Just Another Winter Day

Today, we were lucky enough to have another beautiful winter day. As I near the end of my time in Melbourne, I thought it was time to take a last trip to my local Brighton beach, home to the famous beach boxes.


I`m gonna miss this place!

My Little Spiderman

Oscar has become obsessed with spiderman and will not move without his spiderman costume.

A way to curb my shopping

Last week Oscar and I went to the mall. Now for everyone who knows me, you know that nothing can come between me and shopping, that was until I became the nanny to a 3 year old.

Oscar the Fairy

The effects of having a girl nanny are starting to rub off on Oscar.

And just so were clear, he did this completely on his own without any ideas from me!

A 'Real' Parent for a Week

Over the next week I have the kids 24.7 as both parents are out of town on business. 1 day down, 6 to go!

Winter Solstice

Today is winter solstice here in Australia, meaning the shortest amount of day light and the longest amount of darkness. This means things can only look up from here!

Celebration Weekend

This weekend was a weekend of a number of celebrations. 1) The birthday celebration of my dear friend Sierrah, 2) the leaving celebration of my dear friend Sierrah and 3) welcoming the new au pair Taryn to Melbourne.

Saturday we headed into the city where we enjoyed a nice stay at the Hilton on the Park Hotel.

We then headed to the Crown Casino to enjoy a good evening, with some Casino worthy drinks.



Sunday we headed to Etihad Stadium to show our Carlton support one more time.

Carlton beat the Sydney Swans!

Then it was off to the Little Italy of Melbourne, Lygon St., to enjoy a nice dinner.

Overall, it was a great final weekend of memories with Miss Sierrah.

CFC

My support for the Carlton Football Club continues to grow and grow. Today I attended my third footy match, which Carlton won 124 to 63 over the Brisbane Lions and moved us up to 3rd on the ladder. Goooooo Carlton.


(wearing my newly purchased jersey and waving my giant Carlton flag)

Professional Footy Player?

As i`ve expressed before i`ve really taken a liking to Aussie Rules footy. I`ve taken a liking so much so, that i`ve started to learn some basic skills of the game.

Oscar and I go out practicing sometimes, but out of the mouth of a three year old: "Your skills are bad". So I think I still have some work to do before going pro.

Hockey never leaves your heart

Despite the 14 hour time difference and lack of hockey games on tv here in Australia, I have still managed to follow the NHL playoff race.

I have also convinced an Australian friend to get into the game and show some support for our Canadian sport. Here is his view on the game today (or technically yesterday Canada time).
Canucks failed to take their chances, consistently failing to capitalise on an abundance of power plays and even giving up goals to the Bruins during their own powerplay! Emotions started to spill over towards the end as the Canucks players got more and more frustrated, in particular a guy called Kesler who was constantly getting involved in scuffles and at one point took off the gloves and tackled a guy to the ice. Tim Thomas was rock solid in front of goal, saving everything that came his way until a late Canucks goal in junk time ruined his chance of a deserved shutout. Vancouver looked like a defeated army during the last few minutes as they appeared to have given up whilst Boston went on a rampage, putting more nails in the canucks coffin with a few late goals at the death.

It was most likely the loss the Canucks needed to have in order to jolt them into action for the remainder of the series. My prediction is for Vancouver to hit back hard after receiving this wake up call and wrap up the Stanley cup 4-1, securing it Saturday morning Australian time!

A Weekend of Ice, Wine, Gardens and Footy

With my time winding down in Melbourne, the weekends are now being filled with a hodge podge of activities that I have wanted to get in during my time in Victoria.

Friday night, Sierrah and I got a little reminder of home when we went to the Chill On ice bar in downtown Melbourne.

The freezer filled with ice sculptures and an ice bar is a balmy -10 degrees. Now back home -10 is a good winter day, but for some reason here that temperature seems quite a lot colder. All the drinks are served in glasses made out of ice.


Saturday I took a bus tour up to the Yarra Valley, which is wine region here in Melbourne. We visited 4 very different wineries in the area and had a nice taste of some wines at each.
The first winery was Domain Chandon, where Moet champagne is made.


The second winery was Rochford which is very famous in the area.
The third winery was a family run local business called Yearling Farms. Despite the look of the building the wine was excellent.


Our final stop of the day, and my favorite was Kellybrook farms. Here they specialize in not just wine but cider as well. The apple and pear cider were absolutely to die for and I may have bought a bottle or two to send home.


After a busy day Saturday, Sunday morning was spent watching the Vancouver Canucks take on the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup final playoffs. Then I headed into the city to do some exploration of the Botanical Gardens.

Then it was over to the Casino to watch Carlton defeat Port Adelaide in a great footy match!

Overall another busy but great weekend!

A Melbourne Winter

Yesterday (June 1st) was the first day of winter here in Australia. Now I use the term winter loosely. Sometimes we have frost in the morning, but nothing as cold as winters back home.
Oscar checking out what he called 'snow'.


On the opposite end, our mid-day high today was 18 degrees; not bad for a winter day.
Kids playing outside on a lovely winter day.



Today I also got a little taste of home... a guy walking down the street in a Canada Goose jacket. Funny considering people often say there to warm for Canadian -20 degree winters, let alone Melbourne +18 degree ones!