Melbourne Trip

My mom, dad and sister came to visit us in October.  The plan was to pick them up in Melbourne and do some sight seeing on the way back to Adelaide.  We had been wanting to do the Great Ocean Road tour but hadn't planned it yet so we figured this was the perfect time to see it and have my family see it also. The funny thing is that the same day we were driving to Melbourne our Bishop and his wife were driving  home from Melbourne.  We got a text from him and he asked us where we were, after I told him we had another text telling us to watch out for the giant koala.  He is quite the jokester so at first I did not believe him and with in a few minutes Dan sees a sign for a giant koala.  So we had to stop and text our Bishop the picture of our children in front of the giant koala.

We get to Melbourne airport as planned just in time for the flight to land and learn that the flight my parents were on was delayed by MANY hours and they hadn't left New Zealand yet.  Let me add that we were going to have to rent a car so we could all fit and Dan and I were going to be the only drivers of the 2 cars.  So I was going to follow Dan, after we picked up my family, to the hotel.  Since it was going to be quite some time before my family got in we decided we would go and check in and get some dinner. WOW I am so glad the flight was delayed because the trip from the airport to the hotel was one of the SCARIEST I have ever been on.  I was so glad I got to be a passanger before I was the driver.  They have round abouts on very busy roads and the craziest thing ever is that if you want to make a right turn you have to be in the left lane and wait for all lanes to be clear before you make the right turn.  Essentially what you are doing is getting in front of the traffic that will be going straight across to make your right turn.  Dan was being honked at right and left.  We also were driving in the same lanes as the "trains" and they would stop in the street at their designated stops and people would hop out and have to cross the streets to get to the side walks.

I don't know if you can see good enough in this picture at all the stop lights at the intersection ahead of us, but there were like 8 lights in total.  I seriously was so grateful my husband was driving and I was observing first.   By the time we were going to go to dinner and then head to the airport there was so much traffic it took us an hour to maybe go 5 miles or so. I was so glad that by the time we were coming back again most of the traffic was gone. There was NO WAY I was driving the rest of the time we were here unless I HAD to and the only time that was, was when we were leaving.  So the next day we did ALOT of walking and riding the train to get where we wanted to go which was much better than the stress of driving around.  We did get to see some very cool things on our stay in Melbourne but it was all in the city.  Here are a few pictures:

This was inside the train station.

These next few are from the botanic gardens.  Botanic Gardens are very popular here and they have always been free.  It is a great place to get to see some of the vegetation from the area.

Sara in front of what I call a Dr. Suess tree cause that is what it reminds me of.

Yes it was raining a little bit on us at one point and pretty cold the whole time we were here.

These birds of paradise flowers are very popular here.  Many people have them growing in their yards,   I have always thought they were so pretty.

Sara, Whitney, Carlee and Dallin.

Dad, Dan, Carlee, Tori, Whitney, Mom, Sara

Next stop the art museum:

My dad had a little shadow the whole time they were here.  He loved being with Grandma, but especially with Poppy!

There were 6 or more of these "statues".  They were obviously men or women in person by their different "parts", but Dan was strategic enough to take a picture without it being obvious.  The cool thing is the window behind it.  It is a window to the front of the building and water runs down it all the time.  It is really cool.  Dallin is on the inside of the building and Carlee and Whitney are on the outside in this next picture:

Some of the cool building and Architecture in Melbourne:

Federation Square

Train station

Shopping area

Inside an old Theatre that they still use occasionally

Dan wanted a picture of this place because it looks cool.  We didn't actually go in, but it is called the Bath house. Can't tell you any more than that!!

This is the Royal Exhibition Building.  This is the fountain in the front that is really old (can't remember exactly).  We saw a possom for our first time here also.  It wasn't happy with us for some reason and kept hissing at us.

We went to this building to for the Eureka Skydeck.  You go to the 88th floor to get a look all around of the Melbourne area.  There are people who do live here also.

This was REALLY cool cause when we saw this building this is EXACTLY how it looked with the silver beaming off the top.  It was really cool.  So the 88th floor of this building is where you look out over Melbourne.

Dallin laying on the ground looking out the window below.

And after all that we did that day we think these 2 pictures sum it up best:

Whitney fell asleep on a tour bus we rode on and

Dallin after walking around souvenior shopping.

We had a great day but we were all pooped from the day!!!