Secret Vacation

We are off to our secret, or I should say my secret, vacation early tomorrow.  I'm not taking my laptop so you will have to wait until Sunday to see any new pictures.  I've been assured that the place we are going is warmer than here, but that is all I know and that is not much since Melbourne is about as far south on the continent as you can get.  I guess we are not going to Tasmania, the South Pole or New Zealand.  That is all I know.
Have a good week everyone!

Swan Street

Met with Wayne for lunch today at one of their favorite places to eat.  Now I know why...yum!

Fresh baked Turkish bread as the start for an amazing lamb kebab.

The works included meat shaved off the rotisserie and tossed on the grill to brown, lettuce tomatoes, onions, and garlic sauce all packaged in that wonderful fresh bread.

Walked home along Swan Street to the river.  They have some beautiful buildings tucked away on seemingly ordinary streets.  I thought this one was a gem.

Look at the pretty stained glass on this shop.  Wish we still incorporated details like this in our ordinary buildings.

Puffy Billy @ Fern Tree Gulch

Took an excursion to Fern Tree today to ride the steam powered narrow gauge rail line.  Had a great time!

The smoke seemed charming until we noticed that every time you stuck your head out to take a picture you got something in your eye.  Then I remembered coal soot and how dirty it was.  I remember how frustrated Mom got when we had the coal burning furnace and something would go wrong in the chimney and the house would fill with smoke - it meant the walls were going to need washing.

The kids had a great time on this train.  They were allowed to sit on the edge and hang their feet over the side.  They were singing and laughing and being very entertaining.

This water harvesting storage tank is almost as big as the building it collects from.

Lovely picnic lunch at lakeside.

The fern trees are just so amazing!  I never get tired of them.

REALLY?

it's a job

Pretty weak today...

the Queen!!!

I drug myself out of bed for my walk around the botanic gardens this morning and when I got round to the western side the road leading up from the main street to the gardens was all barricaded and there were police standing round.  I recalled that the Queen and Prince Philip were visiting Australia and hoped that the barricades were for them.  Got back to the apartment and looked it up and I was right!  They were to visit Melbourne today.  I don't usually check the local news so would have completely missed this if I had not drug myself out of bed for a walk.  See how good exercise can be for one's frame of mind.
Anyway, here are some pretty bad photos.  We had a very clear view of the Queen but the windows of the tram are pretty bad for photos.  This is the closest I've ever come to royalty.  Pretty fun!

A tram was outfitted especially for the short ride from Federation Square to Government House near the Botanic Gardens.  When it first pulled up we thought the Queen would surely have to walk right by us to get on board but then it moved off down the street so we did not get to see her until she was inside the tram.

Crowds gathered at Federation Square.

 

Crowds on the bridge across the Yarra.  Poor folks on the other side probably did not get to see much as we got lucky and the Queen and Prince Philip sat on our side of the tram. 

Here it comes! So exciting!

 

Can you see her in the middle window?

 

I think in this shot she is looking right at me!  I'm sure of it!  Well maybe it was the cute little girls standing in front of me. 

There she goes.  That is about 2 hours and 10 seconds of my life that I will never have back.  Well spent in my opinion.

 

for the foodies

 European style hot chocolate offered as part of a chocolate tasting at Mornington Peninsula Chocolates. 

a weekend getaway

The Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne was spectacular.  Beautiful hilly countryside filled with vineyards, flowers and forests and minutes away from the rugged coastline.  You could spend weeks exploring.

At Tuck's Estate near Red Hills

Also near Red Hills but can't quite remember which vineyard this was.  Maybe had had a few too many tastings by then...

The coast at Mornington Peninsula National Park near Cape Schanck Lighthouse.

 

 

The colors were just spectacular - my photos do not do it justice

 

off to the Mornington

Weather still damp here but we are off to the airport to pick up Carla and Jordy then down to the Mornington Peninsula for the weekend.  Look for us on mapguide in Rye, Victoria.
Plenty of pictures to follow...
Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Bendigo - Australia's gold rush town

Yesterday I took a 2 hour train ride out to Bendigo to see the countryside and another interesting place.  The Bendigo art museum had an exhibition of wedding dresses on loan from the Victoria and Albert museum in London so I took that in as well.

Countryside north and a little west of Melbourne.

 

                                                                                                           

Across the main intersection in town.   

This caught my eye only because I was watching that Ken Burns series on PBS about prohibition.

Capital Theatre - just a little small town theatre.

A local artist had produced these wonderful playful dress sculptures that were displayed in prominent shops around town - and for sale.

Every nineteenth century gold rush town needs lots of magnificent churches.
St. Johns Presbyterian Church

Sacred Heart Cathedral - construction began in 1896 and finished in 1977. 

The civil buildings were impressive too.  This was the post office now the visitor's centre.

The public restroom building behind the visitor's centre.

                                 The promenade at Rosalind Park.

Look!  A tower, think I'll climb this.  Called Poppet Head Lookout.  It is in Rosalind Park.

I'll only make you look at one view over the town from the tower.  Have to prove that I actually climbed it.

Okay, well two.  This is an elaborate cascading water feature build in the 1870's in the style of European gardens.  It fell into disrepair and was actually filled in until the 1990's when it was fully restored.  I guess it has fallen into disrepair again because there was only water in the bottom fountain.  Or they only run it on special occasions. 

These budgies were all around the park and traveled in pairs.  It was pretty hard to get a picture with my camera.  They were pretty skittish, not like the budgies my Grandmother always kept.

Just one more building shot, promise.  This is the town hall but what I really wanted you to see was the lovely ceiling in the canopy over the sidewalk.  Most of the walks were shaded with deep canopies.