Day 88 Melbourne

This was a sanctioned relaxation day and we were hell bent on not doing too much.  First point of business was to catch up on Journals, Blogs and Schoolwork for those of us still attending educational institutions.  There was a little bit of resistance to this, but a ban on playtime and treats soon sorted out any arguments.

We decided to do a bit of washing today, and ended up doing 4 loads.  How does that work out when we did all our washing 4 days ago?  Surely we aren't producing a load a day, but there you have it.

I managed to finish my second blog around 1230 due to the consistent stream of noise coming from the younger generation.  I had to concentrate just to get through each sentence, but was completely distracted by the endless barrage.

We made some lunch for the kids, and then sent them away to play. David showed up around 1330 after his morning commitments, and after a few brief introductions, we piled into the car and headed up to Mt Dandenong for lunch. 

The drive up was very pretty, and the conversation was great.  It was really good to catch up with David again.




Mt Dandenong has a lookout that has panoramic views over the city, and all the way out to Port Phillip Bay. 

We were fortunate enough to have these larrakin Kookaburra's hanging about for most of the afternoon.  When they weren't perched up on the feeder, they were flying into the restaurant to pinch the leftover chips. 

I think they are having a bit of an identity crisis with the seagulls going on.

I don't know how they manage to do it, but the kids found another water feature which gave them endless enjoyment and wet cuffs.  Why they are attracted to freezing water I haven't figured out yet, but I could probably write a thesis on it with the amount of research data I have accumulated on this trip.

It was very cool though.  The globe spun in perpetual motion on the granite base.

Until Rowan stopped it.

Lisa, David and I were able to enjoy a nice light lunch and catch up on 25 odd years of history.

After lunch we went for a walk through the gardens, and although it was shut, Lisa somehow convinced them to open up the maze for us.

The kids had a ball running through the maze, and getting turned around and lost every 30 seconds.

There were artworks, fountains and statues placed throughout the maze, which were lovely to look at whilst stressing about finding the exit point.

They were even nice enough to paint this shortcut onto a limestone wall just to throw you off the right track.

At four points throughout the maze were stamping points that we were able to fill in on our maze certificates, and the kids all got a badge of achievement at the end.

We had a lovely walk around the gardens to finish off the day and got a couple of lovely photos for our troubles. 

David said that he had never been up here, and that he didn't even know it existed, so it was  a learning experience for all of us.

We all had a great day out, and aside from the temperature dropping to arctic towards the end, the sun was out for most of the afternoon.

Best of all, we managed to have a day that wasn't stressful, and we don't feel too tired. 

We finished off the day with a bit of late night shopping and pizza from La Porchetta which is obscenely over topped, but completely delicious.  Emma indulged in spaghetti again...her favourite dish.

Mum and dad found the bottle shop on the way home and bought a bottle of OP Vodka (50%) and a bottle of OP Wild Turkey at $40.00 per bottle.  At the cashier, they charged me $70.00 for the two...START THE CAR!!!!  START THE CARRRRR!!!!!

It has been a good day.  Thanks David for the company, the conversation and the shameless attempt to be included in our blog.