The Household COO

Ripponlea is one of the last privately owned estates in Melbourne. It has since been converted to a National Trust where people can visit to observe what life of the wealthy had been like during the 19th century.

I’ve always loved old-style houses, especially estates because I marvel at the grounds. I would have loved to have been a child growing up in a house like this.

Many of the photos taken inside the house are blurry because I wasn’t allowed to use a flash. This was back before I got the Casio Exilim, and I didn’t know how to toggle with the ISO settings. You can still get a pretty good idea of what it was like to living in an estate back then.

Fitzroy Gardens is probably my all time favourite park in Melbourne. I love the little cafe at the heart of the park next to the Model Tudor Village. During my years studying at Melbourne University, I would take a tram into the city and get off just before the park. I would then walk through the park and all the way up to the Dental Faculty for class.

In my final year, when I needed a break from studying, I would take a copy of my Herald-Sun and a book, and walk all the way from my flat in North Melbourne to the cafe in Fitzroy Gardens. I would then order myself a hot chocolate and sit by the fireplace while I worked on my crossword puzzle.

Yes, Fitzroy Gardens brings back plenty of memories.

When I went back with the hubby for Christmas in 2004, it was one of the places I just had to show him. Here are some photos:

Below: inside the conservatory

Below: Captain Cook’s Cottage

Below: The Fairy Tree

Below: the Model Tudor Village

Below: Inside my favourite cafe next to the fireplace.

There are more photos but Slide.com was undergoing modifications so I couldn’t upload the slideshow. I’ll post up the slideshow when Slide is back online.

When I went back to Melbourne in 2004, Federation Square was a new additional to Melbourne’s CBD that I had never visited before. Federation Square is a bit of an artsy place, what with the Ian Potter Center and the Australian Center for the Moving Images, otherwise known as ACMI.

Unlike my usual inquisitive self, we didn’t end up exploring every last square inch of Federation Square. We only managed to get through ACMI before the hubby got distracted by the need for some tucker.

Below are some photos I took while we were wondering through ACMI. Below was a film recording the eyes of many different people.

In this shot, the hubby was talking to my SIL. It was the first news we received about the Tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean. My SIL’s boyfriend’s sister had been in Thailand at the time where they felt the aftershock.

Christmas 2004, I was originally planning to follow the Posers to Krabi until a telephone conversation with my Dad changed everything. He seemed incredibly disappointed that I was electing to go to Krabi for Christmas instead of coming home. Somewhere, deep inside, I rediscovered my conscience and decided that perhaps I ought to pay my family a visit for the festive season instead of making yet another haj to my rock climbing mecca.

I guess God was smiling down on me because I would have felt the effects of the Tsunami in Krabi had I gone there instead of Australia. Luckily no one was hurt in Krabi. The damage was mostly to the beach front properties.

This was an interesting rocket of some sort.

Below is the future of deities - a kind of robotic Buddha.

When we went there in 2004, the entry was still free so it’s not a bad way to spend an afternoon if you’re looking for some way to pass the time and keep yourself entertained for free.

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The first overseas trip the hubby and I took together (before we were married) was to Australia. I had originally planned to spend Christmas and the New Year at my favourite mecca - Krabi, but since my Dad was really hoping I’d come home for Christmas, I changed my plans.

I guess an angel was looking out for me because it was the year when the earthquake hit the Indian Ocean and the Tsunami ravaged many of the coasts of the surrounding land masses. My friends who took the trip out to Krabi said that the waters came up and destroyed a lot of the beachside resorts but thankfully no one was hurt.

CG and I flew out first to Brisbane to spend Christmas with his sister before flying down to Melbourne to for New Year’s Eve with my parents.

I posted some photos from Noosa and Maleny in the previous posts and will be posting more in the next few days. Meanwhile, here are some more photos from our first day in Brisbane:

After our dip in the sea, we headed out to Maleny for a spot of bush walking and an overnight stay. Maleny is another one of those places that reminds me of my childhood in Melbourne. The first time we went to Lakes Entrance was the summer holidays of 1986 and we stayed at a cottage that was very similar to the one we stayed at in Maleny.

There are plenty of walking trails; clean, crisp air; an open fireplace… What more could a person ask for? For those who don’t fancy camping, you can still enjoy a great night’s rest in the peace and quiet of the great outdoors without compromising on comfort (this was something very important for my camping-aversed hubby).

After our afternoon hike, we prepared some tucker and sat down to a game of scrabble. MR took the winner’s seat and rather graciously chanted, “I’m a winner, you’re a loser,” for the rest of the night. The next morning, HL made some blueberry pancakes for breakfast before we headed back for Brisbane.

It was so peaceful out there I wished we had stayed longer. Anyway, here are some of the photos we took of one of the trails we hiked and the cabin we stayed at:

These photos were taken during a holiday visit to Brisbane back in December 2004. The hubby (back then my boyfriend), my SIL and her boyfriend drove out one weekend to enjoy some sunshine and water at Noosa.

It was a lovely day and the beach was great. Lucky for us because we had heard that a big storm had washed in a lot of algae previously so the sea had been unsuitable for swimming for a while.

Afterwards, we stopped by a bistro for some lunch where I took some snapshots of everyone. HL relaxing with a cool bottle of water:

Camera-shy CG in one a rare moment in front of the camera:

MR also looking a little uncomfortable in front of the camera:

And me, the poser queen, waiting for my BLT without the B:

Let me explain that last caption. Back then I was still a vegatarian and they didn’t have much in the way for vegetarians so I ordered a BLT sandwich without the bacon.

Noosa was nice and relaxing. It reminded me of the summer holidays when I was a kid and my parents would take my brother and I out to Lakes Entrance (some four to five hours drive east of Melbourne) where they would go fishing. Or rather it was my Dad and my uncle who would go fishing while my cousins, my brother and I would go to the beach with the Mums to play in the water.

Afterwards we would go have ice cream at this cool homemade ice cream store. Ah, those were the days…

I wonder if it is just becoming a mother or the hormones from breastfeeding, but I seem to be rather reminiscent of late. I was just looking through some of my old photos when I found the set from when the hubby and I first dated.

Our first “out-of KL” date was in Bukit Tinggi. The hubby planned the trip after I complained that we never did anything fun during the weekends. We went to see the Colmar Tropicale - a replica of the Colmar French village and the Japanese garden.

Here are some of the photos from our trip:

Bukit Tinggi is a great day trip to make if you’re looking for some cooler weather to escape the heat in the Klang Valley. It’s only a short drive about some 40 minutes or so out of KL. There are plenty of picturesque sights to see and a golf course for the golf enthusiasts. A new spa resort is current in the process of being built to add to the current facilities.

Check out Berjaya Hills website for more details on Bukit Tinggi and the other attractions available.