Sydney Aquarium

I tend to think that once you have seen one aquarium you have seen them all. I have a hard time really enjoying watching the animals in their small tanks but we broke down and went to the aquarium anyway. It's very difficult to get to the places where we want to go when we have to rely on public transport and the aquarium is only a 15 minute walk from our apartment. This aquarium was a bit different then any I have seen before. They had a glass tunnel that we walked through for viewing the sharks and a glass floor so that we could watch the fish swim under us. My favorite part was the replica of the Great Barrier Reef. We enjoyed all the clown fish but couldn't find Nemo (couldn't find any with only one fin so he's still in the ocean, right?).

The Loo

Oddly enough, I really like the bathrooms here. Heated towel racks, drain in the floor and ceramic tile. But the toilet is the best. It has a full flush and a half flush and not much water in the bottom, and no plunger needed. The downside of not having much water is that the acoustics are not that great! M.A. you wanted photos of the apartment, how's this? ;-)

Bad Hair Day/Bad Barbie

Marra decided she wanted to experiment with different hair styles. She really liked the horn, didn't like the hair under the chin and loved the pony tail. As you can see from the photo, she didn't like the pig tails. I told her to go look in the mirror ( I thought that was the cutest style) and she came running out of the bedroom sobbing and saying, "there are no pigs". Toddlers are so entertaining. (sorry I didn't prep her for the photos, hence messy face) This is the best place to write down some fun things Marra says because I can't misplace the paper or forget which file I put it in, so bear with me here. Sometime in the first week that we were here, Marra noticed the painting in the sunroom, screamed, said, "bad Barbie, let's hide Hanna" and her and Hanna hid under the bed covers (that's where Hanna sleeps). She has not talked about Barbie's much since we have been here. Good thing because any Aussie over hearing would think she was talking about grilling! For awhile, Marra would say everybody that wore a dress and had breasts was Barbie.

Happy Birthday, Ray

I hate to admit that I actually forgot Ray's birthday this year. I told Ray that subconsciously I knew it was his birthday because I haven't made any cakes in a long time. Ray came home from work that day and asked why I made a cake. Of course, I had to tell him about my bargain hunt at Salvos which resulted in a muffin tin which led to making cupcakes and a chocolate cake which then led to making pizza. What a relief! We also tried some new fruit that day that I had picked up from Paddy's on Sunday. Dragonfruit was pretty blah, no flavour but great colour so I wonder if they use it for dye. The custard apple was great. The inside reminded me of paw paw's but the taste was much better, tasted like apple custard. ;-)

Train ride back to Sydney

We saw a lot of kangaroos on the way back. It was pretty exciting for us but we couldn't get any good shots. We also saw thousands of sheep along the way! Ray was finally able to watch Michael Moore's movie, "Sicko". The girls were complemented from the lady behind us saying how well they did on the long trip and said that my husband sounded like Kevin Costner. She wondered if our accent was from America or Canada. Okay Karen, I'm done for awhile. Do you think this will keep you busy? ;-)

Heading Back

We had to get up bright and early Saturday morning to catch the train back to Sydney. It was cold and raining when we left and had a bit more worries as they were working on the tram tracks. We had to take a shuttle bus to Flinders station which would take us to the main station. Then we get to the station and the train was delayed a half an hour (again do to the NSW tracks ;-)) so we were relieved not to miss the train, even if we had to wait! The second photo was taken from the tram stop looking toward our apartment building.

The Melbourne Museum

This was one of the affordable places in town (adults $6 each, children free). I used to love this kind of museum when I was younger but now I find them a bit morbid. I enjoyed the rocks, minerals, fossils, the 3D movies, the live insects and the rugs hanging on the wall. It's kind of depressing to think that the closest we have come to a kangaroo has been a dead one in a case! I've been avoiding the zoos, hoping to get to a wildlife sanctuary instead but transportation plus the cost of getting into a sanctuary seems to be really pricey! I really miss my mini van! Anyway, Hanna had fun taking pictures and we didn't realize that they had Pharlap in a case too!

The Melbourne Museum

I thought Marra would enjoy the smaller children's museum that they had on the lower level and she liked the books and kitchen play/ shopping area. The difference between the larger museum and the smaller one for kids was that the smaller one had dead mom and baby families and babies in the preservative jars! ????????

Eating out

We rarely eat out as the cost is definitely not affordable but we really wanted to try the food in Melbourne. The first 3 photos are from our visit to an Italian restaurant. The restaurants all seem to look the same. They gave us free drinks and a chocolate "footy". I was half way done with my water and I noticed some lipstick on the glass. I asked the girls if they drank out of my cup (they sometimes wear the Burt's Bees stuff that is lightly tinted) and they said they didn't have any lipstick on. So I was a bit grossed out to find lipstick on my cup and it seemed to have colored my lips some because the napkin that I used to wipe it off with was quite colorful! The next day we thought we would try Nepalese food so we went there and enjoyed some interesting dishes! We went to http://www.gurkhas.com.au the Gurkhas on Flinders Street and ordered Mo Mo, Chicken Chow Chow, BBQ mushrooms (spicy). Ray and I got the Banquet Menu for 2 so the girls got to sample a little bit of everything. Hanna was not impressed (she has a pretty sensitive palette) but the rest of us enjoyed it. A good blogger would have taken photos before digging into the food! :-)