I am happy to tell you all that I am currently writing you this long overdue update from the French engineering company again! After a whirlwind 10 days of exploring the East Coast of Australia with my wonderful family I was thrilled to hear they wanted me back for full time (50 hour weeks) til they found a permanent replacement. I am not entirely sure how long I will be here for this time but it is a really good feeling to be wanted back again and of course the 50 hour week paycheques is a reassuring feeling of financial stability til I leave. My recruiter told me when they called her they were really anxious to hear if I was available because they really hoped they could get me in the interim. And since starting on Monday colleagues have been really excited to see me back. All and all a very wonderful welcome back to an office I have thoroughly enjoyed temping at.

Unfortunately this is not the detailed post about the 10 days the family and I spent together. That will come to you all next week sometime. This entry is going to be about a few day trips I have taken out of Victoria. I will start off by telling you a trip that the Fabulous Fabris Sisters, Phoebe, the fiancé and I took to Philip Island back in January. Philip Island is about 2 ½ hours away from Melbourne and is an excellent day drip option because of the variety of things you can do once there. Phoebe and the fiancé had rented quite the bling SUV for our road trip adventure. This meant we were able to ride in slick style all day. Our trip started with a stop at the service station to stock up my out of town guests on Australian classics such as Cherry Ripe (chocolate bar) and lemon and lime flavoured crisps. As usual Cherry Ripe had the tourists divided. The drive out to Philip Island is not as pretty as some day trips out of Melbourne but by no means was unpleasant. Once on the island we made our way to a look out point to have lunch. The Fabulous Fabris Sisters and I had made lunch the night before. The beach looked quite inviting downstairs but we had a long day ahead of us and did not fancy quite sitting in the car wet after a swim. After our ‘picnic’ we made our way to the information centre where we dealt with an incredibly rude and useless staff member. It was actually comical how bad she was to deal with that we ended up quoting her all day. We decided to go steak out where the Penguin Parade would be later to make sure we knew how to get there and collect our tickets. Phoebe had convinced us to spend an extra $20 to go with the Penguin Plus Experience which did not mean much to us at the time. After exploring the extensive gift shop, koala ears were bought, illustrated penguin children’s books and Australian native stuffed animals in a can. I bought Laura Li Lemon Pie a postcard. We finally peeled ourselves away and headed to see the Nobbies. We were surprised it was going to be free to see them (Praying Mantis right?). Our surprise turned to amusement when we learned the Nobbies were in fact rock formations out in the ocean. Not quite as striking as the Twelve Apostles but pretty none the less. Just not what we were expecting at all! It was then on to a local wildlife park. We had a royal ball walking around feeding a massive variety of Australian animals. Now as most of you know I was able to do this after Thanksgiving but this time had the added perk of being able to actually walk around with the kangaroos, emus, and wallabies! At one point I was actually surrounded by a good fifteen kangaroos! It was utter bliss. We finally pried ourselves away from the adorable animals to go have an early dinner. We celebrated our day trip with a bottle of yummy local sparkling wine. And we could not resist getting gelato at a place crammed with kids on summer holiday. It was then time on to the main event of the day! Philip Island is famous for being home to the largest population of Little Penguins (they use to be known as Fairy Penguins but alas their names got changed). They are the world’s smallest penguins. Why they live in oh so hot Australia I will never fully understand. I had seen a few of the adorable guys when I was at Kangaroo Island but not in a parade formation as such. The idea is that once the sun goes down the little critters come back from being out at sea all day hunting. As I explained earlier we had paid extra for the plus experience. I was not quite sure what this entailed when I agreed to it. It transpired to be worth every penny. We were given a hot beverage upon arrival, an IPOD with a 25 minute blurb about what we were about to see and most importantly a small viewing platform. What I mean by the latter is that 125 of us paid extra to be with thousands of less people when watching the parade. The other section nearby sits 3000…!! And our ranger claimed that 70% more of the penguins would pass us by. It was absolutely incredible! We saw hundreds and hundreds of them parade in from the ocean. Also our platform was really respectful and kept quiet the whole time making the experience even more special. We sat there well over an hour watching them. They are truly fascinating to observe. And so ended our wonderful day out to Philip Island.

The next day trip I would like to tell you about was just last weekend when Kitty Kat Katrina was in town visiting who just left yesterday. I wanted to make sure we got at least one day out of Melbourne so arranged for us to do a tour of the Yarra Valley. The Yarra Valley is the main wine region of Victoria and amazingly I have not been the whole time I have lived here. I arranged for a group of us to go with a rented van so as to save money and have the flexibility to go to whichever wineries we liked. I roped in my good friends from book club and their partners. Off we set Saturday morning on a perfect sunny autumn day. We started the day off at Yerring Station which is one of the biggest wineries in the region. We all shared delicious sharing platters including a particularly memorable goat’s cheese concoction. We managed to get a table out on the terrace which was an added bonus. After our nibbles we headed downstairs for our first tasting of the day. Yerring Station did particularly good sparkling wines and we all regretted later we did not buy a bottle. We then came across a small winery called Sticks. They had stunning views of their vineyard and the trees in the surrounding area had started to turn on a beautiful display of autumnal colours. I bought a bottle of their dessert wine which I plan to enjoy sometime in the next couple of weeks with friends at one of my many potluck parties. We then went on to a family owned vineyard called Yarra Track. They have only been open for about fifteen years. They name all of their wines after their grandchild which is a unique touch in the wine world! Tragically they lost more then half their grapes last year due to Black Saturday. The owner passionately told us about his experiences last year and left us all feeling very sombre. I bought some of their delicious vanilla bean mango jam which I have been enjoying at breakfast this week. On we made our way to Long Gully Estate which like Sticks had stunning views. We all were very impressed with their Viogner which alas they only make three barrels of! Kitty Kat Katrina tried port for the first time and I bought a bottle for myself to enjoy in the upcoming weeks of wintery blues. After a few smaller wineries it was time to make our way back to a major one called Train Trak. They had very tantalizing looking pizzas which I would like to go back to try sometime. The tastings are done in a beautiful converted barn. I enjoyed the Napoleon quote they had up on the wall that declared “In victory you deserve champagne. In defeat you need it”. Words to live by! Our second to last winery had the amusing name of Squitchy Lane. I was very impressed with their merlot but did not feel I could justify the price. Our last winery of the day was called Coombe Farm. We were the last customers of the day but luckily we did not feel rushed at all. We sat down for an extensive tasting as the sun started to set. The light actually started to remind me of Scandinavia as it danced across the vineyard. As we drove to the Yarra Valley Dairy we had to stop the car to get out and take photos of the stunning sunset. Sadly at the Yarra Valley Dairy we arrived too late for a cheese plate but that did not stop us from buying cheese! Australians love their feta and I have come to really love it too. I particularly like Bulgarian and Persian style fetas. The Yarra Valley Dairy does a superb Persian style that my house mate brought home once from the Queen Victoria Market. I was thrilled to see they were selling it for a fraction of the cost. Now one might think this is the time we would start heading back to Melbourne. We had good intentions to but got distracted by a local brewery called Coldstream. They do a fantastic tasting menu themselves. After so much wine it was a bit of a shock to the system to have lagers, stouts and so on. The brewery did excellent fat chips which we all devoured along with a local cheese plate they offered. It was actually the most wonderful day out of Melbourne. I am so glad I arranged it. And also not just because I have Victorian pride but I do actually think that Yarra Valley is a better day out then Hunter Valley (the wine region outside of Sydney) which I had been to the weekend before with the family.

So there you have it readers two fantastic days out of Melbourne enjoyed with great friends and spectacular weather. I have a few more planned before I leave which I will know doubt be telling you all about in great detail in the near future.

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