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Published: October 22nd 2009
Australia - Part II - Melbourne, Phillip Island, and St. Kilda
Oct 6-13, 2009
Oct 7 - First day in Melbourne, and Gregg doesn't have to go to his meeting until 1pm so it was his choice of what to do in the morning. He chose the Old Melbourne Gaol. I thought it would be boring, but it was everything but that. We hooked up with a Middle School tour and learned all about Ned Kelly and other Melbourne villians. Graham locked Avery in a cell for 10 minutes before I found him, so he really got a "locked" up feeling. We all toured the newer jail and got locked up as a group and learned even more history. After a tram ride to the Hyatt where Gregg's conference was to be held - Gregg checked in while we purchased Black Eyed Peas tickets 😊! Lunch at Nando's, a Portuguese fast food place. Gregg's final stop before his meeting, was Federation Square and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image Screen Worlds. We could have spent hours here learning about Australian movies, actors, TV shows ("Summer Heights High" being one of our favorites), and computer games. It was hands
on and really cool. Also looked at the Len Lye exhibit - a Kiwi film maker from the last century. The kids and I hoped on one of the free city tour trams and went to the Docklands. It looked like good shopping so we hopped off for a quick shop. We found a few new things for the kids to wear to the concert tonight and Avery got a new soccer ball and Graham an Australian Open tennis backpack. Another tram ride to Elizabeth Street where we did some food shopping before a long walk home...and a rest before the concert. And WOW, what a concert it was!! As I posted on Facebook, "The Black Eyed Peas Rocked Melbourne, and we were there!!!" It was an expensive night, which we told the kids was a Christmas present, but how cool to take your whole family to such an amazing concert, esp. since it was the first one for the boys. What an amazing sound and light show it was in addition to the music. It was the E.N.D. Tour. The opening band was LMFAO. The entire concert started at 8 and ended after 11pm. We took the tram from
Rod Lever Stadium back to walking distance to the hotel. Great first day in Melbourne!
Oct 8 - Another really busy day with LOTS of walking. Lucky for us, it was cool, but the sun was shining. I got up early with Gregg and went to the spa before he headed to the conference. It was nearly 2 hours later before the kids and I were up and out. I got to enjoy a leisurely morning of reading magazines, something I never take time to do when I have my computer as a distraction! Our first stop was Federation Square and the Visitors Centre. I wanted to make sure we weren't missing anything in Melbourne and needed help with finding accommodations on Phillip Island. There is a lot to do in Melbourne, but with the boys, we had to try and find something that would appeal to all of us. The first really cool thing for the boys was to get tickets to a professional soccer game for the next night. This was a bribe to get the boys to allow me and Sydney to spend some time at the National Gallery of Victoria International Art. We had about
Oh no, not Gregg too!
Those naughty boys, they should have gone shopping with me and Syd!1 hour to have a quick look. Before this stop, which was a walk south of the river, we had lunch at a food court with heaps of International food options. After the museum we were all cold and tired so we rode around town on the local tour bus. I love these free trams and buses with taped recordings of everything that is in the city and what is happening around town. Since there were still a few things on our shopping list, we got off the bus at the DFO(Direct Factory Outlet) mall, which turned out to be a bust. Graham got a pair of shoes, but for the most part, it wasn't at all what we were looking for. And we walked back to the hotel from here - exhausting! The kids actually went for a swim in the hotel (outdoor) pool while Gregg and I caught up. We were really tired from the night before, but Gregg really wanted to eat good Italian food. So, we left the boys behind and Gregg, Syd and I walked to the Italian section on Lygon Street for yummy Italian food. It was fun to be accousted by restaurant staff
at each place trying to make you the best offer. We ended up at a place that offered a free bottle of wine, drinks for Syd, and a starter. It was still a very pricey dinner, but a fun experience (and good Italian food).
Another late night...
Oct 9 - A slightly more low key day. The kids slept in, Gregg had to leave early for his conference and I got organized for our Phillip Island 2 day trip and caught up on emails. The kids and I walked to the Melbourne Museum and saw not only the museum, but the Pompeii exhibt. There were lots of school groups and the museum was quite crowded. We all loved the exhibit and the museum and spent several hours there. Our next stop was again the Italian section for pizza! We found a delicious pizza place that allowed us to come in for a late lunch (Gino's). We then walked all the way to the Hyatt to meet Gregg at 4 when his conference ended. His choice of how to spend the rest of the afternoon was to take a tour of "Refugee's in our City" an outdoor park display put
The Rod Levar Arena
Concert venue and tennis center for Austalian Open. on by Doctors without Borders. I really wasn't too keen on doing this, but was so happy we did. It helped us all appreciate how fortunate we are to have what we have and live where we live. It was so moving that you nearly wanted to sign up then and there to donate your time and skills. I know it gave the kids some things to think about. Back to the hotel to "chill" for a bit before heading to the Etihad Stadium for the soccer match - Melbourne vs. Sydney. Not that we really had a team, but the home team played poorly and lost. We took the tram back to the hotel. Just one more morning in Melbourne...
Oct 10 - Getting out of Melbourne was a tad tricky... We needed to pick up the rental car and still wanted to go to Victoria Market. Since we had nearly run out of money - a long story - I wasn't too keen on going to a market. Gregg really wanted to go and once again, his recommendation was a good one. It was so cool!! The food halls were a bit like a version of Harrods
Food Halls with a little bit of everything - esp. interesting was the meat and fish section. Wow, could we have had some amazing dinners if I had know about this place early on... And, wouldn't it be fun to live in Melbourne and have access to this kind of food market!? We did buy lots of yummy appetizers for a picnic lunch, or cocktails and gourmet pizza as it turned out to be. Also at the market is a wonderful section on non food items - shame I didn't have heaps of money to spend! But really, do we need more stuff??? After a couple of hours we left to get our rental car - a Ford Fairlane this time and no where near as nice as the Holden we had before. Getting out of the city was painful! There was an anti aborbtion rally happening (I won't share my opinions about this...) and we couldn't get to our hotel to get our bags cuz all the streets were blocked - ugh. After pleeing with several police officers, we were allowed to go as far as our hotel to get our bags... Then it took us over an hour
to get out of town because so many roads were blocked! It felt good to be in the country, but getting to Phillip Island was a bit like driving through New Jersey - one strip mall after the next with lots of traffic! We did visit 2 wineries as we got closer to our destination. It was a beautiful day. Once on Phillip Island we went to our hotel - The Four Seasons Eco Resort and Lodges - way cool! It didn't have a water view as it was in the middle of the island, but we had tennis, a pool, a pizzeria, a really awesome two bedroom unit, a playground and a super field for the boys to play soccer and throw around their new boomerang. We did a little exploring before dinner...checked out the surfing beach, went and saw the Nobbies where there are suppose to be heaps of seals, birds, and penguins and checked out the town of Cowes. Made gourmet pizza with all our yummy stuff from the market.
Oct 11 - Beach Day! Finally some warm sunny weather. Gregg and I were up early playing tennis before we dragged the kids out on to
the courts as well. Then the boys opted to go for a swim in the very pretty but very cold pool. The kids were not so keen on surfing, but we dragged them to the surf shop at Smyth Beach (awesome surf shop, reallly helpful and nice people), where they were informed that there were perfect conditions for their level of surfing and off they went!! Syd got the prize for staying out the longest and catcing the most waves. Graham had a blast, Gregg generally does better on windsurfers, and Avery, well, he gave it a good shot but was more interested in playing on the beach. Avery begged Graham to bury him in the sand- really cute! After 3 hours on the beach it was time to do something that I wanted to do - and that was head to another winery. Went to Red Hen, bought some wine for my friend, Lisa, and sat outside and had a glass. Then more sight seeing around the island. First stop, Forest Caves, next stop back to The Nobbies Visitors Centre. I was an amazingly touristy place. There were bus loads of people all looking at the dozens of Seagulls
flying around - didn't quite get it?! The scenery was pretty and maybe they were waiting til sunset to see the penguins. Having seen so many penguins in New Zealand this year, they weren't really a draw for us. We were all tired and in need of showers so we opted for a casual dinner at a Greek restaurant in Cowes. Great views nice staff, decent food. After dinner the kids played a mean trick on me telling me that we'd left Avery at the restaurant and then going back and not finding him there.... It's a bit longer of a story, but they really had me going...He had hidden in the trunk of the car and was able to climb through from the inside... Relieved and exhausted, we headed back to the lodge for the night.
Oct 12 - Rain, rain, rain, but it was my day to spend with Lisa, and her family. We got to her place in St Kilda at 1pm. It was a long task getting everyone packed and out and an even longer drive back to Melbourne. Lovely as St. Kilda is, I am not sure I would ever leave if I had
to drive a car anywhere! It was so fun to see Lisa, my good friend from my London days 25 years ago, and to meet her husband, Hugh, and father, Graeme. We were treated to a 4 hour seaside lunch with 3 bottles of wine - what fun! We attempted a walk along the bay, but got caught in a big rain. Ended up back at Lisa and Hugh's very wet. We then spent more time looking at photos from their recent trip to Thailand and going through boxes of photos from Lisa's past looking for London photos. What a trip down memory lane! The day ended with more wine and more food. Weight Watchers here I come when we get back!!!
Oct 13 - Sadly, all good trips much come to an end. We spent the whole morning hanging around relaxing and getting packed to head to the airport later in the afternoon. We then spent several hours shopping, walking, eating chocolate and ice cream, and seeing the interesting sights in St. Kilda. Make sure you scroll through all the photos to see the great photos of the Lisas😊
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