Hey everyone, it’s now been almost 2 weeks since I have arrived here in Melbourne and needless to say, I’m having a great time here. This past week has been very fun and I’ve met a ton of new people and have really immersed myself here in Australia. To give you a run down of the past week, it was week 1 of classes, so I’ve had all of them and am looking forward to the academic part of being here. The one business class I am taking is looking to be my toughest class but I think that it will not be to bad. The sun is beginning to come out a bit more often now and the sunlight here is amazing. It’s very warming and you can sit outside in the sun, regardless of the temperature, and be comfortably warm.
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of being invited by my friend Nick Yates to his beach house in Angelsea. It’s about an hour and a half away from Melbourne and his amazing house over looks the ocean. Here’s a run down of what happened:
We left Melbourne on Friday and drove to his house. His house lies on the Great Ocean Road in one of the few areas where it is permissible to build and own a house in the space between the road and the ocean, we arrived there and his place had absolutely stunning views of the coast and the ocean. The Great Ocean Road is famous for its cliff-hugging turns and spectacular views, but also for it’s great surfing. The birth place of competition surfing was only a few km away from his house. Unfortunately for me, I did not witness the legendary surface because the ocean was literally as flat as a pancake, it was perfectly flat, not a wave in sight. We arrived at Nick’s house and decided to take advantage of this flat phenomenon and go for a quick dive/snorkel. Nick, Kirsten, and myself all donned thick wet suits and headed for the beach. It was FREEZING! So cold in fact that we had to abandon the dive and instead just hung out in shallows and swam a bit. We couldn’t keep our face submerged for more than ten seconds as the frigid temperatures would give you a near instant brain freeze. After that refreshing dip, we returned home and our friends Soph and Hayden had arrived. That night, we enjoyed a great dinner cooked by Soph of shrimp, steak kebabs, and veggies. Thank you Soph! For the rest of the evening, we drank wine, played pool, and had a relaxing evening until I went to sleep.
On Saturday, we all woke up around 10:30, had breakfast and relaxed a bit more. At 11:30, we all piled into Nick’s car and went for a drive down the Great Ocean Road. For those of you who don’t know about the road, it’s a world famous drive that hugs the southern coast of Australia all for hundreds of kilometers. There are usually only meters between the side of the road and the water/cliff/sand, offering spectacular views all over. We drove up the road for about an hour and then turned around. The road’s legendary status is well deserved and I’m looking forward to my brothers arrival here in September to drive the whole road with them. We stopped in the seaside of town of Lorne (sp?) and had a nice picnic lunch on the beach. Soph and I bought 12 oysters and enjoyed those immensely. They had been freshly caught and were delicious. We also bought more shrimp, mussels, and squid (soon to be calamari) for dinner later that night. A quick stop at the market and we had all the ingredients to have a great dinner prepared by our host later that night. When we arrived back home, we played a bit more pool and our friends Will, Sammy, Nicole, Amelia, and David arrived for the night. They brought plenty of goon (boxed wine, the cheapest large quantity of alcohol to buy in Australia, $10 for 4 litres) and it was obvious that the night would be a fun one. Nick prepared a great seafood pasta involving all the ingredients listed above, and we settled in for very fun night. We played multiple games, sat on the porch, and finished off the boxed wine.
This morning (Sunday), was quite a slow morning and after an hour or so, we piled into our cars and returned to Melbourne. A big thank you to Nick for hosting us for this great weekend and entertaining us all in his great home.
After arriving back in Melbourne, I made a quick turn around and went out to the Malin’s house for a farewell BBQ for Amanda as she was preparing to leave for France for 6 weeks to visit her mom. I had a great time there and I thank Amanda for continuing to be a great host during my stay here in Melbourne!
Also, a big thank you to those who have sent me emails over the past week! It is amazing to receive them and I love hearing from you all!
I’ll post again soon, planning a trip to the zoo on Wednesday with Hayden and Soph.
Cheers,
P
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