Marysville and Black Spur Forest

This weekend Shan, Racquel and I headed to inland Victoria to visit Marysville which was ravaged by the fires 2 years ago. It was a fantastic drive and we found a little lollie shop selling lots of NZ treats like chocolate fish, pineapple lumps and toasties. Needless to say we had to buy up large and pig out.

To get to Marysville you drive through the Black Spur Forest which was just amazing. All the black trunks from the fires and the lovely green regeneration was an awesome sight. Very different from NZ forests as the trees are soooo tall. Nice to see lots of tree ferns too.

We stopped in at the beautiful Maroondah Reservoir on our drive home.

Where off to Bonnie Doon....

Over the weekend Shan, Raquel and I headed to Bonnie Doon via Marysville (see Marysville Blog) and had a great time finding the Kerrigans holiday home. This house is now for sale and the real estates sign is classic.

Rye weekend with Naomi and Paul

In December Naomi and Paul invited us down to their family batch in Rye on the mornington peninsula. Great weekend even though it was rather cold.

Christmas at Phillip Island

Mum and Dad came over from NZ for Christmas and Simon came down from Sydney so we rented a house on Phillip Island. It was lots of fun except for the tummy bug that stopped some of us from eating and drinking for a number of days. This was very annoying since we had a lot of food and wine that NEEDED to be consumed! Doh!

Anyway here are a few photos from out time there.

To see all photos click the link below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dionnejane/201012PhilipIsland?authkey=Gv1sRgCP7yjouGxsCYTA&feat=directlink


Shan and I had a picnic Christmas lunch on the beech. Yummy ham sandwiches and a beer. Perfect.

Christmas dinner minus Dad.

Awsome sunset...

The Nobbies

Looks uncomfortable!

How cute is this little guy...

Mum visits Melbourne

Mum came to visit Melbourne last month. It was a weekend of "mum's and daughters" and lots of catching up with old friends.

Portarlington

Anna and I went on a tiki tour around the peninsular past Geelong. It was a wonderful clear day and we got some great photos. My fav is Pheobes (aka the Mini) enjoying the view. Awesome.

Ski Queenstown

Shan and I headed to Queenstown for a week of skiing in the last week of August. We had a fantastic time even though we only skied 2.5 days. We were very dissappointed as it meant we had to go and taste wine and relax. Darn what a shame.

We were very excited about eating some great NZ food and drinking some yummy Otago Pinot Noir. So whilst there I ate 4 meals of NZ lamb and 2 of wild venison. I also racked up 4 pies, lots of munchos (now called skoffs - lord only knows why!) and many other yummy treats. Needless to say that I am now a few kg heavier after all that!!

See all photos on picasaweb by clicking the photo below:

Queenstown

The gang: Shan, Sarah, Nick and I














Catching up with friends Trin and Alister

Fun on the slopes

Apre ski drinks at the famous Cardrona Hotel

Some arty shots