Melbourne Day 1

These are Doug's words with some 'JOS' (Julie over shoulder). Here she is in our apartment at City Edge 'Treasury'.



And the view from outside.



The day was foggy (airport was closed - lucky we got in) and about 10 degrees. We headed for the CBD walking through Fitzroy Gardens, about a block from our apartment. A lot of autumn colours.



The CBD emerged through the mist.



Police get around on bikes, with guns!



Melbourne has a very fine transport system that makes Auckland look like a mess. Trams run through the streets, including a free one on the City Loop taking about 30 minutes. Trains come in from all directions, above and underground. Tram or train fares are $3 for 2 hour's ride in the CBD.



Some remarkable architecture is all around, check out the Catholic Church. The feeling of the place is of much more wealth than Auckland, which is like a big $2 shop.

We walked a long way to Government house, to find it is only open to pre-arranged tours. Heading back into town we found the National Art Gallery of Victoria. Free entry included a remarkable collection of European paintings, Rembrandt, Gainsborough and many more.



This is one of the three Rembrandts. Photography is allowed, but no flash.

Trip to Melbourne May 2009

We awoke to a rainy, squally day, so abandoned our original plan of taking the local bus to Manukau City. A taxi delivered us dry and in plenty of time to catch the airport 380 bus.

Arriving at Auckland Airport, we checked in, pleased to rid of some of our luggage. We still had lots of time to wait, so amused ourselves by eating lunch, and watching planes reloading.




The A380 was due in - it's always exciting seeing that big bird come into land. (One of the Emirates captains described his plane to Doug as, "The queen of the skies." Unfortunately we didn't think to point a camera at it.


Soon it was time to wander over to Gate 5. We were a bit disappointed to see an A320 loading up. Erk.....they fall out of the sky sometimes......pretty small for flying across the Tasman!



We were very cramped, but really that was our only complaint. The cabin crew were lovely and were working under really difficult conditions. They would be in the one aisle with a trolley, then have to back right up to let someone pass.

We arrived at Melbourne to a beautiful day, cleared customs no trouble. (Not like Border Patrol). We then caught a Skybus shuttle bus (another first for me, a bendy bus) which took us to Melbourne Southern Cross railway station where we caught a free shuttle to our accomodation.

We are staying at the City Edge, east Melbourne. It's fairly basic but clean and comfortable. Doug has battled with wireless internet last night and this morning and finally we're 'on line'.
We've been awake for hours. Time to set out on our first trip of exploration!

Miriam's 60th Birthday Celebration

We set off on Friday morning to travel to Motuoapa to stay with David and Ruth so that we could attend the surprise afternoon tea, to celebrate Miriams' birthday on Saturday.
It was a beautiful day so we made a picnic to have on the way.



We stopped at Karapiro Dam to enjoy our sammies and coffee.
It was a really beautiful time of the year to travel The autumn colours were magnificent.

We eventually arrived at David and Ruth's and not long after our David arrived from Wellington.

Saturday dawned bleak and cold.

The Afternoon Tea

Most of us arrived at The Brantry around 2 o'clock. Miriam had no idea what was in store for her. We were all in an upstairs room, waiting for her to arrive. Her face was a picture when she got to the top of the stairs!



The projector was waiting for the right moment to screen the DVD that Ken had made of highlights of Miriam's life - cameras were poised ready to record today.



The children really enjoyed the wonderful butterfly cakes and were served their drinks in the same 'collectable' cups and saucers as the adults. It as funny watching them trying to sup their drinks like 'little ladies', pinkies extended.




Steve couldn't resist sharing the kid's cakes - he thought it was far more fun than being with the 60 year olds! Meanwhile 3 week old Frances caught up on her beauty sleep.



It was good to catch up with the Smith family. Peter and Deanna were there, as well as Andrew and Simon, and of course Graeme and Susan,Trinity and Grace who were the instigators of this lovely afternoon.




Ken had put together a really neat DVD of Miriam's life so far - very amusing and quite romantic in places! What a lovely tribute.

Finally we came to the cutting of the cake which rounded the afternoon off nicely. We managed to take a photo of the Alexander siblings before leaving. We've all changed at bit!



We rounded off the day at Ken and Miriam's where we opened that special bottle of red wine that Graeme had brought to the last family gathering. (Ali was expecting Frances so we decided to keep it until she could share it too.)



Sunday 3rd May

Another brilliant day. After checking up on the Vespa's restoration progress, we set off back home to Auckland.

Robert's Birthday

18th April

Two birthdays today.

We visited Charlotte in the morning to wish her a happy 5th birthday. She was in great spirits - greeting us in her Spider-woman's outfit, before returning to help her dad cook hotcakes for everyone.

Robert, too, celebrated his birthday today. He brought Stacey and Caleb around on Sunday to help celebrate. David's photos are so much better than mine. http://www.davidstgeorge.blogspot.com/

Trip to Warkworth

Wednesday 15th April


Doug had a painting to deliver in the city, so it seemed like a good reason to pack a picnic, and set off on a wee trip. We found a nice beach at Devonport where we munched our filled rolls, then drove on further to go on the toll road and through the tunnels. (I hadn't been through them before.)



We passed under this rather neat bridge as we approached.





I decided to photograph the

cameras that were photographing us.
Soon we were through the tunnel and out the other side.





We enjoyed a wander around Warkworth before returning home.

Airplane Spotting - if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

We set out with aircraft arrival schedules and impressive lenses to catch the big one. Very impressive it was too! My 'snapper' camera doesn't really do it credit.

Lunch with Robert and Caleb

It was good to catch up with Robert and Caleb for lunch today. Caleb has just recovered from chicken pox and now Stacey has them.





Tuesday 7th April A Lovely Sunset out the Kitchen Window

Manukau Heads

David and Ruth have been here for a couple of days. Thursday we all visited Ali, for David and Ruth to meet Frances for the first time. Audrey and Noel called in as well, so it was a nice time of catching up with family.

Yesterday David, Ruth, and I set off to explore the Awhitu Peninsular. Our first stop was the lighthouse. This replica, was built at the northern tip, where the sinking of the Orpheus occurred in 1863

It was a brilliant day.



The Lighthouse




We then moved on to find a suitable picnic spot. Wattle Bay was lovely - plenty of grass to sit on and a lovely safe-looking beach that consisted of strips of gold, and strips of black sand.



After lunch we explored various roads around Awhitu before returning home.
We spotted this old Bristol freighter in someones backyard.