Thursday after class, we headed down to St. Kilda's, which is the nearest beach town to downtown Melbourne. From the looks of things, it appears to be full of pretty, tanned, young people and cafes, bars and shops. The beach consisted of a long stretch of coarse sand, lots of broken shells and a calm shallow bay (no waves). There was also an extreme proliferation of designer sunglasses that people seemed to have no problem wearing into the water. My Diors, however, were kept safely on top of my head and aware from corroding salt water. I did take a dip in the water later (minus sunglasses), which was delightfully refreshing (until I had to put my clothes back on and had no towel...).
Friday we had both our Australian Legal System and Competition Law classes. Afterwards, Steph and Elliot explored the Greek district of Melbourne and Jay and I ran some errands. It was a scorching 97 degrees with full on sunshine. Jay had an entertaining episode walking home with hands loaded down with heavy grocery bags, flies swarming around his head and him unable to swat them. He was reduced to spastically twitching his head and making "pffft!!" noises. I'm sure us Americans make great impressions on the Aussies.
Friday evening our crew met up with some other program kids at a beer garden in Fitzroy, one of the outlying districts of Melbourne. Delightful conversation, jugs of beer, what more can you ask for?
Friday evening our crew met up with some other program kids at a beer garden in Fitzroy, one of the outlying districts of Melbourne. Delightful conversation, jugs of beer, what more can you ask for?
Saturday was the organized program trip into the Yarra Valley to ride the "Puffy Billy" old fashioned train through a beautiful forest, visit the Healesville Animal Sanctuary, and visit the Rochford winery. Contrary to expectations, we were unable to hold a koala bear at Healesville, but the boys got to pet a kangaroo and I played with a big ol' snake. The koalas were napping, one on top of another, wedged in interesting positions in the trees (see left). The winery was gorgeous, just miles of vineyards and rolling green hills as far as the eye could see. At the winery I upped my Fly Kill-count to 6. I will singlehandedly rid this country of flies, you just watch. The wine was delicious, and everything was going smoothly until the indominable Australian winds blew my partially full glass of wine (which was placed on the floor and not the ledge specifically for that reason) off the viewing tower and onto the roof of the winery below, joining several other broken glasses with a lovely smash-bang. Whoops. That didn't stop us all from buying bottles and having a very enjoyable bus ride back into Melbourne, drinking wine from little plastic cups all the merry way.
Puffy Billy!
South east Australian wine country
So far today, Sunday, we have watched the winds blow our patio furniture straight across the balcony, and despite a sunny start to the morning, a mass of clouds has blown in bringing with it a good deal of rain. It's clearing up though, and we're anticipating some Melbourne museums and perhaps a BYO for dinner.
1 comment:
Proof that Jen has already been shopping? I did NOT authorize the packing of whatever it is you are wearing in that photo. Wear your sunscreen, kids! -Julie (P.S. I'm about to get a headset so I can start using Skype so we can go back to having actual phone conversations.)
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