Tag Archives: family

Day Twenty-Four – Ocean Grove – Christmas Eve

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Our family always celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve so this day was spent cooking and eating a lot!  It’s not until I brought myself to write this post that I realise how little we did over Christmas.  We played a bit of table tennis and played Mario Kart on the Wii. Aside from that, eating leftovers and drinking cocktails took precedence in our Christmas.

Our oven was broken so the turkey had to be cooked in the pizza oven and everything else either in the pizza oven, convection oven, microwave or hob.  It wasn’t too bad and actually you should try cooking a turkey in a pizza oven, it doesn’t taste bad.  I made my famous pigs in blankets and brandy butter (but with rum instead).

The evening was spent eating, drinking and playing games with the family.  Just what Christmas is about (if you’re not religious).

Day Twenty-Three – Bellarine Peninsular – For the Love of Grape

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I was rudely awoken this morning at 10.30am to be told the wine tour bus was waiting for us outside.  So I grabbed some clothes, rushedly washed my hair in the sink and rammed my make up bag into my bag before jumping onto the bus.  The whole family went on the tour and Angie and Ed’s friend Sophie also joined us.  We went to four different vineyards on the trip, two before lunch and two after.  By the end of the second one I was feeling pretty drunk having had no breakfast or lunch.  I don’t know much about wines so the tour for me was a good way to get pissed.  However, by the end of the trip I felt like I was starting to know more about the types of wines I liked.

Lunch was really nice, set in a barn looking over the seaview and it was really tasty, the only issue was my mother complaining and there was a wedding next door which it felt like we were crashing.  The final vineyard we went to, Oakdene, was made up of eclectic pieces of art and the house was set on it’s side.  check the hyperlink for photos!

When we made it back home we had a few more drinks and played some Buzz! on the PS3 before heading off to bed.

Day Twenty-Two – Melbourne to Ocean Grove, Bellarine – Pizzas Against Humanity

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Ed and Angie had to go pick up Chris’ car today so the rest of us left our luggage for them to pick up and piled into the rental car to head to Costco and pick up our Christmas food shopping. We only had an hour here so we managed ti speed shop.  However, the bill for 7 people’s food came to over $700 which was a bit extortionate so I probably wouldn’t advise speed shopping in the future.

We drove down to Ocean Grove on the Bellarine Peninsular which is kind of like a holiday destination for Melbournians as it is only about an hour/two hour drive from Melbourne.  Ed and Angie’s car was not as they imagined it would be when they picked it up so didn’t leave Melbourne for a while and struggled their way over to Ocean Grove.

Because we arrived so late in Ocean Grove we had to quickly cool some drinks, put out chips and dips and prepare some pizza toppings in preparation for Flo, Andy, Ben, Louise, Bruce, Coralie, Joanna and the kids to come over.  We managed to make some pretty delicious pizzas in the pizza oven.

After we got a bit inebriated, Flo, Andy, Louise, Bruce and Coralie went home with the kids and Ben and Joanna stayed back to play a few games.  We got into playing Cards Against Humanity which was damn funny and a weird experience playing with close family members.  It was a good night but we had to get to bed to wake up for the wine tour in the morning.

Day Twenty – Melbourne – Markets, Casinos and Asylums

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Breakfast this morning was noisey and crowded with (most of) the family back together. It involved a lot of discussion about all of our plans and I realised how hard it is to organise seven head strong adults who all have things they want to do but we managed it.

We started off by taking the city tram up to the Victoria Markets and wandering around a quest to find Christmas presents. I had a few successful bugs and really enjoyed the market atmosphere. I sort of remember the market from the last time I was in Melbourne. Afterwards we headed for a drink all together.

We then took the city tram to federation square to take a look around and there was an African culture festival on which was pretty cool. There were loads of stalls dedicated to African food, clothes, culture, arts and a stage hosting African music. We then walked down the south bank before heading up into the city lanes. We met up with Matt and Emily who had separated from us after the market and stopped at a cute cafe in the lanes for some grub and coffee.

Before heading back to the hotel we went to a cool rooftop bar which reminded me of the Kensington Roofgardens. Madam Brussels markets itself as an English summer on a rooftop in Melbourne. We had summer cocktails served to us on a garden lawn by waitresses dressed in tennis gear. Really fun and quirky.

We then headed back to the hotel to get ourselves rested and prepared for dinner with Angie’s friend and her parents. We went to an Italian restaurant naked Yak where we had some really good food and great company with Cristina, Neil and Helen. After dinner we took a walk down the riverside to the casino which is pretty renowned. I remember the casino from the last time in Melbourne because of the fire shows every hour where turrets of fire let off by explosions of fire. It’s definitely a sight worth seeing.

We headed into the casino to see a Christmas show and then headed upstairs to grab a drink. The whole experience proved a bit too much for my parents so they headed home and we spent some time drinking with Cristina, Neil and Helen. After a couple of rounds of the fire show we then decided to head to the Croft Institute. Cristina, Neil and Helen left us so the boys, girls and I headed over there. Definitely a bar worth checking out. The whole thing is set up like a hospital/asylum. The drinks are served with syringes and the toilet has medical equipment in it including a hospital bed. Very cool. We ended the night here drinking plenty of syringe drinks and dancing the night away to Taylor Swift. The end of the night resulted in a photo shoot by some of Melbourne’s famous graffiti. (Pictures to follow).