Life In Coronavirus Lockdown: The Delta Variant

COVID-19 cases in Australia (source: The Age)

During 2021 Victoria was successful in having a few short(ish), sharp lockdowns for around 7 - 14 days whenever we had COVID-19 outbreaks. These lockdowns worked to get cases back down to zero and allowed things to open up again with minimal restrictions. However, that all changed in June when Sydney had a fast moving outbreak of the Delta variant that ended up with Greater Sydney and other parts of New South Wales going into lockdown for around four months. These cases also spread across borders into other states and territories and even New Zealand, resulting in local lockdowns in those areas.

For Melbourne and Victoria, our luck ran out in August, which unfortunately coincided with me taking a month's annual leave from work. Around a week after our fifth lockdown ended in July, more mystery cases emerged and we went into our sixth lockdown. It was only supposed to last for seven days, but instead went for 77 days as the lockdown restrictions were not working against the Delta variant and cases continued to rise, especially in the north and west of Melbourne (site of our second wave in 2020). Victorian leaders soon realised that pursing COVID zero was no longer an option, so at the start of September they shifted to New South Wales' strategy, which was to keep case numbers under control while we vaccinated our way out of the outbreak. Victoria set its Roadmap to opening in line with the milestones in Australia's National Plan.

Thankfully vaccination rates really picked up (I was fully vaccinated in mid-July) and when we hit 70% of 16+ fully vaccinated on 21 October the lockdown ended in Greater Melbourne. This meant an end to the reasons to leave home and the curfew, being able to have up to 10 people in your home, and the gradual opening up of schools, hospitality and some retail under density limits. Our next milestone of 80% of 16+ fully vaccinated will be hit in the next few days, which is why from 6pm tonight for the long weekend Greater Melbourne and regional Victoria were reunited, retail, gyms, and entertainment venues are back open, masks are no longer required outdoors, and we are operating in a vaccinated economy where you have to show proof of full vaccination to get into places or return to work on site.

After all of our sacrifices it's great to finally get through to the other side and have a bit of hope for the future. We still have around 1,500 new cases a day in Victoria (not ideal), but the curve finally seems to be bending down so those numbers should start dropping. International borders in New South Wales and Victoria will open from 1 November, and we will no longer need permission from the Federal Government to leave the country. Victoria's final milestone is for 90% 12+ fully vaccinated, which we are expected to reach around 24 November. That is when all limits and restrictions should be lifted. Of course, for some other states and territories, their vaccination rates are behind those of us that have had outbreaks and been in lockdown, and as a result they will be slower to open their borders. But thankfully Australia is starting to emerge from its bubble to join the rest of the world again.

Victorian Earthquake

Melbourne is currently in its sixth lockdown, experiencing another day of anti-lockdown protests in the CBD, and this morning we had an earthquake. When are the locusts arriving? The 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit in the Victorian alpine town of Mansfield at 9:15am at a depth of 10km and was felt in multiple states. As the shaking started I thought either we were having an earthquake or my apartment building was collapsing. The shaking went on for 10-15 seconds and I knew it was above a 5 on the Richter scale. Thankfully there was minimal damage throughout the state, with the biggest casualty being the brick facade of a building on Chapel Street in Windsor. But earthquakes, let alone this size, aren't meant to happen here. The largest earthquake I've experienced was the 6.9 magnitude 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the Bay Area, but this one was equally unnerving as it wasn't expected.

Life In Coronavirus Lockdown: COVID Normal

COVID-19 cases in Australia (source: The Age)

I don't think in our wildest dreams that any of us thought Victoria would have gone 31 straight days without any new COVID-19 cases and ended our second wave. We have celebrated "double doughnut" days of no new cases and no lives lost (although there was one new death today from a previously cleared case) and "triple doughnut" days when the last active case in the state was cleared and left hospital on 24 November.

Victoria is now on the Last Step of the roadmap for reopening, which means most things have reopened with certain density limits, you can have visitors to your home, face masks are no longer mandatory outside (unless you can't socially distance from others), and as of today up to 25 per cent of private sector workers could begin returning to their offices. I have started venturing out to catch up with friends, eat at restaurants, go shopping and head back to the gym (although the timetable is still very limited). The Melbourne CBD is starting to come back to life, with events such as Urban Blooms and the Myer Christmas Windows attracting people back to the city.

As of today there have been 27,904 cases and 908 deaths due to COVID-19 in Australia. The only current active outbreak in the country is in Adelaide, which was the result of the virus escaping hotel quarantine (sound familiar?). Most state and territory borders will be open as of 1 December, which means people can travel interstate without having to quarantine for 14 days. I think we are all cautiously optimistic as we head into December and start living a COVID Normal summer once final announcements are made in the next week.

Life In Coronavirus Lockdown: Reopening

COVID-19 cases in Australia (source: The Age)

It has been a long road for metropolitan Melbourne, but after 111 days we finally emerged from our lockdown at 11:59 pm on Tuesday, 27 October. It took an extra week to get here due to an outbreak in the northern suburbs, but the good news is that it is contained and we are under the 14 day average threshold of five new cases and five mystery cases per day. Melbourne is now on the Third Step of the roadmap, which means there are no restrictions on reasons to leave home, retail and hospitality have reopened (with distancing rules in place), and you can meet with friends and family either in groups of 10 outdoors or with up to two people from the same household inside your home once a day. 

 

The city is coming back to life and there was genuine relief and excitement when the announcement was made on Monday by Premier Dan Andrews (wearing his weekend North Face jacket). If all continues to go well over the next week we should see a further easing of restrictions in metro Melbourne on 8 November, including the elimination of the 25km travel radius and 'ring of steel' border with regional Victoria, which will bring the state back together again.

 

As of today there have been 27,581 cases and 907 deaths due to COVID-19 in Australia. The big political issue of the moment is borders between states and trying to get those open before Christmas. All the other states and territories minus Victoria and New South Wales have no cases and are finally opening up to each other. The question is when will we get to join them? Then there is the prospect of international travel bubbles with countries in the Asia Pacific, with New Zealanders being the first to travel to Australia and not have to quarantine on arrival.

Life In Coronavirus Lockdown: Roadmap To Reopening

COVID-19 cases in Australia (source: The Age)

 

Slowly but surely Victoria is getting on top of its second wave and is now on the road to reopening the state. The roadmap was released a few weeks ago and we are already a bit ahead of schedule. While regional Victoria has nearly no cases and reopened to the Third Step on 16 September, metropolitan Melbourne is basically still in lockdown. The First Step on 13 September allowed for singles to form a social bubble with a person from another household, people to be outside for two hours a day, and moved curfew to start one hour later at 9pm. 

 

On 27 September since metro Melbourne surpassed the 14 day average of between 30-50 new cases per day, we were able to move to the Second Step. This meant the curfew was removed and allowed for the reopening of childcare and return to schooling for most year levels in Term 4, an increase in permitted workers for certain industries, and up to five people from two households to meet in public during the two hours outside a day. These restrictions will be in place until at least 19 October, where the Third Step can be triggered if we have a 14 day average of under five new cases a day.

As of today there have been 27,078 cases and 886 deaths due to COVID-19 in Australia. Victoria's daily cases have averaged in the low teens for the past few days, with 365 active confirmed cases. The biggest story of the past few weeks has been Victoria's COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry, where various department secretaries, Ministers and the Premier testified last week. On Saturday the Minister for Health resigned from Parliament. On Monday the three counsel assisting the inquiry delivered their conclusions based on the evidence, which were pretty damning. You can read more about it in the article Devastation and despair: Hotel quarantine failures blamed for 768 deaths.

Life In Coronavirus Lockdown: Stage 4 Restrictions

COVID-19 cases in Australia (Source: The Age)

 

As cases continued to rise in Victoria, metropolitan Melbourne ended up going into Stage 4 lockdown on 2 August 2020 for six weeks. These restrictions meant that a curfew was put into place from 8pm - 5am, and you needed to stay within a 5km radius of your home when shopping for essentials or exercising outside for one hour per day (allowed with one other person). All but the most essential services and retailers were closed, and you had to have a worker permit from your employer if you couldn't work from home. Schools throughout the state went back to remote learning and the rest of Victoria went into Stage 3 restrictions (including mandatory face masks/coverings).

 

Thankfully the restrictions have been working, and the second wave is trending downward. Over the last few days Victoria has started to get under 100 new cases per day, the lowest numbers since early July. As of today there have been 25,746 cases and 652 deaths due to COVID-19 in Australia, with the vast majority of recent cases occurring in Victoria in the health and aged care sectors. Borders between states and territories remain closed, and while Queensland and New South Wales have had some small outbreaks, they have been able to contract trace and keep clusters under control.

For me Stage 4 hasn't changed things too much since I was already mainly staying at home except to go grocery shopping once a week. I have accumulated an assortment of reusable cloth face masks to wear for when I head outside. At work I am currently contributing to the COVID-19 effort for the next few weeks by working on school closures and reopenings in a jobshare arrangement where I am on from Wednesday - Saturday and have Sunday - Tuesday off. I've also been focused on the wildfires back home in the Bay Area as my cousin is current evacuated from her home (whieh thankfully is still standing) and my brother was on an evacuation warning before that fire became under control.

As things improve in Victoria attention is turning to the easing of restrictions and how we will begin to reopen. Premier Dan Andrews has flagged that he will be making announcements about a roadmap out of restrictions on Sunday, 6 September. The new case numbers and levels of community transmission this week will determine if Stage 4 restrictions will extend beyond 13 September. It's good that there is some light at the end of the tunnel as we head into spring and may be able to get out and see people again.

Life In Coronavirus Lockdown: The Second Wave

COVID-19 cases in Australia (source: The Age)

Back in June things were looking promising in Australia as restrictions were lifted and places started to gradually open back up. I had three glorious weeks of being able to travel into the Melbourne CBD to go to the gym after work. However, coronavirus transmissions were bubbling away in Melbourne's north and west, likely from security breaches in hotel quarantine (there's currently a judicial inquiry to investigate what happened). As a result, Victoria's coronavirus case numbers started to increase again, and on 9 July Metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire went back into Stage 3 lockdown. The rest of the states and territories implemented travel bans against Victoria and we became the pariah of the country.

As of today there have been 16,906 cases and 196 deaths from COVID-19 in Australia, with the vast majority of these numbers coming from Victoria. Even current outbreaks of cases in New South Wales and Queensland can be traced back to people who have recently been in Melbourne. The closing of borders with Victoria resulted in every single Victorian sports team moving to hubs in other states (mainly Queensland) so seasons could continue. Now that Greater Sydney has been declared a hot spot their sports teams are also having to move so as to avoid 14 day state quarantines.

Every day around 11am I watch the Victorian press conference to get the daily update on numbers from Premier Dan Andrews and Victoria's Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton. Despite being half way through our current six week Stage 3 lockdown, and a week into mandatory face mask/covering wearing, our numbers have not been improving as hoped. We were getting a few hundred new cases a day, but the last two days have been the worst yet with Thursday seeing a record-high 723 new cases and today 627 cases. The main transmission sources of this second wave have been in workplaces with more casual/insecure workers, abattoirs, public housing, healthcare workers and aged care homes.

It's quite disheartening that the current restrictions aren't bringing down the new case numbers. It was flagged today that further data analysis will be done in the next couple days to determine if Melbourne needs to go to Stage 4 lockdown. In any case, I don't think our current lockdown will be ending in the next three weeks on 19 August as currently planned. I also doubt I will be making it back into the office this year.

For some historical perspective, this article in The Age by Zach Hope looks at the parallels of our current situation with the 1919 Spanish flu in Melbourne - Masks, lockdowns and a second wave: A century on, history repeats itself.

Stefano's Restaurant Mildura

This afternoon a group of us flew up to Mildura, located in the north western part of Victoria along the border with New South Wales, for a work meeting we are having tomorrow. Since today is my director Sean's birthday we decided to celebrate by having dinner at Stefano's Restaurant in the cellar of the Mildura Grand Hotel. Owned and run by chef Stefano de Pieri, he cooks Italian food using seasonal and fresh produce.

We had the five course Italian style set menu for $99 per person. This degustation started with fried calamari with a light rocket salad. Next we had a beautiful spinach souffle with pesto and truffle oil. It was full of flavor and my favorite dish of the night. The third course was a simple pork ravioli with a cream sauce.

Our fourth and main dish was a perfectly cooked rump steak with green beans, very flavorful roasted potatoes and an almond puree. Even after these four courses I didn't feel too full as the serving sizes were just right and they spaced out each dish so you could enjoy it. For dessert we had a really lovely vanilla custard in a cinnamon flavored small filo pastry bowl with a fresh piece of mango on top. As a bonus they brought us out some handmade chocolates to finish off the night.

Overall it was a really tasty meal with excellent service in the unique surrounds of the historic cellar restaurant. If you are ever in Mildura I would recommend eating there or at any of the other venues Stefano runs in town.

Christmas In Sorrento

A few of my friends were kind enough to extend invitations to me to join them for Christmas, and I took up the first offer I received from Onagh to join her and her extended family in Sorrento along the Mornington Peninsula. We got a ride down to her cousin's place, which has recently finished being renovated and has a great beachy vibe.

We had a beautiful spread of food for Christmas lunch, with a salmon roulade to start and then ham, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, snow peas and a couple salads to eat for the main. Everyone wore their crowns from the Christmas crackers, and we enjoyed the breeze out on the deck during the hot afternoon.

After opening presents and having a bit of Christmas pudding for dessert, everyone headed down to the beach at Lavender Hill, home of the Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club. It was a beautiful afternoon and swimming in the water from the bay was the perfect way to cool down.

We headed back to the house for some more celebrations in the evening before heading back to Onagh's aunt's house up the road to sleep. It was a very Aussie way to spend my Christmas, although tempered by the bushfires in Wye River and Separation Creek along the Great Ocean Road which saw the loss of 116 homes.

Victorian State Election 2014

Photo by Scott Barbour

There has been a change of government in Victoria as the Labor Party swept into power in yesterday's state election.  Daniel Andrews is now the Premier-elect of Victoria, but we will need to wait a few days for the final results as over 30% of people voted early and those votes won't start to be counted by the Victorian Electoral Commission until tomorrow. 

There are quite a few seats that are too close to call, many of them in the inner city where the Greens could pick up more seats beyond its historic win in Melbourne.  It will also be interesting to see how preferences flow in the Upper House as it's expected that a number of micro parties will control the Legislative Council.

Here is some analysis about the election result:
"How things went so wrong for the Napthine and the Liberal Party" by Josh Gordon
"Tony Abbott sweats as Victorian voters cast harsh judgement" by Mark Kenny

Party Tricks

We're entering the second week of the Victorian State Election campaign but the tv version portrayed in Party Tricks has just finished.  Victorian Premier Kate Ballard (Asher Keddie) is in her first election campaign as Premier and heading to certain victory when the Coalition announces a shock new candidate- former tv reporter and popular media personality David McLeod (Rodger Corser).  The six part series, produced by John Edwards and Imogen Banks, follows the ups and downs of the election campaign as the candidates try to keep one part of their shared history private- a secret affair from years ago.

Party Tricks was great fun to watch as they did a wonderful job of capturing the realities of politics in Victoria.  The campaign slogans, posters and ads were spot on.  The show even created campaign sites for Ballard and McLeod as well as social media accounts for the candidates that mirrored what was happening in the episodes and on the campaign trail each week.  The outcome of the election was close, but we'll just have to wait and see if fantasy mirrors reality at the end of the month.

With Friends Like Abbott...

We are just a few days away from the official start of the Victorian state election campaign on Tuesday, but that hasn't stopped both Labor and the Coalition from making some early policy announcements.  It will likely be a close result, although Labor is currently leading in the polls 56 per cent to 44 per cent on the two-party preferred vote.  In order to avoid getting thrown out of office after only one term, I get the feeling the state Coalition would prefer not to be associated with the Commonwealth Government.  I mean, look at the two pictures below of Premier Denis Napthine and Prime Minister Tony Abbott, which appeared in articles in The Age this week.

Photo from The Age

Photo from The Age by Angela Wylie

The Prime Minister says he wants to "do everything I can to help my friend Denis Napthine."  I wonder if that includes being too busy to visit Victoria in November.

StArt Up: Top Arts 2014

I was fortunate enough to attend the opening of StArt Up: Top Arts 2014 this evening at the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia in Federation Square.  The exhibition presents outstanding work by students who completed Art or Studio Arts studies in the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) in 2013.  From over 3,000 submissions, 49 students were chosen to exhibit their work.  These were some of my favorites pieces:

Gemma Topliss

June Uili- Sina and the tuna

Paris Triantis

Hieu Nguyen- Mind like a river

The exhibition runs from 11 April - 20 July so be sure to check out the works of these talented young artists.

Mornington Peninsula Wine Tour

Today was Leilani's last full day in Melbourne so I took the day off work so we could go on a wine tour of the Mornington Peninsula.  Our Wine Tours Victoria driver picked us up in the city and we got to spend the day with a lovely group of ladies from all over the globe.  We drove out of the city through St Kilda, Elwood and the bayside suburbs along Beach Road before joining up with the Nepean Highway.  It was a really nice drive and amazingly my first time on Beach Road.  I also now know where to find the Brighton Beach bathing boxes, which I have never seen in person before.  Our first stop for the day was up at Arthurs Seat State Park for morning tea at the summit.  On the drive up we stopped for some pictures of the peninsula at one of the outlooks then had our tea/coffee and a piece of fruitcake on the park benches.

The first winery we visited for the day was T'Gallant.  Known mainly for their Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris wines, we got to taste a wide variety of what they had on offer:
- Ophelia Sparkling Pinot Noir/Chardonnay Vintage 2008
- Grace Pinot Grigio 2012
- Imogen Pinot Gris 2013
- Holystone Rosé 2012
- Cape Schanck Pinot Noir 2013
- Cyrano Pinot Noir 2013
- T'Gallant Pink Muscato 2013
- Romeo 2013
- Odysseus Nebbiolo 2012
My favorites were the Ophelia Sparkling Pinot Noir/Chardonnay and the Imogen Pinot Gris.  Lei was intrigued by the different flavor profiles of the wines and asked some technical questions that I think secretly thrilled our server.

Next we went to Montalto Vineyard and Olive Grove where we got to sample both wine and olive oil.  The olive oils were very tasty and I especially liked the lemon infused one and their Chardonnay Estate verjuice.  Once again we got a variety of wines to taste:
- 2013 Montalto "Estate" Riesling
- 2013 Pennon Hill Pinot Grigio
- 2013 Pennon Hill Rosé
- 2012 Montalto "Estate" Chardonnay
- 2012 Pennon Hill Pinot Noir
- 2012 Montalto "Estate" Pinot Noir
- 2012 Pennon Hill Shiraz
- 2013 Pennon Hill Moscato
The reds had a peppery taste and I really liked the Montalto "Estate" Pinot Noir, as well as the Moscato, which Lei has gotten me into while she's been staying here.

For lunch we stopped at the Merricks General Wine Store where we had a quick tasting before sitting down for our meal:
- Sparking Moscato 2010
- Merricks General Wine Store Pinot Grigio 2012
- Quealy Tussie Mussie Pinot Gris 2013
- Quealy Pobblebonk 2012 Field Blend
- Baillieu Rosé 2013
- Baillieu Pinot Noir 2011
- Quealy Rageous 2013 (Sangiovese, Shiraz & Pinot Noir blend)

My two favorites here were the Quealy Tussie Mussie Pinot Gris and the Quealy Rageous, which I had a glass of with my lunch.  We moved from the tasting area to a table and began our lunch by sharing the Merricks general platter that contained a house made kitchen charcuterie served with toasties.  We then had our choice of mains and I got the beef and ale pie on a pea purée with leaf salad, which tasted fantastic.  I also got to sample Lei's chicken which was also yummy.  It was a nice and relaxed lunch stop and great opportunity to chat with the people in our tour group.

We then hit the road for our final winery of the day, Dromana Estate, which featured four different wine labels to taste from:
- Mornington Estate 2012 Sauvignon Blanc
- Mornington Estate 2012 Pinot Gris
- David Traeger 2013 Verdelho
- Mornington Estate 2012 Chardonnay
- Dromana Estate 2012 Chardonnay
- 'i' range Sangiovese 2013
- Mornington Estate 2012 Pinot Noir
- Dromana Estate 2012 Pinot Noir
- David Traeger 2009 Shiraz
- Dromana Estate Non-Vintage Ascuitto
- 'i' Range Late Harvest Arnesis
I really liked the Mornington Estate Sauvignon Blanc and the Dromana Estate Pinot Noir although by this time I think my taste buds were over it since we had sampled so many wines throughout the day.

Overall it was great to be able to try such a wide variety of wines from the Mornington Peninsula, but a bit overwhelming to have nearly 10 different wines at each stop.  The tastings also felt rushed as the servers tried to quickly get through all of them.  Perhaps over time and as the region gets better known they will shorten down their tasting menus to their top five sellers instead of trying to showcase every variety coming out of their vineyards.

Great Ocean Road Sunset Tour

It's been over ten years since I last drove along the Great Ocean Road, so I was excited to be able to take a day off work to celebrate Leilani's birthday with a sunset tour.  Our tour van was a bit late picking us up in Melbourne but soon our group was on its way heading toward Geelong.  Our first stop was Aireys Inlet to see the memorial arch, which was originally built by returned servicemen from WWI.  We also got to take a quick walk on the beach before getting back in the van for our lunch stop in Lorne.  We ate our sandwiches from an overlook of the town and were able to watch some surfers attempt to surf the small waves.

After some further driving on the windy road and a couple stops at scenic outlooks we arrived at the Cape Otway Lightstation.  Thankfully we had mostly blue skies and a great view of the lighthouse and ocean.  On the way out we even stopped along the roadside to see some koalas in the surrounding eucalyptus trees.

Our next big stop was Gibsons Steps where we walked down from the cliff to the beach for an amazing view.  At first it was cloudy but the sun burst through while we were down there to give the cliffs an amazing glow in the afternoon light.

For dinner we stopped in Port Campbell at the aptly named Frying Nemo for fish and chips before heading back on the road to Loch Ard Gorge.  As we walked down the stairs we had fantastic views of the Gorge along the beach.  Back up on the cliffs we were in awe as The Razorback came into view.  It was simply stunning.

 

We then were in a race against time to drive to our final stop, the Twelve Apostles, for sunset.  Unfortunately there were some low clouds along the horizon which made the sun disappear sooner than scheduled but the views of the Twelve Apostles from various points along the lookout were still fantastic.

 

 

As we left the Twelve Apostles it was dark.  We stopped for some tea and biscuits under the stars half way along the drive and made it back into the city a bit after 11:30 pm.  Although the tour was a bit rushed as we crammed in a lot of stops throughout the day, the views made the long journey worth the trip.

New Directions for School Leadership and the Teaching Profession

This morning I was privileged to attend the launch of the discussion paper I've been working on New directions for school leadership and the teaching profession by the Premier, Minister responsible for the Teaching Profession, and Minister for Education at Parliament House.  The paper outlines the Government's strategy for moving the Victorian education system into the global top tier by improving the teaching profession.  The three key reform areas focus on attracting great people into teaching, creating a high performing profession, and leaders providing strong direction and support.  Consultation on the paper will now occur over the next few months, and should lead to a longer term strategy.

Dan Sultan and Alexander Gow

When Dan Sultan and Alexander Gow (Oh Mercy) announced their tour together, Tash suggested we make a weekend of it and see them play in Castlemaine as she wanted to check out the Theatre Royal.  Yesterday Mary and I drove to Ballarat to meet up with Tash and Michelle for lunch at a pub (also so Tash could watch the footy).  It was good to briefly catch up with Michelle before she had to head down to Melbourne for a family dinner.  After the footy match was finished we headed back to Tash's place where her work colleague Michelle met us and then we hit the road for Castlemaine.

Central Victoria is a bit of a foodie hotbed and we had a fantastic dinner at the Public Inn.  They serve wine directly from the barrel and I had a delicious and filling potato gnocchi.  After eating we headed to the Theatre Royal for the gig, and were let into the venue once the dining service was done for those who had tickets for dinner and the show.  Both Dan and Alexander came out on stage at the start and played three songs together, including Icehouse's "Great Southern Land" and the Oh Mercy track "Keith St."

Dan left the stage and Alexander played his solo set on both acoustic and electric guitar.  He started with "On The Run" and we got a mix of tracks from both albums: "Mercy Valley," "Hold Out Your Hand," "Blue Lagoon," "Lay Everything On Me," "Get You Back" and "Stay Please Stay." We were lucky enough to hear three new songs titled "My Man," "Europa" and "Lady Eucalyptus," as well as a few covers.  Alexander was funny and charming throughout his set despite some rude, noisy people at the bar.  He was also loving his eye drops, applying them a few times during the evening.  He closed his set with Bruce Springsteen's "Racing in the Street" so that he, like Dan, would have a song about cars in his set (although he didn't understand the first two verses of the song).

After an intermission Dan came out to play his solo set starting on piano and then switching to guitar.  His grandmother was in the audience (at the table in front of us) and he told stories throughout the night about his time in Castlemaine with relatives while he was growing up.  Dan played songs from his two albums, including "Old Fitzroy," "Enemy," "Get Out While You Can," "Nyul Nyul Girl" and a very powerful rendition of "Roslyn."  He came back out for an encore of a couple of songs and then invited Alexander to rejoin him on stage.  They finished the night with covers of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" and Hoodoo Gurus' "I Want You Back."  It was a really great show, and I had a brief chat with Alexander afterwards.  I thanked him for explaining the lyrics to "Mercy Valley," and since Oh Mercy will be in the States while I am there hopefully I'll be able to catch a show if the timing works out.

We headed out into the cold and hit the road to drive back to Ballarat.  Mary and I stayed the night at Tash's miner's cottage (or the igloo as we called it before the heater kicked in) and then drove back to Melbourne this morning.  It's always nice to go on a little road trip, especially when I don't have a car here.

Happy Holidays

Since I was not going to fly home for the holidays, Clinton invited me to join his family's celebrations this weekend in Rosebud, which is about an hour and half south-east of Melbourne.  The boys picked me up and we drove down around noon on Christmas Day.  His family were very welcoming and even had little Christmas presents for me (which was nice because my presents from home are currently MIA and likely stuck in customs).  I brought some snowball cookies to contribute to the meal and a bottle of wine, which turned out to a favorite of Clinton's father.

The weather was warm but not too hot and the backyard tables were festively decorated.  Various family members stopped in and joined the celebrations throughout the afternoon.  We had so much food to eat starting with chips, dip, cheese and crackers.  We then had prawns, barbecue steak, sausage, shish kebabs, coleslaw and potato salad.  On top of all this food Clinton's brother, who is a bartender, was mixing drinks and made sangria as well as various fruit daiquiris.  After digesting the late afternoon lunch we ate Clinton's pavlova and my cookies for dessert.  There were lots of funny stories about growing up in Rosebud and we played a few games.  It was a nice evening.

Today we woke up to some rain, but it managed to clear by early afternoon.  Since I haven't ever explored the Mornington Peninsula before, Clinton's parents took us for a bit of a drive around the area.  We started with a walk in Arthurs Seat State Park with its great views of Port Phillip Bay and the Seawinds Garden, which contains several sculptures by William Ricketts.  The chairlift to the summit isn't working, but Clinton, Kevin and I took a picture on "Arthurs Seat."  We next drove down to Point Nepean Road and through the various seaside towns on the way to Sorrento to visit Clinton's brother, who was working.  We took a walk along the front beach and out onto one of the piers.  After some fish and chips at the restaurant we headed back to Rosebud and then packed up the car for the drive back to Melbourne.  It was such a lovely weekend and a great way to spend the Christmas holiday.

Locusts!

Victoria's worst locust plague in 70 years has reached Melbourne in the past couple days due to the warm weather.  I spotted my first one walking to the train station this morning.  Thankfully they are not swarming in the city like they are in other parts of the state.  We had a lot of rain today, so I am hoping that has washed many of them away.

The New Premier

Yesterday afternoon John Brumby conceded the election to the Coalition, which means Ted Baillieu is now the 46th Premier of Victoria.  It will be interesting to see how much things change in government, especially since Labor has been in power for the past 11 years.  We are still awaiting confirmation on who the Ministers will be, as well as the appointment of a new Secretary for our Department.  I do hope though that we don't have to endure daily photos of Baillieu out for his morning swim.