On Saturday Maddie & Chris went into the city to find a wedding dress for the big event in October. Pleased to say we were successful, a bit emotional as well – it is a beautiful dress and Maddie looks fabulous in it. Meanwhile Dan & Tony went to Anaconda which is Oz’s version of Decathlon, all things for all sports, and then we all met up at the MCG so we could watch Dan’s team Carlton in the Australian Football match.
The MCG is an amazing venue; we could see the whole of the ground from our seats and the match was fast and furious, much more exciting to watch live than on the telly. It got rather cold when the sun went down, and as Dan’s team were not doing too well, we left just before the end of the match to avoid the crowds, there were over 69000 spectators and they would all be leaving in a rush to get to the trains, trams and car parks!
In the evening we went back to the Rosstown Tavern for yet another great meal, this time we were in the Bistro, it’s a bit like a canteen, you book a table, and when the counter opens at 6pm, everyone rushes up to place their orders.
Nothing much happened on Sunday as Chris was not very well, the planned family picnic and the visit to the October wedding venue were cancelled, and we just vegged out.
On Monday Maddie was a domestic goddess while we finished off as much packing as possible, then we went into the city. We caught the tram all the way in and first of all visited The Shrine, where not only all the soldiers who died in WW1 are commemorated, but all of the soldiers who signed up, they are recorded in alphabetical order, with no rank, and those who have duplicated names have their service number recorded as well. We observed a re-enactment of the sunlight ceremony and then as it was grey and overcast we went for lunch rather than go back up the Rialto tower, as we would have spent a lot of money to see clouds!
After lunch we returned to the Immigration Museum, first of all we went to the special exhibition area and saw a very interesting display of photos, films and artefacts detailing the history of immigration to Australia by sea. After that we finished viewing the main exhibition, the bits that had washed over us on the first day of our visit.
In the evening we met Dan at a pub called The Retreat, it is in the suburbs and has a number of mementoes from the Australian series The Sullivan’s, (the pub featured in the series and the bar has been kept the same), this was fascinating to Chris as she used to watch the program when Maddie & Patrick were small. Excellent food as well!
Unfortunately we did not get to fly the kite in Melbourne, as first of all the weather, than Chris’s cold and finally all of the trees defeated us in this endeavour. However, the kite has had a tour of the city in our bag!
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