Australia and Friends!
It is great to have friends that can travel around the world to meet you. I am glad they pulled in their travel plans by ~1 year to travel to Australia to meet me! It is funny how my trump card for 10 year girls and spouses are the same “I have known your (mom, wife, etc.) longer that you have!” I will never win the love trump card, but you know sometime it is the only card you have to win a non-important, silly argument! Actually Mirielle, Meg’s 10 year old daughter, is a bad influence, the other saying that I use against Carol’s husband, Mike, is “I don’t know why I am so mean to you, but I just can’t help it!” It was funny when Mirielle said it when I asked her why she was so mean to her mom sometimes and on many levels it is an interesting response. In many ways it is true, sometimes we don’t know why we do what we do, until after we reflect on it. I do have to commend Mike for sticking it out with the girls and he gets a gold star. Or maybe I get the gold star for being around them? We have known each other for a long time and have worked on many side projects, so hanging out is not new, however, it is funny how dynamics change with 3 people and how sides are won and lost, especially when people are gaining up on people in Catan (and someone – Mike – is tired of loosing)!
Sydney Again! Beautiful sunsets and skies! The Sydney Harbour bridge and Anzac Bridge in the background.
Melbourne: The interesting thing about traveling to the same place is that I am an expert of that city by ~10 hours. It is funny how coming to the same city, you know more about the city than you think and you get to go back to the places that you missed! We went back to the best gelato shop in the world – maybe not the world but pretty close!
- Interesting buildings: Train station, St. Paul’s cathedral, china town, and 19th century architecture.
The Melbourne Star and Costco near Port Phillip’s Bay! I didn’t realize how many ferris wheels there are around the world. Costco in Melbourne is like Costco in the US. Different seafood and meat selections, but most of the other stuff is the same. I did forget to look in the cookie aisle to see if they sell Tim Tams. The food court has Assie meat pies.
Hobart Tasmania: I really like Hobart, it reminds me of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. Salamanca market (huge farmers market – fresh raspberries, produce, arts and crafts), MONA (Museum of Old and New – the ferry trip to the museum was nice and waterfall printer is cool), and Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. I finally got to see a Tasmania devil. The Wildlife sanctuary is tucked in between hills and is very beautiful.
