Back to work...and not even grumpy

I'm back at work today so I thought I should use that return to routine to slip back into the blogging saddle again.

Surprisingly, going back to work after about 11 days off did not put me in a bad mood. That's what happens when you like you job and your boss and co-workers, I suppose. I think it also has something to do with the fact Luke and I didn't go on our annual New Year road trip this year so my time off was less exciting, but more relaxing. (We do plan to to hit the road at some stage soonish). Perhaps my unusually upbeat mood is also related to only having to work two days this week. I might pull on the cranky pants next Monday.

As I walked to the tram stop this morning part of me thought it was actually nice to get back into a routine. It feels boring to say it - oh god, I'm not freewheeling and spontaneous! - but it's true. Being back at work at least forces me to get out of bed at a decent hour, leave the house and stay awake all day! I eat at regular times and I plan ahead for my snacks and lunches on workdays.

My break

I had a lovely six days with my mum. The sun shone, there was pavlova and gin n tonics, and we had a nice mix of relaxing and getting out and about.

We spent Christmas day with a group of mum's friends. It was the first time I'd met them and they were great fun. The afternoon featured games and singing. Pam, who hosted the lunch, has the cutest dog ever, Pippa. 

During the night times, Mum and I played three games of Scrabble and three games of cards (rummy, to be precise), but I only managed to win one of each, and then only just (I won the Scrabble game by two points!). I love Scrabble but I only ever play it with mum. Luke won't play with me because he thinks he's no good at it. 

Flowering eucalyptus in mum's garden

 We had scones at the quaint Tea and 

Treasures in Port Macquarie

On my final full day we drove up to the Wild Bull picnic ground in the Cobrabald State Forest, which was a picturesque (but bumpy) drive through farmland and forest. It was a hot day, so we cooled off in the swimming hole. It was fantastic. I swam right across the (not very wide river) and didn't let my mind wander to what might be in the depths where I couldn't see the bottom.

 Swimming hole selfie

 Down river (Wilson River)

 River views

 More river views

 On the way home

 Country road

 Country mail boxes

 Golden hour on the Hastings River at Wauchope

 Over mum's back fence

I ended having longer with mum than planned because we arrived at the airport for my flight home after check in had closed. Whoops. I managed to get a seat on a flight three hours later at no extra cost. We went killed the time by having breakfast beside the harbor. We sat on the balcony and I was thrilled with all the fish in the water below.

Fish!

Road trip: Day 4 - The Coorong and lakes

It's taking me longer to write about our recent holiday than it took us to make the actual trip in the first place. I've been slack and it's also been too hot for me to want to go near my laptop.

On day four we continued exploring The Coorong and surrounds. We expected to see plenty of water birds because The Coorong is renowned for them, but we weren't really expecting to see emus.  We saw a pair walking across a salt pan a long way off in the distance as we drove by. "What's that?" "Emus!" Not that we hadn't seen emus before, but I don't think I've seen them in the wild.

We saw their footprints on the beach where we stopped soon after seeing them, although I hesitate to use the word 'beach'...

Ew. Sticky, stinky mud. It's rapidly becoming a rule that we can't go on holidays without me falling in something (e.g. a creek in Tasmania) or stepping in something (e.g. dog poo in Paris, within hours of landing).  Luke laughed and laughed and laughed. I laughed too, just not as much as he did.

Fortunately my foot slipped out of my sandal mostly mud-free and I was able to wash the sandal in the handbasin of a nearby toilet block before sitting it on the dash of the car to dry in the sun.

When we returned to the car I was startled by a snake sheltering under our car. Well, I thought it was a snake at first, but quickly realised it was only a lizard. A fat, stumpy-tail.

Luke had to move the car because Stumpy didn't seem to have plans to go anywhere. Luke came back over to have a closer look at the lizard and it crawled into his shadow. It wasn't particularly hot, so we think it might have been seeking protection from birds of prey. But we couldn't stay there all day sheltering it.

We visited various points along along the lagoons, traversing many dirt and gravel roads. We saw more pelicans, although nowhere near as many as you'd see in the area during breeding season.

Cleared for take-off

We visited another look-out area which was weird and a little creepy. A strange, dense, textile-like substance the colour of hessian had apparently washed ashore and bunched up along where the "beach" meets the scrub. 

But that's not the creepy bit. This is:  

Boo!

This wasn't the only dead fish - I spotted about a dozen on about a 15 metre stretch of beach/hessian stuff and on the grassy/scrub, long dead and mostly skeletonised. Maybe fisherman had discarded the fish due to their undesirability and birds had picked their bones? 

This was where I encountered my first (and only) snake for the trip. It was lying near a bush on the edge of the beach, but when it heard or felt me approach it whipped into the shrub so fast I heard it more than saw it. I was about two metres away so I didn't feel in any danger. 

Next we drove around the western shore of Lake Albert up to the Raukkan Community, a settlement established by the Ngarrindjeri people 150 years ago on the banks of Lake Alexandrina. This is where David Unaipon, a preacher, writer and inventor who graces the $50 note, lived and ministered to his flock. The little church above his shoulder on the $50 note still stands and is very well looked after. 

You might recognise it better front on, which is how it appears on the currency. It's called the Point McLeay church. 

We took the ferry across The Narrows, which joins Lake Alexandrina (at the top in the photo below) and Lake Albert (at the bottom). 

Hidden behind the ferry is Malcolm Point and its wee little lighthouse (I know, not very useful. We didn't stop for photos either). It's no longer operational, but it remains Australia's only inland lighthouse - possibly the only inland lighthouse in the Southern Hemisphere. 

That night we had an early dinner at the pub in the tiny town of Wellington on the banks of the Murray River and then headed back to Meningie with a few detours to take photos. 

Sunset over Lake Albert 

It's a girl, three kinds of fish, sunset

 Funny little car on Puckle Street, Moonee Ponds

I'm still playing blog catch-up, but at least I'm only a few days behind now. Luke's sister had her third baby on Friday - a little girl after two boys. Yay! We visited on Saturday afternoon. So tiny and cute and not at all happy about being woken up to have a bath. Luke has an adorably funny picture of her reaction, which he will no doubt bring out for her 21st birthday.

Luke wore his Planet Terror t-shirt on Saturday, which was April 6.  When we were in the lift going up to the maternity ward I noticed the date at the bottom of the print. 

After we left the hospital, we visited Middle Brighton Beach. It was a warm, sunny day. Our Indian summer isn't quite over yet. 

 Brighton's famous bathing boxes

 They're a popular backdrop for wedding photos

Look at all these little fish!

There were thousands - probably tens of thousands - of them swimming in the shallows  around the Middle Brighton Pier, flashing silver in the sun. They were mesmerising. 

Jellyfish!

Starfish! 

This starfish is far more laid back than Sassy Starfish. 

 

The hazy city

The clouds rolled in, but it didn't rain where we were

After Brighton, we stopped in St Kilda, just before the sun set. It was a pearler. 

 

Puffy cloud on the horizon opposite the sun

We had dinner on Acland Street, and then gelato...well, had gelato; Luke didn't because his belly was full with the giant chicken parmagiana he had for dinner. I had the coconut meringue and the caramel popcorn flavoured gelato from 7 Apples (yes, it actually had bits of popccorn in it). The popcorn was OK and the coconut was pleasant. My heart/stomach still belongs to Fritz Gelato.  

Dandenongs, Silvan Dam, old signs

Luke and I went for drive up to the Dandenongs this afternoon. I don't know that it was much cooler up there than in the city, but the green, ferny shadiness made it seem cooler. There was a lovely breeze up at the top of Mount Dandenong too (as well as a posse of Buddhist monks with what looked like very expensive cameras). 

We then took a drive on an unsealed, winding and mostly deserted road through the forest of tall eucalypts and tree ferns. Luke thought it would bring us out at Silvan Dam. And it did! Go, Luke.

We wondered about the grassy grounds (and saw a man with the most ridiculous comb-over in the universe). There's a disused overflow area (or something) at the bottom of the dam wall which was full of murky water, but it had tiny little fish swimming in it (well spotted by Luke). There was some odd old machinery.

Then we took a stroll along a shady bush trail. There was a little creek and a fungus.

We stopped in Belgrave on our way home for snacks (very tasty sushi at Sushi Express) and slushies, which were just what we needed after being out and about on such a warm day.

Earlier today...

Last weekend in the car with Luke I spotted a fantastic old sign on the side of a building on Commercial Road in Prahran. Despite visiting that area regularly, I had never seen it before because I usually walk on the same side of the street, which is covered by verandahs. I went to check it out on my way to the osteopath this morning.

Looks like an ad for the old laundry whitener Reckitt's Blue

Further along on my walk, I was waiting at the lights on High Street and I looked up and saw what appeared to be old paint on the side of a building behind the Lucky Coq. I wandered up for a better view and - sure enough! Another Maples Pianos signs. It looks like it says Maples Furniture and Pianos. Maples sure left their mark on the inner eastern suburbs.

Water creatures

I walked through the Botanic Gardens on the way to and from visiting friends this afternoon. I saw the creepy eels, a turtle and two big goldfish that I've never seen before in the Ornamental Lake. The turtle was too shy for a photo.

A fluther, more zhoozhing and giant Scrabble

One of my lilies opens up

Not only did I see a couple of good-sized fish swimming in the shallows of the Yarra River today, I saw a jellyfish (below). A jellyfish!

At first I thought it was a Common Plastic Bag Fish, but then I saw it propelling itself along and realised it was a live creature, not a shopping bag. What the? I didn't realise there were fresh water jellyfish, but now I know.

And the more I looked, the more I saw. There were dozens and dozens of them heading slowly downstream. When I walked past later, there were still a few about.

I've learnt something else today too. The collective noun for jellyfish is a fluther or a smack.

Project Zhoozh continues...

I got some indoor plants and pots for my flat today. The zhoozhing is just about complete. The woman who was coming to have a look at the place found something else, but I'm very happy with my efforts nonetheless.

The nursery where I got the plants had a fish pond in a large concrete pot out the front, and there was a fat orange goldfish half-hiding under a lilypad.

Lawn Scrabble anyone?

Victoria sent me a link today to photos of a couple's giant game of Lawn Scrabble. I want! I don't have any lawn so I would have to go over to the gardens to play and people would stop and take photos like they do of people playing giant footpath chess in the city!

How's your weekend going?

One of the fluther