Port Fairy

A festival by the sea, with some great bands I know and some brand new acts to see - how could I refuse. Port Fairy Festival was a blast of a weekend, and I ended up discovering tons of singers and players that I'd never even heard of before going. For me, nothing beats a gig or festival that reignites my passion for playing and inspires me to practice, and Port Fairy did just that.

I strongly recommend listening to the artists pictured below: Jaaleekay, Breabach, John Patrick and the Keepers and Bobby Alu, plus others like Mama Kin, Ginger and Tonic and Tolka.

Watch out for a possible Port Fairy inspired playlist...

Beaches

I always feel more at home when I'm by the sea, and two weeks by some of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen made for perfect summer holidays. The first seven days were spent with fourteen family and friends in a gorgeous house on Phillip Island, and were filled with swimming and sunning, chatting, eating and drinking. Plus a night excursion to the Penguin Parade, where visitors can view the nightly return of the world's smallest penguins from the sea where they feed, into the dunes and grassy areas on the shore. 

A couple of weeks later I jetted off towards the waves once again, but this time west of Melbourne, to a relaxed little town called Ocean Grove. With only my cousin and her little boy, and in a caravan rather than a multi-bedroomed beach house, this week was very different to the first, but no less wonderful. As well as seeing endless views, breathtaking sunsets over the river and some glorious sunshine, we visited Jirrahlinga Wildlife Sanctuary and Werribee Zoo, both perfect opportunities to have a play with my cousin's good quality camera!

Two weeks of beach time, two weeks of relaxing and rejuvenating, ready for the rest of 2014.

Festivities and Holidays

Summer in Australia has felt long and lovely, hence my unintentional break from the blog. I must have been having too much fun lazing around in the sun, on the beach and doing various other holiday activities.

My camera was slightly neglected over the festive period, but I did manage to get a few snaps of our celebrations. Spending Christmas without my immediate family was strange, and I missed them a lot, but I was so thankful to have a big extended family around me, and I think it was good for me as an adult to have a Christmas that was slightly different from all my childhood ones. After all, I will have to start creating my own Christmas traditions and memories one day!

Out West on the Coast

One of my cousins here works in sales and has to travel to stores all over the state and beyond. For him, this means tons of time away from home and a lot of driving. For me last week, this meant a road trip along the coast and some sightseeing!

Our trip went from Melbourne - Colac - Camperdown - Warrnambool - Portland - Port Fairy - Warrnambool - Great Ocean Road - Melbourne. The weather wasn't great, lots of rain, pretty cold, windy, but with a few good patches where I grabbed the opportunity to snap away.

Apart from wandering round each place - they're mostly small towns with only a couple of main streets - we had a few side adventures. I saw my first echidna on the way up Mount Leura just outside Camperdown, I stepped foot on a beach in Australia for the first time, saw the Twelve Apostles (of which only about seven are still standing) and went to the lighthouse that was on the tv show 'Round the Twist', a childhood favourite of mine.

There are quite a lot of photos to get through here, but I couldn't cut them down any further...this coastline is too good not to have an abundance of photos of it!