Beautiful Views Off the Front of Our First Home in Australia

As I sit here and type this post all of our belongings are being loaded on to a truck to make their way to our new house.  We will no longer enjoy the beautiful westerly views of Port Phillip Bay from the front balcony or the floor to ceiling windows of this awesome house. 



We have loved living here, but the homeowner bought it as a retirement house and wants very much to move in.  We do not blame them as this is the perfect retirement spot.  Our new house is equally awesome, but does not have the magnificient view of Port Phillip Bay nor is the kids’ school in the backyard.  It does however, have a pool and all one level living.  It is also closer to the Village and the beach.  So I will close this post and leave you with some of what we have seen looking out off the front of our first home in Australia.

My favorite!!!  A beautiful winter sunset over Port Phillip Bay!

One of hundreds of rainbows we have witnessed. 

One of many Lorikeets.   

 Heaven!!!

 These Lorikeets are not only beautiful and abundent, but they sing very loudly!

 A Summer Sunset

Final Stage of a Summer Sunset

 Storms, Storms and more Storms!

 Looking at the City of Melbourne - 60kms away.

 A Winter Sunset

 The beginning of a Winter sunset over Port Phillip Bay.

 Almost finished!

 and Done!

One of many impressive storms to roll in off Port Phillip Bay.

Turning 9 Down Under!

Our beautiful Gabrielle turned 9 on April 3, 2011.  It does not seem possible that she could be this old.  We are very blessed to have such an awesome daughter.  Her ability to adapt to many changes and still keep a positive outlook amazes us every day.  She greets us with her gorgeous smile every morning and her sweet voice saying I love you every night.  She is truly a blessing and a joy. 

The night before her birthday she opened one of her gifts . . . new pjs and slippers from Peter Alexander (a wonderful pj store that smells like vanilla).

She enjoyed a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and opened presents before we headed into Melbourne for a day of fun.  She opted for a fun day in the City with her family and a friend doing anything and everything she wanted rather than have a big party.

After a very thorough sniff, Izzy deemed the gifts safe for opening!

After picking up Gab’s friend, Nikki, we headed into the City and started the day off by visiting the Eureka Skydeck and doing the Edge Experience.  The Eureka Skydeck is on the 88^th floor of the Eureka Tower.  The Eureka Tower is 297 metres (975 feet) tall.  It is the 50^th tallest building in the world, the 2^nd tallest in Australia, the tallest in Melbourne and the tallest residential tower in the world.  The Skydeck is the highest public vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere.  The Edge Experience is a cube made entirely of glass that extends 3 metres (10 feet) out the side of the 88^th floor of the building to suspend 285 metres (935 feet) over the ground below.   Gary and the kids enjoyed this experience while I took pictures as my phobia of heights kept me out of the glass cube.

Our next stop was lunch!  We were entertained by this lovely gargoyle as we walked to lunch.  We enjoyed burgers and fish & chips at the The Blue Train Café.

We then headed to the Arcade at the Crown Casino.  With loaded game cards in hand, they set off to play games and collect tickets to cash in to get cheap junk.  Fun was had by all and Gab even hit the jackpot on her birthday.

We made quick stop for ice cream before the drive home.  We enjoyed homemade chicken noodle soup and brownie sundaes for birthday cake. 

I will leave you with the exact words of our beautiful nine year old, “It was the best birthday ever!”      

Waterfalls and Rainforests

Erskine Falls is a beautiful waterfall located in the Otway Ranges in Lorne, Victoria.  It is 300 metres (984.25 feet ) above sea level and the waterfall drops 38 metres ( 124.64 feet) into a beautiful rainforest/fern tree gully. 

Before you start your journey down to the falls you are greeted by warning signs. 

It's a wonder that anyone would want to venture down with all these warnings.  You could slip and fall, a tree could fall on you or you could be bitten by one of the many deadly snakes that make Australia their home.  HMM!!!  We of course proceeded with caution and made the trek inspite of all these warnings. 

As we made our way down the steep, slippery steps we came to the first viewing platform, which is 80 metres (262 feet) down.  The scene before us was beautiful.

Venturing further down even slippery, steeper steps takes you to the base of the waterfall, which is 220 metres (726 feet) down into a lush, rainforest setting. 

 

Gary and the kids made their way along the huge, slippery rocks while I did what I do best . . . take pictures!

You know the old saying, "What goes up must come down." . . . Well, what goes down must go up!  So up we went.  It was a long, steep, slippery walk back up to the top, but worth every step.