Mornington Peninsula

It's been a while since we've done any traveling, thanks to Covid and the state of the world. Not only have the international borders been shut from most people coming and going freely to and from Australia, but Australia itself has been pretty strict about hard lockdowns and state border closures - mostly in Victoria where we live, lucky us! The process of booking a trip even an hour away is risky, as some accomodation and transportation services won't offer refunds or rainchecks for lockdown cancellations. And now that we're in yet another hard lockdown, we are even more grateful that our trip was somehow right in between lockdowns #4 and #5.

We decided to explore the Mornington Peninsula for five days, renting a cozy little house in the small town of Dromana. There was a children's room with two bunk beds, which the kids loved playing in, and they did really well sharing a room at bedtime. The house also had a really cool view of the city of Melbourne, tiny in the distance on the other side of the Port Phillip Bay.

our home for five days

Arden loved hanging out in the top bunk

the view from the porch - Melbourne at sunset

For me and the kids, it was our first time being in a car since early January of 2020 (Ben used a car last year for a few work trips, but even that was probably a year ago!), which was exciting especially for car-obsessed Logan. The kids did great during the car ride (although to be fair, Mornington is only about an hour away from where we live in Melbourne...) and it was nice to travel on the road, listening to Ben's playlists and seeing cool landmarks pass by.

the Kortlevers in an actual car!

Travelling with small children is always a challenge, but we were able to see a few really nice spots. And despite it being the rainy winter season here, the weather was mostly sunny and beautiful. Here's what we saw during our sightseeing adventures:

Dromana Beach is a nice spot, with a fun collection of colourful bathing boxes (where people store their beach and boating supplies). Arden loved picking up unique shells, Logan practiced walking on sand (he was slightly terrified) and we saw the cutest Totoro-themed bathing box.

Ashcombe Maze and Lavender Gardens is proclaimed as "Australia's oldest and most famous hedge maze" and was really quite impressive. There were a few different activities for kids, such as a gnome hunt for hidden gnome figures in trees, as well as a similar fairy-themed hunt. It rained a bit the day we went, so some of the areas were a bit muddy, but the kids loved running through the maze and splashing in the puddles with their rainboots.

a view of the maze from the lookout tower

trying to avoid dead ends

London Bridge is a beautiful rock formation in Portsea (not to be confused with another London Bridge along the Great Ocean Road, which is also beautiful!). There's a lookout walkway where you can see nice views of the formation, but you can also walk right up to it and explore the cave-like inside. We visited on a gorgeous day, and due to the winter season it wasn't too crowded.

viewing London Bridge from the lookout

inside the formation

Cape Schanck Lighthouse Reserve is located at the southernmost tip of Mornington Peninsula. Built in 1859, the lighthouse is made of limestone and stands at 69 feet tall (21 meters). It was built as the second coastal lighthouse in Victoria, and is Australia's first lighthouse tower with stairs. It's also a beautiful spot with some cool lookout areas.

Arthur's Seat Eagle is a fun gondola ride that takes you up to the highest point of Mornington Peninsula. We went on a beautiful sunny day - although maybe a bit too sunny for my taste (I prefer a few puffy clouds here and there), but I can't complain about the weather and vitamin D! The kids enjoyed the ride, and Logan still talks lovingly about the gondola.

At the summit are some walking trails that lead to beautiful lookouts of the bay and surrounding areas. It took a while to get the kids to walk along the trails (lots of bribery in the form of snacks...), but we were able to see a few of the gorgeous lookout spots.

enjoying the sunny view

We got extremely lucky and visited the attraction first thing in the morning, bypassing the long line we saw later as we were heading to the car. All in all, it was definitely a fun highlight of our trip!

what's a tourist attraction without a green screen photo op?

Ben also had a birthday during the trip, which was fun. All of our birthdays post-March 2020 have all been simple celebrations at home - even though this was technically still a small celebration in a rental home, it was nice to take a fun trip to mark the occasion.

happy 37th, Ben!

We're not sure what the future holds for travel of any sort, but hopefully it won’t be too long before we take a nice little family vacation again. Since international travel sadly seems to be on hold for the next few years, we might as well explore more of Australia (and most likely more of Victoria, if state borders continue to close swiftly and abruptly...!). At least it's a beautiful place, and we're all safely together.

CK

updates. I guess.

Well, 2020 has been... quite the year. I can't believe we rang in the New Year back in Washington. That trip feels like a decade ago, and simultaneously like a few weeks ago.

"cheers to 2020, babe!" - a billion years ago

When I lived in South Florida over a decade ago, the thing that struck me the most was the strange, stagnant sense of time. Up until then I had only lived in places with four distinct seasons, and time was marked by the change in weather as well as the stereotypical seasonal-based holidays. It felt good to move through the year with purpose, to switch out my wardrobe every three months, to look forward to seasonal events that marked the circular year like perfect little slices of cake. But in South Florida where the hot, humid weather is very much the same year-round, it didn’t feel like things had changed, that I had matured - even though sometimes I think I did the most growing over the course of those 1.5 years. In some ways I felt like a hamster in a wheel, time moving through me instead of me moving through time.

Likewise, 2020 has brought a strange lack of forward motion back into my life. Our existence here in Melbourne is usually marked by seasonal city events, weather changes and a fairly robust travel/visitor schedule (mostly coordinated by my mother, who can't stand the thought of going more than a few months without seeing her grandchildren). 

Obviously, with two young children, our life does move forward through their milestones and changes. Logan especially has grown quite a bit, but it's only obvious to me when I see old photos or videos of him at the beginning of the pandemic. He now runs around the apartment yelling about blue cars and apples and "gah-goo" which is apparently his word for milk. He and Arden mostly fight, but sometimes play together (usually as a procrastination technique right before bedtime) and I'm forever grateful that they have each other during this strange, isolating time. 

At the start of the pandemic, I remarked about how crazy it was that everyone in the world was fighting the same battle. Months later, it's still the same deal... except that certain parts of the world have been using very... different techniques to fight this battle, and now there's a drastic difference in how it's affecting everyone around the planet. Various lockdowns are coming and going in waves around the world. Different countries have different standards and rules for social distancing, masking and personal gatherings. It's been interesting to see the narrative shift throughout the year, as well as the differences in strategy and even in the vocabulary used to reference similar things ("shelter in place," "lockdown," "pod," "bubble," etc.). 

Despite a seemingly mild first wave earlier this year, Melbourne was the site of Australia's most serious cases of community transmission in the middle of the year. As a result, we were put under one of the strictest lockdowns in the world for around two months - while the rest of Australia largely went about actually returning to normal, which was a strange situation to be in (and very frustrating for Victorians who had family and friends in other States, going about daily life as usual). We're just emerging from this lockdown, which many are calling a success as we've had zero new reported cases for almost one month. However, Covid is now cropping up in small outbreaks in other Australian states, a reminder that this thing spreads quickly and quietly, no matter how careful everyone thinks they are.

a group of police and ADF, regularly patrolling the neighbourhood to make sure we're all masking/social distancing

Even though it's been a really hard time for so many people here, I'm very grateful that our government has been taking this seriously and acting quickly to stop things from escalating. We haven't had to make hard and awkward choices about refraining from seeing people the way many of our American friends have had to do - the government has made those choices for us (even though at the moment, many of the States are reimplementing lockdown measures... just in time for the winter holiday season?).

We had been planning on two big trips this year - a visit to Bali in July that we had just booked flights for at the beginning of the year, and also a trip back to the States in October to see our families again, and to take the kids to Disneyland for the first time. Obviously everything was cancelled. It feels a bit like living in a parallel universe - flipping through the calendar, passing the ghosts of postponed trips and events, imagining memories and photos and videos that will never be. I've mentioned before that our cancelled plans are more of an inconvenience for us, and it's not like we've had to cancel large social events such as weddings - we are grateful. But it's still strange and disappointing, and I know our families are missing out on seeing the kids in their various new stages. We're even more grateful that we were able to pull off our holiday visit a year ago, so at least everyone in the family got to meet baby Logan. We FaceTime with family often, which isn't the same - but it's a much more convenient way to keep in touch than letters delivered by courier pigeon.

FaceTime with my parents always includes a music session at the piano. Here we're singing "the horn on the bus goes 'beep beep beep!'"

To help cheer us up this past winter, we made a small family tradition that Arden named "Little Christmas" - or what other people might call "Christmas in July." For the week of July 25th, we celebrated a random week of Christmas - light holiday decorating, making yummy festive treats, dressing in our holiday outfits, enjoying Christmas movies and music, and exchanging some small presents on the morning of the 25th (the kids got small presents, while the adults wrapped up Useful things like kitchen utensils). Hopefully next winter won't be quite as lonely and isolated, but I think we'll continue to make this a fun little winter tradition in our family for the years to come.

We do have some crazy, wonderful, huge news: Ben, Arden and I are now officially Australian citizens! We had our citizenship ceremony back in June, held via video conference. I wrote a separate blog post about it with more information (and back-dated it so it looks like we actually did something this year...).

Also, more exciting news! We finally moved apartments after being in our little two-bedroom place for almost seven years. Prior to 2020, living in a small space didn't matter so much. Every weekday had something on the agenda, whether it be a class, a playground activity or one of the many free child-friendly events around the city. We would spend the weekends walking along the river, getting brunch and snacks and dinner throughout the day, rarely spending an entire day inside the apartment. Obviously, this year changed all of that... and after spending months holed up in our apartment, suddenly it just made more sense to move to a three-bedroom. We're currently in a beautiful apartment not too far from our previous one (I can literally see our old building from where I sit on the couch), with a gorgeous view and more space to spread out. Even though the city is slowly reopening and we no longer have limits on how much time we spend outside, I think in general we'll still be staying home a lot more - so we might as well live in a place that's more comfortable.

our old apartment: day 1 and day 2532

Anyway. That's about all for now... here's a random collection of photos from this year for you to enjoy!

Ben's work-from-home situation.

my first virtual race: the Run for the Kids 14k! 

we woke up like this.

we're lucky to live in a beautiful neighbourhood

bubbles.

Star Wars Day: another beloved family holiday

puddles.

rainy days are the new sunny days: ideal for social distancing.

Arden has been getting really into drawing and painting this year

our old apartment had a long balcony where the kids were able to run back and forth 

my little mooncakes celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival

Logan's first time walking outside on different surfaces.

one of Ben's big LEGO purchases this year

another 2020 investment: the Oodie, the Snuggie's cozy Australian cousin 

a massive perk to all this stay-at-home business: spending more time together.

celebrating Arden's 5th birthday!

the view from our new apartment! this would be the perfect location to view the New Year's Eve fireworks. except of course this year they've been cancelled.

Thanks for keeping up with us! We hope everyone has been coping as best as they can with the challenges of this year. Hang in there, everyone.

CK