March was incredibly laid-back for us. We spent most of our time at the house or on the local beaches in Torquay. It was the end of summer here, so the weather varied a lot. There were a few super hot, rainy, and cold days. It’s been interesting to experience the inconsistency of Torquay temperatures.
The slow pace allowed us to make immediate plans and develop possible future ideas and goals. The destinations were few, but the productivity was high, and we’re happy with that. At our mature ages, we can’t fly by the seat of our pants every week or every month. Right?! Lol!
Where We Went
We visited a few new beaches throughout the month. Apparently, there are about 560 ocean beaches in Victoria. We have no plans to visit all of them, but we wanted to visit as many of the 20 Torquay beaches as possible. Like many places worldwide, beach names change with little hoopla or signage, making the number of beaches a bit debatable. I think we’ve seen about 15 of the beaches in this area, and we’ve got a couple of favorites. We especially appreciate that most of the beaches are dog-friendly.
The Stops
- Torquay, Victoria, Australia
- Point Lonsdale, Victoria, Australia
- Points Lonsdale Dog Beach, Point Lonsdale Front Beach, Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park
- Ocean Grove, Victoria, Australia
- Barwon Heads, Victoria, Australia
- Geelong, Victoria, Australia
- 13th Beach, Springs Beach, Jan Juc Beach, Bells Beach, Torquay Surf Beach, Winkipop, Front Beach, Whites Beach
What We Did
For most of the month, we worked on our blog, Etsy, and Amazon Storefront updates, spent time at the beach with the dogs, planned upcoming travel, and practiced photographing surfers. It was a get-things-done four-week era.
At the end of the month, we attended all five official days of the Rip Curl Bells Beach Pro competition. It was as cool and so different than we had imagined.
The 18th was our 2nd anniversary, so we celebrated with an Italian meal at Il Matto in Torquay. The experience was meh. The food, the staff, the restaurant setup, and the ambiance were all very underwhelming. Oh well.
I joined a local women’s group, and one of the ladies and I have been meeting about twice a week to walk the beach together. It’s been so nice to learn about local life and insider tips about the area.
The One Planet Festival in Torquay was small but impressive. The festival consisted of booths and organizations teaching locals how to recycle and reuse and about different earth and ocean issues within their community.
It’s really nice to see how different places around the world support and educate their citizens on how to care for our world. It’s also super important to learn what different locations are facing.
This also educated us on a Paddle Out, which supported stopping seismic blasting off the coast of Victoria. We fully supported this event and wish we could have been on the water, but we supported it from the beach. To find out more about this issue, click here.
We finalized and booked some future travel. We are now booked out through July. The year is flying by.
Our Medium page was launched this month. We wanted to experiment with different writing platforms. Our page will mix new and old stories about our travels, house, pet sitting, and random rambles. We’d love your support, so please find us here.
The Great
Favorites
We really enjoyed Springs Beach and the Port Phillips Heads Marine National Park. The day we went, it wasn’t busy, and it was mid-tide. Part of the tide pools were visible, and the walk along the shoreline with the rocks, lighthouse, and cliff view was beautiful. Seems like a great place to snorkel and swim. We hope to get back here again soon.
The Rip Curl Beach Bell Pro competition was a blast. The series is always held the week before and after the Easter weekend. Competition does not happen daily, but you can find surfing going on pretty much daily. I remember watching this yearly contest on one of the weekend sports highlight shows. Finally, seeing it in person was a must-do event. Every morning, a call is made whether “It’s On”. Obviously, the surf and weather are the main factors, and every year is totally different. It’s a lot of hurry up and wait – you wait for the call every morning, and if it’s on, you wait for the waves to come through.
The coolest parts of the event were the surfing and the accessibility of the sports pros. The pros were graciously available for photos and autographs. They were all very down-to-earth and polite.
The LOLs
??? can’t think of any
The Not So Great
I tried to get a Data Annotation job and seemed to have aced the first round of questions, but seemingly failed the exam and didn’t get anything further from them. I’ve been looking for work I can do online, on a flexible schedule, and without speaking requirements. It would have been perfect, but wasn’t meant to be.
America’s political crap. Unless something happens between now and November, the country is fucked, no matter the outcome. And to watch it from afar and from the perspective of other countries has been eye-opening, embarrassing, shameful, confusing, … sad, so very sad. And yes, one can feel negatively about the things happening in their own country and still have pride in being from their country. Both can be true.
The Least Favorite
Summer is turning into fall here in Australia. The trees have started to shed their leaves. That means the weather will soon get chillier, and we aren’t prepared for it. I’m not sure that’s really the least favorite…it’s more we’re not super excited about it feeling.
The Oops
*knock on wood* I can’t think of any oops moments for the month.
What We Learned
We learned that we really needed some time of nothing of particular importance. The rest and recharge have been wonderful.
We learned much about the Rip Curl Bells Beach Pro, which we will post about. Before, we couldn’t find much information for the spectators, and we wish we had known a few things before arriving.
What We Read/Watched
We watched a lot, lot, a lot of shows this month.
A few of note:
- Apples Never Fall on Peacock – we watched it all in one sitting. It wasn’t an OMG great show, but it was interesting enough to keep us glued.
- American Fiction – Loved it! Great storyline. Great one-liners! Great acting!
- Damsel on Netflix – it was fine.
- The Masked Singer—Yes, I love it, but Nicole is gone. I’m not swayed by Rita just yet.
- The Traitors on Peacock – Better than Season 1
- Taylor Swift Eras Tour Movie – Long! Matt loved it. I thought it was fine but totally different than live for 3+ hours.
- Past Lives – A bit slow but so sweet.
We started but haven’t finished Oppenheimer, Poor Things, and other shows I can’t remember.
Up Next
I can’t believe it is April already! For the first week of April, we will be at Bells Beach watching the end of the Rip Curl Surfing contest. We don’t have anything scheduled in mid-April, but things pick up at the end of April. Our 1st 90 days in Australia expire, so we will spend our last week in Tasmania before flying to Taiwan for a few weeks. Then, I will return to Torquay for another month while Matt goes to the US to work on a project with his dad in Washington.
As always, follow us on our social media channels (@Travelationship) to see what we’re doing in real time.