Melbourne and surrounds

Stormclouds and rainbow on the way to Melbourne

Free camping in Kosciuzko National Park - nothing better

On the road to Melbourne

Historic Flinders Street Station and tram



Federation Square



Me and Shane Warne - but he didn't text me!!!!

Part of the Sports Arena precinct

China Town lions

Yarra River waterfront

Murals Southbank

Great place for a beer

Lygon Street - the Italian area - great coffee!!!!

No idea what it is - just liked it

Charlie found his long lost brother at the Queen Victoria Markets

Beautiful little church in the main street of Healesville

One of the street scapes in Healesville

House amongst the trees in Badger Creek Reserve - Yarra National Park

Yarra National Park

Ferns and flowers

The Bird Man of Badger Creek

Well after leaving the snowfields of Canberra we set off for Melbourne to have a week there before we boarded the Spirit of Tasmania ferry.  We did some free camping (nothing better) in Kosciusko National Park at a place called Jounama Creek.  There was another caravan there when we arrived but they went the next day so we then had 2 blissful days on our own with camp fires, damper every nights.  The fishing wasn't so good but we still managed to fill in the days.  Its surprising how fast they go!!  We would have stayed longer but there was a severe weather warning for the area and as we were camping by a creek we didn't want to make the same mistake as we did at Camooweal at the start of our travels when we ignored the weather warning and only just made it out!!

We headed on to Melbourne visiting the famous Dog on a Tuckerbox in Gungadai.  We passed through Beechworth (Ned Kelly country) before heading down through Seymour and finally arriving in Melbourne.  I must say we have visited all the capital cities in all the states we have been in and Melbourne is my least favourite.  Many will disagree with me but we found it dirty, crowded and not very friendly.  The drivers are idiots and I was certainly glad that Charlie was towing the caravan!!

We did all the usual touristy things and found the free Melbourne hop on and hop off tourist shuttle fantastic as it enabled us to wander at our leisure.  Federation Square was amazing - the building fantastic with lots of eateries there.  We loved Lygon Street with all the Italian delis and coffee shops and bought some yummy nibbles as we had already eaten all the goodies my daughter in law had bought us.  Coffee was great.  We did so much walking I should be a size 6 but sadly no!!

We also visited the famous Queen Victoria Markets where Charlie met his long lost brother who was also a Raphael so they swapped a few tall stories of course.  Had some lovely Vietnamese food for lunch in the food hall - we just love our food.

We then had a lovely day trip out through the Yarra Valley and yes you've guessed it more food and wine tasting.  We ended up in Healesville which we really loved.  A lovely little town, very well kept.  We had a lovely organic lunch at a very hippy cafe with a "free spirit" on the guitar and another "free spirit " on the bongo drums.  Yum, Yum.

From there we explored the Yarra National Park and in particular Badger Creek Reserve (I just loved the name!!)  Met a lovely Greek family who were having a bbq there with their children and introduced us to the friendly parrots.

All in all we enjoyed Melbourne but were glad to leave and head off to catch the ferry over to
Tasmania which will be the subject of another blog.

So for now until next time its Adieu from The Wandering 2s.

Floriade 2012 - Canberra

Free shuttle bus

One of the gorgeous displays

Beautiful tulip

Peek-a-boo!!!

More colour

Floriade 2012

Butterflies amongs the tulips

Part of the lake

Bonsai Japanese maple

2 butterflies

Framed!!!

Just some photos from Floriade 2012 - they really don't do the flowers justice.  It was a beautiful exhibition and Charlie really enjoyed tip toeing through the Tulips!!

Adieu from The Wandering 2s.

Canberra and the Snowfields of the Snowy Mountains

Us at one of the lookouts over Canberra

The view from the lookout right through to Parliament House

Captain Cook memorial jet on Lake Burley Griffin

A ball suspended in the sky - why I don't know!!!

Parliament House

Charlie on the marble staircase in Parliament House

Charlie and his mate Little Johnny

Old Parliament House

The aboriginal embassy!!!!

The War Memorial

The Pool of Remembrance - Australian War Memorial

One of the brilliant diaromas at the War Memorial

One of the many bronze statues

On our way to the snowfields

Thredbo River

He's bloody freezing!!!

Lots of snow still at Charlotte Pass

Coming to the end of the snow season

I still like to play snowballs!!!

Die-hard skiers making the most of the week's extension of the snow season at Perisher

Snow covered Snowy Mountains

Mountains streams starting to appear again

This is the most energetic we got at the top of the mountain - wine and lunch

Fishing on Lake Jindabyne - the perfect end to a perfect segment of our journey

And he's successful!!



Ready for the pan - fresh rainbow trout from the pristine waterways of the Snowy Mountains - yum

Well we did all the touristy things in the bush capital of Canberra and viewing the city from many of the wonderful lookouts around the city you can certainly see why its called that.  Parliament House was very interesting but unfortunately Julia was in America so we couldn't have tea and scones with her!!

We looked through the Australian War Memorial which is brilliant - very well displayed and doesn't seem to glorify war which we liked.  You really do need a full day to see everything as it is quite overwhelming.  We did a quick Cooks tour of the city and saw all the Embassies including the Aboriginal Embassy just perched in the parklands - different!!

I then decided that I would be sadistic and torture Charlie so organised for us to go to the Snowy Mountains and the snowfields - ha ha!!!  The snow season had been extended by a week and we were told there was still plenty of snow there so I thought it would be fun!!  We stayed in Jindabyne in the caravan park right on the lake which is very pretty and then did a day trip up into Kosciuzko National Park to Perisher, Charlotte Pass and Thredbo.  It was lovely to see the snow and there were still lots of skiers taking advantage of the week long extension of the snow season.  We went on the chairlift in Thredbo to the Eagles Nest Restaurant at the top of the mountain - 1937 metres above sea level and the highest restaurant in Australia.  We had a lovely lunch of goulash and wine and I felt quite exhausted after all that!!

The mountains looked beautiful with their covering of snow and I can imagine it would look quite magical in the height of the snow season - wish I'd learned to ski when I was younger.

Decided to stay on here at Jindabyne for an extra day because those elusive trout were bypassing Charlie and he was getting a little bit toey because he hadn't caught much.  Success happened and he caught 2 lovely rainbow trout which we will have tonight for dinner before heading off tomorrow to do some free camping on the other side of Kosciuzko as we slowly head down to Melbourne where we will stay for a week before heading over to Tasmania on 22nd October.

Not sure what happened to my Floriade photos which I uploaded so if I can find them I will publish them separately - so for now its Adieu from The Wandering 2s - till the next time.