Melbourne
Nine weeks!! This is the time we spent in Melbourne, our longest stay anywhere. We were lucky to be able to stay at David and Karens for so long but I would say that the kids probably tested their patience. Three housebound kids under 6 is a task even for the best of us. Luckily they both got to go to work and have a bit of a break!!
We did a couple of sets of school work in Melbourne which was good. We enquired about them going to school but it seemed to be more hassle than what it was worth so we ditched the idea. We did as much as we could and that was enough. It is one of the hardest things to do when you have more than two kids and not enough hours in the day. Its not just the school work but I had to do feedbacks every day that the school work is being done to send back to the teacher. Maybe it was just me trying to do too much. You get so behind when you are travelling and trying to sight see too. Anyway we did our best and thats all you can do. The bright side is that I have wonderfully smart children who can pick things up real easy and I love them to bits! The kids made a Vegie garden as part of their school work and watched it grow and watered it on most days. Most days were very cold and raining so the vegie garden only missed the sun.
The suburb where Dave and Karen lived was Keilor East and it was fairly close to everything, trainstations, shops, food, freeways etc. David's work was only up the road too so he was home fairly early on most nights. The kids would yell and scream when he got home and jump all over him wanting him to play. Of course he would love this and he'd be out the back kicking balls and chasing them around.
Being close to Hungry Jacks was great we would often take the kids for a walk after tea and go sit in the playground at HJ's and buy 50c cones...yummo we did that until it got a bit too cold. Some nights it didnt matter that it was cold because they had outdoor heaters outside so you could have a cold icecream and still stay warm.
We were also close to one of the largest shopping centres in VIC called Highpoint. They had a great food hall where we found the best chicken rice!!! We visited here a couple of times a week or more. The DFO (Direct Factory Outlets) were always a must see in Melbourne and most times you can pick up a bargain or two. I saw a lot of things to buy but living in a caravan keeps you from collecting items you cannot take with you. Shame for me but joy for Clint.
Katrina and Michael lived not far from Dave's and we got to catch up with them a few times. Slade loved going there and playing the Wii and Shelby and Isla would chase Michael around the house while Katrina filled them with food. They have a beautiful home which they both built themselves, mum liked it when she visited as Trina's house has central heating and it was nice and warm for her.
Katrina and Michael took us to their favourite Chinese Restaurant at Highpoint called Plume...we had a nice banquet dinner that got a little out of hand and when we got the bill its was $800!!! There was only 7 adults and 3 kiddies and Karen hardly ate anything,!! It was one night out we were trying to forget (note to self... never order chinese on a very empty stomach) but very hard because the food...the food was so delicious we had dumplings for the first time and we were hooked!! We went back again but we watched how many dishes we ordered this time
Clint got to watch quite a few games of Essendon and I even got to watch a couple. The atmosphere at the games is very exciting even if you dont really get into the football. Its such a sight seeing a whole state that just gets so involved in their teams, every weekend the city is full of people just walking around in their footy team colours.
We were in Melbourne for the ANZAC day match and the dreamtime game against Richmond which is always entertaining with the prematch entertainment. Slade and Clint had their photo taken with the Bomber mascot the mozi.
Windy Hill was only a 10 minute drive from Davids so went down to the oval and watched some training sessions. At one training session James Hirde was there and they had a free sausage sizzle for everyone. We got some signatures on that day too, I visited the bomber shop to get some things for Ada and Bec and saw some Essendon tea towels I thought Bec might like for her birthday and when I got back Clint was on his way to get Slades shirt and footy signed so I threw him the tea towels to get signed for his sister!! I was excited and so was she when she finally got them in August.
Slade was very keen to get into Auskick and it was fortunate that the team closest to David's is in the Essendon Area, so there was a lot of Red and Black. Every Saturday we took Slade down to the oval and he would just run off and get into it with all the kids. No fear of being new Slade just goes up to anyone and says hi and away they go!! Apart from his listening to instructions from the coach he blended in well having a kick and marking the ball. As with most kids they are only thinking of one thing...having fun!
We had a few visitors when we were in Melbourne, Mum came for 3 weeks, Mark came for the weekend, Grandad came for a weekend to watch the Anzac game and Rochelle and Matt also came for an extended weekend of shopping and shopping and to see her waxing client...me.
We took everyone to a beaut little bakery cafe we found in West Meadows called Whitings Bakery which changed its name back to Westmeadows bakery. We were looking for somewhere to have breakfast one morning and stumbled across this place and a little Italian lady we called Mama maria cooked up the meaniest and cheapest brekky's in town. She absolutely adored the kids, she would bring their breakfasts' out to them and them and pinch their cheeks and give them kisses. And speaking of Bakery's we found Beechworth Bakery which probably doesnt mean anything to you but for Clint Brock and I, we had read article on this Bakery and how the ownerTom O'Toole built this franchise of Bakerys into an empire. Very interesting reading. Oh and the food and coffee is a 10 out of 10 yummy!
Grandad was here for a weekend and stayed for Shelby's birthday he had a lot of fun with the kids playing cricket and footy and spending some time with Clint and David. Mum came the week after and Mark (who used to live next to us in Huntingdale) came for a weekend of footy and beers with Clint. Mum babysat one night and David, Karen, Clint and I took him to the crown casino. We had a great night and sat out on one of the balcony's and watched the flames of the giant torches that align the Yarra River. Wow!! you can really feel the heat come off those things...hey Marcus??? We missed the last train home and had to catch a taxi but we eventually got home in one piece.
Mark and I also had fun with a magnetic crocodile that was Karen's on the fridge and somehow Mark and I would be the only ones to walk past the fridge and knock it off. After a few attempts to hide our clumsiness and get Clint on the superglue without karen noticing, I finally had to tell her of our sneeky fixings in which her reply was...'dont worry its only a $2 magnet'. We even went out on shopping searches looking for a replica...I am still looking Karen!!
We took a drive down to Frankston and Shelby needed a pee so we stopped on the side of the road walked down to the beach and saw all the coloured beach shacks!! We had a lovely lunch at one of the beachside restaurants and then played at the playground, heaps of fun.
Back to Shelby's birthday, she had a really nice birthday and got lots of pressies and she especially loved her Barbie Cake that I worked hard on. It turned out well considering it was made in the caravan oven.
We made a trip out to Ballarat to visit our special travelling friends the Andersons at their house. What a beautiful house and property they had up on a hill. They had an excellent back yard for the kids all four of them and with another bub on its way it was definitely built for fun. We had a lovely lunch and tried to squeeze as much chit chat as we could in. They invited us to bring the caravan up and stay and we would of loved too but it just got too damn cold.
Mum shouted us and David and Karen to a couple of nights at the Hyatt, mums loves the 5 star treatment and why not I say. It was great having a long hot shower in a nice warm room, we could stretch our legs and lounge around and order room service!! We had breakfast in the restaurant in the morning and it was a smorgasbord of deliciousness!! We had tickets to the footy for the Dreamtime match and it was great because it was only a 15 minute walk from the Hyatt.
We took a drive to the Black Saturday Fire Regions through Marysville and surrounding areas, it was shocking to see the towns affected and ruined by the fires. To think that they once like all the little towns we past through during our travels, is devasting. All the memories gone. I guess that although they were rebuilding these towns it will and never can be the same, but like everything you must gone on and try to move forward.
We had a slight incident with Isla in which she acquired a broken leg. The girls were running around and being pre-warned by their father to do not run, they fell over and Shelby landed on Isla's leg!! She wasnt screaming but moaning and Clint was concerned that she may have broken her leg (how right he was).
We went to the closest emergency department but they did not see little kids so were sent to Sunshine hospital not too far away. It was fairly busy here when we arrived at 11am and we waited until 5pm to get an xray. After waiting this long the student doctor asked me if I really wanted an xray as they were busy and Isla seemed to be getting around ok. Well she wasnt really she was not putting any pressure on that leg but still getting herself around. She wasnt crying either which made them wonder if anything was wrong. I stated to her that I had waited this long and yes I would like know if there is a break or not! So they took her away and xray her and came back to me to tell me they could see no break but come back tomorrow so we can check her.
During that night Isla awoke rubbing her shin bone and in quite a lot of pain. We went back to the hospital very early and saw another doctor who took her for xrays again, but this time they xray'd her whole leg!!! Yes, apparently they only did an xray on her ankle and knee?????? So this time, helloo!! there was a fracture, a long one on her Tibia. So after saying how brave she was and not how stupid they were they proceeded to plaster her leg. by the time we got her home the plaster started to come away at the knee so it was back to the hospital again where they put on a fibre glass plaster. Six weeks was the length of time the plaster had to stay on and we did have another xray and a consult with a Orthopaedic doctor before we left Melbourne to make sure it was ok if we continued our travels, which we did get the all clear.
Our Annexe had arrived at Davids and we had been waiting for this to come before we left Melbourne to make sure it fit ok. We had booked into the Werribee caravan park for the last week to fit the annexe. All was good and we even had 100kms gust winds to test it out. Only damage was a velcro strap that came undone at the stitching, easily fixed by the annexe people.
We the making of the Film ' the killer Elite' starring Robert De Niro, Turkish and a few others being filmed on the beach across from where our caravan was parked in Werribee. We could hear this chopper flying over us for about an hour before we thought lets go and see what this was. We asked a few crew people who told us they were filming a corporate Advert...liar liar! Another guy had told us what was happening and then Clint googled it on his phone and we saw it on there that it was a blockbuster movie. Unfortunately I didnt see anyone famous.
Well it was time to go and we are going to miss David and Karen as well as the cheap meat and vegie's but it is time to see some more of this big country.
See some pictures by copy and pasting link to:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2066931&id=1178196973&l=1da538b72f
No comments:
Post a Comment