November Around Here...
We've been waiting for these holidays for what feels like forever...they were the perfect recipe of relaxation and fun...
Coldplay & indoor chocolate picnics: Coldplay 100% delivered and then some....best concert experience ever...I may have even shed a tear during my favourite song ("Fix You") because it has special significance to me, and I also couldn't believe I was seeing and feeling it live. Will never forget that. Also how fortuitous that Haigh's just happened to be across the street from our hotel...I created a mini indoor chocolate picnic for one...as you do! (Luke was there, he just doesn't love chocolate taste testing like I do :)
A ramshackle beach house & naps in the afternoon sun. We stayed at an amazing beach house in Blairgowrie...it was everything I wanted it to be...quirky and homely with incredible almost-360-degree views of Bass Straight and Port Phillip Bay. Multiple levels and deckings...lots of interior wood panelling, crazy library of books, a definite "house by the sea" vibe. It has been in the owner's family for 40 years, and really feels like a `Dan in Real Life' type family holiday home. I wouldn't be surprised if we go back with a bigger group in tow...it can sleep 10-14!
Vanilla Slice & Sunsets. We spent our days wandering around Sorrento & Portsea...me in awe of the beach front properties (I won't deny some real-estate stalking on my iPad...although you'd need at least $1 million to enter the game!)...Luke stopping to pat almost every dog we met. I learned that the best kind of break can sometimes be the kind without any plans. Brunch near the beach, a movie in an old school cinema with sea-shells on the carpet, sifting through seaside stores & walking on the jetty in the rain...
Incidentally, that award winning vanilla slice took me three days to get through. We also killed our calf muscles working off many foodie indulgences by climbing 1600 steps at Coppins Lookout...that's Luke leading the way below...somehow he's always just a little bit ahead of me no matter what!
My goal was to catch a sunset beach photo and we only just made it thanks to Apple Maps (yes...that Apple Maps!) & Luke's driving. We spotted the perfect cloud scenario from the top floor of the beach house...and raced in the car to Sorrento Back Beach to catch this just before it slipped below the horizon.
Room service & Crown Metropol. Back in Melbourne for a night before heading home...their gym has an infinity pool on the 27th floor, I could get used to those views from the elliptical machine every day! Ordering room service & a movie was the perfect ending before heading back to real life...