Lots of Fun in Melbourne

We actually stayed with Steve's brother and his family in Melbourne. It was a bit of an ordeal getting our caravan in his back yard and an even bigger ordeal getting it out again. We had five days in Melbourne, which wasn't nearly enough time to see all we would have liked to see. All I can say though is thankgoodness for GPSs. I have no idea how we would have ever made it through the city withone one.

We had fabulous weather, on our first day in Melbourne, so decided to go visit Melbourne Zoo whilst the weather was good. I was keen to see the baby elephant...so cute.
An awesome Zoo - Steve was really fascinated by the Reptile House.
My favourite part was the African and Asian Animals. eg. Giraffes,Zebras, Lions, Elephants Kind of love the Giraffes... they are s cute... have such personalities. etc


Visited the Seals, seahorses etc.

And then finally saw the monkeys, apes, Chimps and Gorillas
We spent over five hours at the Zoo - hot sun all day, we were pooped by the time we were ready to leave. Still didn't stop us though from catching the Tram into the city and doing the City Loop. We were too tired though to get off so just stayed on for the whole circuit, and then caught the train home.

On Friday we went to Brighton. Love it here. LOVED LOVED LOVED the bathing sheds... Loved all their colours.
Went for a lovely walk along the beach at Brighton and then we found these
I just fell in love with them. Loved all the bright colours. We spent ages just walking along the beach and checking them all out.

On our way back to the car, Steve snapped these
Thought he could use them with the kids at school next year when they do their design assignment. Some very impressive buildings along the esplanade at Brighton.

After we left Brighton we headed out to Ringwood to catch up with a good friend of ours who was visiting relatives in Melbourne, and her sister in law took us out for a drive through the Yarra Valley - up to Healeville and Warburton. Some beautiful scenery and country.
We stopped and had afternoon tea at the Beechcroft Bakery in Healesville. Very popular place. They have won awards for their pies and pastries. They certainly didn't disappoint us.

After we left Healesville, we headed for Warburton. Just a picturesque little spot with the river running through through the town. We ended up back at Marg's BIL and SIL's for dinner, before heading back to our spot at about 10.30pm

Saturday we awoke to the sound of rain. It was also pretty cold, so we tended to stick around in doors. In fact we sat and watch a very old movie. It started to find up around lunch time so we decided to go visit Melbourne Museum. Great place to spend an afternoon.
We actually ran out of time and didn't quite manage to see everything before the Museum closed. During the walk back to our car, we had a wander around this area of town. I love the old buildings the old terrace house, and the cobbled streets.
We had also planned on going out to dinner so had made an early booking for 6pm. Sarah decided to introduce us to this special place as we had a little bit of time up our sleeve.
What an amazing place- I have never seen any thing like it. The most amazing selection of cakes and buscuits you have ever seeen. I was in seventh heaven. Unfortunately I could only photograph those cakes in the window as Steve didn't want to get embarassed by my oohing and aahing over the wonderful arrangements. We sampled a couple of the most favourite snaps and they tasted even better than they looked. This place is definately worth a visit if you are in Melbourne.

On Sunday we decided to head up into the Dandelong Ranges and visit the National Rhododendron Gardens. Beautiful place to spend a leisurely day. The really good thing was that it was free to get in. We walked for kilometres but so worth it, the gardens were a feast of colour.

The flowers were amazing. Photos just don't do it justice, they don't capture the texture, the smells...

We had a picnic lunch and then spent an hour or so having a good time with the good old frisbee. At one stage it was girls against boys. Think the boys won out this time.

Who would have ever known that this beauty could be hidden along the Dandelon Ranges.

I really love Melbourne - not the traffic, but the blend between old and new. The stuctural landmarks around the city, the old churches, the terraced houses, the trams... it is just a well laid out city, and we have so enjoyed out stay there. We also had such a good time with Steve's brother and his wife too. We don't often get a chance to catch up with them, so having five days together was great.

We have now left the mainland behind and are in Tassie. Once again this post has got way too long - will update again soon with some photos of our trip accross Bass Strait.