Ponyfish Island, Cookie and Madame Brussels

This is a big week for me. I was officially signed to my project at work and will start next Tuesday! On Thursday I will go for my next x-ray and physio appointment, so I have my fingers crossed that the Ortho has good news to report. I have been back in the gym, which was much needed for my sanity – and it feels so good to be active again. Working back up to triathlon readiness is in the cards. Also on Thursday, Accenture is hosting a conference for International Women’s Day. There will be lots of panels, speakers and networking. This weekend, I am heading west to the Supernatural Amphitheatre for a 3-Day camping/music festival trip over our long Labor Day weekend!

Almost caught up to speed with my Christmas Vaca:

So after the trek back from Monkey Mia, we were exhausted and Adam and Emily had to head back to work for the next couple of days. Bec and I decided to use this time to soak up some rays on the beach. We hired bikes one of the days and biked from Scarborough (Northern Perth) all the way down south to Fremantle. It was about a 45k ride all together. Our intention was to find Cottesloe beach to relax on – but at one point the bike path split into two directions, and we chose the wrong one. We ended up riding through people’s front and back yards, huffing up an enormous hill and finding ourselves in the docklands where freight ships come in. Looking back, we should have obviously taken the path to the right since that was the direction of the beach! Turning around, we went back north (the right way, sort of, because at one point we were crossing a huge, grassy field into a residential neighborhood) but finally made it to Cottesloe and stopped to have some much needed food and drinks.

The next day we returned the bikes and just took it easy at the beach, stopping at The Wild Fig Café for some quite delicious coffee. The café looked a lot like how Melbourne cafés look- very eclectic and vintage. Chandeliers made out of industrial size whisks, tables made from old doors complete with bowling ball legs, mix-matched tables and chairs – it was quite nice to hang out and feel a bit at home for a while.

Our Christmas trip was coming to an end, and we were both exhausted and ready to be back in Melbourne. I, however, had to get my game face on because Jenny (one of my best friends in the entire world) was coming to visit the day after we were to land home.

Finally back on my couch, I started sorting through emails I had missed while away and I just happened to notice one from Jenny saying she missed her flight from LA to Melbourne! My heart just sank! One, because I was so excited to see her the next morning and two because I just knew how upset she was, sitting at the LA airport when she was meant to be in the air. So instead of picking her up Saturday morning, Bec and I headed to the airport Sunday instead. Of course, of all times for road construction, they choose the one Sunday morning I am in a rush. Frustrated at the slow pace and the lack of signage at the airport of how to meet arrivals, I jumped out of the car and worked my way to the international arrival gate. Pacing up and down the long gate – I kept my eyes peeled for the my blondie to appear (she would have stood out from the large amount of Asians coming home with trolley after trolley carts of cheaply made Asian goods to sell in Australia). I reckon about 30 minutes passed and she was still nowhere to be found, so of course I started to panic (not to mention, I could not for the life of me located her flight on the arrival board.) When all of a sudden, I get a huge slap on my butt with a, “Hey idiot! Where have you been? I had to fly in from Sydney – so I’ve been waiting for 45 minutes in the Domestic terminal.” OH MY GOSH! I am so so sorry – it literally did not even occur to me that the flight would be coming in domestic. I was thinking ATL to MEL is international. Of course, there had been no way for her to contact me (because silly me hadn’t emailed her my Aussie number, address, anything!), and only then did I realize her boyfriend Juan had been sending me Facebook messages asking where I was. I felt awful, but the overwhelming awfulness was swept away with the gigantic bear hug I was then embraced in. I swept her away (sans luggage, because of course the airline lost it on top of everything else that went wrong with her flight) to find Bec.

We walked around the city all day, had a nice lunch on my favorite, Degraves Lane and went home since we were both tuckered out from all our recent travel. Because I had to head back to work the next day, I loaded Jen up with maps, contact numbers, instructions to buy herself an Aussie go-phone and every other precautionary tool I could think of. I was on stand-by from the airlines for her bag to arrive (which did not come until 2 days later and was full of Christmas presents for me!) She had a great time touring around my area of town (Prahran, Windsor and South Yarra – all along Chapel Street) as well as Yarra Valley wine region during the day, and after work each night, we met Michelle and Bec at different bars/restaurants around the city for dinner and drinks. My favorites have to be Ponyfish Island, Cookie and Madame Brussels.

Ponyfish Island was built around the bridge supports of the Yarra Pedestrian Bridge which crosses over the Yarra River in Southbank. It literally is a floating bar/restaurant on the water, always brimming with people right after work.

Madame Brussels is on the north end of the city and looks like a replica of Mrs. Higgins house from the end of My Fair Lady. The floor is covered in astro-turf, flowered wallpaper covers the walls, guests sit at white lawn furniture and the menu of drinks ranges from Peach Tea to Mint Juleps. There is a “Lounge” you can rent out for private parties, otherwise there are 2 outdoor patios to relax on (during the cold months, there are blankets available for you to wrap up in and during the warmer months, large handheld fans are fluttering about.)

Cookie is in about a 9 story building with different restaurants, shops, etc on each level. Cookie itself is a Thai restaurant with a fairytale feeling atmosphere (The place where your bill is brought out to you in a Little Golden Book. There is also an amazing rooftop bar and Choo Choo’s, a restaurant inside Toff Bar which is on one of the middle levels - where you eat inside of train cars.

Jen decided on a day trip to the Great Ocean Road to see the 12 Apostles (large rock formations out in the sea). I went with her into the city that morning as the van was meant to pick her up at 7:30am. We arrived just on time, asked some nice man about our specific tour and he assured us the van was on its way. 30 minutes later, we were still waiting on the sidewalk. Jen called the company – and it went directly to a man’s voicemail…the same man we had just talked to on the sidewalk! He assumed both of us were coming on the tour (guess he didn’t care to pay attention when we said it was just Jen going). Jen was humiliated to climb into the van full of other tourists because they had circled back around the city to pick her up, even though she was there on time. I just had to laugh my whole way to work…picturing her in the fan, trying not to feel the stares boring into the back of her head.

12 Apostles

That next weekend, we headed to Tasmania (a whole story in itself!) and Jen spent the next week in Sydney/wandering around Melbourne. Thursday night of that week, we met up with some friends for Beach Volleyball in St. Kilda Beach (I was just a spectator because that was the day I was approved to remove my walking cast! Walking for the first time in a tennis shoe felt extremely foreign). Friday night, Jen was able to meet the infamous Irishman. We had a huge BBQ at the even more infamous house of Padraic (pronounced “Porrick” – it means “Patrick”) - the house where the balcony was that I so thoughtfully leaped from to break the ankle contained in the aforementioned walking cast. Jen walked into the house, saw the balcony and just shook her head. I know. Bad judgment call.

THE Balcony. Me finally sans cast/boot.

Dropping Jen off at the train station the next morning was painful. I didn’t want to, but of course did, burst into tears on the sidewalk, telling her to give everyone at home a huge hug for me. I watched her walk away and with tears still in my eye, visited my friend at Brumby’s bakery for a skinny flat white and sat down outside, hiding the tears behind my sunglasses. Why I decided to then call my mom was beyond me because as soon as she answered, I burst into tears, again! She was practically in tears as well because just at the same moment as I was calling, she was standing in the grocery store in front of a large display of sunflowers (my FAVORITE). I told her I missed and loved her, but that I would indeed see her very soon. That afternoon I headed with my dear friend Michelle to a few bridal boutiques to help her find a wedding gown (for her upcoming exchange of vows back in the states) and then to brunch at a cute little café. With my emotions, still on edge, I turned into THAT SAP that burst into tears the moment she walked out in her first dress. She looked beautiful! She chose a simple gown that fit her amazingly (and that we swore was white, even though she wanted cream and the sales lady was claiming this WAS the cream one – only to find out by the end of the appointment that this sample actually WAS white). I rounded off my afternoon at The Australian Open, watching the large matches on the jumbo-trons set up around the park.

Since Jen left, I was busy sadly saying good-bye to my new friends at The Chocolate Box, starting at Accenture and meeting all my new work friends, I had a relaxing weekend away in the mountains just north east of Melbourne, a weekend in Sydney and a few quiet weekends at home. Time is going to fly by before I know it and I will be in Atlanta May 12^th (flights now all confirmed!) for two weeks.

Cafe Darling

I believe I mentioned before, Cafe Darling is a cute little coffee shop I pass every morning on my walk to the train station. Outside on the sidewalk, they have an A-Frame sign with their Logo on one side, calling customers to come in for an enjoyable cup. The other side of the board is a chalkboard used to write daily, inspirational quotes.

All week, the weather has been cold and rainy, which subsequently meant there was no message on the board. Until today. I started my gorgeous, sunny, 60degree day with some yoga and news reports of the flooding currently taking place in NSW (New South Wales, the state right above Victoria where I live on the East Coast of Australia). My hopes were high for the Cafe Darling board while traipsing down the hill from my apartment to the station. As I approached, I squinted to see the message awaiting for me on that chalkboard, and it was perfect:

"As long as you live, keep on learning how to live."

My day continued to brighten once I stepped through the office doors. I confirmed my flight home on 12th of May with the airlines and cleared the dates with work! I also had a call with a Senior Manager who reached out to me for a role on his project. I will be working on an e-commerce project for Coles, one of the two largest supermarkets in Australia. After speaking with him, I was elated about the role, my responsilbites and the project we will be working on. I literally feel like Cinderalla finding her glass slipper today - all the pieces are fitting together perfectly. After confirming my role (which will start on Monday), I verified my registration for a mandatory, two week training session held in Kuala Lumpur (the largest popluated city in Malaysia) in June.

Not only did I take a risk when I moved to Australia without a job, I also took a risk by accepting a job with Accenture (mostly because the lack of my IT skills/knowledge). These past 7 months have taught me more about myself than I could ever imagine, and in areas where I had never before realized I needed to self-examine. I have met so many amazing people from all over the world with different viewpoints, thoughts, opinions and beliefs who are absolutely amazing to sit down and talk to, you just have to make the time. From the lady on the tram wanting someone to talk to about her daughter, to my new friends at work who literally moved from all over the world to begin a new career at Accenture, Melbourne. I am constantly learning. Learning about new cultures, lifestlyes, thought processes. I am also now learning a whole new side of business, now that I am part of an IT company (yes, I am surrounded by nerds!) but without this continued learning and growth, life would become dull and mundane. I am so blessed and thankful to have this experience of a lifetime.

Off to lunch at a great restuarant in the CBD and a networking event for work tonight - then its the weekend!

Monkey Mia

After several days of record heat here in Melbourne, last night the rain clouds decided to roll in. Not the perfect timing for a Monday morning (with no umbrella and lugging around an entire desks’ worth of work equipment/papers, plus workout clothes). My train was 10 minutes late and I desperately still needed some food from the supermarket, so 30 minutes late to work was not too bad considering. Thankfully I am still “on the bench” at work this week – so am using my time wisely: 1.  Completing required training videos. 2. Writing this blog post. 3. Sitting on the phone for 1 hour with Travelocity/American Airlines trying to book my flight home in May 4. Taking a long lunch with co-workers at a busy Thai restaurant. 5. Looking at Oscar Red Carpet pictures online. Busy, busy day I tell ya.

I take you back now to the West Coast of Australia adventure:

Another day hanging out on the beach in Perth and we headed North in a fantastic 4x4 to Monkey Mia for New Years. We booked a campervan park again, but this time we had luxurious accommodations: a cabin with AC, two bedrooms, a stocked kitchen and an amazing front porch with a view of the ocean - we were high class!

The 10 hour drive was anything but exciting with not much more to see than desert, a couple of trees and more desert. The highlight of the trip was the half-way-point-stop-over in the second largest town on the west coast, Geraldton. Now, with all the hype this place received from the locals we spoke with, we were expecting the Las Vegas of Australia. What Geraldton actually is: a city, on the water , with one main street and about 4 neighborhoods of homes that look identical to each other. Granted, the beach was beautiful, but that was about all Geraldton had going for it.

Expecting the local restaurants to have some great seafood, we opted for the local family-owned place on the corner of the town’s square, "Skeetas." Looking back now, based on the name alone, we should have been more skeptical of the place. But we were trusting of the locals and gave it a try despite our hesitations. The interior resembled the dining hall of a nursing home, complete with padded chairs, communal tables and horribly pattered, worn out carpet. The icing on the cake (not even exaggerating): the center piece of the entire restaurant was a large fish tank housing a real life version of every single main character from Finding Nemo.

Based on the decor and mojo of the place, we did not have high hopes for the quality of the food. When I say the food was sub-par, it was not only extremely over-priced, but really, not very tasty – especially for a town on the water – Fresh Seafood should be its specialty! We hurried out of there to continue our journey (after taking the "scenic route" out of town - which ended up being nothing more than a huge horseshoe road along the coast leading back to the highway with an amazing view of the backs of warehouses.) Needless to say, we were NOT impressed with Geraldton and hoped we never had to encounter the place again.

Finally arriving about dinnertime in Shark Cove Bay, we enter into the campervan park, found our amazing cabin and cooked up some dinner. The next day we drove about 30 minutes to see the dolphins at Monkey Mia. They come into the cove 4 times a day for feeding by the trainers based at the National Park. They had not been in to feed for the past 10 days, so that was our lucky day that they actually showed up! I stayed up on the boardwalk to look down into the water – but Adam and Emily walked right up to the water’s edge. When they asked for volunteers, Adam did’t even raise his hand, but the trainer picked him out of the crowd regardless (it may have been because of the blatantly obvious “tourist look” of a graphic tee, cargo shorts and bright red Canada Leaves hat!) They called him forward to feed one of the dolphins a fish – and said he could bring someone with him. Bec and I literally had to yell down to them, “Go, Go- they called you – you both can go!” (They looked dumfounded and confused as to what was going on.) We of course had to take heaps of pictures of this momentous occasion (it really was not as exciting as watching some of the other “characters” heading down the beach to watch the feeding.)

Ohhh some of the people you see...







After the feeding was over, we set out on a “Wildlife Cruise.” Promised to see dolphins, manta rays and dugongs (related to the manatee and native to Australia), we hopped aboard the sailboat sans shoes (I was allowed to bring my walking cast, but all other shoes, including my lone left sandal had to stay on the dock to “preserve the condition of the boat”) and headed out into the middle of the ocean. The skippers on the boat were two young guys who grew up in Geraldton (poor guys) and had moved to Monkey Mia to work on the reserve. They chatted with us the whole time (along with the 10 year old there with her two siblings who were “leaving her out, so she had no other friends to talk to or hang out with.”) Half way through this wildlife tour, and still no wildlife to be seen, the most exciting bit occurred when one of the other kids aboard the boat spotted a water snake gliding in the current. The poor skippers tried about 5 other spots in the ocean where animals could usually be seen. At this point though, I gave up seeing anything and just settled for a sailboat cruise instead. Pulling back into the marina, we said farewell to the skippers (which they returned with an invite New Years Eve beach party the following night) and headed back to the 4x4 to do some off-roading around the area. There were several coves and lookouts down dirt paths off the main highway – so we took the rest of the afternoon to cruise around these turnoffs.



Adam was less than amused to not have seen any wildlife.



Bec got to hoist the sail!



Dugong



  

The next day was New Years Eve. We spent the morning on the beach and did a few more off-roading trips, including one to Shell Beach – literally miles and miles of tiny white sea shells make up the beach – and it had to of been at least 800meters of walking to even reach the water – it was huge! The water was really shallow for about 1 mile or more, so we walked out for a bit (well as long as my ankle let me before I really started to feel it hurting) and came back in. After cleaning up and eating some dinner, Bec and I marched down to one of the two local restaurant/pubs in Shark Cove for the live New Years Eve festivities (later in the night, yes – we attempted to call Yellow Cab to drive us back to the beach party to meet up with the Skippers.) Obviously that plan failed due to the fact that 1. The beach was 30 minutes away and 2. The town was so small, there were no cabs. We instead made friends with a group of people also there for the live bands and the midnight countdown (two of which we convinced to take us fishing the next morning at 7AM!) By the end of the night, Bec and I were the famous North Americans (half these people had never left WA once in their lives – so America was like the Golden Land Destination for them) at both the local establishments (they both had different genres of music playing – so we had to test out both!)



Shell Beach

7AM came WAY too fast the next morning – and we weren’t even too sure if these guys would show up to actually take us fishing. But indeed, there they were outside the bait shop waiting for us! We drove down to another national park nearby that had a large bay, perfect for kayaking and fishing (I thought I would be sick between the rocky, sandy, twisting roads we had to drive through and the smell of the meat pies the guys were eating in the front seat). Talking with them, we found out they were from Geraldton and would probably never leave (I over-enthusiastically announced my shock at this statement) and that they were both 20 years old and still at Uni. (Uni, University, College, same thing.) Bec and I exchanged that look again of- where are we and what did we get ourselves into!? But taking everything in stride, we had a fantastic time out on the water (unfortunately, catching no fish – but soaking up some rays for the rest of the day.)





The next morning we left early to head back to Perth. We took the time to stop off at some famous spots along the way: The Pinnacles and Stromatolites. Just in case you don't know, the definition of the two are as follows:

The Pinnacles - Limestone formations contained within Nambung National Park,

that were formed from seashells in an earlier epoch rich in marine life. These shells were broken down into lime rich sands which were blown inland to form high mobile dunes.



The Pinnacles



Stromatolites - Layered accretionary structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding and cementation of sedimentary grains by biofilms of microorganisms, especially cyanobacteria (commonly known as blue-green algae). Stromatolites provide some of the most ancient records of life on Earth.



Stromatolites



Both were pretty neat to see. At the half-way point we stopped in yes, Geraldton for some lunch, because that was literally the only viable place we had seen in hours (passing characters on the road as we went, like the biker with “I love Sluts” written across the back of his helmet.) By this point -  I was getting a bit homesick to be back in Melbourne, but we still had a couple more days to go.







Rottnest Island

After returning from Margaret River, Adam and Emily had to head back to work for a few days leaving Bec and I to tour around Perth by ourselves. We spent some relaxing time on the beach and walked around the beach front shops and restaurants on one of the days. The other day, we took a ferry across to Rottnest Island.

Rottnest Island originally was used as a place for Aboriginal prisoners and a boy's reformatory - very similar to Alcatraz. It is now considered a National Park and protected conservatory for local flora and fauna. And this is exactly why we decided the best way to see the island was by bike (30k total in diameter).

The ferry ride over was a quick 30 minute trip and extremely amusing thanks to the drunk-at-8am-man causing a scene and the large group of tattooed Italian men hanging off the back of the boat. We were expelled from the boat into the 39*C (102* F) scorching climate. After waiting in an enormous line, we chose our helmets, paid the deposit, reassured the guys working the bike hire that yes, I was fully capable of riding a bike in a walking cast - and we were off! The ride was flat for the most part, but the came the hills! Coming around a bend in the road and looking ahead to a steep upward climb with sweat streaming down my face was not the most enjoyable feeling, but there were the payoffs. The water was so incredibly clear, you could see the coral and fish from the road - so naturally we had to get it. After locking up our bikes and donning our snorkel gear, there were a couple of stop off points to cool off and investigate the fish and coral from the icy cold water.

Back on the bikes after our swim, we headed to the very western edge of the island and took a rest out on the pier overlooking what we deemed looked like a mermaid's lair.

While we sat there, a huge wave came in, crashing through the center of the rock formation and literally took our breaths away. The formation was directly across from this cove - it had to be my favorite spot on the island.

One interesting fact about the island are the "Quokkas," by definiton: the only member of the genus Setonix, is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat. They are an endangered species, mostly because of the introduction of ferile cats to the island years ago (and the cats ate the Quokkas!) - not to mention all the tourists now visiting the island feeding them fruit gummies and french fries (yes we witnessed this first hand...)
The island is one of the two places in Australia they still exist, so they are now protected on the island (along with the two peacocks that are always present on the island. When one dies, another one takes his place...who knows the reason? We were fortunate enough to see some of these delightfully ugly little creatures, and of course had to stop to take pictures in case they become extinct one day - we can say we saw them!

After finishing our lap completely around the island, we decided to take a break for some food and a cold water at a local restaurant. It started to rain while we were sitting there, which was a refreshing way to cool the whole island down. The heat was well worth the beautiful blue skies and perfectly clear waters. We went for one more snorkel and then it was time to head home.

That evening, although we were utterly exhausted, Emily and Adam invited two other friends over and we had a big BBQ in the back yard. It ended up being a fun and exciting way to finish off the week - right before we were meant to head north to Monkey Mia for New Years!

Margaret River

I know, I know - it's been AGES since I last gave you all an update. Now, not to make excuses, but literally the day I returned from Perth, Jenny arrived and after she left, I was in go-mode to tell The Chocolate Box I was leaving, followed by finding and training a replacement. And on top of that, my laptop has now run out of memory, so there have been many frustrating nights of attempting to download my pictures to share with you all. I'm still working on getting all of them - it might just take a while longer. I now have 3 days off before I start my new job as a consultant at Accenture! I could not be more excited, and even more so, hopefully have some great stories to tell. I will try my hardest to catch you all up to date before my first day!

First things first, there is a quaint little coffee shop by my house that puts out a chalk board easel every morning with a quote written on it. This morning on my trek to the CBD (there seems to be so many errands to run when you finally have a day off work - all the little things that compile and seem to just get pushed to the back burner), the easel stood out on the sidewalk bearing the quote,

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart."

This put a huge smile on my face as not only is it a simple reminder for my everyday ventures, but also for my time in Australia as a whole and the beginning of this new journey with Accenture.

And now just to back-track a bit, I take you to December 26th:

The day after Christmas, Adam, Bec, Emily and I piled into "Ole Blue" (Adam and Em's car which they bought 2 years ago for $1,000 and used to drive from Adelaide in South Australia all the way to Perth in WA - picture the distance of New Orleans to LA). The lack of air con, missing door handles and peculiar smell of the interior were just a few of the charming characteristics of Ole Blue.) We headed 3 hours South from Perth to the Margaret River wine region with all windows down and Dave Matthews band blaring from the radio speakers. Before we left, we had hired a campsite not far from the vineyards to spend the next couple of nights. When pulling into Gracetown Caravan Park, I don't know what I was expecting from an Australian campsite, but the last thing I had in mind was an exact replica of every red-neck trailer park found in the likes of Alabama and South Georgia. Weaving through a maze of satellite dishes, generators, clothes lines and camper awnings strung with Christmas lights, we finally found space 82 after nearly plowing over a group of young boys playing catch and hitting a few dead ends.



We set up our tent and piled in the few duvets and pillows we brought, (Adam immediately decided to sleep in the car since the three of us girls barely fit into the tent as it was), and set out to explore Gracetown. According to the website, this was supposed to be the TOP rated caravan park in Margaret River, complete with all the bells and whistles. I must admit, for a campsite - it was pretty impressive to have, for our use, a large and extremely clean wash house, an outdoor movie screening area and a cooking gazebo stocked with grills, cook tops and a double-wide-size industrial refrigerator to store groceries.

Waiting patiently for a grill to open up, we played card games and had an exciting round of people watching, adding to our perception of the WA "bogan." The stereotype we had heard of and then witnessed first hand on Christmas Day was verified and added to with the colorful and in some cases, confusing, array of people surrounding us. There was the duo of middle-aged Australian men with a Eastern European women who did not speak a bit of English. In the other corner, manning our prized grill, was the dad of 5 sporting a shaved head with a rats-tail gliding down to his lower back. At the picnic bench across from us was the signature Asian family from the grand-parents down to every last Aunt, Uncle and cousin enjoying a nice dinner of...spaghetti? Last but not least was the single mom in cut off jean shorts chasing her son (quite a whiz on his Spiderman tricycle) around the gazebo. Trying to remember not to stare, our turn finally arrived at the grill and after filling our bellies, we decided to venture out of the park to the nearest "town."

The town consisted of one main street boasting about 5 stores total (one of which was a chain coffee shop and the other a local pub.) We decided upon the bustle of the local pub and upon entering, realized this was THE-place-to-be on a Thursday. It was Karaoke night! Settling into a front row seat, we proceeded to have a couple hours of highly enjoyable entertainment from not only the solo performances from the Karaoke host himself (during the down times when no one else wanted to brave the stage), to a local girl who was a regular performer on these such Thursdays, and the saving grace of a huge group of Irish (always leave it to the Irish to bring the party to a place.) After absorbing as much as we could from the performances, we decided to head back to settle in for the (cold) night.

Waking up sweating the next morning (I slept in two pairs of socks, jeans and sweatpants and 4 layers of shirts), we quickly changed into biking gear (remind you, I still was sporting my walking cast/"boot" at this point) - and headed back into "town" for our Sip 'n' Cycle tour of the Margaret River wine country. Pulling up next to a van wrapped in obnoxiously loud "Dirty Tours" artwork, we saw our fate: 4 mountain bikes complete with a water bottle (which didn't stay cold for long), our tour guide, and a loud-mouth local who grew up in M.R. and had worked at a couple of the vineyards we were soon to visit. After finally mounting my bike and making a couple quick loops around the parking lot, I felt comfortable enough to hit the road. I was actually surprised to find biking not as difficult as I had expected (and feared)!

We biked for a total of 30k that day to a total of 4 different wineries. It had to have been at least 100 degrees, and with heat comes 1. dehydration and 2. Flies! Now, I'm not talking about pesky house flies, I am talking about monstrous "March Flies" that look for any warm, wet landing place - and what better a place to land than a biker with sweat dripping down their face, mouths hanging open in exhaustion. It was absolutely disgusting not to mention annoying beyond belief! There were moments when I wanted to throw in the towel, give up, leave my bike abandoned on the side of the road and hitch-hike back to the town. However, this was the most exercise I had performed in months and it felt good! Our reward at the end of each stretch of road was the sweet taste of WA's famous Cab Sauv. The last boutique vineyard we visited was Stella Bella, where our tour guide worked part time. She had a spread of anti-pasta and bread for us to feast on after our journey. As frustrated as I was at times, the overall experience was fantastic. We met hilarious cellar door workers, a middle-aged man also sporting a walking cast (who wanted to stop to ask my entire life story) and received some excellent discounts on great bottles of wine (which I am currently aging at the apartment until I find some special occasion to drink them!)

We headed back to the campsite for a rest and re-hydration. That evening, we joined about 100 of our closest 5-12 year old neighbors in watching Cars 2 on the large movie screen set up in the middle of the camp; and then it was lights out for our early drive home the next morning.

It was quite the adventure to say the least and of course, always is a great story to tell.

Christmas Day

So it's been ages since an update - and boy is there a lot to update you on! Since Christmas Eve until today, I have basically been on holiday. The week I returned from WA, Jenny (one of my best friends from back home) arrived for 2 weeks (thankfully to help extend my holiday for that much longer).

I promised though to first paint the picture of my holidays from day one - and will bring you up to speed through to today where I not only quit my job (to start my new job in less than a month!), and finally received the go-ahead from the Doctor to walk without my boot, but am now back to the grind (minus the public holiday, Australia Day, aka "Australia's 4th of July" this Thursday.)

But first, Rewind to Christmas Day:
Woke up early at Emily's (Bec's friend from work back in Toronto) house to sneak downstairs and finding stockings filled with presents underneath our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. In good fashion, we waited for everyone to wake up, cooked brunch, then around the brunch table, all opened our stockings at once. We enjoyed soaking up some morning rays on the back patio as the sun climbed higher in the sky to reach about 95 degrees.

After admiring an assortment of presents including: socks, a mini champagne bottle, chocolate and chewing gum - we all changed into our swim suits and Santa hats to head down to the beach for a little Christmas Day R&R (notice the lack of cast/boot!)

After some quick showers and a Mario Kart Championship match on the Wii, we headed to our friend Adam's house for Christmas dinner. When we arrived (after maneuvering the black spray painted truck sitting in the front yard and admiring the 3 more "in progress" cars in backyard), we were given the task to bring the house up to proper Christmas decor standards and this was the result from the materials we were provided:

I must admit, I was not too sure I could give up Southern fried okra and mashed potatoes with gravy for a "Christmas BBQ" - but since I no longer eat meat, the array of grilled veg and salads was more than efficient in satisfying my Christmas dinner cravings.

The night ended with the opening of more presents (one being a picture of the cat who belongs to Adam's housemate Dave. This cat is all black named "Whitie" and creepier than any other cat I have ever seen -which is exactly why Dave took a picture of him and framed it for Emily to keep forever.) We had chocolate trifle for dessert and wrapped up the evening with a round of flip cup and a punching bag show-off between the two "local" girls at the dinner. (Yes, one of them was showing off her kick boxing skills while wearing a red maxi dress). Blaming this end-of-the-night behavior on the fact that we were in the middle of "bogan" (Australian for "redneck") country  - I justified this abnormality of a Christmas Day as to why it was ok to not be with my family. I did Skype with the fam when we got home on their Christmas Day to help satisfy some of the homesick pains.

I must say - celebrating Christmas with a complete group of strangers, in a polar opposite atmosphere and climate, really helps you appreciate your home traditions, though I would not take this Christmas Day back for the world. I am so happy I was able to experience how an entirely different part of the world celebrates this special holiday and now just have a story to tell for years to come. The Christmas Day where I looked to Bec and asked "where the h*ll are we?!"

Summertime Bliss in WA

First, Merry (Happy as they say down under) Christmas and Happy New Year!

Bec and I sporting our must-have festive hats on Christmas morning

I am now home after almost 2 weeks of exploring the west coast of Australia. I cannot wait to see what this year holds for me and for new and exciting adventures. I am so blessed to have such amazing friends and family back home supporting me as well as a great group of friends here as well.

Now to be able to paint the most perfect picture of this first-time-away-from-home-at-Christmastime-experience, I will break up my stories into parts based on the different little adventures we had throughout the Holiday, so stay tuned!

Western Australia (WA), in comparison to all the pictures I have been sharing of Melbourne, is HOT, dry, sticky and very much just a large desert. (Literally, I did not feel clean the entire 2 weeks - mostly sweaty, sandy and a bit smelly, I was just happy to call Melbourne home for that very reason).

Because of the rough terrain, you will be hard to find anything but a 4x4 camper van here in WA

The draw to even venture out to WA you ask? The beaches are AMAZING. Turquoise blue waters that are so clear you can see the coral reefs from the shore that you can then snorkel out to in order to see fish and fauna of every color of the rainbow.

Off the coast of Rottnest Island (more details on this later)

The Departure:

Christmas Eve, Bec and I took the Sky Bus from Southern Cross train station to Melbourne Airport where we boarded a 3 hour flight (I had an entire row to myself!) and headed to the largest city in WA: Perth. We were invited to stay with an old friend of Bec's, Emily and her British roommate, Kim because their third housemate was away in "The States" for her holiday. 

(Side note: almost every single person I have talked to so far has only been to what I now like to call "the standards" of places to visit when they travel in the states. I bet everyone can guess: #1 NYC, #2 LA, #3 Vegas, #4 San Fran - I am still on my campaign of why they should head South next time they head over).

Interestingly enough, Bec (because she was a sweetheart and let me keep that entire row to myself, sitting on a full row across the aisle from me), started talking with the gentleman next to her who happened to have visited Marietta, GA back in 1984 and it was, in his words, "the couuuntry, with confederate flags a blowin." I assured him, if he had the chance to return to Marietta, this is not at all what he would find.

The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful, but because of the 3 hour time difference from the east coast, we were tired, yet starving when we arrived. Heading down the escalators toward passenger pick-up, we were greeted by Emily, complete with a Santa hat  of course, wildly jumping up and down. This welcome pretty much set the tone for the entire rest of the trip.

We had some pizza, put out our stockings and headed straight to bed in hopes that St. Nick would soon be there...

Our Charlie Brown tree