Visiting Donna, Dallas and Cian in Melbourne

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We got to Melbourne two mornings later at 8am. We were pretty tired after two nights on buses- one from Byron Bay to Sydney and one from Sydney to Melbourne. When we we got off the bus at Southern Cross Station, we were pretty hungry, so we grabbed a cooked breakfast. It was pretty wet, so we hung around a shopping centre for a while. Once the rain cleared, we took a walk down one of the main streets and had a look around. It's a lovely city. At about 1:30, we caught a train out to Dandenong, which is near where Donna lives. She, Dallas and Cian were at Dandenong station to pick us up. We got back to the house in Narre Warren, where they just moved in. It was so nice to be staying in someone's home after hostelling and campervanning for almost 4 months. Donna put the kettle on and we sat at the table and chatted for a while. Dallas and Donna then cooked a dinner of lamb shank, veg and spuds (spuds! yesssss!). We had a few beers and a catch up. We had bought Cian a red bus, as his 4th birthday was coming up. We were told he likes cars. Turns out he really likes cars and is a car badge expert. He loved the bus and didn't make strange with us at all. We watched a movie after dinner called "Once Were Warriors"- a filmed about the Maori's in New Zealand (Dallas is from there). After that, we watched the Olympics before heading to bed. We were so happy to be sleeping in a bed instead of a bus seat!

The next morning we woke pretty late. I heard Cian asking Donna when will her "friend" be getting up. When we got up, he was playing with his red bus and Donna cooked us a full Irish breakfast. Well, almost irish, we did have Kangaroo sausages which were really tasty. After breakfast we drove into Melbourne city and went to the Victoria market which is huge. We bought a few souveneirs and bits. We then took a walk along the South Bank and called into PJ O'Brien's irish pub for a pint. We drove back to the house where we had roast chicken for dinner- our first sunday roast since we left home. Cian made up his Thomas the Tank Engine train set which took up all of the living room floor and was quite impressive. We had a few beers and Dallas headed to bed early as he was up for work in the morning. Donna, Dave and me stayed up and watched the Olympic women's weightlifting championships. It was very entertaining!

The next day was Dave's birthday, so we decided to go to the zoo. We got the train out, and Cian was really excited because it was his first time on a train. The zoo was really nice. We saw lions, tigers, snow leopards, ringtailed lemurs and elephants, as well as Australian animals such as Koalas and Kangaroos. One Kangaroo had a Joey in her pouch which was really cute. We then went for lunch where we bought Cian a gingerbread elephant, because the elephants were his favourite. We were swamped by seagulls so we couldn't really enjoy our lunch! After looking at a few more animals we headed home, Donna took out some pizza bases and we made our own pizzas. After dinner, Donna baked chocolate brownies and we sang Happy Birthday to Dave much to Cian's excitement. Afterwards, we relaxed in front of the telly with a few beers (it was soooo great to have a telly!).

The following day was a relaxing day. We needed to recharge our batteries so we took it easy. We played with Cian in the garden. We mainly played trucks, but also "All Blacks" which is the name he give to rugby. I suppose he's about right since they're always winning. He even gave Dave one of his All Blacks hats. Dave was planning on cooking that night, so we walked to the supermarket to stock up on ingredients. We brought Cian in his pushchair to give Donna an hour of peace! He like Dave to push him really fast (he's such a speed demon!) while I ran ahead. Me and Dave were floored by the time we got to the supermarket. When we got back, we had some brownies in the back garden. The sun was beaming down and it was quite warm. Dave started cooking and Cian gave him a hand. After scoffing Dave's signature stirfry, we had more beers before Dallas came home and we watched the Olympics show-jumping and canoeing.

The next day we got our stuff packed, and Donna made us spagetti and toast for lunch. We got the train to Southern Cross Station in the afternoon. Our bus back to Sydney wasn't till 8 so we planned to meet up with Stephanie and Stephen. We walked around Melbourne for a bit before meeting them for a bite to eat. They have been living in Melbourne for a while, so it was great to catch up and see how they are getting on. Since they travelled around Thailand before coming to Australia, they gave us loads of tips on where to go, and also gave us loads of tips for Sydney. We told them all about our trip so far and where we had been. When it was time to get our bus, we said our goodbyes and headed to the bus terminal for another overnight bus which would take us to Sydney, our last stop on our tour of Australia.

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Photos

Reunited
This is a sculpture we spotted in Melbourne, of a family reuniting. Made us think of home!

Cian and Dave
Getting ready for the zoo

Dave Donna and Cian
At Melbourne Zoo

Bull Elephant
This guy was huuuge