Melbourne, Victoria

Welcome to February! So, to ring in the new month, we decided on Tuesday Jan 30th to fly to Melbourne for the weekend! :) Now, we know what you're thinking "As if you even need to do MORE travelling!" or "As if you can afford that with no jobs and no money!" But the truth is... Yes we do and no we can't, but we did anyways. Actually the whole thing was banking on our staying with Grant's friend Matt and his girlfriend Kirsty (Matt and Grant met in Europe). Basically they live in a GORGEOUS 5-star apartment right in the downtown core. So we hung out Thursday night when we arrived - you should see the number of cafes and tiny restaurants around town, as well as SO MUCH SHOPPING!!!! Friday Grant and I played in the city while Matt and Kirsty worked. We shopped and went to the aquarium, played with the sharks (ok not really)...
But here is a nice shot of Grant playing with a snake (no way was I going to get in there).

There have a huge casino right on the river (Grant says "biggest casino in the southern hemisphere", and also notes we lost $2 on the 2cent slots), anyways the casino has these pillars outside of it lined up that shoot out a pyrotechnics show every hour in the evening. Picture huge flamethrowers, but synchronized - and the heat they give off is incredible! Then Saturday, our third day of amazing weather, we went for a drive to the Dandenong's, which is a mountain area with lots of gorgeous green flora and huge tall trees. It's almost like cottage country... in the middle of the desert... without any lakes. Here is a shot of the boys, our comedic-relief for the weekend. The only thing worse than one class clown, is two!
There were lots of little areas that resemble St Jacob's with tea shops, antique shoppes, cafes and craft stores. And this, boys and girls, is where Grant invested in a gorgeous and very tall DIDGERIDOO! We were pretty excited, and it turns out that Grant is basically a natural - so natural he tuckered himself out in the first hour. :)
Saturday night we went out on the town again to a new area the city is developing called the Docklands. Very posh and new feel to it, and it's going to be a very lovely spot when they're done with it in 8-10 years. We also had our first Indian food (I know mom is proud)! Here is a shot of us with Kirsty
On Sunday we went out toward the harbour in the morning for breakfast and a peak around some of the market-style vendors that were selling crafts and things along the street. some very cool stuff, but we managed to restrain ourselves. Then on Sunday night we flew back to Sydney!

Basically - a fantastic weekend and we are SO lucky we could get it in before Grant started working and I start school. Thanks Matt & Kirsty for an awesome weekend! You guys better come up for Canada Day!

No time for 4 day weekend trips now! ... or is there? Only time will tell!

xoxoxooxoxo liz