RAK GIVEAWAY

Have a look at this RAK that Ceci from Scrap Pile is offering:
http://ceci-bell.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-blog-rak.html

LEST WE FORGET

This morning I made the effort to get up early and attend the Dawn Service at my local Cenotaph.
I've never done this before, and last year I promised myself that I would finally do it in respect to my great grandfather who served in Gallipoli and to all the Returned Servicemen and Women who I care for on a daily basis at work.
The air was filled with a sense of excitement and reflection.
At exactly 5am, the service started with just the slightest hint of daylight peeping over the horizon of the ocean. It was a lovely service but, at the same time, very moving. It was lovely to see so many young families there (with young children) to lay flowers at the base of the cenotaph.
There was only one unfortunate event when an elderly gentleman (Returned Veteran) appeared to suffer chest pain and Paramedics had to attend to him until an Ambulance arrived to transport him to hospital.
It really must be an extremely emotional experience for these people. Now they can go away and enjoy a lovely breakfast put on for them at the RSL and enjoy the rest of the day with their mates raising a glass or 2 and maybe enjoying the odd game of 2Up. They deserve it.

LEST WE FORGET

Healesville Sanctuary

After feeding the parrots we kept on driving up through the Yarra Valley and past some vineyards until we came to the Healesville Sanctuary. This is a beautiful little zoo set in amongst the native bush full of Australian animals. As you can see, Flat Stanley just keeps poking his head up in all the photos!!
This was a lovely day out for all of us and especially for the kids because it was so lovely and relaxed and away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Anything more unique to Australia that a platypus?
Ever seen an emu with a 'comb-over"?
A wedge-tailed eagle.
A rather friendly wallaby.

A VERY large goanna.

Oops! There he is again!

Feeding the Birds

Des took the day off work today to spend it with us. He decided to take us out to a zoo north of the city but on the way we stopped here to feed the wild birds. Apparently it is a popular spot for the tourists. The birds were there waiting for us. We took our own seed with us, and one of the birds was cheeky enough to actually get onto Rick's hand and eat the seed straight out of our container. These are all King Parots. The different coloured ones in the first 2 photos differentiate males and females. Aren't they just beautiful birds?

Queen Victoria Markets

Today, we have planned to go to see the Queen Victoria Markets and then meet up with Jenny & Paul there and go back to their place for dinner.
First of all, the "little guy" that Tyler is holding, and keeps popping up in the photos from now on is called "Flat Stanley" and comes from the USA. The son of a friend of Chris & Des's sent it to them with a letter asking if we could dress (colour) Flat Stanley in clothes that are typical of Australia and then take him out with us and take photos of him around Melbourne at various different icons etc. He then has to be posted back to the little boy in the US with all the photos and explanations of what and where they are. What a great idea to learn geography of another country!!! We dressed Stanley up as a Surf Lifesaver.
We took the train into the city and got off and walked the couple of blocks down to the markets. I've never seen markets like these. They were fantastic.

Flat Stanley on the train. Tyler & Stanley with the Welcome Sign.

Trying on some funny hats......................

This was a stall we found where these guys were making home-made boiled lollies. They

had some there to sample which were still warm. They were really YUMMY!

This is just one of the fantastic Delis here at the markets.

The range of ready-prepared food was just amazing!

Shopping Centre Fun

This morning we woke to very gray skies and a very heavy shower of rain around breakfast time.
With that, the temperature had dropped quite dramatically and the wind had picked up, so we decided that it wouldn't be very pleasant to go out sight-seeing today.
Des told us of this shopping centre about 10 minutes from home where we could go with lots to see and to stay out of the weather.
It was called Knox Shopping Centre and was awesome!
I even got a tiny bit of 'retail therapy' in too.


We found these "Bungy Trampolines" in a courtyard there and the kids just had to have a go. How could we deny them an opportunity of burning off some energy. Tyler, in particular is very good on the trampoline at home, so she was very game her. The young guy strapping her in shortened up her harness and when she bounced, she went about 20 feet up into the air. She thought it was "THE BEST FUN".
The wind blowing was quite strong and cold, so by the time they had finished jumping, they felt like big blocks of ice, but they didn't really feel it.
It was here at Knox, that we bought a Movie Pass for Chris & Des as a Thankyou for having us.

ST KILDA

Here are a few sights of St Kilda. The cake shops were amazing! Of course, we had to stop and have a coffee and cake while we were there. I'm not quite sure what eht shop is with the rocket through the roof, but it sure did look impressive from the other side of the street. How impressive is that stack of cupcakes????


We wanted to go to Luna Park and down to the beach while we were there but time was against us. I tried to take a photo of Luna Park from the tram but it didn't turn out very well. Oh well, we'll just have to come back again and put it on our list of "Things to Do".
Tyler lost her lovely pink jumper on the way to St Kilda. I think she left it on the tram from the city.