Melbourne

September 30 October 3, 2012 – Melbourne, Victoria, yet another place where the wine flows freely.

Sunday morning found us docking back at South Melbourne. We had a good night on board the Spirit of Tasmania, slept a bit better on this trip despite the rougher passage, (stormy seas). We arrived at our long time friends Ted and Linda in East Doncaster about 8:00am. Linda made us a great breakfast and we caught up on all that is happening with them and their kids Sasha and Brent.  We spent the afternoon and evening with our friend Faye. She took us around to see some of Melbourne that we hadn’t seen – we loved the “singing bridge” and the Federation Bells Carillon. The evening was capped off by a wonderful dinner at Faye’s and enjoyed her great collection of Aboriginal art.

Monday we spent the afternoon at the Melbourne Museum enjoying a great variety of displays. Our favorite was the Little Lon Exhibit that featured the growth of that part of Melbourne from 1700’s to present. There were some very interesting artifacts, photos and sets portraying the evolution of this beautiful city. We were treated to an Aussie BBQ (done perfectly by Ted the Latvian) – steaks, sausages, salad a bit of wine (followed by a bit more J).  Linda’s parents John and Thelma joined us for a great evening. A very goodtime was had by all.

Tuesday saw us getting a wonderful tour of the countryside east of Melbourne, guided by Brent. We visited the Yering Winery, Tarra Warra Winery and art gallery, and had a wonderful lunch at the Giant Steps Winery (enjoying a gloriously sunny afternoon) and bit of beer tasting at the White Rabbit Brewery. The highlight of the day was a walk through Healseville Sanctuary where we were treated to seeing many of the Australian animals: roos, wallabies, wombats, platypus and my favorite the Dingos. What fun to walk around this wild life park and see the wonderful things they are doing to educate people about the specialness of their unique animals.

Wednesday was Sasha’s day to tour us around the Brunswick area where she had lived for a few months. We had a wonderful lunch at the Fitz Pub on Brunswick Street. What a wonderful area. Spent a couple of hours walking the street, peering into bookshops, gag shops and the like. Karen could have done some serious damage there, but was reminded by Mike that her bags were very heavy when we left and that she had already bought up some souvenirs. The evening was capped off by a wonderful dinner at a favorite restaurant of Ted and Linda’s, Hellenic Republic.  What a great visit we have had: sight seeing, laughing eating, drinking, laughing, having a glass of wine.  Such wonderful time for these travelers, tomorrow we head out again in the MoHo – places to go, people to see.