Cranked the roof off Cepora
Just relaxing, recovering after last nights big party. The house was full of people and people actually started flying in from Adelaide and Brisbane on Thursday. Since Simon was working the rest of us wanted to do something so we spent the Friday on Great Ocean Road, went to see the 12 Apostles outside Port Campbell. Though there are not 12 of them only 8 standing. I've been there before (read about it HERE) and seen the Apostles but it's still as beautiful, I love the Great Ocean Road.
Mel (Simon's sister) and I in front of the Apostles
The visit this time was only quick since we just went for the day. Therefore we drove inland to Port Campbell, had a look at the Apostles and then continued along the Great Ocean Road all the way to Lorne were we visited the Erskine Falls (which I've actually also done before, read about it HERE) before heading back to Melbourne again on the inland road.
Erskine Falls just outside Lorne
No koalas spotted this time but we did see some kangaroos from a distance and of course the funny signs pointing out what side to drive on.
Yesterday was the day for the big house party at Simon's house - Crank the roof off at Cepora. Finally I got to experience a Aussie barbie, even though I think they're a bit different in the summer. But we had a big lamb/chicken spit going (the meat turned out absolutely wonderful when it finally got ready, we did put it on a bit too late). We had pita bread with lettuce, tomatoes onions and tzatziki and with that spuds with sour cream. So tasty! A gas heater and a little fire going outside in the back yard and it was actually very nice to be outside even though it had been raining during the day and it was a bit chilly in the air.
Simon and I in front of the spit.
Really nice to meet some more of Simon's friends that I haven't met before and of course seeing the once I've seen before again. Julie and Terry also came by which made me really happy. I haven't been able to catch up with Julie since I got back so it was great seeing here catching up a bit. Today will continue to be a relaxing day at home and tomorrow me and Mel are going shopping with Maria before Mel goes back to Adelaide on Tuesday morning. I'll spend the day on Tuesday with Kylie while Simon is working and I'll also try to catch up with Julie for lunch in the city. Me and Simon then have dinner plans with Kylie, Chris and Kate in the evening.
Wednesday wiill be my last day in Melbourne, it's so sad. At least Simon has been able to take the day off and I'll leave at night so we just have to make the best of the day. Time has truly been flying and it will be hard to go back to Sweden. Being apart again is not something we're looking forward to at all.
Well, that's the short update you get today but more pictures from Great Ocean Road and the Apostles can be found in the Picasa album.
Wednesday wiill be my last day in Melbourne, it's so sad. At least Simon has been able to take the day off and I'll leave at night so we just have to make the best of the day. Time has truly been flying and it will be hard to go back to Sweden. Being apart again is not something we're looking forward to at all.
Well, that's the short update you get today but more pictures from Great Ocean Road and the Apostles can be found in the Picasa album.
 |
| Australia (2010-05-13 to 2010-06-03) |
Since last time
It's been a while since I updated the blog. I haven't really felt like I had much to share with you. I'm not as lonely at night after work since I moved in with Kylie and that's a good thing but that also means that I do other things instead of sitting in front of the computer. And that results in fewer blog posts so now you know why there has been a temporary silence.
The Cathedral in Bendigo
I got to hang out a little with Nikki's mum's two dogs too which I enjoyed: In the picture Zack.
Australia's stunning soul-sensation Jade Macrae
That's it for now guys. A night out in the city is in store for me if the wind doesn't blow me away before that. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
But I'm well and happy so don't worry about that. I started going to a gym which feels really good. I've really missed exercising. Hopefully I can keep it up since my Beach 2009 is coming up and I have gained some weight since I arrived here that I'm hoping I will have lost by then. Keep your fingers crossed :P
The Cathedral in Bendigo
Last weekend was a quiet weekend spent mostly in Bendigo together with Nikki and Rickylee. We relaxed, went shopping, watched chick flicks and that was exactly a weekend I needed. Bendigo is a very quiet city with lots of nice buildings. It used to be a wealthy gold mine city back in the days.
I got to hang out a little with Nikki's mum's two dogs too which I enjoyed: In the picture Zack.
Some more pictures from the weekend in Bendigo can be found in the Picasa album Bendigo.
 |
| Bendigo (2009-08-07 to 2009-08-09) |
Had a discussion with my boss back home in Sweden during the week about my future. Or it wasn't really a discussion but I asked him about what's in store for me. He couldn't really give me much of an answer yet but he said that I do have a job at least which is good and somewhat reassuring to hear.
Went to the P!nk concert with Kate on Thursday night. Really enjoyed most of it! Some pictures and movie clips can be foound in the Miscellaneous album. Ended the work week by going out to dinner last night with Simon at a place in the city called Manchester Lane. Really nice place with live music (Jade MacRae performed last night, really good), very nice food and good company ;) in short a really good night.
Australia's stunning soul-sensation Jade Macrae
Today is a really windy Saturday here in Melbourne (averaging 35 to 50 km/h increasing to 45 to 60 km/h). I just talked to my nanna since it's her 89 birthday today so I wanted to congratulate her, too bad that I can't be home to celebrate with her. I haven't done much else today except going to the hairdresser. I'm not 100% sure I like my new style yet but I'm sure I'll get use to it. It's still long and blond only much thinner. The hairdresser put on some scissor things on his fingers that made him look like Edward Scissorhands (ok I might be exaggerating a little bit there) and went though my hair resulting in a lot less hair on my scalp :P
That's it for now guys. A night out in the city is in store for me if the wind doesn't blow me away before that. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Positive today:
-
The Swedish lollies (djungelvrål) I've been eating all afternoon. The package from you Maria that I recieved this week was deeply appreciated!
-
The new haircut (at least I think it's a positive thing)
Negative today:
-
Not being able to be home and celebrate my nanna's birthday.
Yarra Valley
Another weekend has almost past and as always it's been quite eventful. Ended my week with a pole dancing class. I've never tried it before, only heard and seen it on TV. When Kylie's friend asked us if we wanted to join her and her social club Pink Ladies for a fun Friday event of course I had to accept. An 1,5h workshop at Pole Divas with basic pole dancing moves, lap dances and sexy walks. A good laugh and it was a lot harder than it looks, I can tell you that much. A good exercise for sure!
But that doesn't really fall under the category of the heading for this blog post so let's get back to that. Spent my Saturday together with Julie, Terry and a couple of their friends on a winery tour in the Yarra Valley. Started off by having breakfast at the food court at Victoria Market, a nice way to start the day. The organised tour with Victoria Winery Tours was set to leave from the City at 9 am so we got off to an early start. Can highly recommend the tour company by the way.
The whole gang!
The Yarra Valley is Australia’s leading cool climate wine region. It's Victoria's oldest wine region with more than 55 wineries and over 3 600 hectares under vine. It's also Victoria's most visited wine area, located a just over one hour drive from Melbourne's CBD. We ended up visiting four of the wineries: Domaine Chandon, Rochford, Fergusson Winery and De Bortoli.
The vines at De Bortoli Winery.
A view of the beautiful estates of Domaine Chandon with Australia's most substantial mountain range, The Great Dividing Range, in the background.
We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the Fergusson Winery. I had kangaroo for the second time in my life and I must say that I really like it. Fergusson Winery is one of the wineries who were affected by the bushfires in January. All this year's crop was destroyed by the smoke from the fires and the grapes couldn't be used and were therefore never harvested.
'
Julia, Julie and I at the tasting at Fergusson Winery.
We had a wonderful day and we tasted some wonderful wines (sparkling, red, white and rosé), saw some beautiful views and had a couple of good laughs as well. It was a shame though that we didn't get to see any of the wineries, the wine cellars or anything like that, we only got to taste the wines and it would have been nice to watch the vines in full bloom as well but you can't get everything you wish for. To sum it up it was totally worth the trip and a nice day spent in good company is always a treat. So thank you Julie for organising the day!
I ended my day with a night out in the city and today I'm having a lazy Sunday (which I totally think I'm worth) and doing nothing is nice too from time to time. :) The only thing I might do is try to organise my stuff for the move on Wednesday and search more information about Christchurch for my upcoming trip on Thursday. I kind of wish I was home in Sweden though since my dear mum is turning 60 tomorrow and I would have loved to be home and celebrate with her. But that has to wait until I get home in November...I'm sure I can think of a way to make it up to her!
Time to continue doing nothing....take care!
More pictures can be found in the Picasa album Wine tasting tour Yarra Valley. Follow the link below to go directly there:
But that doesn't really fall under the category of the heading for this blog post so let's get back to that. Spent my Saturday together with Julie, Terry and a couple of their friends on a winery tour in the Yarra Valley. Started off by having breakfast at the food court at Victoria Market, a nice way to start the day. The organised tour with Victoria Winery Tours was set to leave from the City at 9 am so we got off to an early start. Can highly recommend the tour company by the way.
The whole gang!
The vines at De Bortoli Winery.
A view of the beautiful estates of Domaine Chandon with Australia's most substantial mountain range, The Great Dividing Range, in the background.
We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the Fergusson Winery. I had kangaroo for the second time in my life and I must say that I really like it. Fergusson Winery is one of the wineries who were affected by the bushfires in January. All this year's crop was destroyed by the smoke from the fires and the grapes couldn't be used and were therefore never harvested.
'Julia, Julie and I at the tasting at Fergusson Winery.
I ended my day with a night out in the city and today I'm having a lazy Sunday (which I totally think I'm worth) and doing nothing is nice too from time to time. :) The only thing I might do is try to organise my stuff for the move on Wednesday and search more information about Christchurch for my upcoming trip on Thursday. I kind of wish I was home in Sweden though since my dear mum is turning 60 tomorrow and I would have loved to be home and celebrate with her. But that has to wait until I get home in November...I'm sure I can think of a way to make it up to her!
Time to continue doing nothing....take care!
More pictures can be found in the Picasa album Wine tasting tour Yarra Valley. Follow the link below to go directly there:
 |
| Wine tasting tour Yarra Valley (2009-07-25) |
Great Ocean Road II
Spent the weekend on a road trip along the Great Ocean Road. Had a wonderful time together with Nikki and Ricky-Lee, thank you girls for taking me.
We left Melbourne after work on Friday and drove to Geelong. We stayed over at a friend's of Ricky-Lee's. We spent the evening cooking dinner and watching some TV and on Saturday the road trip begun. A visit to the surf shops in Torquay and then the journey continued passing Lorne, Apollo Bay and reaching the 12 Apostles at dusk. There are only 8 apostles left though but who cares. It truly was an amazing view!
Wonderful bonuses along the road was the wild cockatoos and the koalas we spotted right by the road. I've never been so close to a koala before as I've said before amazing animals! And I sure haven't seen so many cockatoos at the same time, there must have been at least 40 of them!
We had made plans to spend the night in a cabin in Petersborough at the Great Ocean Road Tourist Park. So since it got dark pretty quick after we left the Apostles we drove there, got settled before we headed back to Port Campbell for some dinner at the local Bistro. A wonderful meal ending a great day.
The London Bridge
The Grotto
After that the trip continued towards Warrnambool and we visited Logans Beach before heading back home to Melbourne. Logans Beach is one of Australia's most popular and easily accessed land based whale viewing sites. Since it's winter and whale season we were hoping we would spot some whales and we did, two of them actually even if it was just the back of them and no fancy tails or anything. Still, pretty cool!
Logans Beach
That's a short recap of my weekend. I'm not super happy with my pictures this weekend either, I know I'm being very critical but still. Some turned out good, some can be edited and some are just crap. I'm slowly learning more and more about my camera though and I love it. But the problem is that many times you don't get a second chance to that great shoot you just have to get it right the first time. And when that fails I get annoyed. Also the pictures might look good on the camera but once you get them on the computer they're crap.
Oh well...I'm tired and off to bed now. A new week at work lies ahead of me and I don't really feel up for it at the moment. I hope that will change during the night. I've been struggling with headaches again lately and I don't like that at all. Woke up with a headache on Friday and it made me feel queasy all day. It got better but I've had headache (not as bad) off and on for the rest of the weekend as well.
Some more pictures from the weekend can be found in the new album Great Ocean Road II
We left Melbourne after work on Friday and drove to Geelong. We stayed over at a friend's of Ricky-Lee's. We spent the evening cooking dinner and watching some TV and on Saturday the road trip begun. A visit to the surf shops in Torquay and then the journey continued passing Lorne, Apollo Bay and reaching the 12 Apostles at dusk. There are only 8 apostles left though but who cares. It truly was an amazing view!
Wonderful bonuses along the road was the wild cockatoos and the koalas we spotted right by the road. I've never been so close to a koala before as I've said before amazing animals! And I sure haven't seen so many cockatoos at the same time, there must have been at least 40 of them!
We had made plans to spend the night in a cabin in Petersborough at the Great Ocean Road Tourist Park. So since it got dark pretty quick after we left the Apostles we drove there, got settled before we headed back to Port Campbell for some dinner at the local Bistro. A wonderful meal ending a great day.
Our cabin
Begun the day Sunday by visitng two more magnificent places, the London Bridge and the Grotto. The London Bridge
The Grotto
After that the trip continued towards Warrnambool and we visited Logans Beach before heading back home to Melbourne. Logans Beach is one of Australia's most popular and easily accessed land based whale viewing sites. Since it's winter and whale season we were hoping we would spot some whales and we did, two of them actually even if it was just the back of them and no fancy tails or anything. Still, pretty cool!
Logans Beach
We spotted some surfers as well :)
That's a short recap of my weekend. I'm not super happy with my pictures this weekend either, I know I'm being very critical but still. Some turned out good, some can be edited and some are just crap. I'm slowly learning more and more about my camera though and I love it. But the problem is that many times you don't get a second chance to that great shoot you just have to get it right the first time. And when that fails I get annoyed. Also the pictures might look good on the camera but once you get them on the computer they're crap.
Oh well...I'm tired and off to bed now. A new week at work lies ahead of me and I don't really feel up for it at the moment. I hope that will change during the night. I've been struggling with headaches again lately and I don't like that at all. Woke up with a headache on Friday and it made me feel queasy all day. It got better but I've had headache (not as bad) off and on for the rest of the weekend as well.
Some more pictures from the weekend can be found in the new album Great Ocean Road II
 |
| Great Ocean Road II (2009-07-19) |
Sovereign Hill
Precis kommit tillbaka från en heldag i Ballarat. Nikki och Ricky-Lee, två av mina arbetskamrater, och deras pojkvänner tog med mig dit för ett besök på Sovereign Hill.
Det fanns flera guldfält i Victoria och man fann guld här 1851. Folk från Europa, USA och Kina strömmade till trakten och på ett par år ökade befolkningen i delstaten från några tusen till 500 000. Ytguldet tog dock snabbt slut och redan 1860 var den värsta rushen över. Bolagen som hade råd att investera i utrustning fortsatte dock brytningen. Tack vare guldet hade folk sökt sig till trakten och många stannade kvar även när guldet tog slut och på så sätt fick delstaten Victoria en permanent befolkning, så nu vet ni det :)
Ballarat är den största guldgrävarstaden i området och den är belägen ungefär 110 km väster om Melbourne. Det var aboriginerna i området som kallade staden "Ballaarat "(viloplats). Redan några år efter det att man funnit guld i närbelägna Buninyong 1851, hade staden vuxit från en obetydlig småstad till en ort med över 40 000 invånare. Guldfyndigheten var rik men efter det att ytguldet tog slut utvann man metallen genom att gräva sig ner i djupa schakt och gruvan var i bruk till slutet av första världskriget.
Sovereign Hill är en återuppbyggd guldgrävarstad som vill visa Ballarats utveckling mellan åren 1851 och 1861. Det är tydligen den bästa i sitt slag i Australien och man har med hjälp av ritningar och fotografier byggt husen exakt som de existerade under den tiden.
Tryckeriet
Jag fick gräva fram mina guldvaskningstalanger jag skaffade mig på Teknikens Hus men något guld det hittade jag inte.
Centrum i anläggningen är guldgruvan. Som besökare kan man åka ner i gruvan på guidade turer och hukande ta sig fram i de gamla orterna och få se den miljö som gruvarbetarna arbetade i. Mycket av den ursprungliga utrustningen finns dessutom kvar till beskådan.
Nu vintertid bjuds besökarna dessutom på en speciell utställning i form av isskulpturer - Frozen in time. Eftersom det inte är kallt här så finns skulpturerna till beskådan i en speciell lokal där temperaturen hålls till -10 grader. Visst var skulpturerna väldigt fina, men det var typ fem stycken och jag var inte jätteimponerad. Men det är väl för att jag är van vid snö och is kanske och för att jag har sett Ishotellet i Jukkasjärvi. Där kan vi prata om imponerande :P Dessutom sprutas konstgjord snö ut på huvudgatan med jämna mellanrum vilket visade sig vara en mycket populär attraktion, återigen - Anna föga imponerad men väldigt road av alla andras reaktioner. Besöket på Sovereign Hill var trevligt och intressant, det är ju ändå en stor del av Victorias historia. Så jag är glad att jag åkte dit men det hade varit lite trevligare om det hade varit en gnutta varmare. Dagen var ganska kylig och det var skönt att komma in i värmen igen.
Mer bilder från dagen finner du i Picasa albumet Sovereign Hill. Inte särskilt nöjd med dagens bilder tyvärr. Lyckades inte med att ta några spännande foton alls och ljuset blev sådär.
 |
| Sovereign Hill, Ballarat (2009-07-12) |
Great Ocean Road
Beautiful view just outside Torquay
Erskine Falls
Alexandra & Michael
View from Teddy's lookout in Lorne
Alexandra and I look like we really matched our outfits :P
Just came back from a great day spent with Alexandra and Michael. They took me for a nice tour along parts of the Great Ocean Road. It's hard to explain with words how amazing it was. We had a great winter day with some sun in the morning, still a little chilly but beautiful views in all directions. We just saw a small part of the coast line (mainly what is called the Surf Coast) and I do want to go back for another trip to go further and see for example the famous 12 Apostles.
I was picked up at 8.30 am this morning and we began our tour with a short visit to Geelong. We continued down to Torquay. They have all the nice surf shops outlets there like Rip Curl, Billabong and Quicksilver so I wouldn't mind going back there for some shopping. We drove along the Surf Coast with the famous Bells Beach were the Rip Curl Pro is held every Easter since 1973. It's the longest-running professional surfing contest in existence and the world's top surfers come here and compete. There are great lookout spots along the way and of course we stopped at many of them :)
I was picked up at 8.30 am this morning and we began our tour with a short visit to Geelong. We continued down to Torquay. They have all the nice surf shops outlets there like Rip Curl, Billabong and Quicksilver so I wouldn't mind going back there for some shopping. We drove along the Surf Coast with the famous Bells Beach were the Rip Curl Pro is held every Easter since 1973. It's the longest-running professional surfing contest in existence and the world's top surfers come here and compete. There are great lookout spots along the way and of course we stopped at many of them :)
When we reached Lorne the Erskine Falls was on the schedule. A nice waterfall located in the Great Otway NP just 9 km from Lorne city center. Green and lucious and very beautiful. A lot of people though which was a shame but what can you do. :)
Erskine Falls
Alexandra & Michael
View from Teddy's lookout in Lorne
Alexandra and I look like we really matched our outfits :P
The final mission for the day was to go to a road in Kennet River apparently a good place for spotting koalas. I had only seen one koala before and that was at the Melbourne Zoo so it doesn't really count. But we actually found 38 (!) koalas along the road. Most of them sat high up in the eucalyptus trees, like fury balls, sleeping but we spotted one that showed us some tricks. He climbed up and down which apparently is quite unusual to see since they are lazy animals. He was super cute and I almost wanted to take him home and cuddle with him.
Apart from koalas we also spotted kangaroos and I saw my first cacatoo (in Swedish: kakadua) in the wild as well. To sum it all up a great day and I want to thank Alexandra and Michael for being my tour guides for the day. :)
For more pictures from today's adventures check out the new Picasa album Great Ocean Road.
 |
| Great Ocean Road |
Positive today:
- Beautiful nature views and the re-energising effect that has on me.
- My wonderful camera, haven't mentioned in a while how much I love it :)
- Koalas, very cute animals!
- The weekend being over. I would love to have a whole week for just doing tourist stuff every day. There are so much to see and so little time.
Wilsons Prom
Home, at last! It has been a long day, I was up at 6 am this morning in order to be in the City on time. But it was worth it. Wilsons Prom is an amazing place and I can highly recommend a visit if you're in Victoria. Ok, the weather could have been nicer and clearer but at least it didn't rain and I guess that's all you can ask for during the winter. I can highly recommend the tour company as well, Bunyip Tours. We had a very nice and funny tour guide that helped make today's experience such a good one.
Beautiful landscape all over the National Park.
View from the summit of Mt Oberon.
It was nice to get away from the city, I've been here five weeks now and until today, the city was all I've seen. Not that there is anything wrong with being in the city but it's really nice and relaxing to get out in the nature from time to time too. Breath some fresh air, experience some fantastic views and just listen to the sounds of the forest. I love it, I might not be a city chick after all ;)
About 50% of the park was affected by the bush fires in the beginning of this year and as we drove to the our destination trails we passed huge areas that was totally burned down. But it was also amazing to see how fast some of the vegetation recover and in a couple of years time you won't be able to tell that there was a fire. Some of the trails are closed due to the damages from the fires but there is still a lot to see.
A perfect sunset concludes a perfect day!
I will sleep like a baby tonight and probably wake up with sore muscles tomorrow. My fitness isn't exactly what it should be. It might be time to join that gym after all :P I'm very happy that I have one more day off from work, I will sleep in and just relax the whole day tomorrow!
I've created a new web album with some of the pictures from today's excursion, called Wilsons Prom (no surprise there). Click on the picture below to get there or use the link in the right column, called **Photos**, to see all my published photo albums.
Beautiful landscape all over the National Park.
View from the summit of Mt Oberon.
It was nice to get away from the city, I've been here five weeks now and until today, the city was all I've seen. Not that there is anything wrong with being in the city but it's really nice and relaxing to get out in the nature from time to time too. Breath some fresh air, experience some fantastic views and just listen to the sounds of the forest. I love it, I might not be a city chick after all ;)
About 50% of the park was affected by the bush fires in the beginning of this year and as we drove to the our destination trails we passed huge areas that was totally burned down. But it was also amazing to see how fast some of the vegetation recover and in a couple of years time you won't be able to tell that there was a fire. Some of the trails are closed due to the damages from the fires but there is still a lot to see.
A perfect sunset concludes a perfect day!
I will sleep like a baby tonight and probably wake up with sore muscles tomorrow. My fitness isn't exactly what it should be. It might be time to join that gym after all :P I'm very happy that I have one more day off from work, I will sleep in and just relax the whole day tomorrow!
I've created a new web album with some of the pictures from today's excursion, called Wilsons Prom (no surprise there). Click on the picture below to get there or use the link in the right column, called **Photos**, to see all my published photo albums.
 |
| Wilsons Prom (2009-06-07) |
