Luna Park at Last

A few weeks ago, I finally went to Luna Park! We used to have a view over this Melbourne area icon when we lived in St Kilda, but we had never been inside or rode any of the rides. It was time to change that, so we met up with Kristy and Nigel on a nice Friday night and finally went inside Luna Park.

Kristy and I got the unlimited rides pass (not cheap at $45 apiece!), and the boys got single ride passes and then played a few games. Here's Zack trying to get tennis balls into the jugs. He got one in and won the awesome blow-up bat pictured below. Nigel did the same, and the boys had fun hitting each other (and us) all night with them. 

After a bit, the boys headed off to the bar, and Kristy and I stuck around to get our money's worth by riding every ride possible.

Some rides were surprisingly fun; others were kind of lame. I did enjoy the sunset view from atop the ferris wheel; we couldn't have timed that ride more perfectly!

The Great Scenic Railway, which is the 100-year-old wooden roller coaster that goes around the outside of the park, was the one ride we just HAD to try. They were closing it on and off throughout the night due to high winds, but it finally seemed open and we waited in line for our turn. We finally got to ride it, and it was TERRIBLE. I mean seriously awful. If you're American and have been to Cedar Point, you know how rickety some of those old wooden roller coasters can be. Well, multiply that times 100. It honestly hurt, and I wanted off almost as soon as it started. It jostled you and banged you and shook you beyond belief. I would never never never ride it again, though I'm glad I can say I did it once. Anyway, we can cross Luna Park off of our bucket list, which is a good thing, because we may not be in Australia much longer! More about that in a future post...

New Year's Eve and Other Queenstown Activities

After our exciting swing ride and bungy jump, we headed back into Queenstown and ate a late lunch at Fergburger. This place is a must-visit, and the wait for food is over an hour. But it's worth it; the burgers are awesome! You don't usually get big, juicy burgers on this side of the world, but Fergburger is the real deal. Yum.

Later that night, we started our New Year's Eve festivities with drinks by the campfire at our caravan park. We met some fun folks, including some people from Michigan! When it got closer to midnight, we walked into town, where we were able to see the short fireworks show over the lake.










Then we hung out in town for awhile and danced to the live outdoor music. The band played fun songs, and we had a good time despite the cold, rainy weather. After a couple of late-night slices of pizza, we headed back to our campervan and enjoyed our first sleep of 2013.

Another must-do in Queenstown (which we did a few days later) is the Shotover Jet. This crazy boat ride zips through the canyon, doing fast spins and going ridiculously close to the rocks on the side. It's like a roller coaster ride, and it's tons of fun. If you ever end up there, look for a picture of our friends Kristy and Nigel on the wall inside the building. Kristy was the 3 millionth passenger! Anyway, Queenstown is full of great stuff; more to come on our time there in future posts.

Mornington Peninsula Weekend Part II

On Sunday morning, we all went out for brunch and enjoyed some delicious scones with cream and jam. Scones are basically what we would call biscuits. Here a biscuit would be more like a cookie. Anyway, we then we headed to Arthurs Seat, which is a lookout area with some trails and viewpoints and such. The water is a beautiful shade of turquoise down in Mornington Peninsula. It reminded me of the Caribbean (though much colder) or the view from the gondola in Cairns. 

Some of the views from the lookouts on the drive up to Arthurs Seat were actually better than the view at the top (in my opinion). But we didn't do any of the hikes, so that could have made a difference. It's hard to believe that this is only just over an hour away from Melbourne!

The whole gang at the top-Zack, Alena, Todd, me, Kristy, Nigel, Emily, and Adam.

After taking some pictures, we headed back down the "mountain" for our next stop.

Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm was our next destination. I enjoyed a huge chocolate covered strawberry (seen here) and a sampling of strawberry wine while some of our group picked their own strawberries. The little store had every possible strawberry-themed item you could imagine!

Strawberry fields forever!

Next we headed to Red Hill Winery. This is a pretty famous winery (the restaurant is supposed to be especially good), and the grounds were some of the most beautiful we've seen. With the grapevines in the foreground, and the gorgeous water out in the distance, we relaxed on the lawn in the bean bag chairs for quite awhile. Some of us did the wine tasting, and we had some snacks such as cheese from the local Red Hill Cheese shop. Though it wasn't as warm as Saturday, the sun was still out, so it was a good day.

Red Hill Winery-gorgeous setting!

We headed home after the winery, though I know there's so much more to see down in this area. I guess we'll just have to go back! However, I don't think we'll be renting from Europcar, or at least not their Hyundai i20 car. We had all sorts of problems with the key and getting this green monster started at various points throughout the weekend. What a nightmare! But thankfully, our friends helped us out, and we ended up having a wonderful time in the Mornington Peninsula.

Mornington Peninsula Weekend Part I

The Mornington Peninsula is Southeast of Melbourne, about an hour and a half away. We spent the weekend camping there with friends (Adam/Emily, Nigel/Kristy, Todd/Alena), and we had a great time. For $30 a night, you can reserve a campsite on the foreshore, which means that this was our awesome view when we set up camp on Friday night.

After setting up camp, we brought some drinks and music down to the beach (a one minute walk from our tent!) and watched the sun go down.

On Saturday morning, we headed to Portsea Surf Beach on the ocean side of the peninsula (we were camping on the bay side). We had a nice hot day, so we practiced our surfing and hung out on the sand.

We also had some beach games going, such as cricket. Todd is showing off his baseball skills here (six of the eight of us on this trip were Americans!).

The whole reason I originally organized this trip was because I had bought a Groupon for a boat ride that lets you swim with seals and dolphins. So on Saturday afternoon, Zack and I headed to Sorrento Pier to catch our boat. We first stopped at a snorkeling spot where you can sometimes see leafy sea dragons, but we couldn't find any. I did find this big carp at the bottom though.

There were some other fish, like these black and white ones (I don't know what type they are), but overall, the water was pretty cloudy and didn't have much.

Next, we headed out in search of the dolphins. I was excited about this part of the trip, because I don't think I've ever actually seen a dolphin (maybe one at a distance once-I forget).

They couldn't find the dolphins, so they took us to view these birds (called gannets) in the Pope's Eye area. They were pretty, but they weren't dolphins!

The fuzzy one in the middle is a baby.

Then we boated around some more, looking for the dolphins. They still couldn't find them, so we went to go check out the seals. Less than five minutes after I had gotten in the water, they decided the waves were too choppy and called everyone back to the boat. I got close to this structure, but only for a minute or two. We never did find the dolphins, so they gave us a voucher for 50% off our next visit. Major bummer. The whole boat trip was kind of a bust, and I wish we had just stayed at the beach with our friends!

On Saturday night, we all headed to the Dromana Drive-in Cinema to see Pitch Perfect. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset, some drinks, and a few ice cream treats while waiting for the show to start. Wrapped in a sleeping bag while sitting in a camp chair and drinking a cider was the perfect way to watch this cheesy (yet funny and cute) movie.

So that was the start of our weekend in the Mornington Peninsula. My next post will be about our Sunday activities.

Emily, Alena, Kristy, and me (the gals on the trip). I think our husbands were busy eating ice cream (at least mine was!)

Dunkeld Country Cup

A few weekends ago, we went to the Dunkeld Country Cup horse races. It was less crowded than the Tatts Cox Plate we went to back in October, and a little more laid back in that we could get right up to the fence and see the horses run right by. Thanks to Alena for loaning me her fun hat/fascinator!

Nigel and Zack placing bets.

We went with our friends Adam and Emily (who had Colorado friends visiting), Nigel and Kristy, and Todd and Alena. Everyone brought food, so we had a nice picnic to enjoy between races. Zack and I would usually place $5 bets on each race. As usual, we won some and lost some-nothing too major in either direction.

Alena organized us getting an "umbrella package," so we had a table and seats reserved for us to use all day. It was nice to have a place to set our stuff and relax and eat.

Depending on the length of the race, sometimes they started right in front of the audience. In this particular one, a horse got pretty rowdy in the starting gate and the jockey fell off and hurt her wrist. She and the horse had to drop out of the race.

It was a beautiful Saturday in a very pretty setting, and we had a great time at this country race. Along with Todd and Alena, we spent the night in the nearby Grampians National Park, camping and then rock climbing the next day. But I'll leave that for my next post!

Nigel, Kristy, Scott, Cierra, Emily, Adam, Alena, Todd, me, and Zack

Tatts Cox Plate Take Two

Last year, we went to the Tatts Cox Plate with some friends. You can read (or reread) that post here. We went again this year (yesterday) and had another good time. I wore the dress I had worn to my bridal shower way back in 2008, spruced up with some blue shoes and a blue fascinator. Zack looked dapper in his snazzy gray suit with his skinny tie.

We started the day with a champagne brunch at our friend Kelly and Nick's house. It was actually Kelly's birthday, so several of her friends from Perth had flown in for the weekend's festivities. Check out how they dressed their dog for the occasion!

The weather was pretty nice when we first got to Moonee Valley Racecourse. The sun only came out for a few minutes here and there, and it got chillier throughout the day, but we were just happy to not have any rain (as was predicted earlier in the week). Unfortunately, the cold wind meant that many pretty dresses were covered up with coats!

This guy was standing out front when we first arrived (I'm not sure what the point was-a mascot of sorts?). He let me hold the whip for this picture-ha.

Like last year, Zack and I put down $5 bets on each race just to make it more interesting. I always picked mine based on the horse's name I liked best...Super Cool, More Joyous, Crack A Roadie, I Get Around, Rangirangdoo, etc. Zack bet based on the odds and what some other guys around us were doing. We did decently well between us, and we probably ended up about even for the day. Our biggest win was around $50! Here I am posing with one of our winning bet slips.

The main race of the day (there were eight races total) is the second to last one, and it's the actual Tatts Cox Plate race. The plate is pictured to the left, along with a lady who had a ridiculous fascinator with a plate on it! A New Zealand horse named Ocean Park won the race, along with three million dollars.

Though it was kind of a pain, I was glad I brought my good camera along to get some pictures. With the crowds, it was hard to see the horses as they whizzed by, but I was able to get a few shots like the one below when I went up near the fence.

It was kind of sad to leave at the end of the day and realize we'll probably never go to this race again. We're talking about going to a country race in November, but if that doesn't happen, it may be our last Spring Carnival race ever. Boo! I kind of like dressing up and wearing a fascinator; I might just have to bring mine back to the States and find some reason to wear it!

Nigel and Kristy pose with us for a picture.

Dogsitting

Let me introduce you to Flossie and Ralphie...

We watched these two little doggies over the weekend while Kristy and Nigel (their owners) were in Tasmania. While I wouldn't normally consider myself a "little dog person," we did have fun with these two.

They (and we) got lots of cuddles on the couch...

We took them to the market, we took them to brunch, I took them on a walk around Albert Park, etc. They got lots of playtime, lots of treats, and lots of attention!

It was nice to have animals in our house again, and Flossie and Ralphie were very sweet doggies. Kristy and Nigel, we'll watch them again any time!