Seaside living

Last weekend we said goodbye to our house guests from the last 4 months as they resumed their travels around Australia, next stop Sydney.   In celebration of Adam's birthday we took Adam and Coralee for lunch in Williamstown.  Barnadi found a nice looking seafood restaurant called the Strand which had views across the bay with the city skyline as its backdrop.  We shared a couple of starters including a selection of various sharing dishes and some soft shell crab.  For mains, Adam had lamb an unusual choice for a seafood restaurant.  Barnadi had the salmon after a difficult decision between the salmon and the risotto.  Both Coralee and myself had the Barramundi, we were all very happy with our choices and still had just enough room to try a little dessert.  We walked off our big lunch along the rocky seafront between the harbour and the beach.  The walk left me with a sense of envy as we looked at the stunning mansions along the shore with their even more stunning views.  An earlier check at a property website revealed that most of these foreshore mansions would require funds in the millions to acquire.  It is therefore an unrealistic dream that one day we might be able to move to a sea front property in Williamstown. 

View from Williamstown

The other big change in our household this week was the addition of central heating.  Despite Melbourne being hot in summer and cold in winter, insulating never seemed to play a part in building designs.  With our heating now installed the next step is to improve our insulation, double glazing being our first big priority, although at a cost of $13,000 + it may have to wait a little bit longer. 

We have created another area of poor insulating recently by installing a cat flap into our back door.  The flap itself didn't last long as Goofy constantly banging his head through it has successfully removed it permanently.  Jessie is really enjoying her new found freedom, having lots of space to run around and learning how to climb trees keeps her occupied most days.  She has even started hunting, although starting small, her current quarry is crickets.  She catches one and brings it into the house minus its back legs, she then lets it run for a bit before pouncing on it.  This process would be repeated indefinitely until the cricket gives up trying to escape, then she gets bored and leaves it alone, shaken but still alive.

Goofy trying out Jessie's new cat flap