Bringing a bit of Halloween to Australia.

It may be October and the time of year that houses are decorated with pumpkins, costumes are being created and candy is being taken off the store shelves faster than ever, but not in Australia. Halloween is something that "America does really big." I was super disappointed when I heard this! I really love halloween. So we decided to bring some halloween tradition to Melville Road (the street we all live on).

It was fantastic. The season may be spring here, but it was a night that felt just like fall. We made cider, carved pumpkins, listened to Thriller and roasted pumpkin seeds. A great night of fun. 

Our roommate Sarah had never carved pumpkins before. Actually, I don't think she even had a clue what we were talking about at first. Once we started though, she greatly enjoyed it. But honestly, who wouldn't? 

The pumpkins were $4/ kg. So expensive!! We decided to just get two to carve as a group. Each pumpkin ended up being around $20! Some may say that's not worth it, but I would highly disagree. ha.

This was our Australia pumpkin. The star formation on the side is called the Southern Cross. You are only able to see it in the Southern Hemisphere and it is on the Australian flag.  

Make sure you all enjoy Halloween!!! We will be missing it here!

Also, there is a show called X-Factor that we watch every monday night. It is kinda like The Voice, I think. Anyways, the theme of the show tonight was all big Australian songs. I wanted to give y'all the playlist incase you want to add some Aussie music to your ipod. :)

*Throw Your Arms Around Me- Hunters and Collectors
*Lost Without You- Delta Goodrem
*You're The Voice- John Farnham (Ya know... like off of Hot Rod?!)
*Flame Trees- Cold Chisel (also look up Khe Sanh by Cold Chisel its supposedly a huge Aussie fave)
*Fall At Your Feet- Crowded House
*Weir- Killing Heidi
*Joker & The Thief- Wolf Mother

The Great Ocean Road.

The Great Ocean Road is one of the World's most scenic coastal drives! 

Luckily for us it is along Victoria, the state Melbourne is in. It was awesome as.  

We started in Geelong and made Anglesea our first stop. I LOVE ANGLESEA. I would definitely want to live there. It is such a cute town with a very alternative, granola feel. The town was hosting a Music Festival so for our first stop we went to a coffee shop that had live music! Doesn't it sound like my type of town?

Next we went to the town golf course to see the kangaroos. There are over a 1,000 kangaroos that live on the golf course, so you are always guaranteed to see a few. Look at those cool golfers just walking through the kangaroos as they're about to go play. 

Anglesea is also known for it's lighthouse.  We knew we had picked the right way to spend our saturday when we saw this view!

Following Anglesea was the actual sign to enter the Great Ocean Road. Whoo hoo!

Both of these signs were all over the drive. 

Along the drive there were tons of surf breaks. This one was located on the coast of the town Wye River. There were a few surfers getting their gear together while we were there. 

The big sight of the trip was the Twelve Apostles. There are now only 8 of the rock formations but it was still beautiful! 

A little past the Twelve Apostles, was this cave. I can't actually remember the name of it but it was cool. 

We found some rock to climb on and were able to witness some HUGE waves. However, around this time it started pouring down rain which cut our trip a little short. 

We decided to drive to the nearest town, Port Campbell. We had heard about an great ice cream place from some friends so that was of course the first place Meggan and I went to! I got  Baileys and Scorched Almond ice cream. Easily the best ice cream I've ever had. 

We will definitely make the drive again to see all of the things we missed, but for now it was a fantastic day. 

cheers. 

the zoo. fun as.

Today  at the zoo...

I adored the Australian Little Penguins as they waddled around, eager to be fed.

I watched the Meerkats protect each other.

I was amazed by the Seal show. He had just finished waving at the crowd. 

I was astounded when the Tigers were fed. We were told this doesn't happen everyday. Lucky us!

I met the baboon Hans and learned that these smart little animals have a hierarchy among them. Hans was obviously the top baboon. 

I saw my first joey. Such a precious animal!

AND I pet a kangaroo. We were told not to touch them, but when the Zoo keeper left and the kangaroos walked under their fence, we had to seize the opportunity.   

I never pass up a good day at the zoo! 

xo. 

Puffying Billy and the Dandenong Ranges

Megan and I have been wanting to ride a train somewhere since we have been in Australia. So when we heard about Puffying Billy, we didn't hesitate to plan our trip. It was cute as! 

If you can't read the hat, it says he is the Head Conductor. Isn't he precious? There were tons of little old men that worked at the different train stations on the trip. I would think they would get sick of doing the same thing every day, but they smiled and were cheery the whole time. :)

Everyone sat on the window seal of the train and hung there feet over the edge for the trip.

 IT WAS GREAT.  

The view through the Dandenong Ranges was completely green! There were pretty trees and lakes

and pastures and hills

and flowers. With the sun shining, it was the prefect day to be outdoors. 

When we got to the Lakeside Station, which is where we decided to get off and explore, we spotted paddle boats. Of course we immediately went and got on one. Let me tell you, that was one good leg work out!

After we paddled around the lake, we went on a hike in the mountains. We found a huge log to sit and have lunch. As we ate, we watch the train pass by. Everyone on the train waved to us. Even the sweet conductors. 

I had been aching to be outdoors away from the city and this was the perfect way. 

Aussie Slang: 

(I actually can't remember if I have shared this with y'all before)

Sweet as, Cute as, Lame as, Hot as- Pretty much any word with "as" at the end means that it is "So_____(that word)".   

:)

satisfying that sweet tooth.

We have spent part of this break checking off more of the items on Bec's Top Ten list. Luckily some of the places have made lollies and chocs (candy and chocolate). Yum yum yum.

Haigh's has all kinds of chocolate candies. The best part about this place is that every time you buy something they give you a piece or two of chocolate free. Yes Please!!! Also they have panda stuff all over the store. They knew exactly how to get straight to my heart.

After getting our chocolate fix, we went to Suga to watch them make lollies. It was so awesome. They started with huge pieces and by the end it was tiny dime size candy. The one they were making that day was for a wedding. I couldn't ever figure out how the words were on the inside of the pieces but it looked great! So congrats Lou and Pat.

We took a sweets break and went to the museums and then ended the day with more chocolate. Who could resist all of that yummy goodness? Max Brenner has tons of chocolate options like chocolate covered waffles, hot chocolate, ice cream and chocolate syrup, etc. It was hard to choose! We both decided on a Suckao. This is your own personalized chocolate shot. You are given a cup of milk with a candle under it to keep it warm and then chocolate pieces to melt in the milk. You can make the shot as sweet as you want. Of course I added pretty much all of my chocolate! There was no way I was going to taste the milk. The last picture is what they get their chocolate from. There are pipes that carry the chocolate from those barrels to the kitchen and back counter where they prepared the desserts. I'm glad this place isn't super close to my house or I would be there WAY too often. 

Other things:

-The Geelong Cats won the Footy Grand Final Saturday. WhooHoo!! It was a great day to be a cats fan.

-Daylights Savings time started here today. I now have a 16 hour time difference from Texas.

- One week left of our break! YEAHHH.

Cheers.