Melbourne weekend

This weekend, we re-visited Victoria since Paul had training down there. We were hoping this time to do the other fun activities we couldn't accomplish when we did the Great Ocean Road.

Friday:
Paul was already in Melbourne, so I was flying down to meet him. I had a jam packed day of fun before though. Paul's company was having a significant other program that got only the SO's out and chatting. This event was at the Art Gallery in downtown Sydney. We saw the Archibald Exhibit and it was so great to be out with other girls and enjoying ourselves! They were all super nice, even when I had to dash off so that I could catch my flight. Hopefully, more of those events will follow.

I flew into Melbourne and we ate dinner in downtown. It was so confusing! The city has trams that are in the middle of the street and if you need to go across the tracks, you have to do a hook turn, which means you must go into the left lane, to make a right. Weird, we know. We did not try that out. The city is not the most user friendly place, since it took us forever to navigate ourselves to the highway. We then drove all the way to Phillip Island to our bed and breakfast. We should not stay in B&Bs anymore, since we always arrive late. Oh well!

Saturday:
Next day, we drove out to Wilsons Promontory and hiked in a couple of areas. One place was called Squeaky Beach, because if you dragged your feet, you made noises that sounded like scuffing your feet on linoleum. It was fun to do.

Then, we went to the Penguin Parade. Phillip Island is home to a large colony of Little Blue Penguins, or Fairy Penguins, who are only a foot high. Every evening, at dusk, the penguins swim up to the shore in groups of twenty, and then make their way to their burrows in the vegetation. The place that "presented" the parade had bleachers on the beach, in front of the grassy knoll where people could see the little guys. They were so adorable! They came up and stood on the shore for a minute, probably too terrified to move, until one little brave soul booked it for the grass and then everyone else followed! We really loved it. Then we got to see them in their burrows, cooing to each other. We couldn't take photos because they were protected by law, but we were satisfied with the experience.

Later that night after dinner, we went to a local movie theater with roughly 50 seats in the house. We saw Date Night and it was so much fun. Of course, we are big Tina Fey and Steve Carell fans, so the two in a movie was blockbuster magic.

Sunday:
We checked out of the B&B and then made it to the happiest place on Earth for me...the local chocolate factory. Panny's is the name of the chocolate and we were able to go on a tour with samples a plenty! We got to try regular chocolate and then we got to try wasabi chocolate. We don't recommend it. Keep wasabi with sushi in my opinion. But it was neat and everyone was super friendly. Paul kept pressing all the machines that just doled out chocolate, like a rat in a lab. I did want to to do other things in my day, so I had to push him along. It was the best chocolate we have had in Australia though.

After Panny's, we went to the koala conservation centre, which was fun. We of course got to see more koalas. Then we were on our way to Melbourne.

Although the city is hard to navigate, once you park and walk around, you actually find that the place is very charming and beautiful. There is a river that runs through the heart of the city, Federation Square and it was nice to walk by it and see the markets. Paul actually wanted to go to the National Art Gallery there, since he was so inspired by my trip to the art gallery in Sydney. It was nice to explore the endless corridors with him and talk about which ones struck a cord in us, or which collection we liked and why. We are so cultured.

We also ate in a little cafe in a street that my student recommended going to. Melbourne is supposed to be the food capital in Australia, and it was pretty good. The little alleyways were very reminiscent of Spain for me, with all the cafes and tight spaces. Although the food is ok here, we couldn't help but start listing off the restaurants we were excited to go to when we made it back to Atlanta. We probably could gain back every single pound and more after a week back in the States. Can't help it, the food is so good in Atlanta!

After our fun day in Melbourne, we went to Geelong to hop on a late flight back to Sydney. We had a delay, but I guess Victoria is just going to the state where if you want to go anywhere, expect to be late. At least, that's the way it is for us. But it was a good weekend.

Thanks for tuning in! And Happy Mother's Day to all our moms and grandmas! We love you and thank you for all that you do!

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