More of Melbourne

Some more pictures from our Melbourne weekend.

 The old pier in St Kildas, Melbourne CBD in the background

 A little penguin hiding in the rocks!

 The Royal Exhibition Building

 Lunch with Alexis in Ceres park (an education centre and urban farm not far from the CDB)

 One of the main shopping streets

 St Kildas

 Lunch at St Kildas

St Kildas Beach, nice but nothing in comparison to our NSW beaches:)

Melbourne Day continued...

Melbourne had great weather for a change. As it is located in the southern state of Victoria, the weather tends to be colder as is the water on the beaches. We had lovely spring days filled with sunshine ranging from 20-29 degrees above.

Posing on the south bank of the Yarra river. Lined entirely with shopping and resturants. 

Our Sydney Swans in the white and red playing the Hawthorne Hawks in god/yellow. The Melbourne based Hawks wiped the floor in this single elimination match. This was played at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, around 60000 people attended this playoff game.

A wider look at the Oval from the cheap seats!!

China town....

Trendy Brunswick street and trendier Johanna.

Finishing one of the nights off at an Irish pub to catch the Irish beat the Australian's in a close match. Johanna is clearly enjoying "bangers and mash." Notice the napkin placed strategically over her clothes to avoid spillage. Question for her long time friends and family, have you ever noticed how much food misses and gets on clothes? Right Jo..lol!

Melbourne first 3 days..

Howdy Folks, we have been in Melbourne for the past 3 days and boy has it been a great visit but unfortunately only one day left. We have had the opportunity to see all the sights and sounds. Melbourne is close to a Vancouver or to a European city with its cobble stone alleys, tree lined streets and markets.

Both Johanna and I have enjoyed the tax write off as we both ventured off to the Australian Dental Exhibition. We spent the morning checking out the latest dental equipment and products available. Jo registered as my Dental Hygenist and we managed to scoop up plenty of FREE-BEES! The most important of which was 8 tubes of bleaching gel so that we can look like all those trashy people in those trashy magazines you guys all read!

Here we have the old trolly that runs through the central business district. Its nice and its free which it comes in handy when you are too tired of jumping on and off of the subway and being too cheap to pay....Me not JO.

 Fresh food market, very similar to the English market in Cork. Jo was in heaven with meat, cheese, wine, and bread!

Some of the old arcades with vintage shops and fashion....

 Melbourne has a nice mix of Old 19th century buildings with modern skyscrapers in the background. This is one of the main Tram stations.

 The Yara river that runs through the city and leads to the botanical gardens and several cafes-resturants.

A sausage and a VB (Victorian Bitter) for 10 bucks....love it!

 Beautiful, and the background is not so bad either!!!

Handsome and beautiful! Enjoying a coffee and reading. May I point out if you look carefully I am reading the London Times.....JO some trashy gossip mag....Any Questions???

At the airport

We're at Newcastle Airport waiting for our flight to Melbourne.  Wyatt has a dental expo but apart from a few hours there, the rest of the time will be used to explore the city and hopefully meet up with our friend Alexis who lives there. Really exited about seeing yet another beautiful Australian city!  Will be back in Newcastle on Monday, but will try and update the blog during the weekend.

Some more of Sydney

Watching Macbeth at the Opera House was definitely the highlight of our Sydney weekend, but the rest of the time turned out to be pretty nice as well with a sunny lazy day at the wharf, some shopping, Rugby World Cup games and a great night at Scruffy Murphy's Irish bar!

 Scruffy Murphy's.  In the excitement of a late Irish try in the game against the States, free drinks in true Irish spirit were offered to everyone during half time!

 Tasty Korean food

 Darling Harbour

Swedish Newspaper, DN at the library in the old Customs House

On our way back to Newcastle, tired but happy!

Get Your culture on....

Well today was the day folks that Johanna and I left the friendly confines of Newcastle to experience some culture that we so desired. The day was spent around Sydney searching for bits and pieces to assure our place amongst the most sophisticated of the New South Wales population. As you can see we came across several things that could have boosted our standing....

                                      Alas We went as is and I can assure you that at least Johanna was easily well at home amongst the cultured. Beautiful as Usual!

However, if I had to dress like this chap to be acceptable i think I was missing out! Complete with Red cape, leather beret, pantaloons, silver cane, and a suit made from his grandmothers curtains he spoke as though he were the heir to the throne of Scotland.

 The Opera House on a full moon.......

One of the only pics to be taken without getting caught by security. From the front row where  our tickets were!

Thanks to the Kolsrud, Koping-Lindh families on behalf of both of us for the great birthday gift (thanks for taking me Johanna)! The tickets were center stage and second row back! Trying to understand Macbeth in Italian through song would be hard to follow if you do not know the story before hand. None the less, the orchestra and tenors were so magnifico that you were in awe for the whole show, So powerful Jo had goosebumps all the way down the ducks (inside joke..the feet). 

Macbeth

Getting ready to go and see Macbeth in a couple of hours at the Sydney Opera House.  Can't wait to finally cash in on my birthday gift from family back home!

First dip of the season

We've had some really nice warm weather lately, so during a trip to Bar Beach on Sunday, Wyatt went in for a swim.  Verdict: cold but refreshing.  Meanwhile, I stayed on the beach with a book and some strawberries.  It turned out I probably should have gone in with Wyatt.  A bloody seagull decided to relieve itself on top of me (amongst hundreds of people to chose from).. This is the second time it happens since I got to Australia, and I was even wearing the same top:)

 Overlooking Bar Beach

 :(

Swimming AND rinsing off my top

Newcastle Knights played a must win match last Friday, and this time they won! We went to Lauren and Jarvis to watch it and had a nice relaxing evening. 

Nice weather means more balcony time, so I created a nice little corner perfect for coffee and reading.

Last week in pictures

 Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but we haven't really been up to that much in the last week... Here are some pictures though.

Fishing at Nelson Bay, finally after a 3 month break.  Wyatt has been itching to go.  I'm happy to fish for 10 minutes and then return to my book:)

On our way back from a shopping trip, we decided to take the Scenic Drive, a beautiful drive along the coast of Newcastle. What beautiful views.  Bar Beach in the picture above.

The weather is definitely getting warmer, but swimming has to wait for another few weeks after feeling the water...