Melbourne June 2011

The June holiday has been and gone.  Where did it go?  I guess we must have had a great time as the two weeks went  by so fast.

Our adventure started with a hiccup and ended with one too!  In between was fantastic.

We awoke on 30th May, having packed our bags the night before for an early start to catch our condo bus down to 1Utama.  At 8.30 am.  We arrived there and were issued with our tickets for Singapore by Aeroline Bus.  Off for a breakfast then wait for the bus to take off.  Boarding time and we were shepherded onto the bus.  After sitting in the bus for 10 minutes the air-con went off and the bus would not start.  SO off we got and waited in an air-con office of Aeroline for over an hour while they sorted the problem out.  Problem sorted and we are on our way.  Arriving at HarbourFront where we had hoped to have late lunch before boarding the plane but now we are over an hour behind schedule so we had to head straight to the airport taking the train and changing at Paya Lebur.  We checked our bags in, were assigned our seats which had plenty of legroom, and proceeded through customs.  Now it was time to eat before boarding the plane.  Terminal 1 does not have the food selection that the other terminals have.

We arrived in Melbourne at 6.40 am and made our way through using our ePassports to get through customs and immigration quickly.  This worked really well until we got our bags off the conveyor belt and had to queue up to get out the door.  The line went round past our conveyor belt and almost back to immigration area. Finally through and we were on Australian soil.  We bought tickets for the Skybus to Southern Cross Station where we locked our bags in a locker and went looking for somewhere for breakfast.  We found this lovely place that cooked yummy bacon, eggs, toast and avocado with delicious coffee.  Finally it was time to meet up with Logan.  Coffee and dinner and more coffee and we were on our way to the apartment we had booked at Balclava.

St Kilda Tram

The apartment was exactly how it was advertised and it was so lovely having the extra space.  It had two bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs with a bathroom downstairs along with the kitchen, dining and lounge area.  It was also a short walking distance from both the trams and the trains.

Sleep was welcome after a long day of travelling but needless to say we were up and ready for the day and caught the tram down to St Kilda's Beach.  The weather was lovely and cold but clear and crisp.

Rosella's fly free and are beautiful birds.

Our first look at the beach...glassy calm water .

The reflections were amazing.  We wasted a lot of time here taking so many photos but it was really lovely.

Swans flying across the water.

Boats with Melbourne skyline in the background.

A beautiful building in St Kilda where I got told  I was a  "nutter" as I had taken a step onto the roadside to get a clear view of the building.

Enjoying a cold drink and lunch with Logan.

Logan left us to go and do whatever....and arrived back at ours to cook dinner for us...such a lovely meal.  We then waited for my sister to arrive.  And finally she did after missing Max at the airport and catching the Skybus to Southern Cross Station where he finally caught up with her.  It was so good to see her and Max.

2nd of June, today and we are off for a lane walk in Melbourne.  Along some old lanes and in and out of malls.  Was truly fascinating to see.  

Flinders Station...an amazing building running an entire block.

Gog and Magog

The words underneath these creatures says -
"These two 7 feet giants have been striking the time on Gaunt's clock since 1842.  The were carved from clear pine and modelled on the figures erected in Guildhall, London, in 1708 to symbolise the conflict between the Britons and the Trojan invaders. Mythology tells of the giants Gog and Magog (also known as Corineus and Gogmagog) having been captured in battle by the Trojans and made to serve as porters at the gateway of an ancient palace on a site later occupied by the Guildhall. It is traditional for Gog to stand to the north and Magog to the south."  We heard them strike as we wandered through the arcade.

These young guys were making sweets.

Wayne trying to pull the purse along...if only it was full of money!

We had a great time wandering and stopping to take photos and enjoying each others company.  We stopped in one of the lanes for lunch...it was superb.  One thing we have realised is that it is expensive to eat out in Melbourne but we thought...too bad...we won't be back for a while and we are on holiday so why not!

We then bought tickets to go up the Eureka Tower to get a bird's eye view of Melbourne.

Looking through a spyglass.

Wayne and Beth.

Looking down onto Max's work, The Arts Centre.

Flinders Station

We were up the top of this building looking down...88 floors.  Well worth the  money.

3rd June and we are off to do a winery tour with Logan, up in the Yarra Valley.  Driving out of Melbourne the driver kept us amused with anecdotal information.  the scenery once were passed the city was stunning and going up into the Dandenongs was beautiful.  We stopped off at Puffing Billy but never took a ride as the weather was changeable.  Will leave this to do next time we back.  There is always something to do next time.

Lunch at a winery. Spit roast...was nice.

The Autumn colours on the leaves were beautiful.  One of the things I miss while in Malaysia...the seasons changing.  Here we have hot and hotter or wet and wetter.

A gerbra on the table at the last winery.

Then it was drink and a catch up with my brother Max and my big sister Bobbie, who I hadn't seen for too many years.  Logan and Wayne went off to watch a Super 15 game, Melbourne Rebels versus Stormers.  Wayne said it felt like he was almost on the field and that the AAMI was a great place to watch rugby.

4th June and the days are racing away.  It is Queen's Birthday weekend in NZ and Lloyd and Anna had arrived to spend some time with us and Anna's sister.  It was good to see them both looking happy and rested.  Lloyd seemed to be very pleased with his job at Cloudy Bay Vineyard.  This morning we caught up with my other sister, Wilma (Bill to me). I hadn't seen her for too many years and we had a lot to catch up on.  Having forgotten that she hadn't met our children, she assumed that Lloyd was Beth's husband!  It was quite funny when we finally realised.  Not sure whether that was a compliment to Lloyd or to Beth?

Monday 6th June

We said good bye to Beth the night before, as she was going to stay with Max for the night and then head to the airport for her early morning flight home.  This morning was the last for Anna and Lloyd as they were heading back to NZ.  It was really great to see them and it was so special to have them and
Beth make the trip over to see us.

Then it was off to the Melbourne Zoo for the day.  It was time to get serious with our cameras and hopefully get some great photos.

We had fun wandering around here and playing.  It was a great place to spend the day.  Logan has been introducing us to some of his favourite places for meals.  We were also able to find some of our own.  I am really enjoying being able to enjoy some western food without the spice of Chili added.

Tuesday 8th June.

Today we picked up a small rental car to drive down to Mornington Peninsula and hopefully end up in Ballarat to visit friends.  It was so worth the  trip down here.  We found the pretty Boat Sheds.

Amazing things.  So small and cute...we wanted to see inside one but they were all locked up and shuttered for the winter.  We spent two nights down here and had a great time.  Highlights were definitely the Boat Sheds along with seeing a Tasmanian Devil,

and Cape Schank Lighthouse.  We could have spent more time here as it is so beautiful..rugged on one side and harbour on the other.

We skirted around the outskirts of Melbourne and drove through the Dandenongs up to Bendigo where we spent the night.  It was fascinating driving through the Yarra Valley and Dandenong.  Very pretty. Bendigo is an old gold rush city with incredible buildings depicting this era.

June 10/11th

We arrived in Ballarat to catch up with Sue, Angie and Greg, Peter and Leonie, and Lyndsay and Helen for a meal at a lovely restaurant.  It was such a treat to have us all at one place.  Thanks to Sue for organising this for us.

June 12th we travelled down to Indented Head to spend the night with Max, Marwin and their lovely children.
We woke up to a mist outside which was so pretty.

From here drove to Melbourne and checked into a hotel near Spencer St Station for 2 nights before heading back to Kuala Lumpur.  We caught up with Logan and enjoyed a few more hours of his company.  but all too soon it was time to head to the airport and get our flight.  Unfortunately the Chilean volcano had plans to upset many peoples travel.  We wrongly assumed because we were going away from it that it wouldn't affect us at all.  We received a message to say our plane was delayed 2 hours.  We thought that was ok as we had a 4 hour stopover in Singapore and that gave us two hours to get from Terminal 1 to the Budget Terminal.  What we hadn't planned on was that Jetstar would fly the long way to Singapore.  a flight that should have taken 6 hours took 8 hours...and it meant that we were cutting it very fine to get to our plane.  Arriving in Singapore we walked fast to get our baggage, and through customs and then caught the bus between the terminals.  Unfortunately the counter had closed as there was only 15 minutes till flying.  We approached the counter and they quickly put us through.  We took our baggage with us only to have ti turned down as we had wine inside the luggage and a pocket knife so we had to be escorted to the gate.  Yes we did manage to get on the flight and we weren't the last.

What a way to end a fantastic holiday, catching up with family and friends.