enjoying the city streets

After some relaxation down in Flinders, we took a couple days to enjoy the streets of Melbourne, walking around the Fitzroy and South Yarra areas and taking a driving tour around some of the other neighborhoods. We loved all the street art, gorgeous storefront displays, little cafes, and yummy gelato.

Thursday evening, I went to the St. Kilda Night Market with the crowds of people enjoying the food, music, fire twirling, and crafts.

We finished off the week with a lovely Friday Family Dinner and celebrated the Chinese New Year with friends and family.

And as always, the complete album with photo captions can be found here: ALBUM

flinders fun

After Australia day came and went, we decided to branch out beyond Melbourne slightly by taking a trip south to Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula. We hoped a couple trains and arrived to a hot sunny day in Flinders. We had some drinks at Merricks General Wine Store before relaxing inside for the hottest part of the day. When the sun began cooling off, just ever so slightly, we went for a walk/hike at Bushrangers Bay, swatting flies the whole way. 

We saw our first kangaroo, followed my many more both on our way to and from the bay. They bay was absolutely gorgeous, with the slight exception of the many biting bugs, that kept us from strolling the length of the beach. The water was crystal clear and just what we needed to wash away the day's stick. We had the whole bay to ourselves with the exception of one guy reading below a massive bug net.

With the sun setting, we headed back for a lovely dinner, great conversation, and a peaceful night of rest with the ocean waves crashing on the shore. 

The next day, we enjoyed a lovely day exploring the Mornington Peninsula and the vast regions of hay fields and vineyards. We stopped at a couple of the 102 vineyards in the region and had a lovely lunch at Tuck's Ridge. We also got to see the local library, a traveling library housed on a truck that drives around the Peninsula. 

It was a lovely couple days, filled with wonderful people, gorgeous views, and a taste of the quiet oceanside life.

For all the pictures, because you know you want to see them all - view the ALBUM

australia day

Sunday, January 26, 2014 - Australia Day

We woke to the most perfect day we could have asked for to celebrate Australia Day, so after a lovely relaxing morning, we headed into the city for festivities in the city. There were crowds of people, many in costume and the gardens were filled with booths. We listened to an array of music, from jazz and opera to African and Brazilian. There were also rows and rows of beautiful and fun old cars and there was a spectacular flyover. We then wandered the packed streets, enjoying more street music and performances.

The evening was celebrated with the tennis finals and an Aussie backyard party, complete with some backyard cricket. 

The following day, was a national holiday to recover from the "Straya" day celebrations, and we enjoyed a lovely sunset on the beach at Half-Moon Bay.

For the complete collection of photos, visit the ALBUM!

cycling perspectives

With our days now wide open with possibilities, we took it upon ourselves to explore as many gems scattered around the city.

We brought bikes to the city and cycled along the south bank, around the docklands, out to Melbourne port where the huge boats are, around the edge of the Yarra River to Westgate park and along the beaches lining Port Phillip bay.

Westgate Park

Biking along the Beach Path

We stumbled upon a multicultural festival on Princes Pier and stopped to have a Roo burger and listen to some fun Indian music and watch Albanian dances before continuing off down the beach to see parasails decorating the windy shore, wander the length of St. Kilda's Pier, explore Acland street, which was packed full of people enjoying drinks and light dining, and biked back through the parks, even riding a short distance of the Formula 1 race track, and biking up to the Shrine of Remembrance which sits atop a hill and looks over Melbourne city and all its glowing lights. It was fun to see the city from so many different angles!

Princes Pier

Parasails near St. Kilda

Melbourne Perspectives 

the cityscape from many different locations

From the South Bank

From the Docklands

From the Melbourne Port

From St. Kilda

From the Shrine of Remembrance

From the Yarra River, looking at Federation Square

For more photos, view our album:

 Australia and New Zealand 2014

cool breeze

We finished up our 7th and final day of watching live tennis at the Australian Open on Tuesday after enjoying Heineken Saturday and Jacob's Creek Super Sunday with Torby and Jen and getting to watch some fabulous matches (both singles and doubles). This week was a drastic change in temperature, with cold windy weather, requiring all the warm clothes we had packed.

Since then, we have been keeping up to date with the progress of the tournaments by wandering through Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne and and peeking at the scores broadcasted on the big screens that are everywhere. In Federation Square we have also experienced some African drumming, live music, sculpture art, and found our way into some beautiful galleries displaying gorgeous glass works, paintings, aboriginal art, and a whole collection of works by Melbourne artists.

African Drumming

Art at the Kirra Gallery

Aboriginal Art at the Ian Potter Gallery

Really Cool Plastic Sculpture at the Ian Potter Gallery

We wandered to the north of the city to experience the Queen Victoria Market (huge covered market with all the things you could ever think to buy and an extensive fruit and veggie market). We then took the free city tram half way around its loop seeing new sites and orienting our selves for our walk through the city center. 

Starting from Flinder's Street, we explored the many little allies and lanes throughout the center of the city, finding delicious places to eat, wall after wall covered in colorful paint or mosaics, and expansive glass atriums spanning the space between numerous allies and buildings.

 Flinder's Street Station

Street Art extending the length of a whole ally (compiled from 5 photos)

Collins Place Atrium

For the complete album of photos view our Album (or click the photos above):

Australia and New Zealand 2014 

heat wave

Week one in Australia: We finally made it!! After some cancelled flights and being rerouted through London and Hong Kong, we made it to Melbourne, Australia. Leaving some -25degF (-30degC) winter to arrive just in time for some +112degF (+44degC) summer, pretty much as extreme as you can get... and even after days of cancelled flights, we still made it in time for opening day of the Aussie Open.

While so far, the majority of our time has been spent watching some amazing tennis, we did take a brief stroll in the city (I'm told they don't say "downtown" here), to check out some of Melbourne's lovely street art!

Gorgeous Graffiti

Play Me, I'm Yours Pianos

and

Yarn Bombing (on trees)

...and to top off the first week, we enjoyed a morning at the race track, watching Torby test his skills on the ring.

For the complete photo collection, check out our album:

Australia and New Zealand 2014 Album

beautiful ice

There are days like today, with the temperature threatening to drop to -26degreesF while I sit by a fire watching the flames lick the logs, that it is fun to remind myself the beauty that the cold creates!

2 blinks of an eye

After a while away, it is time to jump start my blog once more (by popular demand!).  It has been a wonderful last two years filled with family, friends, travel, and expanding my brain! I am excited for the year ahead, so to begin, here are my past two years in quick review!

Happy 2014: My year in Review - Jan-Dec 2013

Happy 2013: My year in Review - Jan-Dec 2012