The Sydney Opera House

For my birthday (four months ago), Will and I went to Sydney for the weekend.

I'm all about iconic landmarks, so clearly I took 500 photos of the Opera House.

Since it was New Year's Day, the Harbour Bridge still had some lights set up from the previous night's celebrations. 

Sydney is so different from Melbourne, but you can't deny the charm of the bridge and the Opera House.

We spent the evening wandering around Circular Quay and The Rocks, including a tragically average dinner at a place called Pony. Traveler's tip: Don't go to Pony if you visit Sydney.

The view from up here

Sometimes when the stress of visas, joblessness, and "what the hell am I doing?" gets to be too much, I look out at the view from our balcony and just think...wow, life is pretty good! 

It's all worth it.

Flinders

Otherwise known as...that time Will and I accidentally wore too much matching clothing.

The weekend after Christmas was spent in a charming little beach cottage with some of the extended family. There was a lot of eating and drinking and general good times. 

And of course, lots of time on the beaches. Operation TAN is going amazingly well for me thanks to summer Christmas!

Ever the animal lover, I was tasked with "dealing with" a tiny bat that was found in the cottage. After googling bat rescue options in the Mornington Peninsula, I discerned that this was a mircrobat common to the area, and I should just let it go. 

I am hoping that it is happily living its life now and was not eaten by a seagull. 

I really enjoyed seeing a new part of Victoria, as there is really so much to see in the Melbourne area. These gorgeous beaches (AND manyyyy wineries) were just a little over an hour away from us. I'll take any excuse to escape to the sea side!