Move over RSPCA…..!!

Hello lovely readers. Hope you are all well. I thought you might like a whistle stop tour of what has been happening to the Casson’s down under over the last week or so:

I went to see an Abba tribute band called ‘BABBA’ the other weekend. It was a great show! I have also been baking more delights and have now moved on from scones to MEGA MUFFINS!! (Paul’s favourite). I was lucky enough to go to the cinema to see the film ‘my sister’s keeper’ which was a real weepy. However, during the showing, I was aware of someone SNORING! It wasn’t me, or either of the ladies I was with. NO, it was Mr 90 year old who was sat at the end of the row…….and he paid $$ for that privilege!!

No more cinema-going for me this week…..I have heard back from the University and am pleased to say that they have told me to go ahead and submit my MA thesis. YIPPEE! I am getting it printed, bound and posted off this week. Phew!

Lucy continues to be invited to sleep-overs and parties. Her recent escapades include a rock climbing party and visits to the cinema with friends to see GI Joe and Coraline. She also attended a cricket tournament at a local sports venue. However, as cricket is a sore subject over here at the moment, she didn’t remind them of her nationality! 

   

Paul is enjoying school. He is the proud owner of a brand new Macbook that he uses for school work. He is guarding it with his life! Although his teaching position certainly throws up some interesting challenges, living so close to one of his favourite hobbies helps ease the struggle……he snuck off to the cinema to watch the film District 9 the other evening and he seemed to come back refreshed. As I don’t think this was a film for older people, he did not experience the snoring…..lucky him!

We are settling in and finding our way around the local facilities.  We have managed to locate a female dentist in the local area and Lucy and I went for a check up last week. It was a bit nerve wracking at first (new dentist in a new country etc.) but, luckily, the dentist was really nice and all is well. Paul is the next one in the dentist’s chair in another week or so……..

Now, as the title of this entry suggests, we have entered into the realms of the RSPCA. On our way to the dentist, Lucy and I saw a lonely King Charles Spaniel dog cross over the road as I came off a roundabout. It had no collar on and there was no one with it. It was one of those moments of quick thinking: should I save the dog and be late for the dentist OR get to the dentist on time and forever wonder what happened to the dog? You got it, no contest. So, I stopped the car and Lucy lifted the dog onto the back seat. Then it hit me. We could be accused of dog-napping. What if the owner had just popped to the back garden……? Also, what the heck do I do with the darn thing now??….take it to the dentist with us???? So, we saw a man just up the road and asked the question, “What do you do with stray dogs in Australia?” He replied, “Take it to a vet”. Next question, “Where the heck is the nearest vet AND do you know I am going to be late for the dentist….?!” Fear not, a vet was located just down the road so we screeched there and took the dog in. Luckily, they agreed to help and located a micro-chip in the dog that eventually led them to the owner. It seemed that the lovely little bundle of fur had hot-footed it over two major roads and was heading in completely the wrong direction. Bless it! Lucky the Cassons’ were on hand down under to help its little doggie butt out of a pickle! So, in the end, all was well and we just whisked into the dentist with one minute to spare….wooooof (Paul here: this is as close as we are going to get to having our own dog, for a while anyway. The last thing we want is something to stop us exploring the delights of this fabulous country. Imagine being out enjoying yourself and having to give it up because you’ve got to get home for the dog. Aaaaaaaarrrgggh!)!!

To top a lovely week off, whilst Lucy was playing at her friend’s house, Paul and I managed to sneak some time to ourselves to go to the cinema to see Quentin Tarantino’s latest offering: Inglorious B*******. Although we were surrounded by elderly people, at least this lot didn’t snore…..well, they couldn’t with all that action going on, could they?

So, all in all, things are good.  I am really enjoying spending lots of quality time with Lucy (and Paul of course!) and I will look back on this time of my life and cherish it forever. Keep sending us your news, we do enjoy hearing from you!  TTFN.

Okay, Paul here again. Now that Bec has informed you lucky readers about some of the things we have been  up to, I have got one more item to tell you about. On Sunday 23rd August 2009 we decided to venture out to Barwon Park Manor House, a large National Trust property a little over 30km from us. So, after having a light lunch the three of us, and one of Lucy’s friends, set off for the short drive to the property just outside of a town called Winchelsea. The drive there was wonderful, spring was in the air and had painted some of the landscape with its beautiful colours.

It wasn’t long before we were taking a slow drive up to Barwon Park via its long, but straight, driveway. Our car’s engine was silenced, doors were shut and deep breaths were taken as we soaked up the wonderful vistas that surrounded us. Then it was on to the manor house to be greeted by some very knowledgeable staff that imbued us with their wisdom of Barwon park.

Once we were left to our own devices, we explored the house and its grounds at our leisure and, although large in size, it didn’t take as long as I thought it might to explore this magnificent property. However, it was very interesting to see how people used to live over one-hundred-and-thirty years ago in a house that was only built for two people, but could probably accommodate twenty. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to take any photos inside the mansion so I cannot share with you the elegant grandeur that greeted us around every corner, and in every room; but it was truly amazing.

As we left the building for our journey home we all turned back to admire the history we had just interacted with and wondered what the manor house would have been like in its heyday, I also wondered why the original owner of it decided to introduce rabbits to Australia too? Oh well, I suppose it gave him something to hunt on those lovely spring days that the house has seen so many of. BFN.

H 2, Ohhhh, there it is!

Hello good readers. Just a quick update for today’s antics because we repeated a trip we did in April so most of the info for where we went can be found by clicking here. So, where did we return to today? Colac. Now, if you’ve read the entry the hyperlink took you to you’ll know that something was missing in Colac, but this trip was different because that missing something had now returned. After quite a lot of autumn and winter rain the dried up scrub that we saw in April was now replete with water, and all the wildlife a lake plays home to. As well as revisiting the lake we also revisited the cafe in Colac’s Botanical Gardens for a round of warm beverages. BFN.

P.S. If Rod Stewart turned up now he wouldn’t look out of place singing his hit song ‘Sailing’.

Well done Lucy!!

We are sure that many of you will agree that Lucy seems to have settled exceptionally well into her new Australian life.  She has made lots of nice friends and continues to receive invitations to sleepovers and parties etc.  In fact, she has a better social life than us!!

Anyway, we wanted to share with you that Lucy won an award at school last week for:

 ‘settling into her school so well’

Here she is with her teacher, Mrs J, after she was presented with the award in assembly – in front of the whole school!

Well done Lucy!

You have certainly made the transition an easy one for us and we are very proud of you.

Move over Delia Smith…….

A large part of our coming to Australia was to experience new things and live in a different way i.e. not just bring our English life here and live it in Australia.  I therefore thought you avid readers would like to know that I am embracing my new position as house wife, a role quite alien to me!  I have been duly cooking () ironing () and cleaning ().

I have now had my thesis proof-read (THANKS AGAIN MUM) and have sent it off to the University for final checking before I can make my final submission in a couple of weeks.  Therefore, to take my mind off things, I have been  experimenting with cooking and I wanted to share with you my latest creations! 

We have bought a slow cooker and a separate rice cooker and they are great gadgets to work with.  I even cooked roast beef the other weekend!!  However, in Australia, they are MAD for scones.  You can get ‘Devonshire cream teas’ all over the place and scones are abound in all sorts of flavours!  So, I thought I would give them a go…..first time ever cooking scones……and here they are:

You may think I am mad () posting pictures of scones on our blog – and I do agree that this update is not as exciting as whale watching or spotting kangaroos!  However, for those of you who know me well will appreciate that this is just the sort of thing that I NEVER do!  I wanted to share my experiences with you so that, when I look back on this time, I can be reminded that, I came to the other side of the world to discover that:

  I CAN COOK!! 

Although I am enjoying my time at home, I don’t think I will ever be a ‘YUMMY MUMMY’ and I believe this really isn’t the place for me long-term!

However, I am sure I can keep myself busy at home until Mum and Dad arrive…………….cream and jam anyone?!

Saturday, Saturday, looks good on me (or was it Monday, Monday?).

Welcome back good friends and purveyors of fine literature. The entry you’re about to read sums up what we have done over the past couple of Saturdays (25 / 07 / 2009 & 01 / 08 / 2009). So, take the phone off the hook, gag anything that may talk to you, rub yourself in baby lotion and make yourself comfortable. Once you have done all that, read on and enjoy.

Okay, Saturday 25th July. The weather was good (for winter) but our plan to go to Melbourne wasn’t good. Bec had fallen under the spell of Doctor Unwell and didn’t really feel up to doing anything, let alone hopping on a train to Victoria’s capital. So, other plans were made with some friends that live just round the corner from us and the day continued in a different direction. In our infinite, manly wisdom the alpha males decided to take their litters on a ferry ride from Queenscliff, across Port Philip Bay and into the town of Sorrento. The only driving for the day would be to and from the ferry terminal at Queenscliff because we were going across as foot passengers since Sorrento’s town centre was within walking distance of its ferry terminal. After a short pitstop at one of the best sweet (lollies to the Ozzies) shops in Queenscliff we all boarded the 1PM ferry for Sorrento.

A helpful map to give you an idea of where everything is.

 

The journey across the bay was slow and a little choppy due to the powerful currents that flow through the mouth of the bay. Sometimes the boat swayed so much it was almost like Poseidon himself had emerged from the sea to rock the ferry like a child’s cradle. However, there was no sign of his Trident so he couldn’t have been responsible for the ferry’s sick-inducing motion (unless of course he had lost his three-pronged fork and was taking it out on the ferry from underneath the waves). Anyway, a little after 1:30PM we docked at Sorrento and made our way to the town centre.

Although not much bigger than Hythe (in Kent, England), Sorrento offered a great deal. There were a myriad of shop types to browse, large parks to play in, wonderful places to eat, as well as some stunning views of Port Phillip Bay to admire. Lucy, myself and our friends slowly ambled up one side of the high street and down the other before coming to rest at a quiet, and spacious, restaurant by the name of Shells. It was very inviting from the outside and just as delightful on the inside. After perusing the menus for a short time we ordered our food, and then devoured it just as quickly. A few burps later (and swipes of the credit card) we left the eatery for Sorrento’s main playpark.

For what seemed like an eternity the kids played as happily as Wendy, John and Michael Darling from Peter Pan, but, just like in that film, all good things come to an end as it was time to get the 4PM ferry back to Queenscliff. The journey back seemed a bit calmer  than the earlier crossing and we all sat down to rest our legs and watch some AFL (Australian Football League) that happened to be on the telly.

At 4:35PM we were back in Queenscliff, and a few minutes later we were roaring off down the road and heading home. Although we didn’t venture far-afield we still had a busy day, and when the summer arrives we will be making this journey again because there is a good chance that dolphins will accompany the ferry for some of the way. Reason enough to enjoy the ferry ride to Sorrento once more.

 

 

Now to Saturday 1st August. After chatting with some friends we decided to spend this day with them. In Melbourne. At the aquarium. We chose to go up by train since it is just as quick as driving, but without the hassle of trying to find some parking. The cost of using the train is also very cheap and it only set us back $28 (£14) for two adult return fares to Melbourne (kids go free at the weekend). The journey between Geelong and Melbourne is about the same as travelling from Ashford to London in the U.K.

After arriving at Melbourne’s Sothern Cross station some of us went to the little boys’ and girls’ rooms, and some of us spied a lollie (sweets to us Pohmes) shop and spent a fortune on Pic-N-Mix. The shop shut its doors for the day after I left, so I sauntered off and met up with everyone so that we could continue on to the aquarium.

It was only a short walk from the station to our destination and before we knew it credit cards were being swiped, tickets were being issued and a world of water-based excitement was being entered. The first exhibit we came across was full of penguins darting around in their enclosure’s water tank; and if they weren’t doing that they were preening themselves on the man-made snow.

 

The aquarium proved to be quite large, even though it looked small from the outside. There were plenty of attractions fitted into the building and they came from all areas of the globe, not just Australia. If you’ve been to the one in London or Sydney you pretty much know what this one is like. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but once you’ve been to a couple they do start to become very familiar. As we made our way around I started to get a headache and feel sick, and then my moody level began to rise. I was also becoming short-tempered. What was happening? Simple really, I was becoming hungry. I had come down from the high all those sweets had given me and I now craved some decent sustenance. At this point all I wanted to do was get out of the aquarium, but there was still loads to see. Aaaaaaarrrrrrggghhh! What could I do?

Well, the only thing I could do was walk around with everyone and enjoy the rest of the creatures on display. It was a hard task for me to complete as all I wanted to do was snatch food off people and stuff it down my throat to cure my ever-growing hunger pangs. However, this was not really feasible so I trudged around the rest of the aquarium with a large grey cloud over my head. As we neared the end of our journey through the marine based treasures the pathway opened up to reveal a large circle-shaped floor space that placed you right in the middle of a massive display tank that was filled with rays, sharks, turtles and other creatures that enjoyed living in H2O. Luckily enough for us we had arrived at feeding time and within a few minutes a couple of divers entered the tank and started feeding its inhabitants. Enormous Manta rays swam within inches of the divers, as did Seven Gilled sharks; all hungry for the contents of the diver’s buckets. For fifteen minutes we observed some great fish being fed, and then, when it was over, we entered an exhibit of a different kind: the gift shop. Fortunately, everyone was starting to feel hungry now so our time in this money-gulping beast was short, and inexpensive. We exited the aquarium and flung ourselves into the daylight ready to devour the comestibles of any food emporium we happened to stumble across.

We managed to satiate our appetites by eating at a cafe in the grounds of the Crown Hotel / Casino. Once we had finished our food we explored Melbourne a bit more and then headed back to the train station to begin our journey home. Unfortunately we only scratched the surface of what Melbourne had to offer, which means that we are going to have to visit it many more times to get a real feel for how marvellous a city it is. Shame that. BFN.