Road Trip to Sydney

On our way to sydney, we stopped at several places along the way. The ride was easily over eight hours so, to make it easier and more enjoyable, we split it up over the course one and a half days.

 We started off in Melbourne. At the Federation square to be exact. This outdoor park/ shopping center takes up a whole block in Melbourne.
In other words.
It is huge.

There were lots of abstract sculptures... Tons of clothing, food, and jewelry shops, and some great views. It was good to be able to walk around before hopping in the car.

This is called a Paradise Bird Flower. Saw this on the side of the road, and they are all over the place. :)

And some purple flowers... Don't know what these were called.

Totally random here: We stopped and looked at a submarine. No where near the coast...
It was quite huge. Those little red dots are people.

This stop was a welcome one, as it was after some hours of driving. In a town called  Gundagai, there is a statue made in remembrance of the early pioneers and their dogs. It is called "The dog on the Tuckerbox"
   In the first days of australian Pioneers, food was quite scarce. So, the dogs would guard the men's Tuckerboxes (Lunchboxes) So no one would steal the food.

Here is the poem that made the tuckerbox and dog famous.

'Nine Miles from Gundagai' by Jack Moses

I've done my share of shearing sheep,
Of droving and all that;
And bogged a bullock team as well,
On a Murrumbidgee flat.
I've seen the bullock stretch and strain
And blink his bleary eye,
And the dog sit on the tuckerbox
Nine miles from Gundagai.

I've been jilted, jarred and crossed in love,
And sand-bagged in the dark,
Till if a mountain fell on me,
I'd treat it as a lark.
It's when you've got your bullocks bogged,
That's the time you flog and cry,
And the dog sits on the tuckerbox
Nine miles from Gundagai.

We've all got our little troubles,
In life's hard, thorny way.
Some strike them in a motor car
And others in a dray.
But when your dog and bullocks strike,
It ain't no apple pie,
And the dog sat on the tuckerbox
Nine miles from Gundagai.

But that's all past and dead and gone,
And I've sold the team for meat,
And perhaps, some day where I was bogged,
There'll be an asphalt street,
The dog, ah! well he got a bait,
And thought he'd like to die,
So I buried him in the tuckerbox,
Nine miles from Gundagai.

This wagon is over 150 years old. Looks like it too. ;) The area on which it is sitting happens to be a ruin of an old hotel and saloon.

The remains of these walls and ruins belong to a place that was called "The Limestone Inn". It was started and built by Mr. and Mrs. Carberry. It was opened in 1858. What made the inn so popular was the fact it provided lodging on the way to Sydney from melbourne, and Mrs. Carberry was an excellent piano player.
   unfortunately, in 1861, the hotel was robbed by a man who went by "Jack-in-the-boots". Four years after the robbery, they sold the hotel. A few years after that, (1876) It was closed and left to fall apart, and here it is today.

Can you tell I love old buildings? ;)

The last thing we stopped to look at was something called "The Giant Merino". Australia is known for their incredible quality of wool. So, this 97 Ton concrete Merino Ram was made in 1985. Eventually it was moved to a more popular location in 2007. It is attached to a wool gift shop. It was huge, around 35 feet high.

That was some of the stuff we saw on the way to Sydney. Lots coming up soon! Manly beach, The opera house, and MORE!

Austin

Fed Square

The final thing on our ‘Melbourne list’ was Federation Square. Many of our new friends recommended at least a quick stop. Which is what we did, a quick stop.

This is a huge shopping complex… with lots of little tasty shops, cultural events, and interesting unique stores. We walked around the outside and loved the bridge and the sculptures depicting Australia's immigrant history

We got some coffee and muffins from the food court before we left. It was a nice way to say good bye to Melbourne.

Melbourne,we loved our time with you. We will miss you, but we will always remember the amazing time we had, the great people we met and the wonderful food we shared while we stayed with you. The weather was drippy and cool, but the people we amazingly warm and kind! They were so friendly and helpful. Sydney- here we come!

A few more pictures also coming from The Older.

Benches

On the way to the bathing boxes, we noticed these little benches. Many had a funny little plaque in the corner, so we decided to have a little fun! Here is the ‘FAMILY Chair’

The ‘TOGETHERNESS Chair’

The ‘BIG IDEA chair’

The ‘HEALTHY LIVING chair’

The ‘COUPLE’S Chair’

Don't you love our 'cute couple.' There was a couple sitting (well, they weren’t actually SITTING, but they clearly didn’t want to be disturbed) in the ‘INSPIRATION Chair’. I guess they didn’t know there was actually a COUPLE’s Chair or perhaps they were INSPIRING each other?!


The ‘PRAYER Chair’

The 'CELEBRATION Chair'

The 'GRATEFUL Chair' (in case you can't tell, they are saying thank you in sign language.)

There were a few empty spots that seemed to missing ‘chairs’… so we decided it was the DISAPPEARING Chair’ or the ‘INVISIBLE Chair’, or perhaps it was the 'STOLEN Chair' or maybe it was just the 'LOST Chair'... HA Now you see us...

Now you don't!

Clearly, we were giddy to be out and about in relatively warm, non-raining weather!

Bayside Bathing Boxes on Brighton Beach

There was a break in the rain and we decided to try to find the ever elusive, Bayside Bathing Boxes.We ventured back on the walking path, but went in the correct direction this time. YAY!

We saw KITE SURFERS on the way... this was so amazing. The wind whipped these guys back and forth and when they got going really well, they could lean back on the tow lines and flip or twist. It looked so fun!! Lessons are very expensive and so is the equipment.

We also some cool birds... we think these are cormorants and they do this fun dive thing to catch fish... but we could be mistaken. (Notice the huge ship out at sea.)

We walked just a bit and TADA... there they were!

There is recorded evidence of the Brighton bathing boxes as far back as 1862. A large number of applications for bathing box permits and construction occurred in 1908-1911. Interestingly, Brighton did not become an incorporated city until 1919. So I don’t know exactly who issued the permits??

 I think there were about 86 of them- all very pretty and no two alike.







We each chose our favorite and got our picture taken in front of it. Which one do you like best?

Essie couldn't choose which ONE she liked... so she has two pictures. The box was not crooked, the picture is wonky... sorry.
And we thought it was appropriate to take a pic of the Australian flag box...

We did a little more research and found that the city sold 2 of these cute little boxes to raise $400,000 – no kidding! The city retains the land, so the owners then have to pay $500 a year rent for the little rectangle of beach on which their box sits. HHHMMM?




I guess it would be convenient to have a place to change and store your beach gear, but really… $200,000 for a 12X12 painted shed??

You should check out some of the cool things The Older with photoshop.  His bathing box pictures are much better than ours... www.theramblingstone11.blogspot.com 

Time Well Spent?

In our ‘new’, smaller space, we were able to spend a lot more time TOGETHER. Like, ALL our time together. There was no yard, lots of people living around us, rain most day and only 3 rooms- well, there was a door on the loo!
What did we do you may wonder? How did we not damage each other? We spent hours each day writing and memorizing scripture, we decided to write our own in depth study of Revelation and then memorize the entire book of Phillipians. We also, of course, have read “How To Make Brothers and Sisters Best Friends” and so we had continual bliss. BWAHHAAHHH! (I will not translate that as hysterical laughter or frantic weeping! You decide!)

Honestly, there were moments, when I questioned the sanity of this whole thing. I mean really, there are not families as large as ours here. The wonderful folks at church were very surprised the ‘whole mob’ came. J When we go to a coffee shop and ask for a table for 6, they look at us like we are crazy- really. BUT, those doubting moments are few and far between and have usually come after spending more than 24 hours in the same room with 4 other people!

And, please don’t think I am complaining about the rain. We love the rain- it reminds of our dear, dear friends north of Seattle. We still miss you.

So what DID we do really?

We honestly did have some great scriptural discussions after our morning studies and we ARE attempting to memorize some scriptures.
We are all reading something. We have colored pencils and paper, so drawing is a favored activity.
The Older and The Tall One both have ukuleles…Don’t ask! (That is another post)
We have done laundry.

We have played the favorite games (see previous post) and have added few new games.Here’s the ‘low down’ on them:
Yahtzee Hands Down- modifies the dice game to be played with cards…please note this game can take a long time to play.

In a Pickle- which the Older loves. You play your noun cards in order of smallest to largest. Sounds easy, but some of the nouns are tricky, like love and hope and some can have multiple meanings, like log. So you have to make a case for your order. It requires some creative thinking.

And PIG- thanks the recommendation T! Essie LOVES it!

We had sock fights- yep, seems to be a family tradition on our vacations. When the big boys were little and we traveled with Traveler, I found nothing makes little boys happier than throwing things- ie socks- at each other. We haven’t broken very many things over the years. – hee

This place does have a massive flat screen TV. The techie people here with me figured out how to play movies, from our computers on it. And we watched movies. Not more than one a day, but an hour and half of ‘down time’ has been nice!

And when the rain stops, we dash outside and walk!One day we stopped at a cute little coffee shop, had a spot of tea, and looked around.

Essie wanted to get her friends each one a stamp set and tablet, so they could write letters in code. : )

Buckingham Palace

Oh, I meant Buckingham PLACE...Palace it is not!!


Character building is GOOD! James 1 tells us to rejoice in every trial as it grows our character and makes us more mature in our faith. (rough but practical translation) We kept this in mind as we lived together in tight quarters...that were damp and well, let me just say, we cleaned and re-cleaned and never really felt clean.


So here are the pics of this week's apartment. As you walk in you will be welcomed here...


This was the kitchen/living room/sleeping room for Essie and Mom.

This is the bathroom. We couldn't seem to figure out how to use this washing machine… it would wash the clothes for at least 8 hours. We had to be doing something wrong- surely! The dryers were in the parking garage- will have to add that picture later...BUT, it only took 2 hours to dry a load of whites.

This is where the tall people slept-

And this is the other bedroom, which The Traveler shared with Beej...

It was a little cramped, but had some positives...it was within walking distance of the bay and food.


It rained many days the week we were here, so we actually took some time to watch a few movies.We were able to get out and explore 2 days or at least part of the day- can't wait to show you what we saw.