I'm writing this at the very beginning of February and realized I have a lot to catch up on with my blog, so I hope it remains relatively clear.

I will start with the moving out of our Windsor flat, which is a little confusing but it all happened over the period of a week and coinciding with the arrival of my Mum - YAY.

Me and Chloe paid up our rent to the 20th December, so technically and officially moved out on that day, well picked the remains of our stuff up anyway. We moved most our junk that seemed to have doubled, if not tripled in size, on the 15th; the day before Mum arrived. We moved back to Ringwood with Terry and Dianne, so we could spend as much time as possible with Mum whilst she was here, as she was staying with T and D, it was also lovely to be back at the house. Dianne's Mum, Catherine, from Ireland was also staying in Ringwood at the time, so it was a full house!

We didn't think Mum's flight would arrive on time and stopped off at MaccyD's for a quick coffee at the airport, although surprisingly, her flight was bang on time, so we felt really bad when we walked in and she'd been waiting for quarter of an hour. Not that she minded but it wasn't how I envisioned our first meeting after 3 months!

The next couple of days me and Chloe were finishing off our last shifts before Christmas, so we were unable to spend much time with Mum, all three of us together, for her first days. Chloe stayed over at our Windsor flat for her shifts, since it was closer to work when she finished at the early hours of the morning; instead of trekking all the way out to the suburbs at Ringwood, when she would have to catch the night bus, with all of the drunkards I should imagine (no trains at that time).

I stayed one more night over at Windsor before moving out all together on the Sat eve; since I was working from 8 the next morning. Mum's first few evenings consisted of meals out: Friday I joined Mum with Terry, Dianne, their friend Pat, Catherine and Graham and Nat at Persian Flavours, my first Persian meal, as far as I'm aware - very nice too. The second (Sat) evening, the same lot, minus Graham, Nat and Pat And with T and D's friend Whim instead, dined at the Nepalese restaurant Ghurkas. The meal here was very tasty too; allowing Terry full reign to decide on the dishes. I remember, despite being full to the brim and having loved the rest of the meal, finished off about three of the breads ( bit like pancakes) at the end of the meal) - I couldn't see them go to waste, I like to call it: keeping energy in reserve, just in case.

Having inherited a couple of what I can only assume to be guppies from our first flat mates in Windsor, Terry and Dianne's friend Whim had received news of this, being a fish keeper himself and considered as a good opportunity to give the fish to someone who would a) want them and b) look after them better than me and Chloe; given our history of fish is not really the best, short lived is actually a term I would use.

I had finished my last shift 19th Dec, although, Chloe's last shift was the next day, so I spent the Monday with Mum before we were all re-united on that evening! Having been to the historical house Como a couple of weeks before, me and Chloe thought Mum would really appreciate it, so that's what we did on the Monday. We had a tour round the house, with a different tour guide to the first time, I only mention because some of the details differed slightly from the first time, but nonetheless, I'm sure was still quite accurate. Mum seemed to enjoy herself and we stole away a few minutes sat down next to the pond in front of the house that was deadly silent and very tranquil. Whilst we were sat a Kookaburra flew down very close to us and scanned the grass for some grub. We headed toward Chapel for lunch to pop in and see Chloe at work in Bridie's, where we enjoyed the quiche and sweet potato chips, as recommended by Chloe, and very tasty they were too.

After Chloe's shift we headed for our Windsor flat one last time to collect our last bits and pieces. For dinner we went to a Thai place which doesn't look very much from the outside, or inside really, although, there is a nice none-pretentious atmosphere and the food was really good. This was our first evening, just the three of us, all back together again and it was so delightful catching up with Mum.

On the Tuesday 21st Dianne took us to Heidi; a sculpture and arts centre. On arrival we had our mandatory morning coffee then had a wander around the modern art in one of the galleries. There was a mix of art from Australian artists, some really not my cup of tea, such as, a female artist who I think had quite a lot of issues of anger and sadness portrayed in her pictures involving topics of a painful and genital nature. There was some interesting stuff too, also not really my ting but different kind of concept; using spider webs contorted into different shapes and in a variety of colours. Another guy had painted with immaculate fine detail but I didn't really understand his subject matter with his painting of a guy with a massive beard five times as big as he was… as I say, interesting. After some of the modern art we were a little drained and the coffee energy had worn off, so we lunched at the café that was there. I had the boring option of soup of the day and Chloe and Mum a tad more exciting with a tuna baguette and chips.

Typically we found our favorite work at the very end of the day, half an hour before closing time. In a separate gallery, or cottage and garden, was the work by Mirka Mora and Australian immigrant, who was born in 1922 in France and moved over to Australia in the early fifties. She actually studied miming in Paris before beginning her artist career. She also opened a few cafes' in Melbourne and by the sounds of it was simply fabulous! Her work reflected a sort of child like naivety in her depiction of fairytale and mythical characters and creatures, in numerous forms of painting, drawing, and in the making of cushions. We all fell in love with her unique and sweet aesthetically pleasing style, so much so that we attempted to find her café in Melbourne, although, unfortunately when we got there it had turned into a silly shiny hotel. However, we were thrilled to discover that the mural at Flinders Station, me and Chloe must have walked past..well a lot, is one of hers, and with this knowledge on closer inspection its so obvious; featuring her distinctive cute doe-eyed characters'.

The next few days leading up to Christmas Day were spent shopping for presents, Wednesday (22nd) in the city and Thurs in Eastland's shopping centre in Ringwood.

We stopped by my friend's new workplace in the city for a coffee before venturing for presents. I used to work with her at Triim and now she seems really happy in this new cafe on Queens Street in the city. She (Lisa) was also pleased to meet my Mum and Chloe again, having heard so much about them and through me counting down the days untill I saw my Mummy!

We managed to buy most presents for the family on the first day of shopping but needed a few extra bits and pieces, apart from the fact that I was in desperate need of buying something for Chloe and Mum ahh.

Eastland's, well, is a shopping mall and if you spend too much time in there, you run the risk of driving yourself insane; it was such a good feeling to walk out of that place come 5 o'clock ish. I apologised in advance for the presents Chloe and Mum were going to receive for Christmas, promising I would make it up to them next year. It was just a case of rush buying, and they seemed to like their presents but maybe they were just sympathising and nice enough to hide their real reactions.. Thankfully, that was the last necessary shopping day before Crimbo.

It was a very unusual run up to Christmas; without needing to tidy, clean, prepare anything (apart from wrap a few presents) or put up any decorations. Me, Chloe and Mum felt slightly redundant, trying to offer to do something wherever we could but Terry and Dianne had it alll under control, best hosts' in the entire world, period. The only thing I missed a little bit was a Christmas tree, although, everything else was amazing; the food and company was absolutely superb, so I can go without a tree for one Christmas I think.

Christmas morning was not our usual.. well I suppose nothing about Christmas day was going to be our usual, so Im going to save a few more lines on making the comparisons and just focus on what actually happened for this Christmas. Me and Chloe couldn't really help out in the kitchen because there was already three a plenty and you know what they say about too many cooks'. Mum and Catherine peeled, chopped and rinsed, whilst Terry followed his cooking schedule and oversaw the whole operation. Alhough, I'm sure Dianne mananged to sneak in there and whip up a couple of dishes too.

Everyone started arriving around 1 o'clock ish, bearing gifts and extra food for the table. One novelty that I will never understand is Terry and Dianne's substitute of fish instead of dessert, so their friends James and Faye brought round some eel especially for this unique tradition. I actually thought it was shushi at first because it was cut up in a way resembling it, however, much to my surprise on chomping into it; it was not. What confused me the most to begin with (still thinking it could have been a type of shushi I've never tasted before) was the small bone in the middle, followed by the unfamiliar taste. I did enjoy it, it just wasn't what I was expecting! I stuck to cake after that. Emily brought round some yummy triffle and merigue things that have a special name but I can't remember at the moment. Since Terry and Dianne weren't big on desserts and we wanted to contribute in some way, me and Chloe volunteered to make a couple of cakes, and opted for our Sophie Dahl fail-safes; with the Flourless Chocolate Cake and the Orange and Raspberry Victoria Sponge. For those of you who attended mine or Chloe's leaving parties', you will have had the pleasure of experiencing these delights.

The whole family came round: all of our cousins, Mike, Chris, Alex and Graham, along with Chris's wife Emily and Alex's girlfriend Laura, Graham's girlfriend Nat couldn't make it sadly, because she had family over and they were celebrating Christmas at Nat's Mum's. There was also Terry and Dianne's friends', James and Faye and Emily's sister and her Fiance, and obviously me, Chloe, Mum, T & D and Catherine (a reminder: Dianne's Mum who was also staying at the time). Really hope I havn't left anyone out. Everyone ate and were merry.

People started to filter out after all of the eating and exchanging of gifts. So we relaxed our bellies a bit longer whilst me and Chloe made a couple more trips back and forth to the cakes and other bits left on the table. We have a new term for it now: feeding our fat. I think Mum came up with that one. In desperate need of fresh air and to make some attempt at burning at least 3 calories, me, Chloe and Mum went for a stroll round the park and fed the ducks.

On Boxing Day me, Chloe and Mum walked round to our Nanna's and Grandad's to deliver their presents, as they were unable to come on Christmas Day due to Grandad feeling ill. They seemed to like their Christmas mugs and were glad to see us.

On the evening we gathered some things together for packing for our Great Ocean Road adventure, starting the next day! We planned getting up early to pick up the hire car and head off in good time, although, last minute things, some necessary, some not, delayed us a little bit. However, the fun began when we went ot pick up the car. We arrived and we were asked to pay more than the initial quote, to cut a long story short, the car company, whose name I will kindly not disclose (rhymes with nifty), expected us to pay this new price when as far as we were concerned it was cheaper from their initial quote. The lady used the broken record technique to inform us she was not going to lose her job that day to give us a cheaper price, something we weren't asking her to do but were just annoyed and confused as to why the price had changed. SIGH! To add a little more sunshine to the situation our "upgrade" free of charge, turned out to be an automatic, when we requested a manual. This wasn't a major problem; Mum had driven automatics' in the past, it was just another minor disappointment and hinderance on the beginning of our Great Ocean Road adventure.

Great Ocean Road:

Day 1,

Already covered the excitement at the start of the day. We headed for the direction of Geelong which took us through Melbourne City and out the other side - we survived! Our first stop at Geelong conincided with coffee time, so parked up the car, posing a small problem of getting the keys out the ignition (not as easy as it sounds). We all had a go at different twisting, turning, pushing in of different buttons' techniques for about 15 mins, until it finally just worked and turns out there was a certain way of removing it; something maybe the mean lady should have showed us and not assumed all customers were familiar with new cars, but in all her furry and determination to get rid of us and "keep her job", she did not demonstrate this seemingly simple task. Anyway, we had a much needed coffee to calm everyones' nerves and help get over the mornings traumas. It was a little windy and the sun was hiding but we managed to find a nice cafe at the end of the promenade on the beach.

We thought we would get some miles behind us, so set off again along the Great Ocean Road route. Although, I don't think we drove for very long because before long it was Chloe's feeding time and thats something you can't really ignore. We stopped off in Lorne for some grub, choosing a little fish & chip/ other take-away foods place for some late lunch. We had fish and chips, fish was really tasty. Lorne seemed like a really nice beachy place, although not really our cup of tea due to all of the tourists - bah they get everywhere. Apparently we picked a bad time to do the Great Ocean Road because all the families throw their children in the car after Christmas and take them places, including, Ocean Road, super. Suffice to say we didn't spend much time here, plus the weather was a bit windy for sunbathing and frolicking in the waves. We drove for longer, making sure we stopped at Princetown to see the famous Twelve Apostles. They are very big rocks standing in the ocean right next to the coast and theres not actually twelve of them anymore because a couple have fallen down I've been told, nonetheless, they are very pretty to look at, and especially since we got to see them when the sun was setting in the background.

It was getting on for about 8 ish and we hadn't booked any accomodation, thus were getting a little panicky about where we were going to stay. We passed through a couple of small seaside towns before finding Warrnambool, a bigger seaside town and with available accomodation, hurray. The managed to get a room somewhere for $100 and after the late lunch and its big portion size we grazed a little on some bread, cheese with a glass of vino, before getting some sleep.

Day 2,

A relatively early start meant we could make more tracks for the second day of our jiorney. I like to call the first part of this day: the day of the "Ports". We drove through: Port Fairy, Portland, Port Macdonell - many ports no?! Then upland a bit through Moount Gambier, then stopping at Millicent for yes, a coffee and some lunch, which today was a picnic; consisting of bits and pieces from the supermarket - the best kind of picnic! Thw weather today was very sunny and we felt a bit sorry for ourselves that we couldn't really enjoy it. This leads me nicely into a turning point to our Great Ocean Road to Adelaide adventure. Mum was getting sleepy driving so much in the heat of the car, so we stopped off at a beach called Robe and she had a wee snooze, whilst me and Chloe discussed the plan of action. We decided that we weren't really getting to see anything because we were driving so much and to drive all the way to Adelaide would only leave us maybe a day there to explore before, then having to belt it back to Melbourne for the Friday to return the hire car back in time. Therefore, we came to a consecutive decision of finding accomodation for the evening somewhere close by, and giving ourselves a couple of days to drive westwards inland back towards Melbourne, gradually. Our desired destinations from here would be to drive towards Coonawarra for some wine tasting; since they had wineries in abundance (approx 15 plus from Naracoorte to Penola, roughly 48 km distance), hence plenty of choice and something not to be missed. From there the next day we drive towards the Grampian Mountain Ranges, both me and Chloe really wanted to check out. And from there a less stressful and shorter journey back to Melbo on the Friday morning, compared to the initial plan of driving all the way back from Adelaide.

So back to Day 2, after consulting Mum over the change in plan for the rest of the trip, which she was perfectly happy with because I think we're were all wanting to spend less time in the car and more time experiencing the places we only seemed to passing through, we sought for accomodation. We were very lucky to find this pub in Kingston, despite looking a little rough round the edges, it cost us half the price of the night before (smaller but adequate). This also meant the money we saw as saving on the room we used to splash out on the Seafood Platter!! Yipeee it was a seafood lovers paradise: there were massive king prawns, squid, whiting, scallops, oysters and possibly something else.. but it was amazing and so fresh!

Day 3,

We woke to some lovely sunny weather, so thought it would be perfect to take a morning stroll along the beach before heading towards Naracoote. There wasn't really much beach to walk on that was particularly close, so settled for the long and empty looking pier. It really was like something off a postcard: the sea was a gorgeous greeny, blue set against the light blue morning sky, wihtout a cloud in sight and the length of the pier in our foreground extending off into the distance. At one point I thought I saw something fish related that I didn't recognise, so followed it a walking along the pier. Then Mum spotted it closer to the surface and recognised it as a Stingray, excting. I've never seen one before, all I know is that one killed Steve Irwin eek. Its like the only recorded "death by Stingray" recorded in history, but I was still a bit wary.

It was a short drive to Naracoote, so short that I'm not sure if we actually stopped there or just went straight through Coonawarra and onto Penola. All of the small towns started to look the same after a while; they all had the small public grassy area (not a park as such) with picnic benches, a bandstand, public toilets and some shops, which alot of the time were closed because people go on holiday this time of year. I do know that we planned on wine tasting at one of the many wineries en route in Coonawarra, though tought it might be wise to have some lunch first, so stopped in Penola with our picnicy bits and pieces. Also another wise move was finding accomodation for that evening before, as opposed to after, the wine tasting. We found somewhere almost straight away in Penola, a neat and adequate motel a smidgen roomier than the night before.

So yes, I've gone on about this wine tasting for long enough, that its about time I described it. There were too many to choose from to start with, although, we did rule out Lindemans, wanting to try something new, then again there were so many wineries we had never heard of. In the end I think Mum chose the one she did because it was family owned, sounded friendly and none-pretentious. It was all of these things and also a nice surprise to discover that the wine tasting was FREE. Heaven. You basically go in a choose from a list of wines which one you would like to sample, and you can sample as many as you please. Another nice surprise was that it wasn't expected that you buy six of the same bottle, as we initially thought, you could buy anything, even just the one bottle if you wanted! We bought a mixed box of 6 of our favourite bottles as a present for Terry and Dianne. To top off this very enjoyable experience, the lady serving us was so incredibly friendly and informative, she really loved her job. I felt quite proud of myself with some of my descriptions and conclusions on the wines, according to the lady were quite accurate, this obviously made me like her even more. I have the makings of a great alcoholic, this pleases me.

We had a short and very mindful drive back to the motel, and it was still quite early for dinner so went for a wander round Penola. This did not take long, half an hour tops, and we stopped by the local supermarket along the way, so this gives a good impression of the scale of ths place. We had a glass of vino before dinner, deciding to eat at our motel bar/restaurant, testing the theory of deceiving appearences again and hoping the quality would be just as good as the night before at our rough-round-the-edges pub. There was nothing deceiving about this place; the food was average, we just have to remember to go to the same place again for the amazing seafood platter the next time we're in Kingston. We vegged out in front of the tele for the rest of the evening, and I was thrilled to catch an episode of QI I hadn't seen before, aw Alan how you make me laugh.

Day 4,

Today we were going to the Grampian Mountain Ranges to do some proper bush walking. Both me and Chloe had read many good things about the Grampians and how it was a must do if passing through or staying Southern Oz, West Victoria or somewhere else close by. Although, it didn't really prepare me for the vastness of the Ranges, I'm not entirely sure what I expected; maybe a mountain or two but it was massive, you could spend a holiday there doing all of the different walks, twice over if you wanted because I suppose it wouldn't be the same the second time round.

We were spoilt for choice with all of the walks, so thought, in order for us to see more we should do a moderate level for the first walk, have some lunch then, do another walk or some lookouts. We did exactly this: the first walk was probably about an hour and a half in total and we maintained a good pace throughout; you had to escape from the mosquitoes attacking at any chance they got. Mum got bitten quite a lot on the way up, so we made sure after the first walk we liberally applied Chloe's Dete, not sure how that's spelt. There was a beautiful view of the ranges from the top of the first small mountain we walked up; we could also see the lake and the surrounding area around the Grampians. I might add at this point the temperate for the day fluctuated between high 30's and low 40's; so even though we were sweating buckets, the extensive blueness of the sky with that scorching sun made our views' astonishing.

We fuelled up on our never ending picnic food, once again, for lunch, then drove further to Mackenzie Falls; a very good choice. It seemed to be one of the main attractions, and you could see why when you actually made the descent to the main waterfall, beneath a series of smaller ones above it, further up the course of the river. The walk down was further than expected, there were lots of steep steps and winding paths' but as we approached the waterfall, again we were very lucky it was a sunny day; because the spray from the water coming down caught the sunlight in different places and angles creating not one, not two but three rainbows! And on the stairs leading you down you felt as though you could touch them, you were that close. My camera was caput, but Chloe got some excellent shots no doubt.

We sat and looked up at the waterfall for about an hour, changing our positions a couple of times to get different perspectives. It sounds very cheesy, but looking around at the families and other people there, you could tell everyone knew they were experiencing something quite special.

Driving away from Mackenzie Falls we stopped at a couple of lookouts, giving us yet even more spectacular and inspiring views of the Grampians.

Chloe was getting hungry so it was time for dinner. To be fair I think it was about 8ish and we'd been doing a lot of walking. We decided to eat in the little town in the Grampians called, Halls Gap. I was very happy with my seafood basket, I love fish, I really do. We had the looming mission of finding some accommodation for the night so we didn't linger over our meals very long. Mum and Chloe were really enthusiastic about camping this particular evening, so we tried to locate a campsite just past Halls Gap. However, we must have driven past it because it was nowhere to be found; signage obviously not blatant enough in the dark. I tried to keep my delight at bay, going along with the disappointed mood and hoping we could resort to a motel for the night, but we came across another campsite (hurray), which had plenty of room and no qualms about letting three crazies pitch a tent at 10 o'clock at night. I don't mind camping but we didn't have any airbeds', just ground mats and a two man tent between three. We topped and tailed and were resourceful with clothes and coats in attempting to make it a more comfortable sleep. One thing I am very grateful for from this overnight stay was the breathtaking view of the night sky; which has to be the most vivid and bright stars I think I've ever seen.

Day 5,

It wasn't the most comfortable night's rest I've ever had, nevertheless, I did get some sleep. Sad times: it was the last day of our Great Ocean Road Adventure. The main aim for the day was getting the hire car back to Melbourne for 5pm, in one piece. We also wanted to get back in good time because it was New Year's Eve wooo and there were lots of fireworks' going on in the city that evening. We drove through Ballarat on our way back and onto Geelong again; thinking it was a nice way to round off our trip having made it our first stop of the journey. We went back to the cafe we had coffee at on the Monday, and this time got some lunch. We had some pretty tasty salmon, avocado brushetta and bowl of mussels to share. From here we drove back towards Melbourne's CBD and my skills as navigator didn't really shine. The directions we had leading us through the city could not be directly reversed to get us out, coming from the other direction, ergo: not my fault.

So it got a bit hairy trying to get out of the city and towards Ringwood, but we managed, only with a couple of phone calls to Terry and Dianne. We had time literally to throw everything out of the car, grab some food, get changed, then Dianne drove us (ironically) back into the city for the New Year's Eve celebrations. The temperature this day must have been 43 degrees and probably only dropped a couple of degrees into the evening because the air was incredibly humid and everyone was still sweating. We walked to the port area to catch the first set of fireworks around 9ish. They were awesome, although, we wanted them accompanied with some powerful type music, moon on a stick syndrome I guess. We walked towards the centre of the city for the second round of fireworks at midnight and stopped off at a bar on the way to get a wee tipple. Usually, I would absolutely advocate buying the house wine at restaurants and bars in Melbourne, from past experiences, however, the bar we went to was an exception to this rule. Me, Mum and Chloe had to actually pinch our noses to make that house red go down, my conclusion of this wine is bitter, bad and bawk.

On approaching Federation Square, as you can imagine the location where everyone was headed to see the fireworks, there were mass drunken crowds and lots of Police officers', not the best environment for my mild case of claustrophobia. It was kind of two against one; me and Chloe wanted to go back to Ringwood, whilst Mum wanted to stay and see the fireworks and Dianne was remaining impartial to the whole decision, wise. In the end we stayed and had a while to wait but it was definitely worth it. There were like firework stations set up on the tallest and important buildings/ structures in the city, all going off both together and one after the other, so you were continuously doing a 360 degree head swivel to try and catch everything. It was pretty spectacular, lots of sparkle, and a lovely way to welcome in the New Year.

We had about 5 days before our next big adventure in Tasmania the following Thursday. In the meantime we did some more touristy things with Mum showing her round Melbourne city mostly and also went to another heritage stately house, Rippon Lea; a similar appeal to seeing Como house in South Yarra. The house and grounds was a little bit larger than Como and there were just as many priceless antiques hanging around the place. Personally, I preferred Como because I think it had more charm about the house and its history left more of an impact, compared to Rippon Lea. On the other hand, the gardens were really sweet at Rippon Lea, designed by the owner who created a fairytale like, giant playground for his children and family, complete with a tree house, maze, and pool, little bridges over the lake, a small waterfall and a hut made out of cork. And yet he kept it really tasteful with his designs, making these fun features look naturally part of the garden, and beautiful to look at, and thus appreciated and enjoyed also on an adult level.