Back to our regularly scheduled programming...for now

Well, hello! I disappeared again. During my blogging absence, I had a lovely visit with my friend, Nan, who came all the way from CO to visit. She was here for 10 wonderful days.
At first, I was uncertain of 10 days with someone, but we ended up have heaps of fun. She was the perfect couch surfing companion.
Nan saw lots of the city and did a bunch of shopping. During the week, we attended a Jane's Addiction show and she went to yoga and the beach. Over the weekend she was here, all three of us hired a car and went to Wilsons Promontory National Park, about 3 hrs from Melbourne. We stayed at in a nice-but-low budget cabin (Promhills Cabins, click here for my review) The owners had alpacas on the property. They were pretty cute.
It has turned out to be great to rent a cabin or a "self contained" unit. They typically come with a kitchenette. In the beyond dinky town of Yanakie, just outside the park, having our own kitchen was mandatory. There wasn't a restaurant in site. We picked up groceries in a larger town along the way and cooked all our meals at our cabin.
At the park, we viewed some great beaches. Squeaky Beach, named so because the uniformity of the sand grains causes them to squeak underfoot as you walk. Whisky Beach was simply gorgeous. I think a crate of whiskey washed up on shore a long time ago, hence that name.
After about 3hrs of hiking, we got to see the beach at Sealers Cove. This hike wasn't terribly difficult, but we nearly killed Nan with a 6hr hike on her recently healed sprained ankle. Sorry, hun! See more Wilsons Prom pics at Jim's blog
On our way back to Melbourne, we stopped at a petting zoo of sorts so Nan could see some Aussie wildlife. We got to see roos (even an "albeeno" one), wallabies, koalas and more. Because of the conditions, it was a little sad.

As the dynamic diva duo, we went on a wine tour of the Yarra Valley. It was a day trip. We paid $98/person. Simon, our guide, picked up in the city center and drove us around to 4 wineries with about 16 other people. We were even provided with a gourmet lunch at one of the vineyards. From the selection of 4 lunch items, Nan and I both chose the lamb. It was divine! We could have paid about $50 more to go on our own private tour, but we ended up have a great time socializing with the other international passengers.
Wine day was followed by surf day, in the "Surf City" of Torquay (pronounced Tor-key). Apparently this is where Quicksilver and Rip Curl, popular names in surfing, got their start. For this day trip, we were also picked up in the city. Our group was small, only 7 of us in total. For this day, we paid $148 for the 1.25 hr drive to Torquay, wetsuits, board, and lunch (a 6" sub from subway, juice box and cookie). It turned out to be a great day for surfing. We practiced our moves in the sand before going out into the waves. Alistair, was our instructor. He also owns Great Ocean Road Surf Tours. All in all, it was a good day. Having never surfed before, I thought I got a good idea of how it's done. I was able to stand up a few times. My form definitely needs some improvement, but I would do it again. Nan accurately compared getting beat up in the waves to "being in a washing machine." We were exhausted at the end of the day.
The last day :( Nan was here, we did a speed tour of the city and she was able to get rid of the remainder of her Aussie cash. We went to the famous Degraves Laneway, where saw the last seconds of a gypsy band playing. Then we had a quick tour of the free part of the Ian Potter art museum. Whew.