time passes so quickly...

hmmm, where to start this entry as once again i'm slightly overdue though i must confess that it's been a fantastic 6 weeks!!

well to start, my trip for february was to sydney (it was the first time in two years).  i headed up for work and then spend a couple of extra days exploring...  at least that was the intention however the weather had other plans as it rained for the entire 5 days!!  it rained so much that things were floating randomly down the streets and i went through two umbrellas due to the wind!!  about two weekends later, we had a similar downpour weekend in melbourne with massive hail stones and 500 million litres of water falling in the catchment over two days!!  i don't believe i'd seen so much rain fall in melbourne in the 2.7yrs i've been here!!  it was pretty amazing and definitely warranted water cooler conversations on monday that started with 'what size where the hail stones near you?' or 'did your roof leak over the weekend?'....  it was kind of funny to hear everyone sharing war stories :-)   

for march, my trip happened this weekend gone when me and 11 friends headed down to philip island for a relaxing weekend away.  we drove up friday night and had a relaxing evening drinking sangria, eating pizza and talking sh*t.  saturday involved brunch on a patio followed by a wine tasting, a chocolate tasting and then a hike to walk off all of the food we'd inhaled ;-)  we had a lovely bbq (the first time i've bbq'd since i got here) and then played some hilarious board games and danced late into the night (i realise that it's an odd combination of activities but it seemed sensible at the time ;-)  brunch, a stroll along the beach and then it was time to start making our way back to melbourne on sunday.  (it was a great weekend away however it was even better because it was grand prix weekend so i missed the screeching cars racing by about 200m from my house all weekend!! :-)

other than the above, i've been to a short film festival competition which was fabulous (no longer than 7mins in length), i caught up with a guy i met in india and had way too much wine one saturday afternoon.  i had a couple of different bday drinks or bbqs, a couple of hikes (including a 20km day), a great micro brewery tasting event on st patty's day and some relaxing sunday afternoons in the park listening to live music with friends.

in addition, i've decided to volunteer for the victorian aids council.  effectively, i'll be working with clients who are fairly isolated from their community, some with serious medical issues, going for coffee, planning group events, etc...  i haven't started yet however it should commence soon after my extensive two days of training.  i'm looking forward to the challenge!

must head off as it's time for bed.  i'm flying up to sydney for the day in the morning...  it'll be a long day!!

by the way, for those still reading, i promise that there's a fantastic trip planned for april (if not two since we have two long weekends in april).  just a bit of a teaser to keep you coming back:-)

hugs and happy spring for those in north america!!
sarah