This is Melbourne Part 2 for You All!!

Saturday 31st October 2009, Melbourne-Yaraville

Halloween!!!

This morning we went to High Point shopping centre with Kirilee. We just had a wonder about the mall and bought a towel and a USB stick at BIG W! Similar too our BIG W that use to be. Oh by the way don't think we've said before but here in Australia they have Woolworths but here it's a supermarket-just a little bit of useless information for you!!!

Whilst at the shopping centre we had some lunch in the food court, I had Italian bread stuffed with chicken, cheese and salad and Caroline had Beef Satay Noodles. The food courts over here in shopping centre's are so much better than ours, loads more choice!!

From here we all went back to Yaraville and then Caroline and I caught the train into the city centre.

From Flinders street station we walked back along St Kilda Road to the Royal Botanical Gardens. We passed a couple of parks on the way and walked through another one near the Shrine of Remembrance to get to the Botanical gardens. The lovely thing about all the parks and gardens in Australia is that majority of them are free to get in and there all kept so beautifully. We had a walk through the gardens past various displays and the lake in the middle wildlife spotting as we went. Who are we kidding we don't know a blackbird from a sparrow but they were all nice nether the less!! After having a walk we treated ourselves to a coffee at the café and sat out in the sun for a while.

From the Botanical Gardens we then caught the tram down to St Kilda to meet back up with Ruth. Ruth had been in Melbourne since the previous Tuesday but she'd been staying with family so we hadn't seen her till now. We met her at her hostel which was our old one, Habitat HQ, and then we just spent an hour or so chatting whilst sitting in the courtyard.

We left Ruth at about 7:30pm and then caught the tram and train back to Yaraville going via Coles on the way to collect food for tea. Caroline was still pretty full from lunch so she just had soup and I made tomato and spicy sausage pasta for myself. We spent the evening with Kirilee in front of the TV watching a film.

Sunday 1st November 2009, Melbourne-Yaraville

Today we went to Werribee Open Range Zoo in Werribee. Werribee is only about half an hour away from Kirrilee's in Yaraville. We arrived about 11:15am and after entering we jumped onto the first available safari drive which was included in the price of the ticket. It was a 45 minute drive through the various open areas viewing different animals along the way. We saw giraffes, zebras, hippos, various different types of antelopes, African wild dogs and lots of other animals. After the drive we had a choice of 3 different walks to see other animals. We were going to do all 3 so it was just a choice of which one to do first.

The first walk we did was the Watersmart Garden and Wirribi Yaluk (Werribee River) Walk. It was nice flat walk but not any animals to see as such. It was more of a wildlife walk with the sounds and noises to go with it. The Frogs were very loud but not a lot else to say about this walk. From here we did the Volcanic Plains walk. This is an area based on Australia with all the plants and animals to go with it. We saw kangaroos and wallabies' in this area as well as emus. We didn't see any Koloa's though which is unfortunate. After these 2 walks which took us about and hour and a half or so we all grabbed some lunch and then did the African Walking Trails and Gardens. This is a walk around a fictious African Wildlife reserve. This area is also twinned with an actual African community. Here we saw Lions (sleeping), cheetahs, and African wild dogs again. These were funny, for a long time they were just laying there not doing a lot until they heard a child screaming and then all at once they came running at the fence in one big pack!

It was a good day, lots of animals observed in there semi wild habitats which I find so much nicer than having to view them behind bars, and the only downer to the day was that the weather was not the warmest and typically as we were leaving the sun came out!!! But never mind it was fun!!!

Tonight we cooked Chili Con Carne for tea for the three of us!

Monday 2nd November 2009, Melbourne-Yaraville.

"Neighbours, everybody needs good Neighbours…"

That's right it was Neighbours day today but before that it was Melbourne Cup Day Parade 2009.

We left Yaraville at about 11am and caught the train into Melbourne meeting Ruth outside Flinders Street station which was also the end point of the parade. We bought a coffee and then positioned ourselves just before the end of the parade and waited for it to start. It wasn't due to start till 12pm from across the other side of the city so it was a bit of a wait but once it came it was worth it. There were dancers, musicians, Winning Horses from previous Melbourne Cup Races and also lots of posh cars driving along with jockey, trainer and owners for this years Melbourne Cup. We also got to see Olivia Newton-John who was in one of the cars because her charity for cancer is represented at the Melbourne Cup. The Melbourne cup is sponsored by Emirates so there was a lot of red in the parade and a lot of Emirates lady's in uniform!

Once the parade was finished we said goodbye to Ruth and arranged to meet her later, grabbed a baguette and then made our way down to the Neighbours shop. On the way we had to call in at the Immigration Museum as Caroline had lost her sunglasses and believed she had left them there. And what a surprise to discover that they were indeed there and in one piece even a week after she'd lost them!! There are some honest people in this world!!

The Neighbours tour left the city at 1:30pm and after a 20 minute drive we arrived outside the school that was used as Erinsborough High until 4 years ago. Must tell you on the way we watched the episode where Toadie and Dee married which for those of you who watch it, will remember it was so sad!! A few little tears fell even this many years later!!! Anyway back to the tour, they use a different school now but the bike sheds were still the same and the parasol where Sky had her first lesbian snog is still there!! From here we went round to the studios to see if any filming was taking place it wasn't so we just stopped and had a look at the police station/ Erinsborough News office. Same building just filmed from different angles to make you think it's different. Same as the studios, did you know that the front of the studios is used for the prison, the hospital and the airport!! After this we drove to Ramsey Street, although it's not really called Ramsay Street. But it is a real street with real people who live there. For the program they just used the main 6 houses in the cul de sac, the ones we know as the Robinsons house, The Kennedy's house, Harold's, Steph's, the boys and The Parkers. They don't use the inside of the houses just the front and back of the houses, the gardens and pools as well as the actual street itself. There is also a shop around the corner which is also occasionally used in filming. After lots of photos it was back to the studio to see Grease Monkey's and Carpenter's garage where we also meet the guy who places Lucas in the show. Pretty good looking in real life but not as hot as he is on camera!!!!

Once back in Melbourne we quickly used the net before making our way to Southern Cross station to meet Ruth and make our way back to Yaraville. Once back in Yaraville I left the other two to go and get my hair cut!! First time in 7 months, I'd been putting it off as I didn't want to use my travelling money on my hair but it had got that bad it had to be done!!!

This evening was spent with Ruth and Kirilee at a Italian in Yaraville where we all had Monday night pasta night deal of $10 pasta and a couple of glasses of wine!!! Food was delicious!! After dinner Ruth caught the train back into Melbourne and we all went for a few drinks at the local and also put our bets on ready for tomorrow!!!

Tuesday 3rd November 2009, MELBOURNE CUP DAY 2009!!

Today was Melbourne Cup Day which over here is BIG!!! We had decided not to go to Flemington because of the cost, although the tickets weren't too bad at $65 we would also have had to buy a dress, a hat, heels and a handbag, because this is not just a horse race it is also the biggest fashion event!! Melbourne comes to a stand still for Melbourne cup day, it's big all over Australia but in actual Melbourne itself they all get a bank holiday for it as well!! Where ours for Royal Ascot?? And whilst were on the subject did you know over here they all get a bank holiday for The Queens Birthday, we don't even get that!!!!

Anyway back to race day, there are 10 races in total with the big one being Race 7. We all left home at bout 12:30pm and headed into Melbourne to meet Ruth. Caroline and I had both put bets on all the races but only $1 bets so nothing too much!! We made it into the pub about 2pm which was just about the time of Race 6, I won some money on that one by the way with Majestic Magic. We then pretty much stayed in the same pub until after Race 10 and for a little bit longer after. There was me, Caroline, Kirrilee, Ruth and a Italian girl Innes who we met on The Great Ocean road came to meet us as well. The atmosphere in the pub was fab especially for Race 7. Caroline and Kirrilee both won some money on Race 7. Caroline picked the winner and second place both on each way bets. The Winner of Melbourne Cup 2009 was Shocking!!!

The rest of the day/night was spent eating and drinking. The pub for the night was called Transport and it was in Federation Square and it was really good!! All you need to know from there is that it was a very long day and a really good day!!!!! We are very glad we stayed in Melbourne for Race day!!!

Today was Hangover today so you might as well cancel today out, we did!!!

Thursday 5th November 2009, Yaraville, Melbourne-Sydney

Once up and about today we packed some of stuff and then made our way into Melbourne to visit The Queen Victoria Market. We had meaning to go to the market pretty much most days since we arrived in Melbourne. But we had never got there normally because we tried to go too late in the day or on days it was shut!!

Well we got there and so wished we had been loads earlier in our stay!! An amazing market. We had a walk around, bought some flowers for Kirilee, tried some wine and then treated ourselves to, Caroline had olives and artichokes and I had smoked salmon rolled around cream cheese and a ham stuffed with red pepper and goats cheese roll. Very nice.

After the market we used the internet and then caught the train back to Kirrilee's. By now it was nearly 4:30pm so we packed and got sorted and then at about 6:15pm Kirilee gave us a lift to the airport for our flight to Sydney!!!

Goodbye Melbourne, Hello Sydney!!

Just to say we had never intended on spending such a long time in one place but it was so nice!! It was just lovely to have a base for more than 4 days, it was great to have a house to stay in with free accommodation, a sofa, a TV and no one to wake us up in the middle of the night!! And it was nice to be in Melbourne for such a big event with friends!!!!