Green Space

Sunday, 16 March 2025

Even though our Melbourne apartment is surrounded by other apartment blocks in almost CBDish Southbank, I really love how our own street, and streets just around the corner  are so lovely and green even in midsummer:

Is it Cake?

Sunday, 16 March 2025

Zali made the most amazing 'farewell' cake for her last day of blueberry picking this season. It was intended to replicate the gross icecreem container full of water they used for cleanup jobs in the sorting shed and I think it was a pretty realistic result!

 

 

And just to prove it was actually cake (and chocolate and gelatine)... 

 

NZ - Oceania Champs 2025

Sunday, 16 March 2025

In late January Jon, Jett and I  went to NZ for the Oceania Orienteering Championships.   The trip was pretty quick - especially for me as I arrived a few days after Jon and JEtt on the Thursday and we all flew home on Monday night.  Everyone had at least one really good run during the championships. Jon's highlight was a fantastic win in the long distance race in the rain and Jett had some really strong results in his class.

While the terrain was just fantastic - soft pine forest with detailed dune contours, the weather was very variable (mostly wet), and the location a few hours north of Wellington  was not what you'd call a must-see destination.

 Still, travelling with friends is always fun and we had a great time.

 

 

A sunny day for the middle distance. 

 

  

 

We went for a swim at this beach before the thunderstorms hit later in the day. Not sure I love the black sand. 

 

On the last day of competition we had to leave the event at 12pm at the very latest in order to just make our flight back to Australia. As it was a relay day this meant that we had to run either in 1st or 2nd spot, and if in 2nd spot, we really had to hope that the first leg runner had a good run.  The rest of us were all fine, but unfortuately for Jett who was 2nd leg,  his first leg runner Niko didn't have a clean run, and even if he had, it was still doubtful whether he'd make it back in time as the courses were longer than expected. This meant Jett had to pull out half way though his race basically keep running all the way to our minivan so we could jump in and drive away at the last moment feasible. The 2 hour drive back to Wellington was a bit slow with some traffic hiccups but we made it comfortably in the end. On the way there was some grumbling about our choice to fly home Monday (so we could all go to work Tuesday) - but once we got back to Australia we heard that everyone who didn't get out of Wellington on Monday was stuck for days as all flights out were cancelled on Tuesday and then delayed on Wednesday. I'm really relieved as I had a crucial event at work on Tuesday I really needed to be in studio for. So phew.

 

Before and After #58

Sunday, 16 March 2025

Our first visit back to St Helens after a busy summer of guests revealed a bit of a to do list, starting with the garden..

 

No matter, it didn't take long to weed and get it back into shape:

 

Looking at the garden in this angle really reminds me of what was a large inspiration for the curved path and grasses - from one of our favourite spots nearby..

 

The beautiful pathway leads to one of our favourite beaches:

 

Tracy's 50th

Sunday, 16 March 2025

A few weeks ago Jon, Zali and I had the most magical weekend at Tracy's 50th Birthday weekend at Currawong Beach, nestled in the Kuringai Chase National Park.  Getting there was an adventure itself, we flew to Sydney where we met Zali who had come up from Melbourne, then Andy picked us up for the longish drive from the airport up to Palm Beach. From there it was a 30 minute ferry across Pittwater to the beach where we were welcomed by the caretaker like on Fantasy Island.  


The beach is round the corner from the popular camping spot The Basin where we spent a very wet weekend for Andy's birthday a number of years earlier, but Currawong Beach only has about 8 cabins that you have to book many many months in advance. Tracy booked the biggest house that fitted 16 of us, and Andy's family had a little cottage for 3.   All the beach's facilities were at our disposal - volleyball, tennis, golf (or disc golf), swimming and just relaxing and hanging out on the long picnic table in front of our house.  

 

While there were about 20 of us staying on the beach, another 20 or so friends arrived just for the day on Saturday so we had a big BBQ lunch with everyone. 

 

 

 

 

 

The weekend went by in a blur of laughter and games and fun - it feels like a bit of dream really.  Once again I'm so grateful that we have a great group of friends. 

 

Before and After #57

Sunday, 16 March 2025

I have my mosaic stuff out for the first time in many years as I'm working on another project that's been waiting for me for about a decade.  With all my equpment at my fingertips it was hard to ignore the fact that my mosaic blackboard by the front door was looking pretty ratty.

I've already restored it but that was probably more than 5 years ago, definitely time for more TLC

 

Once I took it off the wall it took about 2 weeks of small daily efforts to re-tile, repaint and then, in an effort to discourage tiles from dropping off the bottom every time it got bumped, frame. I'm happy with the final result. 

:   

 

4 days of Melbourne culture

Sunday, 5 January 2025

Jon and I are in Melbourne at the moment soaking up some local sports and culture via a jam packed schedule of activities.

 

After a 2am arrival (thanks Jetstar) we thankfully only had a musical at the Playhouse on the agenda the next day. We saw Dear Evan Hanson with Susannah, which was really enjoyable.  We followed that up the next morning with a visit to the unauthorised Banksy exhibition - where we were able to stencil our own t-shirts with a Banksy design which was really fun -  then we crossed town to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the NGV.  We rounded off the day with some soccer watching in the scorching heat of the late afternoon - although we'd both agree that the soccer itself was far from scorching.

 

 

 

The next day Jon went for a long run while I swam, then strolled to the South Melbourne Markets which is huge and has something edible or arty for everyone.  After lunch at home we headed out into the very hot afternoon to visit to the Van Gogh exhibition at Lume which I'd been meaning to go and see for years - it was cool inside and very relaxing and calm so a lovely experience. Afterwards we strolled home via the Southgate DFO which had a decidedly different pace.   

Today I seem to have picked up a cold of some sort so we have slowed down a bit with just a trip to Ikea in the morning (where we missed the breakfast menu by 1 minute which was very dissapointing).  This afternoon we've taken advantage of our air conditioning as it's still super hot outside - we might try our pool later on which has been absolutely heaving with people in the last few days (although I always manage to get a solo swim in the early mornings)

Zali is 21!

Sunday, 5 January 2025

Hard to believe but our lovely Zali is 21 !  As per her request we had a low key brunch and then birthday cake for lunch..

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Adventures

Thursday, 2 January 2025

As we weren't travelling between Christmas and New Year I really wanted to make the most of being at home, so I've been alternating each day with home tasks such as restoring the deck, and then with out-and-about mini adventure hikes and runs. The were mostly by myself but sometimes with family and friends. It all kicked off with a summer solstice trip up the mountain after work:

 

 

Then I did a few runs around Conningham and the Tangara trail on the eastern shore:

 

 

Then a longer and steeper trek around the Cathedral Rock loop:

 

 

Then Jon and I did the Three Capes Loop - well, he did a massive loop of 40ish k, I just did 17:

 

Then as I hadn't done it in a while, I went from the bottom to top of Mt Wellington:

Then my very favourite trip which was up to Hartz  Peak with Jon, Zali and Julia, on a perfect summer afternoon:

 

 

 

I now feel ready for 2025. 

More taste tests - Lune Croissants

Thursday, 2 January 2025

I am not super keen on croissants in general but since I've become aware of the famous Melbourne Lune store and the Lune founder who seems like a really interesting person I wanted to see if the very very highly rated croissants were noticebly better than a normal australian croissant, and if they were in fact sooo good that I'd change my mind about croissants in general.

My first obstacle to this investigaton was that I couldn't be bothered queuing outside the Lune store. Luckily for me though, I struck an unrelated deal with Zali that included her queuing for me as one of the conditions - so the experiment finally was able to occur.  After a 25 minute wait Zali returned with 2 samples - the Lune and one from the cafe underneath the building - and prepared a blind taste test for us.

 

Sure enough the Lune croissant (on the left) was easy to identify due to its superiority - it had much lighter flakier pastry than the competitor on the right.  I'd definitely prefer it if I had to eat a croissant but I'd definitely prefer a vanilla slice, or even vegemite toast though!

Zali also brought back a few other treats from Lune which had amazing citrussy filling and were really really good - so I'd still recommend Lune to any fellow croissant non-believers.

KI not quite Christmas visit

Thursday, 2 January 2025

This year we decided to go to South Australia early as it was Hobart's turn for Christmas Day celebrations and we got some really good direct flights with Jetstar so we headed over Wednesday after work. After a day at Hilary and Tony's place (I had to work), we drove down to get the last ferry to Kangaroo Island where we were warmly welcomed by Jon's mum and sat down for a lovely late dinner.    

Kangaroo Island is famous for its special bees and consequently its special honey and honey products.  Every time we visit we make sure to support the local industry by visiting at least one of the honey places. This time we decided it was essential to discover which place (of the 3) had the best honey icecream.  This was not a simple undertaking - the three places were many kilometres apart and we needed to plan our run - although we pretty quickly realised we could rule the third honey place out of the competition as it didn't actually produce honey icecream - so that left two places, one in Kingscote, and the other in the middle of no-where.  

On the way to the first place we checked out some local galleries and the legendary hardware store (that has everything) then we drove to  Island Beehive and bought both their varieties - Cap Gum and boubialla.  We stashed it (organ transplant like) in our eski and drove to Cliffords honey farm where we purchased the competing product and did our very scientific blind testing sitting in the shade under a big tree. 

   

  

Ultimately we unanimously agreed that the original store (Cliffords) sold the best honey icecream (price was the same so it wasn't a factor), followed by the cap gum and the boubialla.  All of it was pretty delicious though.

We spent the rest of the holiday relaxing, swimming, going  playing mini golf and generally being treated very well by Jon's mum although unfortunately both Zali and Jett got sick for a day but were looking better by the time we left.


The last night and day of our Adelaide trip was spent at Andrew and Teri's amazing new house - I had to work all day but everyone else got out for disc golf and a swim, then we nearly missed our  flight home (or at least our baggage did) as we didn't check our flight times and had the wrong time in our minds, only realising 5 minutes from the airport that we had 6 minutes left to check our baggage in.  Despite Jon's speedy driving efforts and us running to the bag drop area, we missed the cut off by a minute.  LUCKILY, and miraculously - given Jetstars cutthroat reputation, the departures area was practically empty and the people behind the service desk were happy enough to fix us up so we could get our bags to hobart.  Thank goodness. 

Julie's 50th

Thursday, 2 January 2025

 

I've been pretty lucky with weekends with friends lately as November was also the month of Julie's 50th birthday girls weekend at her new-ish place in the Blue Mountains.  Last time we gathered together like this was for her 40th on the south coast of NSW for a weekend of stand up paddling and beach hanging-out. This was the mountains version of that weekend with a bit more running and hiking and it was fantastic.

 

The weather was a bit rainy but we still had time for a couple of runs, a few nice walks, a visit to the rhododendum garden and lots and lots of chatting and hanging out. So nice.

 

 

 

 

Inverloch

Thursday, 2 January 2025

There are lots of things we are looking forward to now that we have a Melbourne base, and one of them is being able to spend time with Melbourne friends, in particular my very good friend since a million years ago - Susannah - definitely my favourite housemate when I was at uni in the 90s.

 

It's great timing by Jon and I as Susannah and her partner Owen have just bought a holiday house in Inverloch - a surfy seaside town to the east of Melbourne so when Susannah suggested we visit overnight I was totally on board! 

On Saturday we left Melbourne pretty early and stopped on the way to pick up Susannah's brand new paddle board, then we still had time to visit the local library - yes LIBRARY! - to borrow another paddle board for me.  It was extremely hot that day, so paddling up and down the inlet was an absolute delight.  We did get a bit hot though so it was nice to take a quick swim in the pretty cold water afterwards.  In the evening we went for a lovely walk around … which was fantastic then we had a nice relaxed dinner and both nearly fell asleep watching tv.

 

 

On Sunday the weather broke so the day was pretty wet, but we still managed a nice trip to the farmers market for gin, fruit, plants and one of the best Portuguese tarts I have ever eaten - then we headed off to our 2nd (or maybe third) adventure of the weekend which was a walk / jog around XX.  Susannah walked while I set off on the advertised 5ish k loop but I pretty quickly lost the overgrown trail and ended up popping out on a huge beach feeling like I was the only human on earth. I figured I could continue my loop and pick up the track where it was supposed to meet the end of the peninsula about 2k away but when I finally got to the end I searched everywhere for the track but it was not to be found - so rather than bush bash for a kilometre to a larger track (which would have been on my hands and knees), I turned around and ran back down the beach, keeping my eye out for my own tracks as I would never had hit my exit point otherwise. I eventually made it back to the car and Susannah (who confirmed the track was missing) and we went back home for a shower and leftovers for lunch.  

Later on Owen arrived so we had a chance to go for a nice walk around the really pretty suburb before we headed home - Inverloch has lots of beautiful native gardens and a really nice feel.  

 

So we had a great weekend - their new shack is lovely - perfect for holidays with lots of space and a lovely garden to relax in, in a beautiful part of Victoria. 

Australian Orienteering Champs - Armidale

Friday, 25 October 2024

It's been a long time since the whole family has travelled to the Australian Orienteering Championships together. Since 2017 Jon has been involved as a coach for the Tasmanian Schools Team, and either Zali or Jett (and for a while both) were on the team so they would travel and stay separately while I made my own plans with one or none of the children.

It's nice to be back together again.

Some years (like last year in WA)  the week of the championships involves 2 or even 3 moves around a state to follow the events, where as this year we could stay in just one location, which unfortunately for us was in the Armidale Holiday Park.  I mean it was fine, but 9 nights was about 6 too many nights to stay in a place where you had to visit reception to get a single roll of toilet paper every few days and where the cabin was so stark  we only had 1 bedside table and no coffee table.  During the week I still had to work which meant sitting at the dining table which was uncomfortably furnished with outdoor chairs.   

 

The orienteering itself was fantastic. Armidale has lots of areas with relatively open bush forests with huge boulders everywhere (which was my undoing a number of times).  Jett had some good runs and even sat on the leader's chair for a while on one of the days, while as per usual Zali did really well for someone who does no training, and Jon and I had a mixed bag or results. I finally got a win at the sprint event on the last day which was nice.

 

 

The rest of the time we toured the local area and saw lots of big canyons and waterfalls.

 

 

 

And while it was a bit boring having to work during the week I was able to get out really early for some lovely runs about 20  minutes drive away:

 

 

 

All up it was a fun week. Great to catch up with lots of people and nice to be away. 

 

Southbank Apartment

Friday, 25 October 2024

Ever since I started coming to Melbourne for work a few years ago I've been mulling over the thought of owning somewhere in the Southbank area - which happens to be suburb in the view from the terrace of my work in South Melbourne :

 

After work I'd look at the real estate prices and marvel about the relatively low prices (compared to everything, everywhere else), and fantasise about having a little place we could come and go from as we needed and we could pretend we had a Melbourne lifestyle as well as a Tasmanian one. 

As it happened the prices kept going down (again, in opposition to everywhere else), and I finally mentioned this idea to Jon a few months before we went away to Europe when one of his work trips co-incided with mine and we stayed together in my usual Southbank hotel.  To my surprise and happiness, Jon was immediately on board with the idea, and later so was Zali (who had the Formula 1 in mind).  Jett happened to be away in Europe at the time so he had to be caught up with the plan later.  

Knowing there wasn't much we could do about it until we were back, we did nothing more except occasionally browse the real estate websites and decide which buildings looked like they had the best facilities. My dream was to have a 25 metre pool and a gym, Jon's was for a sauna.  Southbank is almost 100% apartment buildings so there were a lot of buildings to think about but by the time we got back from Europe we had an idea of what ones we wanted to check out, and what we didn't.  Initially we were mostly looking at 1 bedroom places but then, after mentioning this plan to Paul, he said he and Dani be keen to come on board,  so with our combined budget we could get something larger that would suit us all and be co-habitatable when required or just be able to host larger groups. In the end we set our sights on two bedroom/two bathroom places.  The location needed to be walking distance from the CBD proper (and the skybus), walking distance to my work, and a short run to the botanical gardens - which pretty much fitted 3/4 of the addresses in Southbank.

Of course we couldn't do anything without looking at places in real life so Jon, Zali and I booked a 4 day trip to Melbourne, conveniently staying in one of our target buildings - Melbourne Square. This was our one and only chance to check out as many places as possible so we lined up a hectic schedule of 25 viewings over 3 days. It was intense and often involved RUNNING between viewings as if you weren't outside the building at the start of the 15-30 minute inspection window, it was likely you wouldn't get inside at all, as the agent would come down and get everyone just once, then go up to the apartment.   We became familiar with a large group of southbank real estate agents and we revisited many of the buildings multiple times to see different apartments.

We saw lots of great places, the very best were a bit out of our price range but lots of the ones that were within our range still had great views and great facilites. 

 

We saw a lot of places that were styled within an inch of their lives, from the music and scented candles to the open cookbooks which seemed to be an obligatory part of styling:

  

 

 

We also saw a few dud places - generally ones which were tennanted and the tennants had no motivation to clean or tidy up.  In one case the agent unlocked the door and followed us into a dimly lit apartment were we could discern that the tennant was halfway through packing up as their bags of clothes were spread about the floor.  A few steps further inside and I looked left into the master bedroom and saw that the tennant was in fact completely passed out asleep in their bed with their feet hanging out the end.  They obviously had forgotten about the inspection and had a big night the night before.   Hilariously the agent asked us if we'd like to stay and look around (what and tiptoe around the sleeping tennant?), but we wanted nothing more than to get out of there as quickly as we could!

Overall it was a fun weekend.  We were careful about taking photos and Jon was great about writing down our impressions as it could have easily all ended up being one big blur. 

 

 

 

 

By the following Monday - after consultation with Dani and Paul - we were ready to make an offer on an apartment in one of our early favourite buildings - Melbourne Square.  It has a pool, sauna, spa, lots of other facilities and is in a great location.  The Southbank market being as it is (great for buyers, bad for sellers), the vendor accepted our lower-end offer pretty much immediately and we were suddenly full steam ahead for a little slice of life in the big city. Settlement is on the 1st of November.  

 
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