Spent the last 3 weeks focused on work and doing activities on weekends that Sharon wouldn’t be as interested in doing and keeping up with Euro 2024. Weather has been OK – highs in the 40s-low 50s, sunny and little wind – much better than a December in DC. My first visit was to the Australia Sports Museum (located in the Melbourne Cricket Ground) which is also the National Sports Hall of Fame.
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Australia Sports Museum and National Sports Hall of Fame
I had no idea who Shane Warne was at the time – but we shared a few beverages in the BA Lounge in Mumbai for a couple of hours during a flight delay and he told me “tell your mates you had drinks with Shane Warne”.
When I shared with my Indian and English co-workers I had met him – they were like “he is the Michael Jordan of cricket”. He passed away a couple of years ago and has the largest display at the Hall of Fame with this hologram.
Williamstown to Altoona Bike Trail
The primary game changer for me was finding a “pop up car rental” which is like Uber but you rent a car by the hour and one of the storage parking spots is right outside our cottage which allowed me to explore a bike ride further away from Melbourne and is nice on rainy days to avoid having to ride my bike to do chores.
On my test for the rental car, I found an SUV about 5 minutes from our cottage and rented for an afternoon, loaded the bike, and drove to the coast to a recommended bike trail. I had visited Williamstown with Sharon, Anish, and Steph last November – but the recommended trail was to ride the other direction from where we visited. Nice coastal areas, mega-pelicans, and pine trees. My end of the Bay reminds me of Southern California, the other side of the bay has a Mid-Atlantic feel with marshes and pine trees.
Photography Meetup
On some of the rainy weekends, spent some quality youtube time on Astrophotography (moon, stars, auroras) and joined a Meetup group with a camera tour around town and to a winter fire festival – have some artsy pictures attached. No luck yet on a good moon photo – taken about 100 so far and nothing good yet. Had an aurora that, if not for the clouds, could be seen from Melbourne – so awaiting another chance for a sighting.
Winter Solstice Festival
Went to a Winter Solstice Festival at a BBQ Roadhouse. Pretty authentic and great BBQ – had the burning of the metal bull to wish-a-way the winter. Also was introduced to the Morton Bay Bug – a shell fish that is either a large shrimp or a little lobster – “Reef and Beef” was an excellent meal. Also getting some cold ride rides in and Euro 2024 getting started.
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