So long, Geelong

As I've mentioned before, I work with a really cool guy named Andrew (or should I call him Fergie as his Geelong friends do?).  Anyway, he's from Geelong, a little city about an hour outside of Melbourne that is nestled in a little bay, not far from the beautiful beach towns of Torquay and Barwon Heads.  Last week Andrew invited Katy and I to go to Geelong with him for the weekend, where he had to take care of his dog, Zeke, as his parents were off on an epic European vacation.  Of course, Katy and I jumped at the opportunity to escape the city for a weekend and see a little bit more of Australia, not to mention hang with Andrew and his friends, and I'm really glad that we did.

Andrew and I got off work around 4:30 on Friday afternoon and we rushed to gather our things, and get on the road in an attempt to miss the traffic.  We managed to get out by 5:00, but missing the traffic didn't really happen.  No matter though, we all just had a fun little road trip, listened to some good jams and had good conversations (while Katy and I tried to fight off the driving induced narcolepsy from which we seem to suffer, oops).  That's where the sugar rush from the pack of double dipped Tim Tams came in.  For my American brethren, Tim Tams are the most delicious, most fattening, and sinful snacks you can get in the grocery store prepackaged cookie aisle.   It's like an oreo on crack, dipped in chocolate....twice.  Yeah, that dangerously delicious.  Apparently, there's something called a Tim Tam Bomb where you bite off both ends of a Tim Tam and use it as a straw through which you drink a coffee, which then soaks the inside of the Tim Tam with coffee goodness, thus making it EVEN MORE delicious.  It is one of my life goals to try a Tim Tam Bomb...just saying.

Off the topic of Aussie junk food...

We spent an amazingly relaxing weekend brunching, slamming coffees, taking Zeke on beach adventures, perusing markets that specialized in selling absolutely random junk that you would never ever ever need, hanging with Andrew's friends, eating ice cream in a New England-esque beach town, watching footy and playing beer fueled Pictionary, where Katy and I proved to have an uncanny mental link rendering all competitors utterly helpless to our superiority.  If that epic run on doesn't sum up our weekend for you, I'm afraid you'll never be able to understand how much I truly enjoyed this beautiful weekend in Geelong.

Maybe the photos will help :-)

Massive, and I  mean massive, hip high, piles of seaweed were washed up on the beaches of Torquay.

At Cartel, where we were served coffee after coffee after coffee as if it were winery offering us tastings...except it was espresso, and we are mere mortals who left with racing hearts and mountains of energy

I started collecting these beautiful little periwinkle shells.  That's Andrew just tossing the tennis ball for Zeke.

Om nom nom, fresh crab claw.

Katy and a sea urchin, post mortem

I found one that was still living and chucked it back in so it could live the, I predict, 20 or 30 extra minutes before it gets washed up on shore again.

Andrew or Fergie...whatever you want to call him

Das one big ass sea weed youz got there

The first penguin I've seen not hiding in rocks.  Poor fella probably got lost and ended up getting washed up here in Torquay.

There was lots of pretty seaweed...not like that boring brown Florida seaweed.

Just Katy being pretty at Andrew's friends' place.

I swear, Australians have a complex.

Waiting for fish and chips in Barwon Heads.  Zeke looks hungry ;-)

Yummm, fish and chips.  Also, fun fact...the winner of this year's Tour de France, the first Aussie ever to win, Cadel Evans,  is from Barwon Heads.  It was funny, every shop window had big yellow signs of congratulations to Cadel on his big win.  Granted...it is a big deal.  Go Cadel!

A pretty sunset at Andrew's folk's place.

Cheeeeese!  Lots of love from Oz!!!