Food, Footy, and Fast Cars

Georgie tried 'real' food for the first time this weekend. The picture says it all. Initial reaction: what the...?! She got onto it pretty quickly though, and now is wanting more. Messsssy.
Otherwise, it was pretty low key around here. Scott was invited to watch a Footy game (Australian Rules Football) on Saturday afternoon in a box with some people from work. I was supposed to tag along, but unfortunately our babysitter had to cancel. Footy (a game unique to Australia - kind of a mix between football, rugby, and soccer) is hugely popular here, so Scott was pretty excited to check it out. The game was one sided (Hawthorne beat Melbourne by a substantial margin), but the crowd (about 40,000 and the stadium wasn't close to full for this match) was lively and the free food and drinks more than made up for the low key game. Spectating from the same box as Scott's crew was one of the most famous footy players in Australia - Chris Judd. Scott said watching the match with him would be the Canadian equivalent of watching a hockey game with Matt Sundin. While he had no idea who the guy was, the other people there were totally starstruck.
On another sporting note, the Formula One was in town this weekend. The venue was Albert Park, only about 5 km from where we live, but it sounded like the cars were racing in our neighbourhood. Because of the insane noise, we couldn't take G down to check out the action, but the city was abuzz with the events of the weekend. On the topic of fast cars, a speeding ticket came in the mail for us this week - $140 for going 67km in a 60km zone. Ouch. Apparently the 'ok up to 10km over' rule in Canada doesn't apply here.

First Date Update

I've had several people ask me how my friendship first date went in Feb (see Feb's First Date post). I'm pretty sure the woman, though lovely and very helpful, is a recently retired stripper from Las Vegas. I think she thought I was pretty lame, especially when I told her I what I do for work. I also felt that we are travelling in very different fashion circles - I wasn't showing enough skin and have no idea where one would go to buy hoop earrings that size. So, I soaked up some good info from her about baby groups/health clinics etc., enjoyed a delicious chai latte, and then we amicably parted ways, both pretending we would be in touch with the other again soon. There have been no attempts by either party to make contact since then. You win some, you lose some.

Welcome Gladys!

It has been a long time since Matt, Rach and Family were here, so we were really excited to have a visitor this weekend. Gladys (an ortho resident with Scott in London who is now in Sydney doing a fellowship) popped down to Melbourne for the weekend. It was great to see a familiar face and show her

around the city. Georgia loved her and was glad to have someone else

to hang out with besides Scott and I! On Saturday, we went back to the Queen Victoria Market to explore more of what it has to offer. Despite another few hours spent wondering around, we still haven't seen it all. That afternoon, we visited Brighton Beach. It is only a 5 minute drive from where we're living in St. Kilda. What sets this beach apart from the numerous others in the area, is that it houses the most expensive real estate in Melbourne (per square foot), and arguably the most colourful as well. These neat beach shacks are passed down from (wealthy) generation to generation and are used to store beach gear.

On Sunday, we took Gladys to the Yarra Valley. We had a great lunch in Healsville and stopped at a winery on the way home. It appears from the picture the Gladys took of us in the winery, that Georgia has inherited our growing love of wine (we're hoping we don't have a little boozer on our hands, so we're trying to encourage her to master drinking water from a sippy cup before she develops her wine tasting skills). That night, Gladys and I went to the St. Kilda Pier to watch the fairy penguins come back to their nesting grounds after a busy day of fishing. Who knew this happened almost in our own back yard? They were as cute as ever.

Monday came too quickly - time for everyone to get back to our usual routines. I find it interesting that, even though I no longer have a work schedule, Mondays are still total downers.

Gladys - it was great to have you. Thanks for a fantastic weekend! We'll look forward to exploring Sydney with you in May.

Off to the Races

This one's for you, Dick! To say the Aussies love their sport is

an understatement - they are sports fanatics. Second only to Footy, is horse racing - so it made sense we had to check this out while we were here. On Saturday, we got all dolled up and joined one of Scott's staff, Tim, and his family at Flemington Park for Family Day. Tim is a member so we spent the day in the 'members only' area of the track (translation: it is a pretty up-scale event). It was a fun afternoon - the kids enjoyed picnics and pony rides, and there were several big races with purses in the hundreds of thousands. We walked away with one winning ticket and a total prize money amount of $1.60. But we weren't there to make money (at least I wasn't!) - my favourite part of the experience was stalking two 'Dame Edna' like ladies sitting just across from us - the pic of them says it all. It was too much! G had a blast. There were 6 little girls who played with her for much of the afternoon. As you can see in the last pic, she enjoyed every minute until she finally hit the wall (on my shoulder).

This one's for you, Swatty! The other activity of the weekend was getting some bedroom furniture for our guests. This task was made much more exciting when we met, and eventually bought a mattress from, the Australian version of Swatty! The overall resemblance and personality similarities were uncanny. He was super friendly and helpful. We told G it was almost as good as having a visit with Gramps himself.

Aussie Mates

Here are some pics from playgroup this week and one of our now 5 month old (big birthday March 9th!) at the beach.

Every new baby/parent in Victoria is organized into a community playgroup with kids of the same age shortly after they're born. The group meets once a week at a community playgroup centre- ours is a new and really well designed facility a 10 minute walk away. After the group becomes acquainted, they often organize other activities outside of this scheduled meeting time. Our time is Wednesday mornings, and our group also meets for Friday drinks at a local spot (the Aussies love their alcohol, and by the end of the week, we're all ready for a drink), for walks, and other play times. The group has been a life saver for me, and some of the other moms who are new to the area - I have friends! We also share lots of parenting info/ideas, provide support to one another, and the kids grow up with their little mates. It's a fantastic idea - kudos to the state government on this one.

Great Ocean Getaway

It was the Labour Day long weekend in Australia (bye bye summer) so we took advantage of some extra time off and spent 3 nights on the Great Ocean Road. It was a windy, steep, and gorgeous drive along the coast with much to see along the way. The Twelve Apostles was a favourite stop. We also had some great wildlife sightings...koalas hanging out in the trees above the road and kangaroos hopping in a field. Scott had a wildlife encounter of a different kind at dinner - some grilled kangaroo over a potato mash. I hate to admit it, but it was pretty good.

Another bonus of the weekend away: we missed the huge rain/hail/thunder storm that ripped through Melbourne, and apparently caused flooding in our area. Luckily there was no evidence of any of it when we arrived home yesterday.

In these pics: Dinner on Friday (mmmmm kangaroo!), a few of the Twelve Apostles, our hike to a waterfall in Lorne

Yummy Yarra

Yeah Canada! What an amazing show you put on. We've been proudly sporting our Canadian attire around Melbourne for the last couple of weeks, and totally hooked on watching the coverage. Even G was interested in all the action...snowboard cross was her favourite. The question now: how are we going to cope with Olympics withdrawal?

In addition to cheering on the athletes this weekend, we ventured to the Yarra Valley (1 hour north of Melbourne) to explore the area and taste some of the amazing wines made here. We had a yummy lunch at a cellar door called Giant Steps. We tried some great wine here, and at another winery/modern art gallery in the same area. The vino is plentiful in Victoria, but we're slowly making a dent in our 'must try' list.

In these pics: G, with eyes peeled, on one of the snowboarding events and sporting her 'Go Canada' gear. Scott at TarraWarra winery and art gallery in Healesville, Yarra Valley.