Visitors

My parents have been visiting since just before the new year. We've been touring a bit with them, which means I've been taking pictures, but not taking the time to post them! I'll try to do a few updates in the next few days.

This post: They arrived!

 -- But only after getting rerouted to take 10 extra hours traveling. So the day of their arrival, we took a quick walk into the park to see the fruit bats, then went straight to bed.

The next day, we headed first to the Queen Victoria Market, shown in the photo above, and bought some fruit and supplies. In the afternoon, we visited the Old Melbourne Gaol (pronounced "jail"). Here we are in the old holding area.

And here's a photo of the jail itself, where many notorious criminals were imprisoned and hanged, until capital punishment was abolished in all of Australia.

Just before going into the jail, the sky opened up and we got completely drenched in record-breaking flood-causing torrential rain. We look a little wet, but at least we weren't out on the flooded roads.

Home. Little nap. Anyone still have energy? Want to go out again?

We headed to St Kilda to walk up the beach. Luna park was closing early because of the rain.

The beach was unsuitable for swimming because of the rain. But the sunset was gorgeous.

There were about a gazillion people waiting and hoping to see the little penguins come in to shore.

We waited as well, but we only saw a couple of the little guys. Too crowded for them. Also, apparently by this time of year, most of the chicks are grown and the parents need to stay out feeding to put on weight to survive a few weeks of moulting. Still, the sunset was lovely, so the evening wasn't a total loss.

The next morning we took a walk to the Botanic Gardens...

... and the Shrine of Remembrance.

The little sore throat my mom brought to Australia had been morphing with the jet lag into a big sore throat and then a full fledged cold. So we went home and she spent the afternoon in bed. Later in the evening, my dad confessed that he wanted to go on the roller coaster back at Luna Park -- it is the world's oldest continuously operating roller coaster, opened in 1912. I wanted to go too. Tim came along for the ride, and Jonathan, turned off by the idea of another walk in the city, stayed home with Grandma.

Here I am with my dad near the roller coaster. It was pretty fun! I'll take Jonathan one of these days. Tim isn't interested.

After the long line and the quick ride, we caught a tram to the river, and walked along the south bank of the Yarra past the casino for more sunset views.

The next day: New Year's Eve! After taking a vote, we decided to take the train to the end of the line to see the Dandenong mountains. Except remember that torrential rain from two days before? Turns out it damaged the train line between Upper Ferntree Gully and Belgrave. So rather than riding to Belgrave and taking a walk there, we got off at Upper Ferntree Gully to walk a trail called the 1000 steps. We were still in the Dandenong Ranges National Park. All good. 

Along the way: Lots of ferntrees and some tall eucalyptus trees.

At the top:

Grandma, with the developing cold, wasn't up to the walk. She stayed in the picnic area at the bottom and waited for us, watching the kookaburras. And then we all caught the bus to the train back to home.

It was New Year's Eve. Time for fireworks!

Grandma wasn't feeling up to the fireworks, so we left her at home and headed out. As we waited for the family fireworks near the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, we saw hundreds of fruit bats flying south, I guess for their nightly feeding.

My phone camera can't capture a stream of huge fruit bats winging their way over the city at dusk. But at least it can capture a handful of darker blobs against a gray backdrop, for you to appreciate. You are very welcome. Very welcome indeed.

After the family fireworks, at 9:30 pm, we walked back into the city. This year, since we live within walking distance (about a half hour walk from home), we were determined to watch the midnight fireworks with the rest of the million people celebrating the holiday.

We found a nice place to wait up near the Arts Centre.

And then at midnight, fireworks!

You know what fireworks look like, and my phone doesn't do well at fireworks photos. So I decided after that one shot to turn the phone off and actually enjoy seeing the show with my own eyes. So you will have to imagine choreographed bursts shooting from the tops of the major buildings in the Central Business District -- including the Arts Centre behind us. It was pretty awesome.

Happy New Year, World!

And then we walked home.

And went to bed. 

And I think that's a good place to stop for now.