hot town, summer in the city

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  Ok, so Im 2 weeks or more late so sorry but we've been half really busy and half totally relaxing so I couldn't find the time to update all of you folks on our goings ons :)

So for our New years eve we got to celebrate much earlier than all you Americans!  We had a great time!  We first went to a friends gathering at their apartment.  Then Brian and I headed to the city to watch the firework show over the river. It was really nice but so jammed packed!  We couldn't even get into any of the bars to have a toast at midnight so we got innovative/ghetto and toasted a bit of whiskey mixed with sprite from a street vendor :)  Hah oh well!  It made for a great night!  After the firework display we rummaged through the crowd until we found a restaurant where we could get a late night snack and some drinks-- this was harder than you would think considering there were 600,000 people on the river in the city that night!  AHHHH!  After dinner (not sure if this counts considering it was 12:30 am) we decided to go to the casino on the river, The Crown and have a few rounds at roulette!  It was really fun and we actually won a little-- what a great start to 2012!!  Then we left to get home and it was just about 4 am when we got there!  That is by far the latest we have stayed up in AGES!  But it was New years eve and that's whatcha do!  Here are a few more pictures from our night.

Happy new year!

Firework show in the city!

Family (4AM) photo-- pretty! Ha

A few days later we went to the Open Air Cinema over the beach!!  We saw an Australian movie called "The Hunter" about the Tasmanian Tiger.  We just got back from Tasmania so until then, I have never even heard of the Tassie Tiger, so don't feel bad if you haven't either!  They have actually been extinct since the early 1900's-- although, people still think they see them in Tasmania.  These are not really tigers, in case you were wondering, they actually look more like striped dogs?!  The movie was pretty good and starred hollywood actors, but I'm sure they won't be playing it in America.  We went with our friend Sam, who was with us in Tassie.  The evening was nice (minus a few minutes of light rain-- but we're pretty used to that around here!) and the sunset was AMAZING!  To make it an even better night, I even won a free ice cream!!-- the event was put together by Ben and Jerrys.   I never win anything!  I was so certain I would not get picked that I already ate an ice cream.... dang it!  Oh well, 2 ice creams never hurt anyone?!


Later that week--- we were audience members of my favorite Aussie TV show!!  They film the show right up the street, literally walking distance from my house-- (ok wow, I just looked it up and it is actually 1.5 miles away-- crazy how much we walk these days!)  It is actually a comedic news program called The Project.  I can't really explain why I like it so much.  Usually I find the news quite boring so I guess this entertaining version just really makes it so much fun to watch.  Some times they have famous people on it-- not the night we were there.  Apparently I am not the only fan of the show.......

Anyways, I love the show and watch it pretty much every night before a whole ton of american shows -because I still haven't gotten too interested in any of the Australian ones....

hellloooo handsome!  Brian thinks he's not a real Doctor  :)

Since the hosts are mostly comedians they come by during commercial breaks to chat with the audience and crack a few jokes.  Brian spoke up telling "Hughesy", one of the hosts, about keeping up with his good quality jokes and we'll keep laughing (getting a reply somewhere along the lines of  "Thanks, from the director in the 3rd row... ")  and after realizing Brian had an american accent decided to talk to him pretty much during every break.  I watch this guy and laugh at him every night so he is already a bit of a celeb in my eyes so I thought this was pretty neat!  He informed us of our improper way of saying Melbourne.  They say Melban.  No R??  And we also got a bit of a shout out from the most handsome Australian celebrity veterinarian, Dr. Chris Brown, telling the proper way to say Perth, another city in Australia, apparently no R there either?!  Im still confused about that one.

This past weekend we went on a Yarra Wine Valley tour.  I had some pre purchased tickets that included a ride on Puffing Billy, an old steam engine, wine tastings at 3 wineries and lunch.  We woke up pretty early to get into the city to catch our bus out to the countryside.  We were in some serious need of coffee so were very happy when we stopped shortly at a picnic ground where we could get some coffee or tea.  They had set up a spot where you can purchase a little bit of bird feed and feed the wild cockatoos and parrots!  I have no idea why I wanted to do this.  This picture best represents my time with the birds.

 And here is Brian....

I tried to act like I was enjoying myself for a few pictures but it was a fake smile I assure you.  The area was not fenced in.  The birds just knew there would be food a' comin if they hung around.  As soon as you got near them they would come swooping in and land all over you, fighting each other for the best spot (one actually sliced a bit of my thumb, ow)
We also go a few Lamington cakes (an Aussie treat) and some special Australian tea.  You could tell this tour was made especially for out-of-towners.  And we are, of course, locals by now :)  It HAS been a whole 9 months!  Can you believe it!


We then went to the renewed steam engine that was part of our very exciting tour :)

Annnnnd, I wish I could think of something more interesting to say about this but, yeah, we rode a train and that's about it.  Maybe I was just grumpy because I was ready for wine haha.  No, the train ride was really nice and we went through a really pretty area of Victoria called the Dandenongs.  Everyone sat off the side with their legs dangling.  Sounds kinda dangerous but for some reason this method of sitting was encouraged.
 



After the train ride we left for the wineries.  At our first stop we had a delicious lunch of really fresh tasting veggies and a huge roast beef.  It was amazingly good!  Then we enjoyed wine after wine after wine after wine (hey, don't judge, we were not driving after all!)  We took a few pictures but not as many as I had hoped.  Here are a few pictures from our day.

It was a beautiful day and when we got back in the city we couldn't resist the nice weather and having another drink on the river!  (Maybe too many drinks for a sunday but oh well!)

We have also done some other fun things, go to the Queen Victoria Night Market with some of Brians coworkers, where they had every type of food you could possibly imagine.  We ended up with South American BBQ.  Really good.  I was also tempted by the Korean potato swirls :)  Im telling it was EVERY type of food- and drinks for that matter!  We also had a nice dinner at our friends, Lauren and Tim's earlier in the month.  So far January has been really nice, with lots of fun things going on.  And luckily there is even more to come!  Ill fill you in shortly :)

I hope you are having a great start of the year!  So far I have not broken my resolution of not getting sun burned in 2012.  I'm getting older and need to start taking better care of my skin, plus the Australian sun is very unforgiving and will scorch your skin in no time-- 2 out of 3 Australian will get skin cancer by they time the are 70, 4 times more than in the US-- seriously scary sun here.  So far, so good.  Just having a little love affair with sun screen ;)

Ill catch up soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Miss you, but I am really enjoying my hot town, summer in the city :)