Hello everyone! Happy Australia Day to all you Aussies out there, I hope you had a lovely day!
Gary's work were putting on an Australia Day BBQ in the gardens in the heart of Melbourne today, so we thought we would go up and check things out, we live about 2 hrs out of the city so we drove in and made a day of it. And we had a lot of fun!! ( I think even my teenagers would agree it wasn't a bad family fun day!!)
The older 2 decided to get patriotic and get some body art done, I think they looked ace!
The streets were closed to cars, so we could all walk on the roads which was great, as there were heaps of people out and about!
There was a big parade down Swanston St with lots of cool floats and performers, My faves were the guys in giant kangaroo suits on stilts with huge springs on their feet bouncing and bounding along with all the cultural displays. Very entertaining!
....more pretty floats....
....and colourful costumes....
Andre, Max and I went to the fab Childrens Garden at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, there is this huge river gum tree trunk that is nearly 10 000 yrs old, it had been preserved in ground water until it was uncovered and now it is part of this brilliant garden, so interesting! If you ever get a chance to take your kids to this garden I would highly recommend it , they have a ball!
(It gets a bit crowded on public holidays though!)
We checked out the Gallery......
And went up to the Eureka Skydeck 88 floors up! This is a view of the Yarra river from the Skydeck, with Max putting on a brave face as he is a bit scared of heights! We went on the Edge experience, where you go in a glass room that is moved out over the edge of the building and then you can see straight down under your feet, the cars looked like toys and the people looked like ants, The views were spectacular and you could see right around Melbourne and all across the bay, breathtaking! It was a fun experience, so thanks Jack, Denise and Tony for a fab Chrissy pressie!
What else?.......Dog racing and competitions (strangely compelling), Dutch pancakes (yum!), aeroplane fly overs and aerial acrobatics (super amazing),watching setting up a massive fireworks display ( some people had to work still), looking through Government house, lots of beautiful vintage cars that made me feel ashamed at how I keep my car, wandering the gorgeous gardens, waving Aussie flags, throwing coins in the pond around the Gallery, eating ice creams, pizzas on St Kilda foreshore for dinner, fireworks in Mornington ...............It has been a big day!
Sounds like you all had a grand time! Pride in country is something that has been lacking here in the USA for a while, at least in my area. We just don't have the big celebrations for the 4th of July like we should. Most people I know have a small family bbq and fireworks. I think it would be great to have the whole town come out for a celebration!
ReplyDeleteWow, you certainly packed alot into the day, looks like it was heaps of fun and great that the teenagers enjoyed themselves.
ReplyDeleteMax deserves an award for going out on the skydeck, not sure I could manage it......
We enjoyed a very relaxed day, appreciating our beautiful surrounds and family.