School in School Holidays???

Even though the boys were on school holidays, a few days they went into school with Nana (when we had a few appointments, or when there was someting fun to do).

The local high schools were doing their school productions.

One school was performing "Annie" and the other was performing "The Wizard of Oz".

The schools invite the local primary schools to come and watch their dress rehearsal. The shows were terrific, and the boys really enjoyed them.

Another day the Fire Brigade was coming to talk to the kids, so the boys went along as well.

They had fun using the hose and being able to climb into the fire trucks and see what happened. Thankfully there was no fire that day, and they were able to stay around. A few years ago, they had to rush off to an emergency and the kids didn't get to see much.

Watch out, Cameron has the hose
Having a chat with the Fireman

Melbourne

We went into the city of Melbourne.

The boys wanted to go in the tallest building in Melbourne. So, off we went to the Eureka Tower. Up the lift, 88 floors to the Eureka Skydeck. The Eureka Tower is the tallest residential building in the world. It opened October 2006. The Skydeck lifts are the fastest lifts in the Southern Hemisphere (our ears popped more than once!) the lift travels more than 9 metres per second!

It is not the tallest building, but it has the highest viewing platform in the Southern Hemisphere

The glass on the top 10 floors is 24 carat gold plated. The observation floor is above the red line (at the bottom of the gold windows)

The bees are coated in 24 carat gold.
in front of the "G", (MCG, or Melbourne Cricket Ground)

In the front is the Victorian Arts Centre

Then there is "The Edge"
It is a glass cube which projects 3 metres out from the building, suspended 300 metres above the ground! You have to take off your shoes, and put on those surgical booties, go into the box, and it then moves out over the edge. We watched other peple do it, but decided that my vertigo (and me fear of heights), would make this impossible.

After the Skydeck, we wandered around town for awhile.

The Yarra River with Flinders Street Station behind

The Yarra River and South Bank

Melbourne Museum

Melbourne Museum has changed a lot since I was a kid.

The new building is next to the Royal Exhibition Building, in the Carlton Gardens, so really easy to get to.

The museum is set out really well for the kids, with lots of interactive things for them to do.

There were dinosaurs to find.

and dinosaur eggs to unearth

We watched a bower bird build a nest. They collect anything blue, so the staff put random blue things in the Forest Gallery. It was amazing to watch.

The Forest Gallery was very peaceful to walk around.

Australia's first computer filled an entire room! It was the 4th computer built in the world. It was successfully working in November 1949. Built by CSIRAC, it is the only intact first generation computer surviving anywhere in the world. It was moved to the museum. Alexander wished Mr Day (his Year 4 teacher) could see this computer!

Dinosaurs roamed the stairways

Here is Phar Lap, Australia's most famous horse

Australia' Coat of Arms, in life size

hold on tight when you are sitting on the moon

Home Leave - Sydney Part 2

It was great to catch up with some friends


Sadly, we were not there long enough, and some friends had gone away for the holidays. I forgot my camera when we visited other friend.....and then I got sick with an ear infection. So, jet lag, ear infection and not enough days in Sydney, we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to! :(
Next year, I will try and be better organised!

Home Leave - Sydney Part 1.

School finished Friday afternoon, and we were on the plane to Oz Saturday morning.

After a delay in London for 6 hours, we had a non eventful flight and we arrived in Melbourne 33 hours later.....damn it's a long flight. We all caught up on the latest movies, and got a bit of sleep.

Tuesday we flew up to Sydney for the week. We were going to go in August, however Cass told us that this was school holidays, and it would be a good chance to catch up with friends during the days.

We love Circular Quay with the Bridge and the Opera House.

The only problem with this was this was World Youth Day....(although it goes all week, so the boys couldn't understand why it isn't called World Youth Week). The plane was full of Catholics heading up for the celebrations. We had seen news reports of buses of teenagers heading up to Sydney via bus and singing all the way....I hoped that we wouldn't have a flight full of singing...thankfully they all were saving their singing for once they landed in the airport (our jetlag had really started to kick in by then)

Sydney had the same sort of vibe that it had when we had the Olympics. It was lots of fun to be in the city and see all the people with their flags of their countries.
We found some German girls and spoke German to them (the only time we spoke German for the next 7 weeks). They were surprised that the boys were able to talk to them too! Briana found the Irish group and got her photo taken with some of them!

Cameron wouldn't stand in front of Jesus.....I love the painting on this one..there were lots of other painted statues, but this was the best one (I think)
Cameron, Alexander and Briana in the George Street Mall, with a washed out Centrepoint Tower in the background
The Tank Stream Fountain near Circular Quay by Stephan Walker.

Alexander's Ferry...we usually see it at Circular Quay!

Cass and I, with the Toaster building behind us.

We got some Free Hugs from some Spanish girls...

see this link for background info on Free Hugs...it's great!

Kung Fu Panda

We took Cameron and his friends to see Kung Fu Panda as an early 8th birthday party, as his birthday is in the middle of Summer holidays here, and everyone will be away.

The kids loved Kung Fu Panda, and laughed through most of it. After the movie we took then to the Australian Cafe for ice cream and drink. We had 1/2 hour to run off some energy, so I took them around the corner to run amoungst the hedges and play catch.

But first we got some Kung fu poses from them all.

Afterwards on the way home, we stopped for a well earned rest on a chair

The Hippos crashed the Dance

Alexander auditioned for a main part in the KS2 production this year, and got the Field Mouse role.


He had lots of lines to learn, and 2 solo parts in songs, and Phil and I were very proud parents!