This ones for you Dad

Even after the road trip there were still 2 more days work free, which were mostly spent relaxing. But Sierrah and I did happen to find the motivation to go on a bike ride along the beach front trail that runs through Melbourne.

This view never ceases to amaze me and provides some good scenery for a bike ride.

What Nanny`s do with 5 days off

These last 5 days I have been extremely busy exploring more of Australia.

Friday 3 girlfriends and I departed for a road trip down the great ocean road. Our first stop was Torquay where we spent the day watching the Rip Curl Pro surfing competition at the famous Bells Beach. We got to sit watching on the beach for a while, but soon got washed out by the tide and had to move to the viewing area and watch it on a screen.


The coveted trophy.


We then drove down the coast a little further to Angelsea, where we checked into our hostel... Needless to say not exactly what we expected.

We spent the evening at the local Angelsea pub.


Saturday we drove from Angelsea all the way to Port Campbell. Where we got our first glance of Gibson Steps and the 12 Apostles before checking into our hostel for the evening where we enjoyed some dinner and an evening of footy.



Sunday we woke up super early to try and catch the sunrise over the 12 Apostles, but it ended up being a disappointment due to the overcast weather.

After the early wakeup we began the trek back to Melbourne, with several sightseeing stops along the way.
Loch Ard Gorge (my favorite stop of the trip)

Otway Treetop Walk in the tertiary rainforest


A roadside stop


On the Great Ocean Road (literally)


Our final stop of the trip was back in Torquay to celebrate the weekend with a beach side Easter egg hunt.



Overall it was a great 3 days and fit a lot in. The great ocean road is definitely a must see when coming to Australia.

There Over!

Today was the FINAL day of school holidays. It seems like this countdown has been going on forever. It has been a long 2 weeks. Some days have been extremely fun and others very very long and tiring.

On our final day, we woke up to a morning of sunshine. Max had tennis all morning to prepare for his tournament this weekend. The little ones and I played 'vet' and 'tea party' with a hoard of stuffed animals. After lunch we headed to the park and spent 3 hours outside running around. Following a massive laundry session it was time to call it a day! I gave the kids a little easter egg treat including some silly putty and some chocolate. I have to say, i`ve haven`t seen then so happy and excited in my entire time here, so it was a good way to end our 2 weeks with each other.

The other good thing about the ending of school holidays is the 5 day long weekend that follows! I have a road trip planned down the great ocean road with 3 girlfriends, so look for an update next week about that adventure.

Happy Easter to everyone!

Another Rainy Wednesday

Today was another rainy day. Max had a playdate scheduled with a friend, so Charlotte, Oscar & I headed into the city to the museum.

The museum is really new and has some wonderful exhibits that both the kids and I enjoyed.
My favorite exhibit

Trying to teach Oscar a thing or two

Dinosaurs!

Really cool animal exhibit

Polar bear!

Entering the dinosaur exhibit

Wombats

Caterpillar

Kangaroo

That concluded our day at museum. Only one more day left of school holidays. These weeks have been long, but fun. I think were all looking forward to getting back into more of a routine though.

My FInal Tuesday of School Holidays

Today was a rather laid back day. We spent the morning watching tv and coloring. After lunch Charlotte had a friend over, so we played 'vet' and then headed to the park. We then had to take Max to his footy practice where the other two throughly enjoyed some ice cream.



Only 2 days left to go!

The Melbourne Zoo

Today was the start of week 2 of the school holidays. The kids don`t have any camps this week, so I have them all to myself for 12 hours a day.

Today mother nature gave us a pleasant change and brought us some sunshine, so I took the kids to the Melbourne Zoo. We enjoyed a 40 minute train ride which took us directly to the zoo.

The Melbourne Zoo is small, but is great! It`s set up in different sections including Asia, Africa and Australia, and each of the landscapes resembles that of the origin country. It was a long day, but a great one!
The kids at the seals.

My favourite exhibit and my favourite photo of the kids.

Charlotte and I with the zebras.

Sleeping kangaroo.


The kids in the wombat hole.

On the carousel.


An elephant ride.

My First AFL Game

This weekend I attended my first AFL game at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. I have attended a lot of sporting events in my life, and this was one of the best!

After a lot of research and thinking I settled on a team of the Carlton Blues, partly because there blue and white colours resemble those of another favourite team of mine (TML`s). On Saturday the Blues took on one of there greatest rivals the Essendon Bombers.

The game of Australian Football is pretty simple as far as rules go. 6 points for a goal within the 2 centre posts and 1 point for a goal within the outside posts. During the first quarter of the game I was still trying to learn and get adjusted to what the game was all about. But by the end I was able to cheer for all the good moves and maneuvers I saw coming. Aussie rules, is a full contact sport, and you`ve never seen men thrown around as hard as you do in this game. For those of you who care any further, here is a better description of the game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football

The crowd at the games is absolutely insane! Because the action never stops and goals are so often, the cheers for each team are constantly going back and forth. On Saturday 80 000 fans packed the stadium to cheer on the two teams.

Here is a small 2 minute taste of what the game was like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOn4968XBhI&feature=channel_video_title

All in all, I think my sport fix will be fulfilled by Aussie rules and the Carlton Blues over the next 10 months.

last day of the first week

Today was the last day of the first week of school holidays. The weather offered us a little peak of the sunshine today which was a pleasant and well accepted change. In the morning max headed off to his last day of tennis camp and charlotte went for a play at her friends. So this left just Oscar and I, which felt like our normal routine. After playing blocks and action heros and having some lunch we took a trip to the grocery store (with me behind the wheel). This took up a good portion of the afternoon, so by the time we returned home Charlotte & Max were back. To expend some energy we headed for a bike ride to the park, which ended our day.

Now it`s time to recover over the weekend and push through to week #2.

School Holidays Day 4

Surprise surprise another rainy day.

After waking up and going through the usual eating breakfast and getting dressed we headed off to the library for a dance program I had signed Charlotte up for. On a side note, I drove to and from the library (with James in the car). Charlotte had fun at her dance thing, and Oscar and I had fun doing some reading.

From there myself and the 3 kids headed to an indoor children's play centre called Bonkers. We met up with some of the kids friends Meg & Liam.








After spending a long day there, it was time to head home and enjoy some baths and dinner before calling it a night!
Tomorrow is Friday! I have almost made it through the week!! Whoa!