12^th December, Friday

I’m not putting up any history for Melbourne folks as you all know about it and know where it is :-).We parked the van at the back of the caravan park for storage and set off for the big smoke.  The drive was pretty much uneventful until we hit Melbourne, traffic, traffic jambs EISH, Welcome to Melbourne.  Had Beryl not given us instructions Claude (the GPS) would have taken us through the city.  He was quite adamant that we keep taking the off ramps to the city and he was getting quite upset with us because we weren’t listening to him.  We arrived at the Hubschmann household before lunch and it is so nice to see everyone, I was quite excited about seeing them all.  Hugo is as happy as Larry as he has lots of people to give him treats, hugs etc. and of course he’s lapping it up.  BJ, Lexi (the doggies) and Buffy (the cat) have made him quite welcome.  We went for a late afternoon walk with the dogs in a lovely park that has a creek running through it and Hugo jumped decided to jump into the water for a swim. Tomorrow, we don’t have much planned so will probably just veg and catch up on news etc.

13^th December, Saturday

A quite today with the family.  Shopping this morning and then just vegging and watching cricket and chatting for the rest of the day, it was very relaxing.  We sat outside to eat an awesome dinner that Caroline had cooked and then to bed, so folks, not much to tell you for today.

14^th December, Sunday

Today was another awesome day with the family. We had brekkie and then went to the Nunawading farmers market.  Beryl said that it was a small market but she told me porkies because there were so many stalls there, gourmet cheeses, olives, sausages, smoked fish, wine, you name it and it was there.  I got quite excited and Beryl brought along a little pull along trolley and we filled it quite quickly and really could have done with another one. Caroline was driving us and we took off for Belgrave which is a little Hippy town in the Dandenongs, Caroline found us a market (Thanks Caroline, you did an awesome job in finding us a good Hippy market).  Ralph found some nice rocks there and we bought some other little bits and pieces and found a nice little place for lunch. We drove to another little town called Emerald and the scenery going through the Dandenongs is breathtaking.  From there off to the Wandon Valley to a cherry farm where we bought loads.  I tell you, the cherries here are awesome, we don’t get anything like that in Perth, they are sweet and juicy and half the price.  We have been pigging out. Back to home and another restaurant meal prepared by all.

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15^th December, Monday

Today was a day of doing not much. Ralph and I went to the doctors in the morning. Catherine came home from Antarctica (she has been away on holiday for 4 weeks) and it was good to see her.  We had a doggie Christmas party in the late afternoon in a park where the dogs usually walk. Lots of people, lots of gorgeous dogs, lots of pressies for the dogs, lots of doggie treats and lots of human food.  It was a real fun party and all the dogs got on so well.  Ralph and I came back a bit earlier because Hugo decided that he had had enough of all the other dogs and he kept trying to do a runner.  We had to tie him up which wasn’t really fair on him so we brought him home early.  I think that he was grateful although he did have a good time in the beginning.

16^th December, Tuesday

Ralph, Beryl and myself went into the big smoke on the tram this morning.  It was fun as the tram runs down the middle of the street and you can see all the houses, gardens, shops etc.  It goes past the MCG and right into the middle of the city.  We had to go to the Indian visa and passport office first because Beryl had to put in her visa application as she is going to India next year.  The office is on the 12^th floor of the building and the Melbourne Cathedral is right across the road.  It is a beautiful big Cathedral and I had an awesome view of it so I started taking pictures.  I was confronted by a security guard saying that I am not allowed to take pictures and he stood there while I deleted them.  There is a sign there saying “no photos, no phones”, but I didn’t see it, talk about embarrassing, poor Beryl nearly didn’t get her visa because of her stupid rellies, HAHA. I don’t like cities as you all know but I would have to say that as far as cities go Melbourne would be my favourite.  It’s old architecture amongst the new is so diverse.  It’s such a cosmopolitan city, people of all nationalities going about their business and of course the most important thing of all the different ethnic cafes and restaurants, it’s foodie heaven.  We went to my most favourite market of all time “The Victoria market”, I love, love, love that place.  The food section of it is to die for, you can get anything you want and lots of it as well.  There is not just one stall for instance selling cheese, there would be heaps and this applies for everything.  We had lunch (Indian) in the food hall and then decided to catch the train back to Vermont South and Caroline picked us up at the station.

 

17^th December, Wednesday

Today the weather has turned a bit cooler and it’s a nice change. I had an early morning hair appointment and after that we were taken for a drive to the Yarra Valley and did one Cellar door and then onto the restaurant/winery/brewery, something for everyone. The Yarra valley is very green and lush and it’s gorgeous with vineyards growing up the hillsides.  I didn’t get to take many pictures because no photo I take would justify just how lovely it is.  Ales and Beryl have friends (Amy and Sid) who joined us for lunch. It was a lovely lunch and of course we did the usual thing and we all walked out with a 6 pack box of wine each, make hay while the sun shines (HAHA). After lunch Sid and Amy took us to their RACV club for drinks, it’s a beautiful club with a beautiful view overlooking the valley.  On the way home we stopped off at the cherry farm again because the kilos and kilos we bought the other day are all gone and so we had to buy kilos and kilos more, they don’t last long in this household and they are the best cherries we have eaten in a long time and even Ralph is eating them.

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18^th December, Thursday

Veg out day today so not much to report.  We need some cooking and Catherine came over for dinner and then an early night.

19^th December, Friday

I’ve just realised that we’ve been here for a week already, the time has just flown. The weather is still a bit cool but very pleasant.  We went in search of Dinosaur footprints and went all the way to Inverlock, which is about 2 hours from Vermont South. Caroline was the driver and we could sit back, relax and enjoy the views. Between her and Beryl they make great tour guides.  The route to Inverlock takes you mainly through dairy farms and the scenery is breathtaking.  It’s all rolling hills and it’s so green.  There are loads of little dams and lakes along the way and they are all full, Caroline says that it’s unusual for it to be so green at this time of the year, so I guess that we are lucky to see it looking like that.  Beryl says that it reminds her a lot of New Zealand so you can imagine how pretty it looks.  Our first stop was the information centre in Inverlock for information of where to find fossils although there were 3 in the car already. Our next stop was Flat Rocks beach, it’s a long beach and the coast line is really pretty. Lots of rocks and seaweed and a bit different to the coast line along NSW and Queensland but still very beautiful. Ralph found some petrified wood and he was quite chuffed as he doesn’t have any of that yet for his collection.  Our next stop was “The caves” which was a large dig for Dinosaur bones and fossils.  They have found about 15000 bones and fossils there since 1993.  You can see where a lot of the fossils have been removed.  There is a dinosaur footprint still there but we couldn’t find it as it could have been hidden under sand and seaweed.  We didn’t know what we were looking for and only Caroline had a better idea as she is a doctor of Archaeology and did a lot of that stuff in her studies but she couldn’t find it either, she found other interesting stuff though like shark eggs and more petrified wood and stuff like that.  If anything is found you are not allowed to remove it and you are supposed to photograph and report what your find is.  Ralph, being the rebel that he is was picking up rocks and pretending to drop them to see if there was anything in them.  Beryl and I were watching him and it cracked us up. The whole area we visited today was called South Gippsland and is part of the Bass Strait which separates Victoria from Tasmania. On the way home we followed the coast for a fair way and there are heaps of little tidal channels along the way with moored boats.  Back home and walkie time for the dogs and dinner.  It was a big day and we were all pretty tired so I think that tomorrow will be another veg out day to watch the cricket.  Ales stayed home and looked after the dogs, Thank you Ales.

20^th December, Saturday

Veg out day today watching cricket so nothing to tell anyone.  Tomorrow Catherine is giving us a guided tour of the street art in Melbourne, so looking forward to that.

21^st December, Sunday

Today was a beautiful warm day, 30 degrees in fact.  We went to Catherines place to pick her up and to see her beautiful house and garden which she and Caroline had created. We caught the train to the city where we were given a guided tour by Catherine and Caroline of the city and the amazing street art that Melbourne has to offer. Such awesome street art all over the place and in places that you would never know so thankfully we had our Professional Melbourne family guides to show us around. Melbourne truly is a lovely city, I know that I have said it before but this city is so diverse and a pleasure to visit.  We went to Chinatown and a lot of the old buildings have been used as Chinese shops etc. and it’s quite unusual to see European style architecture used for Chinese trade. Catherine came across some girls giving out free pepsi max and she filled up all our bags, I think that we came back with about a dozen between us.  We visited some chocolate shops and filled up some packets of choccies to bring home, some of which we sampled on the train back to Vermont South. There are some amazing French pastry shops here as well, the likes of which we don’t get in Perth, the most amazing little cakes that are works of art and you wouldn’t want to eat them because they are so beautiful. I didn’t go into the patisserie and only looked in through the window like a little hungry person because I would have been tempted to buy, big time. We visited the State Library and what an impressive place it is. There is a reading hall which is huge (check the photo) as are the computer halls for students or whoever needs them. There is a whole section too which is devoted to searching family history, we were totally blown away with this library. The building itself is magnificent but most of the front was covered up while they were doing some renovations which was a shame so you couldn’t really get to see what it looked like. Back on the train to Vermont South and thank you to Catherine and Caroline for being such amazing tour guides and giving us the most awesome day. Ales and Beryl had some good friends (Terri and Pete) come around for hamburgers and pre Christmas drinks in the late afternoon, they are the parents of Jed the little puppy border collie (such a cutie). Tomorrow we are having lunch on the South Bank with Amy and Sid (who we met the other day) at their sons pub. My apologies for all the street art pics but I culled a lot of them and then couldn’t really pick my favourite so I put all the rest on the blog.

 

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22th December, Monday

We had another amazing day in this lovely city.  We hopped on a tram with Ales and Beryl and headed off for South Bank.  We were meeting Amy and Sid at South Wharf for lunch at their sons pub and had a lovely slow stroll along the board walk of South Bank along the Yarra river to South Wharf.  It was quite warm today and a smidge humid as it was overcast.  We had an amazing lunch with all the bits and pieces that Amy kept ordering.  There were some people flying a drone and taking pictures outside of the restaurant and we’ve never seen one before.  We headed off after about a 3 hour lunch and caught the train home. Tomorrow will be a quieter day as we need to get up early to do the Christmas food shopping.

23^rd December, Tuesday

We were up at sparrows this morning to do our food shopping for Christmas.  We went down to the kitchen to be greeted by a fresh batch of warm scones, cream and jam baked by Caroline, we are really getting spoiled.  Off the the shops to do the non fresh stuff as we will be at the Queen Victoria markets at earlier than sparrow tomorrow to get the fish and the fresh stuff.  We vegged for the rest of the day conserving energy for tomorrow as tomorrow is Christmas in the Hubschmann household and there will be a frenzy of activity here.  Christmas day will be busy too as it’s Beryl and Carolines birthday as well.  Caroline cooked a beautiful meal and while we were eating there was a knock at the door, it was Amy with a plate of freshly made koeksusters.  We are going to need a bigger caravan for me to fit into by the time we leave here. It’s goodnight folks as we have to be up at 5am to hit the markets. xxxxx

24^th, 25^th, 26^th December

Merry Christmas everyone xxxxx

24^th – Christmas has arrived and off to the markets at 6am on Christmas Eve.  We were Catherines lackies as she was the shopper, the cook, the boss basically, so we had to do her bidding HAHA. We left Catherine to take the shopping home and we went to the museum.  We were a bit early so we sat in the park at the exhibition centre while we were waiting for opening hours.  The exhibition centre is a beautiful old girl with lovely tranquil gardens.  We caught the train home and Caroline picked us up.  The rest of the day was spent vegging in the lounge while Catherine was cooking up a storm.  We were being served with homemade macaroons and generally getting spoilt.  After the most amazing Christmas eve dinner we opened our presents (Father Christmas being played by Caroline) which were numerous.

25^th – Christmas day and Beryl and Carolines birthday so the ritual of opening birthday presents. Catherine got up early to bake the birthday cake. We spent the rest of the day preparing for Christmas lunch, just bbq and a gazillion salads which I think will feed us for the rest of the week.  We had a late afternoon bbq for the family and a good family friend whose wife is overseas at the mo.

26^th – Boxing day and of course it’s traditional to watch the boxing day test.  Beryl, Catherine and Caroline went off to the movies (which is their boxing day tradition)in the morning to see the Hobbit.  It’s a bit chills (18 degrees) today and raining, not an issue because we are just vegging out today anyway.

27^th December, Saturday

We had to take Hugo to the vet today as he has an ear and eye infection and needs his vaccines and heartworm and cartrophen.  Poor puppy got prodded, poked, injected and ears shaved and he didn’t complain a bit.  He had 4 needles stuck into him, got stuff thrown down his ears, got stuff shoved in his eyes and he’s still smiling. We spent the rest of the day packing up as we leave here early tomorrow morning to head for Hamilton along the great Ocean road.  Beryl and Caroline are going as well but we will travel in 2 separate cars as we go straight back to Bendigo from there and they will come back to Melbourne.  We are staying with Jenny and Doug (friends of Ales and Beryl).  I have stayed with them before when last I was in Melbourne and they stayed with us when they were in Perth on a visit so I am looking forward to seeing them again. So, this is our last night in Melbourne and thank you Catherine and Caroline for all the cooking and tour guiding.  Thanks Ales and Beryl for having us and thank you BJ, Lexi and Buffy for being so accommodating towards Hugo and so folks we will catch you in Hamilton. xxxx