Geelong and Torquay

There's been a lot of -est words flying around recently. 2009 has seen Victoria having the hottest temperatures on record (February), the driest winter on record, one of the wettest Octobers, and now it is having the hottest start to November since 1902. In the first week of November it pretty much consistently stayed above 30, much to my relief. I've enjoyed it immensely! The changes come quick here though, and it'll cool down again before long. As people keep saying to me... Welcome to Melbourne.

Weird to think that just a couple of weeks ago we still had our heating on, and I had two douvets on my bed. Now it's warm enough to chill out with friends in park without a jumper on until way after sunset. And of course, getting splashed in the boats isn't such a hardship when it's hot out.

After our awesome day trip last week, we decided that another day of adventuring was in order. This time we took the road around the other side of Port Phillip South West to Geelong (pronounced ju-long), where we had lunch on the seafront, and beyond to the seaside town of Torquay. Torquay is mainly a surf beach, and very popular, so it was good to finally see it. We had intended to continue on and follow the coast along the beaches to Barwon Heads, but we got a bit sidetracked by the outlet centre... Still, spending an hour or so in the late afternoon lying on the sand in the warmth of the sun is not too shabby a way to spend an afternoon ;) Bliss.

Back to work tomorrow, and it's my last 3 days at the Bureau of Meteorology. It feels crazy that 6 months there has gone by already. Only 4 months left in Australia. Wow.