Frankston Beach Waterfront Festival

One of the best things to do in summer is to go to the beach; and you can tell I'm having a good summer when my last two posts and current post are about the lovely beaches we have in Melbourne.

Today Paul and Oy drove us to Frankston Beach to see their annual waterfront festival (including evening fireworks).  The Festival runs from today Saturday 15th - Sunday 16th.

It was a sunny 25 degrees while we were driving South East.  The temperature must have climbed higher during the 40min drive because by the time we arrived, it was absolutely sweltering.

In fact, during the ride in, Anthony and I had to swap seats in the car because the sun was shining on him and he complained his 'bum was getting sweaty'

While Frankston Beach is known to be one of the cleanest beaches in Melbourne, the water was quite murky due to the recent heavy rain we've been having.  That didn't stop people from having a swim; nor did it stop the sea gulls from bobbing in the shallows, as shown in Pict 4.

There was a live band performing, food stalls of each variety, beer garden, free water stations, health and fitness stalls, and numerous rides from the tame tea cups to the more death defying sky screamer which was like a merry-go-round, except hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh up in the air.  

After walking under the hot sun for 30minutes, we had a seat at the many outdoor umbrellas, picnic tables and chairs set out.  I didn't think to take a hat or wear sunscreen, so all I had to shade myself from the sun were my sunnies and knee length black dress.

This is the result; sunburned chest and arms.  Uneven on the chest, I might add.

 

And to top it off, I forgot to buy some after-sun lotion for tonight, so it is Not going to be a good good night.

On the ride home, Ant and I fell asleep on the back seat.  Unfortunately for Paul, I didn't realize I was lying on some Reese's peanut butter cup chocolates I'd brought along for the ride.  It was soft from being in the hot car all day, and when I woke up from my nap, his seat and the side of my dress was smeared with chocolate.

Now he'll have a peanuty smell in his car and will always be reminded of me :)

All in all, Frankston Beach is all that it's cracked up to be.  Just remember to slip slop slap and wear a hat!

St Kilda Beach and Beachcomber Cafe

Today was another scorcher and most of it was spent at home where it was cool indoors!

After waking up at 7am to let the girls out, I stumbled back into bed and woke up again at the late hour of 10:30am.  And it was only because my cousins were outside loudly ringing the doorbell!

They finally left at 3pm; which is about the same time that May woke up so that we could finally go bridal shopping!  Shopping for wedding dresses really isn't that fun.  But seeing as this is only my second time around, I shouldn't be so quick to dislike it.

More to come later on how that goes.

After dress shopping, May and I met up with Ant at Borders where he was doing his usual free reading.  From Melb Central, Paul and Oy picked us up to go to St Kilda for dinner.

We ate at the Sea Baths which is right on the Esplanade, with views of the beach.  The Restaurant was called Beachcomber Cafe. 

Oy, Paul and I inside Beachcomber, the food, Ant and I on the beach

The food was good - and for the prices they charged it shouldn't have been anything less!  Oy and Ant had the Fisherman's Basket which was au$36 and although pricey, was quite worth it with prawn and scallop skewers, battered mussels, fish bites and fries.

I had the au$20 Beach Burger which had a yummy relish and huge beef patti, and fries.  I also ordered wedges which cost about au$12 and a huge waste seeing as our meals came with fries.

Paul, Mr Gluten-free, had the risotto which was the smallest portion on our table, but he declared it as being yummy.  Most of the waiters there are backpackers on a working visa, ours was a lovely French guy who needed to refer us to another waiter to understand what 'gluten free' meant.

Outside Beachcomber Cafe's parking lot - see if you can spot Ant who happened to walk into view with Paul after they parked the car. 

Williamstown Beach

The temperature was a warm 30 degrees today which instantly meant 'beach!'

I took Ant to Williamstown Beach, which is conveniently under 40min away from where I am.

To get to Williamstown, we caught the tram to Moonee Ponds interchange then hopped onto the 472 bus which took us right up to the Esplanade.  How's that for Melbourne bus service?

For a work day, the beach was quite full so I can only surmise most people were taking an extended holiday like I am.  The majority of people there were kids on school holidays and young tots with life's free babysitters; their grandparents.

Today I learnt a very valuable lesson; do NOT go to the beach with your Ant.  He was a huge pain in the rear end and disagreed with practically everything I wanted to do.  We were grumpy with each other the entire hour we were there.  It was only an hour because he didn't want to go in the first place, so I compromised by saying we wouldn't do the whole tanning and swimming thing.  Little did I know it meant a grand total of 1 hour only on the beach with Mr Grouchy.

However despite his poor attitude and disdain for Melbourne beaches, I took the below snaps

Costco and Buckley Park

The house is so much more quiet now that Anthony's family have left.

Not that I'm complaining; I no longer have to wake up early (or feel bad that I overslept and they had to put their own breakfast together - which happened most mornings anyway).

Anthony and I are able to take it easy, sit at Borders sipping coffee while indulging in lots of free reading.  Infact, we have so much time on our hands that most times we are at a loss as to what to do!  And we need to pace ourselves too or we'll run out of things to entertain ourselves with :o)

Yesterday being a public holiday, the siblings, partners and Ant and I went to Costco then the park with the boys.

Costco warehouse

Costco is a large warehouse (similar to Cost-u-Less in Fiji, but so much better stocked). Entry is for members only which makes it all the more exclusive but quite croweded still. A subscription is valid for 12months and gives you 2 membership cards - 1 for yourself and another for your friend/ family member. How do they ensure only members use the card? Your name and photo are on the card.

After a bit of shopping totaling au$279 (au$110 of which was for a stainless steel wardrobe for Anthony) we went over to Niddrie to hang out with the boys at the park playing footy.

Paul tackling Peter



Anthony chasing Jackson



Melbourne New Year 2011

It's New Year and the fireworks have finished and the weather has cooled down.

Today (31/12/2010) Melbourne experienced one of our famous heatwaves where the temperature reached 41 degrees and it was a windy 45 knots. The Yam's described it as being in an oven and Fiona exclaimed, 'the wind is making my eyeballs burn!'

Luckily our itinerary for the day was Highpoint Shopping Centre which was blissfully air conditioned.  Anthony and I did a quick tour then went to Borders for some free reading.  It was so hot that when Mr Yam popped out for a cigarette break, the heat was too much for him and he had to retreat indoors, sans nicotine hit!

We came home and had a quick shower and light dinner before leaving for the New Year Eve fireworks.

Melbourne was treated to two lots of 10minute firework spectacles - one at the family friendly time of 9:15pm and another for the adults at midnight at multiple spots within the City.

I took Anthony and his family to the 9:15pm one at Docklands and from the get go we had to fight and dodge our way onto the tram into the city, then wait ages for the Docklands tram which was naturally packed.  The Waterfront was packed with families and we contributed to the crowd.

After fighting our way onto the packed tram back into the City, we went to Pepperoni's which is my favourite pizza shops in the city.  We had a late dinner where we almost polished off 2 large pizzas, garlic bread and a 1.25litre drink as part of the au$29 deal.  I say Almost because had about 3 leftover slices.  Not too shabby considering we had Fiona with us and she doesn't eat much!

Nancy's busy December

December has been a very busy month so far! 

Some of the more memorable highlights include

• my birthday
• work Christmas party
• Anthony's visit

December 15th is when I turned a year older...as usual I preferred this day to be normal and without fuss.

My family organized the usual dinner for me the weekend before.  As always, it was a late dinner and there was a fruit cake.

Actually wait, they forgot the fruit cake at the shop because they had so much food to bring home and too many hands helping to do it.  Either way it was fine; none of us have been a fan anyway!

Paul naturally chasticized us for not appreciating the time and effort they put in to make it.



Then there was my work Christmas party which was my very first.  Itwas at a very nice fancy restaurant with a special function centre all decked out in astroturf and flowers.  As per fancy restaurants, the food was alright but in very small portions.

We started with bread baked with sprigs of rosemary, along with dipping oil with soy sauce balsamic.  Entre was 4 thin slices of roast pork in a balsamic sauce.  Main was a tiny portion of beef steak with vegetables that an ant could single handedly carry off.

Sadly there was no dessert.  I suppose the company felt it was more important that we all over indulge on alcohol with an open bar rather than fill our tums.

 

I wasn't the only person who was still starving after our tiny meal.

Today has been the best day of all - I got to see Anthony after two months.

We met at Flinders Street Station and I made use of him by getting him to carry my heavy corn for the girls :)

Queen Vic Market is open every Tuesday and Thursday - Sunday.  There are outdoor sheds that sell fresh produce; these sheds double as knick knack stalls on Saturday and Sunday.

Weekends are incredibly busy for the obvious reason that the majority of people have it off. and need to fill up their fridge.  It takes patience to navigate through the numerous trollys and prams along in the crowds.

We dropped all my shopping at home and then went out for a late lunch in the city.  Then we spent an hour chilling at Borders; it's one of my fave things to do, just sitting there and reading together.

Then I had to see him off at the train station because he had to go back to his family obligations.

New Digs

My girls have a new house!

This recent purchase is thanks to an online pet store on ebay.  Chicken coops are quite pricey and this one was quite reasonable I thought.  I was quite excited that it was below au$200 and considered it to be a huge bargain!

It arrived really quickly; within 3 working days infact.  Unfortunately no one was home so we got carded.  It was divided into two boxes and my brother had to drive me to the LPO to pick it up because it was quite large.  Definitely not a packge for 1 person to pick up on foot! 

Putting it together was a bit tricky; May helped me and we had to be very careful because the wood is quite flimsy.  The nails were all screws and holes didn't need to be drilled; you just screwed it straight into the wood because it was that soft.  (Ok this is the incorrect terminology but I don't know what is).

After putting it together, we realized that getting the foundation right with the first two walls was important.  We didn't get these perfectly aligned so every time I slide the floor/ removable tray in I need to get it at a certain angle or it doesn't fully go in.

Here is the end result;

Flitter has never slept on slates/ a perch before so she sleeps on the removable tray instead.  She prefers it lined with old clothes.  White Chicken isn't particularly fussed where she sleeps, considering she slept perched on a cardboard box in the laundry during the first week we found her, a coop is a luxury for her!