Australian Grand Prix

This past weekend Melbourne hosted the opening grand prix of the formula 1 season in Albert Park which is about a 10 minute drive from my house.

For those of you who know me, know that part of the reason I chose Melbourne was because of this weekend. Saturday I headed down to the track for the first time and took my spot in the Clark grandstand.

Saturday boasted grey sky`s here in Melbourne, for the qualifying session. It was windy and "cold" as Sebastian Vettle took the pole.

Sunday the sun came out for the opening race of the 2011 season.


As tradition here is the opening lap of the race:

The race in itself was pretty standard. Sadly Mark Webber only finished 5th, but Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Vitali Petrov all took the podium.

Overall it was a fun weekend spent in my current hometown of Melbourne.

Kids Say the Darnest Things

Working with kids you get a lot of laughs. Today my chuckle came when Charlotte asked me "why don`t you have kids"?

Ummm because i`m ONLY 22!

Kids really do say the darnest things!

AFL

Tonight the Australian Football season kicked off. I have yet to learn the rules but the sport is very interesting to watch and I think I may become a regular supporter!

One thing I did learn tonight is that every team has a theme song that they sing after a winning game.
My house family supports the richmond tigers and here is there theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tfz8IRmzdRA
Apparently it`s the most manly thing they can think of to do after a game...

Living in Brighton

I figured it was about time I give you a little glimpse of where exactly I spend my days over here in Australia.

I am situated in a suburb of Melbourne called Brighton.


It takes around 20 minutes to get into the city centre by train, and about a 20 minute walk to the Brighton beach from my house. Brighton is known for being one of the wealthiest areas in Melbourne, and a lot of the locals I talk to say it`s like the Laguna Beach of back home.

Aside from the large houses Brighton is also well known for it`s elaborate bathing boxes, that lay on the Brighton beach.


There are currently 82 colourful bathing boxes, which are one of the tourist icons of Melbourne. The boxes share a uniformity of size and build, and a regular arrangement along the beach, and are the only surviving such structures close to the Melbourne CBD. There is a city bylaw that restricts any alterations to them. There valued at around $500, 000 a piece.

Now for those of you who wanted some full detail, here is a tour of my house:


I think that explains it all!

A Memorable Weekend

It seems as though another weekend has come and gone, but a another great one it was.

In 1 weeks time the australian grand prix will be live in Melbourne. As a promotion for the grand prix there was a very special event held on Saturday. For those of you who know me, know that Mark Webber is my favourite formula 1 driver and it just so happens he`s from Australia! On Saturday Mark drove the Red Bull F1 car across the city's iconic Bolte Bridge and down to the docklands where I and 999 other fans were waiting. I managed to be right at the front and got a great view of Mark driving in.

Afterwards Mark did some media interviews, wait did I say some, I meant a ton!

Then he was gracious enough to spend some time with his real fans and guess who was right in the front? Yours truly!

Can you spot me in the crowd?

It was worth being trampled on just to get this autograph.


I have to say, if for some profound reason my adventure were to end right now, meeting Mark Webber in Australia will be good enough for me!

After the excitement of my Mark Webber experience I headed to do some shopping at the outlet mall in the area. I`m starting to stock up on warm clothes for the "winter" months ahead.

Saturday night I met up with some of my au pair friends and we headed into the city to check out one of the bars.

As you can see, all of our tans are progressing along nicely.

Today we were blessed with another day of gorgeous weather, so we took full advantage and made it a beach day! Brighton beach is famous for one of Melbourne's most picturesque sights, the colourful row of "bathing boxes" that runs along its shore. These vividly decorated little sheds are basically privately owned changing rooms, but can sell for as much as a house. This is the "local" beach to where I live.

This is one of my favorite boxes and represents how much I LOVE AUSTRALIA!

Hello from Oscar

A Little Touch of Home

This is for all my favorite people back home whom I have spent countless hours with in Starbucks talking and catching up. I miss those days and having Starbucks around every corner.

Labor Day Weekend

Another overdue post, but hey i`m a busy girl!

This past weekend was labor day here in Australia, so there was a lot going on.

On Saturday Sierrah and I took a 90 minute drive down the coast to a town called Portsea. From what we were told Portsea is like the Hamptons in the USA, and is where all the rich Melbournians have there holiday houses.


We lounged around on the local beach for about an hour before heading off to what we thought was going to be, an awesome excursion we had booked. The excursion was snorkelling in the portsea bay with sea dragons. Sea dragons! How cool is that, we both thought, and only in Australia can you see sea dragons. Well it turned out to be one of the worst experiences ever! First, they put you in these wet suits that you can`t breath in. For the first time in my life I felt claustrophobic. Second, the snorkelling literally takes place on the beach we were just sitting at and swimming in. So if we had have brought a mask and some fins we could have gone searching for these sea dragons. So we head off on this adventure into the bay, looking like fools in our wetsuits and snorkels.

We spent an hour and a half in the ocean and saw 2 stingrays and 1 sea dragon (which we weren`t even sure if it was one). In the picture they show sea dragons to be about the size of a normal fish (as per below)...

When in reality they are no bigger then the size of your pinky. So when snorkelling 5 meters above them, you really have no idea what your looking at. So needless to say, for anyone who comes to Australia do not go snorkelling with sea dragons!!

After that horrible experienced we headed to another spot that was included in our excursion package: the hot springs.

The hot springs are made up of several different pools/baths filled with naturally heated mineral water. We had such a relaxing time here and are definitely going to head back (and book a massage while were there!)

After a busy day on Sunday, it was fabulous to wake up to a 30 degree day on Sunday. Some other au pairs and I decided to head into the city and check out the Moomba festival that was taking place. Every Labour Day long weekend in March Moomba Festival brings Melburnians together to share in the vibrancy and spirit of the much loved city. It takes place along the banks of the Yarra River and includes carnival games and rides, birdman rally, International Water ski/boarding competition and ends with the Moomba parade on Sunday and fireworks over the Yarra river every night.


We walked down one side of the river checking out all the games and rides the festival had to offer, but as soon as we turned around to come up the other side (typical of Melbourne) it started to pour rain. So that ended our day at the Moomba festival.

Monday we decided to try our luck and check out the festival one more time. We got there early enough to watch the Moomba parade. The parade demonstrated the 12 months of the year and everything that goes on in the city during those months. My favorite float had to be the Christmas one...


After the parade we took another walk around the festival looking at all the rides and games, and getting a chance to watch some of the water sports taking place on the river.




After seeing everything the festival had to offer, we had about 5 hours to kill before it was fireworks time. Tick tock tick tock... It was fireworks time!

Here is a video of what they had to offer!


So overall there were definitely some better parts to the weekend, but still had a great time and am still loving Australia!

1 Month

There are not many things you can say you have fallin' in love with in a month, but I can now say Australia is one.

It`s hard to believe that it was a month ago that I was landing in Melbourne after a 24 hour travel journey. This month has been more then I could have ever asked for in so many ways. There have been some challenges, but these have only made me grow as a person. And there have also been some phenomenal adventures with many new people I have met. I have loved exploring a new city, and am excited for the rest that I have yet to touch.

People often ask me if I miss home... And it`s not that I don`t miss home and everyone back there, but I am so comfortable with where I am right now that it`s hard to be sad about what I left behind. But for those of you counting only 335 more days.

A Week of Firsts

The first day since I began that Oscar did not throw a tantrum! (We are now onto a record 3 straight days with no tantrums... fingers crossed)


My first time trying shark as a meal.


My first time trying TimTams (way to addicting).

Phillip Island

This post is a little overdue, but it has been a busy week!

On Sunday myself and four of my au pair friends took a road trip down to Phillip Island, which is just south of the city.


Our first stop was the Koala Conservation Centre.

It was everyones first time seeing an 'Australian' animal, so the excitement and squeals could not be contained upon seeing our first koala. They really are cute animals, but apparently do not make good pets (sad to say).

Our next stop was Churchill island. This island was the site of the first European agricultural pursuits in Victoria. It today is still a working farm. It brought about some cute farm animals and gorgeous views.




Next it was some beach time. We visited Cowes beach where we enjoyed some lunch and collected some souvenirs including my new koala friend Bruce.



We managed to stop along the roads to take some tourist shots.


Next, we were on our way to the Nobbies. We stopped along the way to take some scenery shots of the open ocean.



Once we reached the Nobbies there were some cool views to take in. The Nobbies are Seal Rocks, home to Australia's largest Australian Fur Seal colony. The seals were vey far out though so it was hard to see the animals themselves.


Our next stop was Willomai beach, which is well known as a popular surf spot. This was my first time seeing the open ocean in Australia!



Our destination, which Phillip Island is most famous for was the Penguin Parade. The Penguin Parade is Australia’s most popular wildlife attraction and home to the largest Little Penguin colony in the world. Every sunset, the hundreds to over a thousand wild Little Penguins emerge from the sea and march across the beach to their sand dune burrows. The Little Penguin is the world’s smallest (and cutest) penguin. You are not allowed to take pictures so the following were taken 'illegally'.



Here is a professional picture to give you a better idea of the cuteness of the penguins.


It was an adventure packed day, but such a wonderful one! It was one of the first times that I felt like I was actually in Australia!

Melbourne Weather

It isn`t until you are actually here that you fully understand the meaning of Melbourne weather. Melbourne has the most crappy, spastic, random weather. One hour it is beautifully sunny outside and then the next it is thunder storming with treacherous winds and then 30 minutes later it will be back to sun again. This means that when you leave the house you need to have your hat, sunscreen, umbrella and coat all with you at the same time!

Friday was one of the coldest days since I have got here, but as per tradition with Melbourne weather Mr.Sun came out to play all day today. To celebrate the rare warm day in the slowly approaching winter months my new friend Sierrah & I went to one of the many Melbourne Beachs, St Kilda Beach. After enjoying a nice lunch beach side we did some relaxing and exploring along the pier.
Sierrah on our way to the beach.

Ocean View

Small part of St.Kilda beach

Soaking up the sun (with sunscreen that is)


A perfect view from the pier


I love Australia. I love Melbourne. I love life.