Beach Days Part 2
It’s been awhile since I last published a blog post! The last time I posted we were just about to leave Australia - and now here it is, almost four weeks later, and we are living in Canada. It seems like it was forever-ago that we were enjoying our beach house in Rye on the Mornington Peninsula. I wrote about the first three weeks of our beach holiday here, this post is a recap of our last two weeks.
We had some very hot weather the last two weeks we were in Rye. Hot weather = beach, so that is where we spent a lot of our time. I know I mentioned this in my last post, but I just can't stress enough how perfect this part of the beach was for young children. Ella could spend hours playing in the shallow water and the sand, and it was calm enough for her to feel very confident trying to swim as well. Even Ollie was happy in the water, which was considerably warmer during these weeks.
On our second last weekend Andy and I headed up to Melbourne for our leaving party. We spent the day at Stomping Ground Brewery in Collingwood and people dropped in when they could to say good-bye.
It was a really fun day and since we were there for such a long time I felt like I had lots of time to really talk to everyone that came. The venue was also great. It was huge, and we managed to grab a few big tables early on and have a little section to ourselves for the whole day. There is also a little play area which was perfect for our friends who came in the afternoon with kids. Andy and I were lucky enough to be kid-free, as Ella and Ollie stayed in Rye with my parents. We managed to stay out past 10pm for the first time in forever! It was a really hot weekend my parents sent us this pic of them staying out of the sun by playing under the trampoline:
We stayed the night in Melbourne at a friend's house and then had our last Melbourne-café brunch at an old favourite, Three Bags Full. That café is one of Melbourne's finest, and is located in our old neighbourhood, Abbotsford. I was definitely a little sad reminiscing about when we lived in that neighbourhood as it was the house we were in when Ella was born. I was also sad to say good-bye to the Melbourne café scene; I am still mourning the loss of decent espresso-based coffees and an inventive brunch menu as that has proven very hard to find here so far!
We had some very hot weather the last two weeks we were in Rye. Hot weather = beach, so that is where we spent a lot of our time. I know I mentioned this in my last post, but I just can't stress enough how perfect this part of the beach was for young children. Ella could spend hours playing in the shallow water and the sand, and it was calm enough for her to feel very confident trying to swim as well. Even Ollie was happy in the water, which was considerably warmer during these weeks.
On our second last weekend Andy and I headed up to Melbourne for our leaving party. We spent the day at Stomping Ground Brewery in Collingwood and people dropped in when they could to say good-bye.
It was a really fun day and since we were there for such a long time I felt like I had lots of time to really talk to everyone that came. The venue was also great. It was huge, and we managed to grab a few big tables early on and have a little section to ourselves for the whole day. There is also a little play area which was perfect for our friends who came in the afternoon with kids. Andy and I were lucky enough to be kid-free, as Ella and Ollie stayed in Rye with my parents. We managed to stay out past 10pm for the first time in forever! It was a really hot weekend my parents sent us this pic of them staying out of the sun by playing under the trampoline:
We stayed the night in Melbourne at a friend's house and then had our last Melbourne-café brunch at an old favourite, Three Bags Full. That café is one of Melbourne's finest, and is located in our old neighbourhood, Abbotsford. I was definitely a little sad reminiscing about when we lived in that neighbourhood as it was the house we were in when Ella was born. I was also sad to say good-bye to the Melbourne café scene; I am still mourning the loss of decent espresso-based coffees and an inventive brunch menu as that has proven very hard to find here so far!
Back in Rye, a few days later I had the whole day out with my mom to celebrate her 60th birthday. The day was pre-planned and booked back in January (when her actual birthday was): a morning at the Peninsula Hot Springs, followed by dinner at Doot Doot Doot, a fine dining restaurant at the winery Jackalope.
My mom and I arrived at the hot springs nice and early and started our day with coffee and a light breakfast in their café.
We then got changed and had about 45 minutes of hot springs bathing time before our massages. The hot springs have two separate bathing areas. The Bath House is the main area, and is open to everyone and is huuuuuge, with many different spaces and attractions. The other bathing area is called the Spa Dreaming Centre and is a lot smaller but adult-only. As a mum with two young children, I cannot tell you how exciting it is to go a place that is adult-only. Not only are you free of your own children, but of everyone else's as well. My mom and I had a good soak in the Spa Dreaming Centre before making our way to one of the treatment pavilions for our massage.
We then got changed and had about 45 minutes of hot springs bathing time before our massages. The hot springs have two separate bathing areas. The Bath House is the main area, and is open to everyone and is huuuuuge, with many different spaces and attractions. The other bathing area is called the Spa Dreaming Centre and is a lot smaller but adult-only. As a mum with two young children, I cannot tell you how exciting it is to go a place that is adult-only. Not only are you free of your own children, but of everyone else's as well. My mom and I had a good soak in the Spa Dreaming Centre before making our way to one of the treatment pavilions for our massage.
I’ve been to the hot springs before but never had a treatment as I always thought it would be too expensive. Well, I'd definitely been missing out! I had a fabulous massage which was the perfect mix of deep and relaxing. When you book a treatment it comes with entrance to both The Bath House and The Spa Dreaming Centre so it is actually a pretty good deal overall. After our massages we spent time chilling out drinking herbal tea and talking in the treatment relaxation area, which was a luxury tented structure with candles and comfy seating.
We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring The Bath House, which has expanded quite a bit since my last visit. There was a new Fire and Ice experience, where you alternate between a sauna and an ice cave. Apparently standing in temperatures of -25 degrees celsius is beneficial... for something. I don't remember what. I think it's just a test of willpower, like how long can you stay in freezing cold temperatures in your bathing suit before running out? I'm proud to say we lasted the recommended two minutes. We then had a delicious lunch and glass of wine back in the café, probably negating any benefits of the ice cave. Oh well, the whole “dining in your bathrobe” is pretty beneficial to anyone's wellbeing in my opinion!
We had a fantastic day at the Peninsula Hot Springs and honestly I didn’t want to leave. We got back to the beach house in the late afternoon, and then had about an hour to get ready for our dinner at Doot Doot Doot.
We arrived a bit early for our dinner reservation, so we enjoyed a glass of wine out on the patio, overlooking the vineyards as the sun set. It really was as idyllic as it sounds.
Dinner was AH-MAZ-ING. We had a five course dégustation, and each course was paired with wine. Before each course the sommelier came over to talk to us about the wine and the winery it was from. All of the wines they serve come from small wineries around the world, similar in size to Jackalope - so you won’t be finding these in your local BWS! Each course was delicious and my mom and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was great to share this with her as we both appreciate fine food and wine. All in all it was a fabulous day and so nice to have all that one-on-one time with my mom, free from the distraction of the kids.
We had a few visitors in our last week in Australia. Trudie, from my mother’s group, came down for the afternoon with her two boys. The kids had a great time playing together on the beach. It was so nice to see her one last time. When we had our first babies, Trudie and I lived a five minute walk from each other and spent a lot of our first year as mums together going for coffees, walks and playdates. It’s such a special time to make a friend, I am really going to miss her and the other mums from my mother’s group.
Our friend April also came to visit. We stayed at April’s Airbnb when we first moved to Melbourne over six years ago. We rented a room in her apartment in South Yarra for three weeks and have been friends ever since. Andy joked that she was the first friend we met in Australia, and pretty much the last friend we saw before leaving!
Michelle and Steve also came around for one last BBQ the weekend before we left. They brought their parents and we had a fantastic afternoon. Our parents got along really well, we were kicking ourselves that we had not introduced them sooner! Ella and Gemma also had their last playdate, sob! I'm still so sad to think about the fact that it will probably be years before they meet up again. (While I was writing this post Ella noticed the picture below and was like "can we do that again with Gemma?" I'm getting teary just writing this!)
Our final week was pretty quiet. Andy was very busy with his coursework and we still had things to sell/donate/get rid of - the car was a particularly huge headache, but we managed to sell it for an ok price about a week before we left. Without a car or bikes we weren’t able to get around as easily, but could still walk to the beach and grocery store when we needed to. Our last few days we went out for dinner with the kids to the local RSL and the Rye Hotel - both easy venues to take kids to. (The RSL even has a courtesy bus, so you can arrange to get picked up and dropped off at your doorstep which was a win!)
And then all of the sudden it was time to go! Our alarms went off at 4:30am, and off we went to the airport for our long, long day of travel from Melbourne to Toronto. But that’s a story for another blog post!
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