3 Kids, 2 Parents, 1 Month in Europe: Melbourne

MELBOURNE

After flying 13 hours from Dubai we made our way to our apartment in Melbourne. If you ever go, they have an amazing service, SkyBus, that leaves the airport every 10 minutes 24-7 with an express bus directly to downtown, for a pittance. We scored a great apartment just 2 blocks from the downtown station for less than a hotel and with some amazing views.

CRICKET

We had tickets the next morning for the "Test Match" between England and Australia. This was the championship (aka "the Ashes") and as it was between these huge rivals it was a big deal locally. "Test" cricket doesn't involve any grading, rather there are no limits to the pitches. Imagine baseball but you can keep scoring so long as you can hit the batter. We were there for two hours and there were two batters, the thing runs 6 hours a day for FIVE DAYS. 80,000 people were in attendance at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and apparently many will be there for all 5 days!

They flashed this up as soon as we sat down....

After Cricket we explored the adjacent complex, home of the Australian Open and the site of the 1954 Melbourne Olympics.

After that we crossed the Yarra River towards the Royal Botanical Gardens (because there is nothing teenage boys want to do more than look at flowers and well designed shrubberies).

2017

2013...the boys have changed a bit haven't they?

MELBOURNE GAOL

Later in the afternoon we visited the old Melbourne Gaol (Jail). Dec 26 is "Boxing Day" in England and Australia, a common day for shopping and family picnics. (Think something along the lines of Black Friday). Many people take off the entire week between Christmas and New Years and many businesses were closed, a couple of the touristy things were closed but we still made a day of it.

Davis models a replica of the home made armor worn by infamous terrorist outlaw of the Victorian Outback--Ned Kelley. He was executed in the Melbourne Gaol.

The boys spent the night out taking in a local showing of Star Wars, Mom passed and stayed in.

VICTORIAN STATE LIBRARY

The next day we made a quick trip to the Victorian State Library...'cause we're nerdy like that. It looks a lot like the Library of Congress and had some interesting exhibits including some amazing rare books that were on display.

Ethan with an original Audubon volume

The actual armor worn by Ned Kelley during his showdown with the police (they shot him in the legs...design fail).

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PHILLIPS ISLAND

Wednesday afternoon we took a guided tour to Phillips Island. It is a couple of hours from Melbourne and has a heritage farm, Koala Center, and a couple of state parks dedicated to a large colony of "Little Penguins" (their actual name). It's also a popular beach destination, although surprising undeveloped.

Vigorous crowd awaiting pickup outside our apartment.

The Victorian countryside right outside of Melbourne

We weren't the only ones headed to the beach this holiday.

Summer in full swing here.

We arrived during the penguins breeding season. During the day the parents both go out to fish and leave the young at home. Most live in dirt burrows, many live in nesting houses provided by the park rangers, a few even live under the boardwalks the tourists walk over.