Wine, cheese, and weights--oh my!

Today was the the first day of the last third of my trip! The conference ended (for me) last night, so this morning, I slept in until 10:30! I've been getting up between 6:15-6:45 all week, so it was a very welcome change!

This morning while Anne and I were talking about our plans for the week, we heard a wierd noise and Anne thought the fan in the kitchen had broken. I had been sitting cross-legged on the couch, and felt like I was a bit dizzy. It turns out it was a 4.6 earthquake!!! :) It's the first earthquake I've felt while outside the US (even though quakes happened while I was in Chile, I didn't feel any). I thought it was interesting, because it was the first time that I've felt a quake, that I didn't KNOW was an earthquake. How bizzare!

Julianna made us a simple carrot, mushroom, and cabbage soup for lunch. After lunch, Julianna, Anne, and I hopped in the car and headed out of Melbourne. We drove NE to the Yarra Valley. First, we went to an art exhibit for the Archibald award--a contest for the best portrait painted in the last year. There were about 30 submissions. My favorite was of a female scientist, of course!

Next, we went wine tasting-I don't remember the name of the winery, but I was not impressed with anything they had. The best things (read: only things I liked,) I tasted were the Cabernet Viognier, the Tawny, and a really sweet 'ice' wine (not really an ice wine). Everything else tasted like fruity water.

After that, we drove around some cow pastures to a local dairy. This was my favorite part of the day! We got hot chocolates that rival any I've ever had before! (Corey, you would have LOVED it!!!) We did a cheese tasting (3 goat, 3 cow) before drinking our hot cocoas. The cheeses were all fresh made, and tasted incredible. I bought us an ashed goat cheese (way cheaper than I thought it was going to be!), and some marinated cheese... I'm not sure what kind it was, other than heavenly! Yummmmm!

We drove back to the house, and Juliana went off to dinner. Anne and I got changed and went down to a local community center for an exercise class. It was a lot of fun, albeit hard work! The trainer had the eight of us in attendance do about 55 minutes of circuits with weights or on a mat. We did a bunch of arm, core, and leg exercises! I think I'll probably be sore tomorrow. :)

When we got back to the house, I made us a dinner: a vegetable masala curry (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aarti-sequeira/chickpea-and-artichoke-masala-recipe/index.html), and a simple couscous with parmesan, oregano, and lemon.

Tomorrow, Anne, Julianna, her boyfriend James, and I are going on a day trip to a place called Philip Island. At night, fairy penguins come up on the beach to sleep! Before that, we're probably going to a Japanese hot springs. We'll play it by ear and let weather dictate our path!

As for the rest of the week: Thursday, Anne and I are planning to explore Melbourne a bit (maybe go to the Botanic Gardens and shop, of course)! Friday after lunch, the four of us will head out on a 3-day adventure on the Great Ocean Road. We'll stay in a cabin near koalas on Friday night, and then somewhere near Grampians National Park, and then drive back to Melbourne on Sunday. Steph (Anne's daughter, and my friend from Oxy) might fly in on Sunday! I'll fly out to Sydney on Monday evening! While there, I'll stay with another friend from Oxy. I fly back to LA on July 14th (leave here at 10 AM and get back at 6:30 AM)!

Hopefully I'll have a way to upload pictures before I get back to LA. If not, expect TONS of pictures when I get back. Clearly, my updating will be sporadic over the next few days, as we'll be out and about quite a bit! As for now, I'm going to take a quick hot shower to warm up before crawling into bed.

I hope you all had a fun and safe fourth, filled with LOTS of fireworks!