Ever written a blog then gone to board a plane without saving it to drafts…. yep! So bear with me, this may not be as good as the first one!
I left you with our arrival at St.Kilda, Melbourne, my vintage shopping, our botanical garden walks and seeing my friends for the first time in three years. Well, since then we have been even more busy!
We hired a car and had a little roadtrip along the Mornington Peninsula East of Melbourne, to two little surf towns, Sorrento and Portsea. When I lived in Melbourne we always got a beach house and hung out there at the weekends in summer. Its the first place I ever heard a shark alarm which is scary when you have no idea what it is!
Anyway, next we visited an animal sanctuary called Moonlit. It houses many of the Australian native wildlife, a lot of which are sadly endangered.
We found the wombats to be particularly funny as one male lay flat on his back, deeply asleep and not caring for anything.
On the way home we ventured to the Dandenongs, which are mountain ranges just out of Melbourne covered in thick rainforest. We went walking through a somewhat eery but fairytale-like forest, full of noises and light glimmers, and after finding a magical waterfall, we ate our picnic with some Rosella parrots.
My OOTD was my comfortable vintage dungarees, Topshop tee and converse.
Next, we visited Brighton known for its bathing boxes on the beach. Although it’s a busy tourist beach, it is still charming and full of pretty painted huts. Below is my favourite beach hut and also my favourite bikini from handm, which you can still buy here! I’ve worn it so much on these travels I need suggestions for a new one asap!
The other thing we did in Brighton was brunch of course! We went to Soul Espresso and a beautifully presented, rainbow coloured, delicious banana bread was my choice!
Wednesday brought a dinner with my friends again. We opted for Naked for Satan, a tapas restuarant with a swanky rooftop bar. The view of the city is epic from up there!
One of my Melbourne friends offered to be DES on Thursday and drive us around the Yarra Valley Vineyards for a wine tasting day. I think we visited about four wineries and a gin distillery. So much fun! We bought a family rosé from Dominique Portet and a Chardonnay from Punt road.
After a final night with my friends wearing my retrostar vintage dress, it was time for our last dinner in Melbourne. It was at a Japanese restaurant in St.Kilda called Machi and it was delish. We choose the five course taster menu, which included salmon tacos, dumplings and green tea ice cream.
Our Victoria visit ended on a high as we got to go and stay with my ‘Aussie Mummy’ from when I lived here (my friends mama). She lives in Queenscliff, just on the coast to the West of Melbourne. It’s picturesque and we sense a great community spirit there too.
She has the best house ever that was designed by her and a very mindful architect. Together they produced an eco-dwelling with stunning gardens and it’s own solar power and water system. It is an escape, so tranquil and serene. The only anxiety is when a huntsman spider is on the garden chair you’re about to sit on during the evening ukulele jam. He soon jumped off with more fright than us and by the way, although they are colossal, they are the nice guys… don’t hurt them!
We went swimming in the ocean for the afternoon. Being from Wales and not used to the size of the Australian waves, I did get caught in one, which proceeded to pull my swimsuit down… lesson learnt. It was all made better when a rogue male seal popped on to the rock for a sunbathe near us and also, when we had our picnic of chicken and prosecco, watching the sunset. Perfect.
Here she is below, looking all artistic and bohemian, as she is! We are near the Queenscliff lighthouse and I have the cutest vintage summer dress on that I bought from the coolest shop in Fitzroy, Melbourne called Shappere. The straw hat is asos and the ankle boots are Newlook.
We ended a fantastic day with tea and pudding on the garden porch, surrounded by candles and a ukulele sing song! All in practise for our Summer festival wedding.
See you in Byron!
Kelly (holeinmypocket)
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The Vogue Vet 