LOTS of photos :)

Well what a couple of weeks it's been!  Let's start off with today and perhaps go backwards from there.

Today was my first day as a Design Student and man was I nervous (it was like the first day of high school all over again).  You could say it's been a little while since I last sat in a class, had to concentrate on a lecture, taken notes, doing assignments/reports & studied, so as you can guess I'm a wee bit nervous.  We started off the morning with a lecture from the IDE@S (Interactive Design Editing Animation Sound) Co-ordinator; his story where he started and what he's done since.  In the auditorium was all of the Graphic Design students and Screen Media students (IDEAS department).  We had a security & safety briefing and a briefing from the librarian.  We then broke into our own departments and had an introduction from Gary (Graphic Design co-ordinator and my teacher) about rules of the class, what's coming up etc.  He also mentioned by the end of the week we will have to right 4 different reports...what have I gotten myself into?!  Plus he's given us a run down of our first assignment come monday when classes actually commence (this week is orientation week) and I have to draw!!!  Oh dear, I can sort of draw but it's definitely nothing spectacular.  We also have to create a logo and tag line for a client who is presenting to us tomorrow, and I have to sketch it!!  It should be an interesting first couple of weeks lets just put it that way but it does look fun and I'm excited to let the creative juices flow, I'm just hoping they'll be good enough.  Presentations and a trip into the city over the next few days, then a weekend of work and then start normal classes next week.  Things have definitely changed slightly since I studied (mind you this is college not high school), you're allowed to have music in your ears, your phones, just not facebook, it's a bit weird but nice to know I can listen to music while I'm doing my work :)  Wish me luck over the couple of weeks!  

As usual, a pic of Junior thrown in just because he's so darn cute :)  This was after he'd just had a hose down (which he loves when it's hot out), he dragged that towel around for a bit after and then had a nap on it, pretty amusing little character :)

So I officially finished my last job last Tuesday which was so nice, it's a bit weird though, going to take some time getting used to this new routine.  I had Wednesday last week off to myself which I gave the house a good clean inside and out.  When Dan finished work on Wed we dropped off Junior to the babysitters (with Max who we dog-sat over Christmas) and then headed down to Inverloch.  For those of you who don't know where Inverloch is you'll have to google map it so you get an idea of where it is in comparison to us.  It's about an hour and a half drive.  It's a beautiful coastal community, rural, laid back, beach lifestyle, great surf beaches, away from the hussle and bussle of the city, not sky scrapers around there and definitely not millions of people! :)  We stayed with Dan's Aunt and Uncle (Les & Graham) until the Saturday.

Picture above: Dan heading over the sand dune down to the beach wich Les & Graham live right next too, a two second walk.

On the Thursday (Valentine's Day) Dan and I headed to a place called Phillip Island, it's about a half hour drive from Inverloch and yes it is an actual Island connected by a short bridge.  Phillip Island is b e a u t i f u l!  We had such a wonderful time that day, best Valentine's Day ever!  We went to the Koala Conservation Park, checked out a bunch of surf shops (heaps of great surf beaches around the island), had lunch by the sea, I saw my first wild Echidna cross right in front of our car and then to top off the day we watched the little ferry penguins march across the sand to there homes in the evening.  

Photo above: some older style boards in one of the board shops there, thought you'd like this photo Dad :) x

Dan helped my find a beach hat (finally found one!  It's taken a long time as most all are too big for my head, this one's a kid's one :P).  Keep the sun out of my eyes and off my ears.

Now we're jumping around a bit as this is the order the photos uploaded to my blog which is kind of annoying so keep up if you can ;)

Paul had his 40th Birthday the weekend before we went on our trip down to Inverloch.  As a 40th Birthday present, the family all chipped in and bought a SUP (Stand Up Paddle Board) package as this is something he's been eyeing up for awhile but they're a wee bit on the expensive side.  You could say he was surprised and very pleased.  We all met up at a place called Lysterfield Lake for lunch and had a test run on the paddle board.  It was such a gorgeous day out and we all had a great time.  I managed to scoot in for a swim as well, so nice to swim in fresh water again, first time since my last summer in Canada.

Picture above: Three brother's observing Paul's new toy.  You can probably guess, Dan wants one too :P  And so do I!!

Picture above: Andy and the kids having a play in the blow up boat.

Picture above: Banana cake made by the lovely Rel.

Picture above: Testing out the new toy, several of us had a go, so much fun! :)

Alright, so we're back to our trip that we just had.  This was taken on Phillip Island in front of one of the surf shops.  Had to have a photo, just too cool to pass up :P

Phillip Island chocolate factory, hmmmm :)  Life size ferry penguins all made out of chocolate, including the sand!  They had some very yummy chocolate there :)  Couldn't not try it now could we?!

Some pics from the Koala Conservation Park, you could get right up close to them.  Luckily they were pretty active for us when we went there too, it was so cool!!

Some Wallaby's there as well having a feed.  There is a lot more wildlife on Phillip Island then around where we live now so it's really cool to see.  We loved it so much down there that we're talking about moving there after the wedding/school!!  e x c i t i n g!  We'll rent at first, try it out and then if the commute to work each day doesn't kill us we'll buy down there  Houses are well and truly within our price range plus the lifestyle down there is just PERFECT!  Beach life, laid back, quiet, see the stars at night, rural, houses are well and truly spaced out (not crammed together like where we are now) and they've all got character, wilderness, hiking trails, just enough shops around to get buy but still a small town (it feels like home <3 amp="" and="" bigger="" city="" don="" far="" from="" happens="" it="" live="" ll="" may="" nbsp="" need="" not="" o="" once="" only="" or="" p="" really="" s="" see="" shops="" t="" that="" the="" time.="" time="" to="" we="" what="" you="">

Our view while we had lunch, not too shabby.

Surf beach off Cape Woollamai (on Phillip Island).  This is one of the areas on Phillip Island where we would look to live, away from the 'business' of town centre (which is named Cowes) if you can call it 'busy' compared to the city.  The Island is roughly 40km around.

This sign was hanging around when we went and saw the ferry penguins, thought it was so cute!  Unfortunately they don't allow any photography of the actual penguin march so I can't share those with you, but it was so cool watching the hundreds of penguins waddling up the beach, across the rocks to their homes at dark.  The reason they come out of the water at dark is so there is less of a chance they get picked off from above as they would during day time.  Did you know: these are the smallest species of penguins in the world?!  So cute!

Mr. Echidna scurrying across the road to safety.  He was too quick for me I didn't really get a good photo of him. So cool though, the only Echidna I've seen before is in a zoo.

This is the beach the little penguins come up each night to their burrows.

Beach in Inverloch, the one right next to Dan's relatives places.  Not too hard to take hey?!  And they're all like this, yes please!!

The bungalow at Les & Graham's place which we stayed in.  It was like a B&B, Les is a great cook/baker so we had some yummy food while we were there and it was lovely to catch up with them as well.

On the Friday Dan and I went for a nice ride on our bikes around town and then an afternoon on the beach.  What a hard life hey?!

Saturday, we got up early and went garage sale-ing with Les & Graham, so much fun!  Got a few little bits and pieces, saw some great furniture that would look perfect in our future beach house ;)  hehe, but of course didn't have the room in the car to bring it back or the room in the house for it.  But it was fun, been awhile since I've been to a garage sale.  The afternoon was proceeded by just chilling out, I snuck in a nap as well, it's hard work doing nothing! :P  And then we headed home Sat evening so we had a day on Sunday to settle back into home, get a few things done around the house and ready for the week & my new adventure! :)

Well that's a run down pretty much of what's been going on as of late.  We thoroughly enjoyed our trip together, time to wind down and have some quality time together.  It's going to be an interesting few weeks as I settle into my course, new routines and studying, I'm sure I'll keep you all updated on my progress :)  Hope life is treating you all well and keep an eye out on my blog for some videos, I tried to get them on this post but they were taking WAY too long to upload.  

Love to you all xx