~ Curious Charlie ~

3.5 Days without Internet @ Sunday, April 15, 2012

Easter Weekend

Warning: long weekend = long post

Friday

Last week le beau and I went on spontaneous trip (unplanned/announced till the last 48hrs) to the ~~winter~~ island, we were meant to leave Friday morning, but somehow didn't end up leaving till after lunch. Which turned out to be a good thing, as his family (sister Lily, brother Adrian and brother's friend? Helen) left in the morning and took twice as long to get there due to traffic.

The deal was I can bring whatever I can actually pick up, though as he didn't say what I can carry in one go ;) and so I ended up bringing a suitcase on wheels (clothing + bathroom stuff), a CR style bag (pillow + first aid kit + random stuff, including toilet paper - just in case), a backpack (books + jacket + more random stuff), a sleeping bag (I didn't know the exact accommodation details), another pillow, camera bag, and my handbag. And a pet carrier, 2kgs of carrots & other fresh veggies.

We got there (Cowes, Phillip Island) in the late afternoon, where we were staying, at an apartment on the northern part of the island, with beach front views. It was a great location, as we were in the main part of the island, where there were shops. Just the supermarkets, tourist shops, lots of places to eat and a few surf shops. I like cooking (sometimes) and for dinner we (the five of us) made a three course meal, skewers, steak, mash with steamed veggies and for dessert Helen (le beau's brother's friend, who's a dr I think) bought amazing creme brulees from a bakery on main street. I didn't get any pictures, as it would have been awks. After dinner we played Monopoly, battleship, scattergories, scrabble and uno. We each bought a game along (Helen's idea) and as always I bought scattergories. It was lots of fun, as I rarely have anyone to play with, and everyone was very nice - and not in an artificial way.

We stayed at the middle right apartment.

A glitch has just deleted part of the post...

Saturday

On Saturday we went to the beach, it was cold but sunny. There was a lot of coral? stuff that was washed up by the sea. No one was swimming, and I found a few shells, but there wasn't much. On one end of that part of the beach was a pier, and at the other "end" there were rocks.

After the beach we went exploring around town, and for me to buy winter clothes. I really did think it was going to be warm-hot, not cold and windy, and so only packed one warm sweater and sports jacket. We didn't find anything, as the island is more of a tourist/holiday and events only location. But we did find a vintage (read: old but overpriced) store, and several goodwill like shops. I found 3 Sabrina books (2 of which I didn't have/read) for $1, some craft heart pearl beads for $1 and a mug tree for $2 which will be make a lovely jewellery tree, after a bit of work.

Interesting placement of caption...

For lunch we went to Pino's, I felt ver tired, so le beau and I ordered TA and went back to the apartment, while the others stayed and explored town (they were at the beach while we went shopping in the morning) and didn't return till dinner. Pino's does Crust (gourmet $20 pizzas) like pizzas as well as a range of other Italian foods, and we ordered their Potato & Marinara (half & half). The potato side was mozzarella cheese (4 big pieces on the base), roast potato, garlic, onion & rosemary. It was very nice, though the potato could have used seasoning. And the other half, Marinara, had the same base (as all pizzas) but with prawns, calamari, garlic & olives.

At some point I fell asleep on the floor by the fireplace (which I think is fake, even if there were log next to it), and when I woke up it was dark. Le beau had bought along his work and was marking papers nearby. Some people are ok being watched while they sleep, while it does make me feel safe (I feel odd sleeping in unfamiliar places) I'm not into it - watching people sleep vise versa.

The others soon came back, from a trip to the wildlife park. For dinner we bought frozen fish fingers, pastries, wedges and veggies to bake, which le beau had went out for while I was asleep. Helen and Adrian made apple pie for dessert, served with vanilla ice cream which was nice, the apartment fortunately came fully equipped with everything you need to cook with including the ramekins from the night before.

Apple Pie

While dinner was being prepared, Lily (le beau's sister) went through training methods (zzz...) and some stuff from her textbook on lesson planning, like things you do in groups/pairs to work on skills. She's studying to be a teacher, majoring in the arts and PE. My favourite line from her book was this: "...one strategy that is not recommended is that of picking 'captains', who proceed to pick their teams, starting with their friends and the most able players, and laving the less able to last, dejected and humiliated." Fortunately I never experienced that as we never got to choose teams, it was already decided by what house (think Harry Potter) we were in.

During dinner we watched the Addams Family (1991).

Sunday

On Sunday we went to the Nobbies, on the western point of the island. It was the coldest place on the island, near the surf beaches. We saw part of a penguin that was hiding in it's nest? And two dead penguins, one was just the body and the other just the yellow feet. There were also two large birds. We were hoping to see seals but didn't see any.

Lunch was DIY wraps back at the apartment. We (Lily & Helen) cut up veggies, grated cheese (me), and did some BBQing (le beau & his brother). Le beau agrees that chicken and strawberry jam is amazing together . :)

Jam & Crossiants from Breakfast

- the strawberry conserve was the same brand -

After lunch le beau and I went to the chocolate factory while the others went to Churchill Island Heritage Farm. Panny's Chocolate Factory, had the usal info on how chocolate is made, a display of a chocolate man (his name I forget atm), a huge picture of Dame Enda made of individual chocolates, a chocolate village, ads, stop motion animation display. The creation room, draw your own chocolate machine, a custom chocolate machine (pick a base and then flavour e.g. Vegemite, cola, wasabi). And my favourite, the carnival games gallery, where you play games and win balls of chocolate. I played the clown game, clown head, ball, 1/9 chance of winning. It was about strategy, and I won 41+ times (I did give some balls to kids before the count).

The Chocolate Village

I love taking baths, though very rarely do, due to water restrictions, the rates of water etc. but it was a special occasion and I did bring along a bath bomb just in case there was a bathtub. The apartment had a spa, though we used it as a bath, as the temperature of spas is very hot and very bad for your skin. I used the candy mountain (xmas special) bubble bar, was meant to put it in when the water's flowing - but didn't so there wasn't as much bubbles. It smelt amazing and was very moisturizing though - but not for the hair.

Lush's Candy Mountain

After the bath Lily & I watched Penelope, while the others played board games. The film was alright, Lily loved Penelope's room (pictures) and I love her wedding dress.

Monday

My last day on the island, Lily & I were going back to the city because we had classes this week, whereas the others were staying till the end of the week (today). The boys visited the war museum, while I waited in the car reading the books I bought. Then we all went to the chocolate factory (again) as the day before it was only the beau and I who went. So we hung out at the cafe while the other went on tour. The day before we went in the late afternoon so there was less people and had more time in the games gallery, this time around lunch there was lots of people and the trio won about 20 together.

At the cafe we all ordered Panny's hot chocolate, and two of us ordered 'Crunchy Chocolate Cheesecake', which wasn't made by the cafe O.o. Didn't get pictures :( as Helen had borrowed my camera for the tour, and hers was in the car (which she had the keys to). The hot chocolate was chocolaty and creamy, it sits between Lindt (chocolaty) and KoKo's creamy. The cheesecake was tiny... but very concentrated. A dense chocolate cake base, centered with cheese and mini chocolate chip bit in both white & milk, topped off with a layer of chocolate topping and curls and flakes of white & milk chocolate. A dentist's nightmare.

Interestingly the cafe, taking advantage of the location (tourist attraction) also offered lunch in the name of hot chips and curry. Great idea in terms of product market, but no. It decreased the idea of a chocolate cafe, which is seen as a special thing compared to Indian take-away for a dinner.

Display case lighting...

Meanwhile on the other side of the bridge, on the mainland it was Easter. As we were away, we missed the Easter Service, and it wasn't the same. I'm not particularly religious, but after all those years of chapel, Easter just wasn't Easter without going to church. Even if we did get lots of chocolates.