Accurate…?  I love you guys!

Today, we went out for a bit of biking and boozing.  We have officially started exploring a bit outside of our normal area, which leads us to our first place: the mornington peninsula.  They brought us to the top of a lookout at the highest point, and then we biked to the beach, stopping at a few spots along the way.

• Arthur’s Seat
• Main Ridge Dairy
• Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm
• Shoreham Beach

From there we visited a few pretty nice cellar rooms (winery tastings).  And no, we did not drink and ride.  However, from the look of my arm (not pictured) may have you beg to differ.

• Tuck’s Ridge
• Montalto
• Merrick’s General Store

Oh yeah, the movers just came and have deposited everything.  It’s a great Christmas that’s for sure.  It’s also fun unpacking everything and realizing how thorough the movers are, and the things we thought we got rid of before moving and repurchased here (like the Costco-sized cling wrap).

Yay!  Oh and the image below is just the main room of stuff.  The two bedrooms and laundry room are full of boxes too…

In our back patio/garden area, we have a rose bush that is also inhabited by some bougainvillea.  It’s actually pretty cool because the rose bush just finished blooming, and now we have the red of the bougainvillea popping through various areas.  I just wish the rose bush wasn’t so thorny.  Talk about a pain to maintain.

We finally have some new furniture!  Granted, this is for the upstairs patio off the master bedroom,a.k.a. our sanctuary.  Today was the first nice day that we were able to use it too.  We had a run this morning, and then all of us (Kobe too) took to the roof and had a nap.  It was glorious.

Now to get some more outdoor furniture we can actually share with others!

With the launch of the new family food blog, I’m hoping there will be additional food shots moving forward.  I really like the colors and clarity of this photograph.  Plus it’s been awhile since I’ve actually used my DSLR (and I love me some food!).

Speaking of DSLR, man, the D800 is sounding like a sexy beast.  However, I think I need to replace my normal kit zoom lens as it has a lot of dust inside.  It’s quite frustrating.  Plus, having something at f2.8 would be nice, but I’d also love to get my hands on some wide-angle stuff.

Not a whole lot else going on right now.  Our stuff has arrived into port in Melbourne today, but we won’t see it for awhile.  We’re hoping to see it before Christmas.  As of right now, that would be the best Christmas ever: opening all the presents of stuff we’ve already bought!  Yay!

Now that the days are getting longer (and warmer) down here in the southern hemisphere, we’re really able to take advantage of the weather.  One of those is the beautiful sunsets over the western part of Port Phillip Bay.

This post will just keep getting additional pictures added to it, as I upload them to my CMS with the correct tags.  However, here are just a few we’ve taken so far from Adam’s balcony.

We (the Chicago group) were sitting outside on Adam’s porch, and all the sudden this very large spider crawled down the wall and across his patio.  While it was making its voyage, we were enthralled.  Travis threw his keys down to put the size into perspective, and then it crawled into one of the planters.  Hopefully it will help with Adam’s bug issue.

Went to sign up for the Qantas Frequent Flyer program on their website and saw that it would cost $82 to do so.  Uh, the whole point of a FF program is to reward the people that are already spending lots of money with you.

However, you can get around this fee if you sign up for the Woolworth’s Everyday Rewards card.  It’s free, as I’m sure they sell your information, but you also get a free Qantas membership with it.  Just swing by a Woolies, get the card and register it online to create  a free Qantas account.  Yay!

I had to call the US today because both of my major credit cards were flagged for fraud.  Turns out a large expense in foreign lands tends to do that.  Anyways, since I’m on pre-paid, I thought I’d have a look and see what the damage would be.

Turns out, it is actually cheaper for me to call the US than it is to call an Australian number.  Good job Vodaphone!  If I could find a forwarder that is less than $0.40/min, I could route all my calls through the US!

Calling within Australia.

Calling to the US.

AUS

US