DAY 41 - 30/03/2010 - Coburg, VIC

Today is our last night in Coburg. We decided that the Mornington Peninsula was going to be our next stop before we left Vic and where we would spend Easter. There are a few places that we want to visit on the peninsula so we picked Frankston as it is central to most places there.

We spent the afternoon at the DFO shopping for some warm clothes as we don't really have a winter wardrobe. What a great afternoon of shopping. Bargains galore. We spent a small fortune on heaps of clothes. We havn't done this in a long time and really enjoyed ourselves.

I witnessed the so called "Blue Moon tonight". I thought the moon looked brighter and bigger than usual but failed to mention this to the rest of the family. I have never heard of the Blue Moon experience and apparently this only occurs every 2 years. I also heard on the news tonight that there was a small earthquake felt on the Mornington Peninsula and thats where we are headed tomorrow.

Melbourne Big 4, Coberg

DAY 40 - 29/03/2010 - Coburg, VIC

School work and exciting clothes washing this morning.

In the afternoon we decided to check out Ramsey Street (Pin Oak Ct) from Neighbours. We've been in the caravan all day and needed to get out for a bit. We thought that Ramsey Street was not too far as the van park had listed this as a tourist place of interest on their literature. They didn't mention the suburb it was in or how far it was, just the actual street name. We drove for over an hour and then got lost because the navigator took us to a non existing street. Warren was not happy at all. It was dinner time, everyone was hungry and it was peak hour traffic. We also seemed to be getting all the red lights. We had planned on an early dinner and having the kids in bed early but now it was not going to be.

We gave up and started heading back home but then we found the street. We had discovered that we had driven 30 minutes more than necessary because of the navigator. Ramsey Street was so tiny and not at all as neat and tidy as you see on tv. They had council barriers at the bottom of the culdesac on the footpath and a security company van was also parked there. It seemed that they may had filmed there today.

The girls had also lost interest at this stage and were watching the Simpsons on DVD. They had a quick look but no comment. We had come here for them and only them because it is one of their favourite shows on tv. What a fizzer and waste of a good afternoon. We headed back to the van park. It turned out to be at least a 3 hour round trip. We had a late dinner and the kids went to bed late.

DAY 39 - 28/03/2010 - Coburg, VIC

Today was Grand Prix Formula 1 day.

On the tram going to Albert Park

We arrived at Albert Park via tram at around midday. All pumped and ready to go for a great day out.

We found a good posy on Brocky's Hill which is located on turn 11. The main race is not on until 5pm but there were already quite a few people claiming their bit of grass patch on the hill. There were many other races and exhibition runs around the track throughout the day. There were also aerial displays from the Black Hawk Choppers and my favourite and definately the crowd favourite being the FA18 jets. They are louder than the loudest thunder and very impressive.

The V8 Supercars were also impressive as usual but the F1's were out of this world. They were every bit fast and loud as expected. Lilly didn't seem too bothered by the noise. At one stage during the race, we walked over the track through the Qantas tunnel. As the F1's sped under us you really felt their intencity. Your whole body vibrated and the noise was absolutely deafening.

John Travola was the Grand Prix's guest for the day. We managed to see him from a short distance during the F1 driver parade. I also spotted some other C rated celebrities in the crowd.

Walking the track after the race

After the race we walked along the track towards the exit. There were people everywhere. The dance parties along the track had started by now and the music was pumping loudly. The atmosphere was unreal. I reckon if we didn't have the kids with us, Waz and I would have joined in with the best of them and partied the night away till the wee hours of the morning.

It was a long day but a good one. We treated the kids to a late dinner at Maccers (no dance parties) and then we headed home. We didn't get back to the van till late at night and had to walk in the cold wind and rain from the tram spot to the caravan park.

DAY 38 - 27/03/2010 - Coburg, VIC

It was difficult to get motivated this morning. I am so tired and want to do nothing but Alicia and Taylah want to go to the zoo to see the baby elephant.

So off we go to Melbourne Zoo to do just this and I am glad we did. It turned out to be a pretty good day out. Melbourne Zoo is designed well and it's not very big at all. Although there were lots of people there it didn't feel stressful or over crowded. It almost felt like you were actually in the wild. It didn't feel like a zoo. It's hard to explain. I guess you have to see it for yourself to know what I mean.

We lined up for quite a while to see the baby elephant Mali. They only allowed a group of 150 in at a time and only for 5 minutes. It was a 360 degree viewing area so visability was not a problem. She was very cute and mischievious. She would run off from mum every so often and mum would have to follow her then she would go back under mum and then repeat her action of running off again. She was a lot smaller than I thought she would be.

Mali

Cheeky Mali

The Silver Back Gorillas are amazing. There was this big one who was so big he almost looked fake. He was the king pin of the group. You could tell by his mannerism. The other Silver Backs would walk here and there and weren't as big but this one would just sit and stare at the crowd looking on from the barrier.

All the other various monkey's were fun to watch and put on a show for us.

The lions exhibit was also a must see. There was about 6 lions sitting on a large stone basking in the sun. We were watching them for a bit but they weren't doing much. Then all of a sudden one came down to where we were standing and then another followed. They came right up to the fence. They seemed to be the biggest out of the pride and had the biggest mane. They seemed to check out Lilly a fair bit so I think they were feeling a bit pekish and Lilly looked like a good snack.

Overall we were impressed with Melbourne Zoo. All the animals looked happy and quite active in their enclosures. I am glad we went.

DAY 37 - 26/03/2010 - Coburg, VIC

We headed into the city today. It was a short bus trip to the tram station. The girls, especially Lilly enjoy catching public transport. Straight to the back seat.

Bus trip to tram 19

I have never been in a place that have so many takeaways, restaurants, cafes and in so many ethnic flavours as in Melbourne. I reckon there was 1000's just along Sydney Rd in Brunswick. And if it wasn't a food related store it was a bridal/christening or formal wear shop. This was the same in Fitzroy and Carlton. All the streets leading into the city was a food trail of Italian, Greek and Middle Eastern flavours. It was definately a sight to see. If I wasn't hungry when I first trammed down these roads I soon became hungry. If I lived here I would be as big as a house. All the cafes and restaurants are pumping all day with people filling up the alfresca areas eating or having a coffee or both. Everyone looks so happy. The atmosphere is unreal. Melbourne is such a sociable city. I loved it.

First stop, the Vic Markets. I've wanted to go there for a while now. Its basically a food and wine market. You can taste test at some stalls and you can buy anything from fruit & veg, deli products, cakes & pastries, hand crafted chocolates, meat and seafood. The building is 130 years old and is an icon itself. It was difficult to get thru with the pram as the isles were quite narrow and there were people everywhere but we managed and we also managed to down a few Italian cakes and these filled savoury turkish pastries which were morish. I say morish because we did go back for more.

Next stop the barbers. Waz needed a haircut. We went to Pippo's Barber Shop on Lygon St. Pippo's shop looked like a shrine for Juventis and Catalina Italian Soccer Club. The walls were full of soccer photos, posters and other memorabilia. Pippo himself was very friendly and animated Italian man. He filled us in on his love of soccer and his family. Waz was happy with his haircut. Off we continued down Lygon Street, Carlton.

Lygon Street has a lot of Italian Restaurants. We could not visit Melbourne without visiting and eating on Lygon Street. You could play spot the Lamborghini here. It took us ages to pick where to eat. Alicia picked Papa Gino's.

                                       

Lunch at Papa Gino's, Lygon St, Carlton

                                        

Lilly thoroughly enjoyed her spaghetti

We spent the rest of the day catching trams and walking all over the city. We saw Federation Square, the Yarra River, Flinders Street Station which looks like a building made out of gold and the very beautiful and iconic St Pauls Cathedral where the girls lit a candle for Nanna Kerry.

Flinders Street Station

We also managed to fit some shopping in. I found a great little shop that sells alot of Guess and other big named brand knock offs. At this point I realised the time and had 20 minutes to get back to the Vic Markets to get seafood supplies for dinner. On our way to the tram we spotted celebrity chef Curtis Stone talking on his mobile. Alicia spotted him first. We hopped on a tram and managed to get there at 5 min to close. I got my seafood and then we headed back home.

What a great day! I love Melbourne and I love trams.

DAY 36 - 25/03/2010 - Coburg, VIC

We moved site. Now we are close to all amenities and across from pool and spa area. It was a beautiful day so we made no plans to go anywhere. I got all our washing done and we just relaxed for the rest of the day.

The kids were happy to not have to drive anywhere and take full advantage of the facilities the park had to offer.

We got our Grand Prix tickets today and we cooked our first roast on the Webber. YUMMO

DAY 35 - 24/03/2010 - Lakes Entrance, VIC & Coburg, VIC

We arrived in Melbourne this evening. We have been driving all day and there was so much traffic about. We had to prebook our accommodating this time as it is Grand Prix weekend and school holidays in Vic. Very very busy and very very expensive. Everywhere was booked out or too far from the city. We managed to get a site at a Big 4 in the inner city suburb of Coburg. We wanted to be close to the city centre as we are planning on doing a few things in the city itself and we would rather catch public transport.

When we first got to our new destination we found out what the overflow was. Apparently that is where they put us because they were apparently booked out. I would call it the closet. We were right at the back corner away from all amenities and under those big cat electricity towers. There was one other couple there but they were only staying for 1 night and we were staying all week and might I add we paid top dollar to stay here. Safe to say we were not happy with our new neighbourhood. I voiced my concerns in a pleasant but firm manner and what do you know an available site popped up, but we had to spend 1 night in the closet before it was available to us. They thought we would love the tranquility of the overflow and the other excuse was that people tend to request this area on a return visit. (I don't think so).