up in their rockabilly best. Some of the girls looked like they were right out of a Vargas painting. I really enjoyed watching this tiny girl kill a massive stand up bass.

After a good dose of Kustom Kulture we headed down to Rye to pick up Bosley who had spent the week vacationing at the beach with Tara's family. We walked up to the top of the cliffs (maybe they were really big dunes but thy seemed like cliffs). I opened my big mouth and mentioned walking down to the ocean. Going down was fine but coming back up was a little trickier. Soft sand and a really steep hill (or massive cliff in my mind) make for a fantastic Sunday afternoon work out. At least the view was beautiful.