Gifts from Sandy Claus

We’ve spent the past weekend bathed in glorious sunshine which has been really, really good. On Saturday we took Yvonne out for a spin to a place called Frankston which is in the very South-East of Melbourne. She performed well and after a bit of drama finding a car parking spot next to the beach we unloaded and got ready for Toytopia; an exhibition of sculptures along the beachfront that promised to put everyone back in touch with their inner children.

It was truly magnificent to see all of the sculptures laid out in front of us. They were all of the toys that everyone plays with as kids (or at least used to play with before toddlers got their hands on the X-box!). It was brilliant although some of the sculptures were starting to break down; yep you heard me – break down. That’s because they were made of sand! There was a gigantic Operation set, Hot Wheels, Humpty Dumpty, Barbie, Action Man, board games of all descriptions and much, much more. It was really cool to be able to go around gawping at the beautifully crafted monuments around us saying “I remember that!” or “It’s been ages since I’ve seen one of those!”.

As if we hadn’t had enough of the sand we then decided to soak up some sun on the beach. It was so hot that we couldn’t walk on the sand though so there was a lot of “Ow, ow, ow!” to get to where we wanted to be. Alex then decided to run off along the pier that jutted out into the bay and jump off doing front flips and bombs, and luckily the fabulous photographer Rachael got it all on film (or SD card if you’re being technical).

The following day Yvonne rendered her services yet again performing admirably in the heat, gliding over the tarmac as effortlessly as a gazelle on the plain, transporting us to the Oakleigh Rec Centre and Swimming Pool. After all the sand we’d decided that we wanted a break but still needed the coolness of water close by and so this was the perfect choice. There was plenty of space and even though there were loads of people there we still managed to get some decent swimming done. The grassy area to the side was the perfect place to chill and read a book as well as there being some spring boards for free use. There was however one small disappointment in that no-one could use the high boards on the day that we went as there was some repairs being done to the ladders. This however was a minor blip in a brilliant days swimming.

Rex's Rules of the Road

• The Toytopia was part of an annual sandsculpting event held in Frankston so if you're around South-East Melbourne check it out!

• Keep checking local paper – once again both the events we went to were in our local paper. I know it's tedious but it is so true.

• Frankston beach is a really nice place with a huge pier for jumping when the tides in, however be warned it is full of bogans - the Aussie version of chavs.

• If you're driving either get there early or expect to leave with a significantly lighter wallet.