Showing posts with label melbourne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label melbourne. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Mummy & Daughter Weekend in Melbourne: Part 2 - Time to Chill

Melbourne CBD planter boxes – Spring colour

After a busy Friday, visiting the museum, we spent the rest of our time in Melbourne relaxing pretty much. My in-laws had arranged family and friends to visit us while we were there. They also took us to their favourite (and mine) Chinese restaurant for dinner on the Saturday night and then to the greyhound races after.

The dog at the dogs

We don’t gamble and neither do they but the Sandown dogs had a greyhound race meet on on the Saturday night with face painting and activities for kids which they thought would be good for my daughter. Besides a couple of trips to their local shopping centre and the Berwick markets on Sunday morning (forgot to take my camera, as usual) and the trip to the Melbourne CBD again for me on Monday, there wasn’t much else to the trip. I’d been to Melbourne many times before and done the ‘touristy’ thing a few times. A change of scenery is always

good and it’s always good to catch up with my in-laws. It was the first time though without my husband which seemed very weird. Here are some photos of the rest of my time there.

St Paul’s Cathedral
Federation Square
One of the many lanes full of cafes and interesting shops
The Soup Place – No soup for you!
Too many cafes, not enough hours in the day

I couldn’t decide where to start first but when I saw the Lindt shop, I knew a hot chocolate was the order of the day.

Pure melted Lindt chocolate and hot milk – ahhhh!

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?Summer sandals anyone? These beautiful Emilio Pucci sandals and heels will set you back close to $1,000 a pair. Just gorgeous.

Mounted policemen – Bridge Road, Richmond

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Lunch at the Blue Train Cafe, Southgate

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Spicy Greek Lamb Pizza
Gelato for dessert

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Melbourne city skyline

? Thank you Melbourne for putting up with us. The weather was just perfect.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Mummy & Daughter Weekend in Melbourne: Part 1 - The Museum

I had a wonderful Mummy/daughter long weekend with my girl in Melbourne. Although most of the time she spent with her grandparents (my in laws), it gave us a great opportunity to spend some one on one time with each other. Something we don’t often do with ‘you know who’ (my son) around.

My daughter in Carlton Gardens, Melbourne

The whole purpose of the trip was for my daughter to see the Tutankhamun Exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. (Her Dad was originally to go with her but he couldn’t travel.) We set off on the train and walked up through Carlton Gardens, past the Royal Exhibition Building to the Melbourne Museum. The Exhibition Building was hosting a Tastes of Melbourne food show but for the entry cost of $15 for ‘fussiest eater in the world’ and at least $30 for me, I couldn’t justify the cost. Besides, my mother-in-law had dinner planned for us that night.

My daughter outside the Royal Exhibition Building

We had a quick look around the general part of the Museum before we had a bite to eat in the cafe and then off to the Tutankhamun display. I wasn’t really all that keen to see it. Not like my husband was. But once I got there, the hairs on my arms stood on end when I saw the artefacts on display. It was truly amazing to be standing before some of these things which were over 3,000 years old.


Granite statue of King Tutankhamun


Photos weren’t allowed within the Tutankhamun display so I’ve ‘borrowed’ a few from the internet. The items are on loan from the Cairo Museum. There were many and in such beautiful, pristine condition.

King Tut’s neck collar
Phar Lap – one of Australia’s greatest racehorses

My daughter was also keen to see Phar Lap, a great Australian racehorse, immortalised in the Museum. My daughter is a ‘sponge’ for information and we’ve spoken of many Australian icons so she was keen to see some first hand. She was also beside herself seeing a lot of the dinosaur bones and gave me quite the lesson on which bones belonged to which dinosaur.

The hot chip connoisseur

It was a great day out and something that will hopefully stay with my daughter her entire life. Stay tuned for the rest of the photos from the weekend away. It was a relatively quiet weekend but Melbourne really turned on the weather for us and it was time well spent with my lovely parents-in-law.

The souvenier my daughter bought for her brother

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

I'm off to Melbourne!

Melbourne is the capital city of Victoria, one of Australia’s southern states, small in area but a population of around 4,000,000 in the greater Melbourne area. It’s one of my most favourite cities, to visit, being the food capital of Australia, the sporting capital of Australia and rich in culture, history and the arts. My husband is originally from Melbourne and I’ve been there quite a few times. We tried living there, for 6 months, but I couldn’t stand the weather. If only it had Brisbane’s climate it would really live up to it’s “most liveable city” claim for me.

I’ll be accompanying my 6 year old daughter to the Tutankhamun Exhibition at the Melbourne Museum on Friday. She’s been studying it this term at school and is fascinated by it. It might be a once in a lifetime

opportunity for her to see it.

[photo source]

We’ll also be staying with my in laws and while there, I’ll leave my daughter with them and check out some of the sights, sounds and tastes of Melbourne. I’ll also try to catch up with some friends down there as well. Looking at the long range weather forecast, we’re in for glorious Spring weather so Melbourne, get ready, we’re on our way.

[photo source]

I’ll be offline from Thursday evening until probably Tuesday but will catch up with everyone when I return. I have scheduled some blog posts so if you comment and I don’t respond, I’ll try to catch up with you on my return. See you when I get back!