When we were planning our trip to Oz we got in touch with Tony’s cousin Susan, who lives in Dandenong just outside Melbourne and planned on meeting up during our visit. Tony and Susan are really second cousins as their grandmothers Florence & Doris were sisters, but we think of them as cousins.
On Friday Susan picked us up at 11.30 ready for a tour of the city which is where she was born. We drove into the city centre but not via the freeways, we went the pretty route. On our way we drove through Albert Park along part of the Grand Prix circuit – it is such a small park you wonder how the Formula 1 circus fits into it.
We were dodging showers but were very lucky with parking spots, managing to park right outside Fitzroy Gardens to visit James Cook’s cottage, there were plans to demolish it in the village in Yorkshire where James lived, the cottage was purchased and transported to Melbourne and rebuilt. It is tiny and how a family of 2 adults and 6 children lived in it defeats us.
We passed many of the architectural glories of Melbourne including St Kilda where the houses are either magnificent or awful, Luna Park, the amusement park of the city and docklands where the city has built a large Ferris wheel just like the London Eye. But unlike the eye this one does not work!
In the evening we met up with Maddie and Susan’s husband Les for another great meal and a lot of laughter.
Saturday we went with Maddie & Dan and their friend Matt, who had arrived from Berrigan the evening before to see the Anzac Day parade. We watched from nearby The Shrine – the parade celebrates all Australian service men and women from all wars, including the two world wars, Korea, Vietnam and all other conflicts up until the present day. It started at 9am and we arrived about 10, when we left at 12.15 the parade was still marching past and had only just reached post World War 2. There were a number of bands, predominantly bagpipes, they do the most marching as they go back to the end of the parade whenever they get to the shrine.
From the parade we drove out to one of the suburbs of Melbourne, cannot remember which, where we met Ross and Leonie, Dan’s dad and step mum, for lunch. We met at their local club, and had yet another fantastic meal, pork sausages with mash and veggies, together with some quality red wine. As usual there was much chatting and laughter.
Sunday was a lazy day, we went to the big shopping mall called Chadstone looking for a hat for Tony and some long sleeved tops for Maddie. After lunch Maddie & Chris caught up with the ironing while Dan went to pick up his brother’s car for our trip to Canberra. We then had to get ready for our evening surprise. More on that later.
On Friday Susan picked us up at 11.30 ready for a tour of the city which is where she was born. We drove into the city centre but not via the freeways, we went the pretty route. On our way we drove through Albert Park along part of the Grand Prix circuit – it is such a small park you wonder how the Formula 1 circus fits into it.
We were dodging showers but were very lucky with parking spots, managing to park right outside Fitzroy Gardens to visit James Cook’s cottage, there were plans to demolish it in the village in Yorkshire where James lived, the cottage was purchased and transported to Melbourne and rebuilt. It is tiny and how a family of 2 adults and 6 children lived in it defeats us.
We passed many of the architectural glories of Melbourne including St Kilda where the houses are either magnificent or awful, Luna Park, the amusement park of the city and docklands where the city has built a large Ferris wheel just like the London Eye. But unlike the eye this one does not work!
In the evening we met up with Maddie and Susan’s husband Les for another great meal and a lot of laughter.
Saturday we went with Maddie & Dan and their friend Matt, who had arrived from Berrigan the evening before to see the Anzac Day parade. We watched from nearby The Shrine – the parade celebrates all Australian service men and women from all wars, including the two world wars, Korea, Vietnam and all other conflicts up until the present day. It started at 9am and we arrived about 10, when we left at 12.15 the parade was still marching past and had only just reached post World War 2. There were a number of bands, predominantly bagpipes, they do the most marching as they go back to the end of the parade whenever they get to the shrine.
From the parade we drove out to one of the suburbs of Melbourne, cannot remember which, where we met Ross and Leonie, Dan’s dad and step mum, for lunch. We met at their local club, and had yet another fantastic meal, pork sausages with mash and veggies, together with some quality red wine. As usual there was much chatting and laughter.
Sunday was a lazy day, we went to the big shopping mall called Chadstone looking for a hat for Tony and some long sleeved tops for Maddie. After lunch Maddie & Chris caught up with the ironing while Dan went to pick up his brother’s car for our trip to Canberra. We then had to get ready for our evening surprise. More on that later.
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