Is life here one big holiday???

A few folk have commented to me via email that life here seems to be one big holiday ;-)  I have been reflecting on this over the last few days....  In the week we still have to go to work full time Monday - Friday, commute to and from work (but it is better than either the Hertford - Harlow or Stevenage - South Kensington commute), do the washing, cleaning, shopping etc and life was pretty much like it was at home but a bit warmer normally... But overall I would say that yes at the weekends it does feel like we are on holiday!!!  Especially now the weather is starting to warm up and the sun is shining!!!!!   And unlike in the UK where we seemed to spend most of our life doing the house up, now we are renting and don't really have a garden we don't have to worry about that.  I thought I might write about what we have been up to over the last few weekends....

A few weekends ago, Chris and I went on a bike ride and a picnic round the coast...  This is one of our favourite local things to do on a sunny day....  We head off straight to the beach, turn left down the bike path and then ride down the coastal cycle trail passed Brighton, Hampton, Sandringham and on towards Black Rock....  It is really lovely to do and can be a bit cooler than heading inland. 

On the Sunday of the same weekend, the wind had really picked up and so we decided to go for a walk on Brighton Beach.  This beach has lots of lovely beach huts on it and also on this day there were lots of people kite surfing which looks awesome!!!

Last weekend, we decided to head to Richmond on the train and take our bikes with us.  From there we joined the Yarra cycle path and cycled the 12 km up to Dights Falls passing the Abbotsford Covent and Collingwood Children's Farm on the way.  This was a nice cycle ride but it was 32 C and there was no breeze there like the coast......

On the Sunday we drove down the Mornington Peninsula.  We had lunch in Mornington and then headed off to Dromana.  This was nice but was really a fact finding trip for the next weekend!!!

The next weekend, we set off early from Gardenvale and drove down the Nepean Highway  and then the Mornington Peninsula to Dromana where we turned off to Arthur's Seat hill.  This was a very steep hill and I was glad that we were not cycling it like some crazy people!!!  From the top and the look outs we got some fab views of the Peninsula.... 

We then headed on to Sorrento stopping on the way to look at a couple of the pretty beaches.  In Sorrento  we had lunch and did a spot of shoe shopping!  Some really nice shops down there!!!!!

We then headed off to Point Nepean - our main reason for our day out.  It is a popular tourist destination renowned for its historic features, outstanding coastal scenery and panoramic views of Bass Strait, the Rip and Port Phillip Bay.  As the transporter had just left and was not due to leave for another 1.5 h we decided to walk it...  On the way we saw beautiful beaches....

We then headed up to a couple of loop walks to Happy Valley (old armed forces barrack ruins) and Cheviot Hill...  From the hill we got saw amazing views of old military remnants and the coast.....

From there we continued heading up to the old fort at the end of Point Nepean where we explored underground tunnels and gun remnants etc...  Again we got some amazing views down the coast and onto the Northern Beaches which have waves as they are not in the Port Phillip Bay like most of the places we go to!  We could also see over to Queenscliff and Lorne etc....

After a long, hot (now up to about 32 C) walk to the car we headed off to a place called London Bridge and saw an interesting rock and great waves....

We then headed off to Cape Schanck and the lighthouse.  Unfortunately, by the time we arrived the lighthouse was shut but we did the Cape boardwalk and again saw some cool coastal scenery.

It was then time to head back to Melbourne to have a bbq for dinner (getting quite into that at the weekends and it means the house keeps cooler if we are not cooking in it!!!!!).

On the Sunday, it was another scorching day so we headed out to Healesville and the Australian animal sanctuary there....  This is in the Yarra Valley so we had to drive passed a number of wineries to get there but amazingly we did not stop in any!!!!  We were surprised too!!!!  It was about 1 h 15 mins drive from our house which was not as far as we had anticipated....  We got up there for about 10.30 am and became "friends of the zoo" which means we can visit Melbourne Zoo, Healesville Animal Sanctuary and Werribee whenever we want...

We were pleasantly surprised to find it was pretty cool up there and the walk round it was lovely...  It was in dappled shade which was fab...  we saw heaps of really cool Australian animals (apart from the dingos whose enclosure was being renovated :-( )