Grumpy mug

This combines three of my favourite things: Grumpy Cat, ceramics, and mugs - win win win! Melbourne artist Kirsten Perry created these for the Mr Kitly x Dagmar popup shop coming to Sydney in August.

Tropical Times

I took a welcome break from Wintery Melbourne by jetting up to Australia's 'Tropical Far North'. The first stop was Cairns, where we roamed around Rusty's Market, one of the best fruit and vege markets I've ever seen. I wish I could shop here every week, I'd be whipping up tropical delights like nobody's business.

Sugar cane juice - I've tried this once before and it is an absolute taste sensation.

These are from the Skyrail cableway to Kurunda village.

These crazy trees were everywhere in Kurunda. Google informs me they are called Curtain Fig Trees.

This was on the beach at Port Douglas and looks like it is spelling my name, but it actually said 'Happy Birthday Grandma'.

There were some pretty good markets in Port Douglas too.

This dog was so lovely. I said hello to him and received a gentlemanly snuffle to my hand.

The Daintree rainforest was amazing, we spent a whole day up there.

This a Tawny Frogmouth, who greeted us as we went to a crocodile farm.

Here we made friends with lots of crocs! Not really, but it was fun.

Tails from the Fishbowl

Photographer and animal lover Rachel Bellinsky's new book Tails from the Fishbowl documents the little animal faces spied while she walks her dog in their Southern California neighbourhood.

In the apartment next door to mine lives an old golden labrador who often spends his days on the balcony peering out over the street. We call him 'Perve Dog', and it's always a good day when we see him at his post.

Bat Country

Visiting the bat colony at Yarra Bend Park has been on my "Melbourne Bucket List" for some time now. Every evening at dusk the bats migrate over the city, and the park is where these leathery beasts hang out during daylight hours. Thousands of them! They make quite the freakish spectacle.

While we were there we saw this guy who had been found in a suburban garden. Luckily Wildlife Victoria could come and pick him up, and he was reunited with his batty pals. Our visit was at twilight, and there were some bands playing while we watched as the bats got ready for their evening adventures.

And we saw a cookaburra! He was unusually quiet - perhaps he was in awe of the bats too.

It's quite hard to capture on camera just how many bats there were, so I took some video footage! Check it out below for more bat action, peppered with some choice kiwi accents, marvelling at these amazing creatures.

Photography Lessons #3 (Zoo Edition)

Mr Meet-Cute and I went on a photography excursion to Melbourne Zoo a while ago. This was one of the first days of post-Winter sun and it seemed like everyone in the city had decided to make the most of it by heading to the zoo. Not pictured above are the crowds of families and crying children - at one point after watching the elephants I turned round to find myself hemmed in by pushchairs. Eek!

The Burning House

{John Gaffney's picks including his dog Finnegan}

{Things belonging to Brett Rogowski including his 'trusty pug' Gimli}

{Kate McAuley's picks, with her cat Goose}

The Burning House is a website that asks creative people to document what they would save if their house were on fire. Naturally I'm most enjoying those that include their furry friends.

Cats and dogs

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! I finally got around to getting some new herbs which I planted outside our apartment on the little stairwell landing - our only outdoor space. Unfortunately after I'd planted everything and was excitedly showing Mr Meet-Cute we got locked outside! After going to our neighbours to call a locksmith it ended up being quite an unexpectedly expensive weekend.

Though despite that drama it was still a great weekend. Here are some photos I took later that evening at our friend Jennies house, where we hung out with her cat 'The Beast' and had a visit from a cute dog friend!

Jennie lives in the cutest cottage, and she has an equally cute blog here where she sometimes posts pics of her lovely cottage. I think she should post some more! (especially if the Beast is in them :)