Friday, February 28, 2014

Melbourne-so so great!

Chinatown, just a block from our hotel, The Gran Chancellor on Lonsdale St. in the CBD

Dinner is a must here. The pork dumplings are just so tasty.

Such a funny sign on the laneway in China town.

The Stalactite Greek Restaurant in Greek Town, two blocks from our hotel. Great food! Check out the ceiling

The Big Mango advertizing a new taste at Nando's. This is Federal Square

Flinders Station. A real Beauty!

This is the Wesley Church across the street from our hotel. So quaint.

The church spire across the street.

A beautiful old church a few blocks away. All Scottish.

The WWII War Memorial with the eternal flame.


This War Memorial is breth taking

The view FROM the memorial towards theCBD


This is the Memorial Service we attended at the memorial. WE chatted with this gentleman following the ceremony. It was very moving.  We ended our visit there with a tour from Ann and Claude. They were fantastic.

These are some signs from Latrobe's cottage. He was an early leader in Victoria from England. He came with his wife and four children and this house which was built in England, taken down and folded up and brought in the hull of the sailing ship. It is the first pre-fab house in Victoria!  





This is the Royal Observatory in the Botanical Gardens.

Back to the War Memorial. This is the eternal flame at their WWII memorial.

Photos of the Aussies in New Guinea during the Buna conflict.

A tree dedicated to the AMericans at the War Memorial.

Memorial to the widows and children.

Memorial to the women in the Armed services

Forget me nots for the women who served.

These are two signs in windows in China Town. Tom's favorite,,, PhoBo.


Memorial Service prpgram





Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Hello From Melbourne - Thursday, February 27, 2014

A Beautiful city. A difference atmosphere than Sydney or Brisbane. Can't put my finger on it right now. We are a block from China Town (very interesting and great places to eat) , two blocks from Greek Town the other direction and very close to little Italy. So we are in for some tasty treats.

Today we took a bus trip around the city and saw all the places we want to go back to. Lots of museums and beautiful parks.  We also bought tickets to see Grease live at the Queen Victoria Theater on our block. That will be on Wednesday.


Will post some photos tomorrow and more details on the city.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Update on the Grand kids

Joseph on Valentines Day. Check out his outfit. He picked it out himself.

This is a happy birthday cake and party for Papa

Almost one!

These two friends love to out for ice cream on their date day - Wednesday after school.

Peregian Beach on the Sunsine Coast, Queensland, AU

On our way to Peregian Beach, we stopped in a small town, Eumundi, to go to their Wednesday market. Now, this is a "must do" if you are ever in the neighborhood. We planned our mountain/beach trip around this market as it is quite famous.It has been going on since 1979. It is open on Wwednesday and Saturday - about 9 am to 2 pm.  And, it was a GREAT market. The only drawback was it was about 36 (96) degrees with high humidity. There were so many beautiful handmade clothes, shoes, and everyting under the hot hot sun!

The Beachcomber Peregian Beach. Perfect. A block off the beach. A swimming pool. Clean. 



Watch for kangaroos!





Poppies

Peregian Beach

Series of flowers




EVERY town has a butcher shop but not every butcher shop has whole black angus rumps for 11.99

These evergreens are really different.

Our beach



The clouds coming in at sunset




Aussie trivia:  
When a shop posts the hours it is open, they call it "trading hours"

Heller trivia:  We booked all of our accomodations on Booking.com. A great site and right on with the ratings. WE have not been disappointed yet.