Easter Break Down Under

Melbourne Area

We are back from our fall break and we've decided to split up the duties of writing the blog amoungst the 5 of us. My task (Mike's) is to write about our adventures in and around Melbourne.

We headed out from Taree on Thursday the 5th after school and drove hard to Goulburn, a town a couple hours southwest of Sydney up in the 'mountains' (we smile because the tallest 'mountain' in the whole country is about 7000'). We crashed at a hotel and got up early the next morning to drive the 7-8 more hours to the capital of Victoria. We arrived and checked-in to a 'backpacker hotel' which was nicely located right downtown. We learned that 'backpacker' means cheap, dirty and loud. 23 years ago I traveled through Europe in places like this and loved it...I must have gotten old. We really only slept in the place as we were busy being tourists all day long.

We walked extensively around Federation Square, through the gardens and parks along the Yarra River, and saw an Aussie Rules 'Footy' game at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG to those 'in the know').

We shopped through the Queen Victoria Market, went to the Melbourne Zoo (which will be one of Jake's categories), toured the suburb of St. Kilda on Easter morning, then went south to Phillip Island to see the Penquin Parade (which Jake will also handle).

On our way home at 11:00 pm, 30 miles south of the city, our car's radio shut off, the dash lights dimmed and the accelerator no longer performed its designated task. We barely rolled onto the shoulder of the dark freeway. Our flashers didn't even have power, nor did our blinkers. Our alternator was shot. We had no power at all. I stayed with the newly energized kids while Wonder Woman jogged to the next exit, found a phone and called for a tow truck. The 6 of us piled into the cab of the tow truck and went to a auto shop which of course was closed as it would be the next day due to it being a national holiday (day after Easter). From there we took a $60 taxi back into the city and were carless until Tuesday midday. I took a train back down to the shop, walked to it from the train station. $500 dollars later I was driving back up to Melbourne to pick up the brood and looking forward to getting out of the city and onto the Great Ocean Road (Karen's topic, I think). The city was nice, but I prefer nature and was about to be innundated with it.

We hope you enjoy the photos. The one of Karen looking bummed out is in the taxi!

The other photos are in and around the second biggest city in Australia, at the game, and 3of those wild U.S. monkeys in a tree.

Part 1 of 5 is complete...Enjoy the other 4.