i've been very naughty about keeping my blog up to date these last few months; my last post was at the end of may ;-( there's good reason for it but no excuse, i should be making a conscious effort as i do enjoy looking back periodically and reflecting on where i've been and what i've been up to ;-) for those who don't know, i had a visitor for half of june and all of july which hampered my regular activities slightly however it assisted in my discovery of things in my own backyard which is always a good thing ;-)
we rented a car and headed off into the great gold rush area of victoria where in the late 1800s, a massive deposit of gold was discovered. ballarat, a small, sleepy town about two hours' drive from melbourne was the site of much hustle and bustle when the first nugget was discovered. people from all over the globe came to make their fortune panning for gold. some obviously because quite wealthy while others didn't find an ounce! after edifying our brains with the history of the area and the gold rush that put melbourne on the map, we headed off in search of "canadian" a small suburb just south of ballarat. we didn't find canadian itself but we did locate the "canadian state forest" :-) who knew that so far from canada, you could find such a thing?! ;-) appropriate photos taken, we moved on to wendoree lake which is just outside of town for some photo ops at sunset. were we surprised to arrive and see a dried up lake with signs warning to boat safely and boathouses very clearly not in use?! it brought home for me how much of a drought victoria (the state i live in) is actually in...
another weekend, we headed off down the pennisula to the mornington area to do a bit of discovery. this area is reknown for its wineries and though we didn't actually find the time to visit a single one (i know, shameful!!), we did definitely have a lovely day exploring. we lunched in a great little cafe with an open fire by the bay, went for some fantastic hikes and had dinner in the infamous portsea hotel (where i had a glass or two of the delicious mornington pennisula wine). it was a short but nice visit!
other than our short hops outside of melbourne, robert and i obviously did a great deal of exploring inside the city. i've had a look at the architecture in melbourne in an entirely different way as we explored the history of this fantastic city together. we also made our way to a number of my favourite watering holes and restaurants in the city. in addition, we got to spend six weeks discovering my new neighbourhood together which was a lot of fun and i believe he's a fan of the espy or epsy as he calls it which is a great hotel (bar) about 10 mins from my place. it's an institution in this city ;-)
for those curious, i've settled into my new apartment quite well and am loving the new locale!! i know that it'll only get better as winter slowly transitions into summer here. the days are already getting longer and i can see much potential in living right across from the beach with a great balcony.. now i only need to procure a barbeque :-) otherwise, life is as normal as it ever gets for me!! i'm still loving life in the land down under and now that work has become slightly less hectic (and thus less stressful), i'm feeling much chirpier (to borrow an english phrase ;-)
hugs to all back home!
sarah
p.s. i've bought myself a plane ticket to india for four weeks in oct/nov. i'm most excited about the trip however i've got to start looking into what to do/where to go soon or amg will have the whole trip planned ;-)
