Melbourne, I love you!

Last week the Fellas and I went to Melbourne.  We decided that we'd stay in the city and make the most of what's available there, especially the food!!!

After we'd flown in, taxied to our hotel and settled ourselves in, we went for a walk just around the corner into one of Melbourne's famous little laneways.  It was FULL of food!!!  Not just cafes, but every kind of food you could think of was crammed into a 100 metre stretch of road!

We were already in heaven!

And that was only our first hour!

Throughout the week we caught up with friends and family, we ate like there was no tomorrow, we walked and caught trams around the city, we went to the museum, Aquarium, zoo, casino complex, movies... and by the end of the week we were pretty much exhausted!

I have heaps to tell you about it all, but it's going to take more than one post, and I want to edit a few (of the thousands of) photos first.  So for now, here's a quick collage or three of some of what we got up to:

We came home exhausted and happy, and it's taken me almost all week to finally put stuff away.  Well, there was also the Little Big Fella's birthday party in the park on Monday, so there was extra stuff around!

And now we're back home, in our quiet little town, with horses across the road and the sound of trains clunking together.

Melbourne, it was fun!  Thank you!

Home!

We had a 4am start.  And I'm such a morning person!!!  But that's what you gotta do to catch your 6am flight.

Mum got up to say goodbye, and dad drove us to the airport.  I hate goodbyes, but I hate short, early morning goodbyes even more because I always feel like that hug wasn't long enough and I wanted to say "I love you" just one more time.

Anyway, I'd checked in online the day before, but we needed to check our bags through.  They have an ATM-style check-in at Melbourne airport with a couple of airport staff there to help you out.

We got the lady's attention and started the process when the Little Big Fella started jumping up and down.  Yep!  You guessed it!  He had to pee!  Right now!!!!

Of course, you can't just leave your bags with anyone at the airport.  And of course the closest toilets weren't exactly close.  So here we are running through the airport, just after 5am, dragging our bags and trying not to drop anything.

Thankfully we made it!  Yay!

We went back and finished our bag check-in then went and found our gate.  We were flying home with a different carrier than we did on the way down, and on this flight we had a breakfast included.

The Little Big Fella decided to "drink" his orange juice with the tiny stirring teaspoon.  It took forever!!!  But he was happy so where's the problem?

We had an hour or so in Brisbane between our flights.  Guess what we did for most of it.  We went up and down the escalators.

Down.

Up.

Down.

Up.

Down.

Up.

Down.

Up.

At least a dozen times.

But, again, the Little Big Fella was happy, and we weren't in anyone's way, so where's the problem?

Finally we were on our final leg home and I was anxious to get there.  I was tired, sick of being mummy 24/7, and ready to see my husband.

And when I saw him, I have to say he was looking fine!!!  He's been losing weight and working out, so when he turned up in his jeans and t-shirt, with his growing muscles showing, I did a double-take.  I know it was only 12 days, but he looked really good!

Okay, okay, I'll move on.

We went and had some lunch and did some food shopping then we were on our way home.

It doesn't matter how good a time you have when you're away, or how well you were looked after, or how comfy the bed was where you stayed, there is no place like home!

And even though there was lots of unpacking and cleaning up to do (the Big Fella had been away hunting for the past 5 days so all his camping gear and washing was added to what we had brought home), it was still home, the Little Big Fella was back in his normal space and routine, and I was ready to relax and recover from the great time we'd had catching up with family and friends and having all kinds of adventures.

Melbourne trip - Part V

After a friend-day, it was time for a family-day!  We had a bit of a slow start then jumped in the car and headed off to the Big Fella's parent's place.

We got there just as Grandma's client arrived (she's a seamstress and works from home).  So we said hi then headed out to the back deck (the Little Big Fella wanted to see the spa).

I saw a couple of parrots in the tree so popped inside and collected the box of seed.  We put some on the verandah's railings then sat back on the lounge to see if they'd come closer.

They did!

We ended up sitting and watching them for quite a while!  Grandpa was at work but came home for "lunch" and sat with us watching the birds.  Then Grandma and her client came down and watched them too!

Eventually Grandpa had to go back to work, but we arranged to meet up with him later.  He drives buses, so we decided we'd go for a ride with him after lunch, when he was back in the general area.

In the meantime, Grandma and I took the Little Big Fella to the nearby lake.  When we first got there, we noticed a bunch of old guys with remote-controlled yachts.  Of course, the Little Big Fella wanted to have a go!  I told him that he probably wouldn't be allowed to, but one of the guys generously offered so he had about 5 minutes of controlling a smaller yacht (with a little input from the owner) and, amazingly, didn't crash into any of the others!

The closest yacht, with the yellow hull, is the one the Little Big Fella was controlling.

The guys then had a race, so the controls were handed back and we walked a little way around the lake to feed the ducks.

Initially, there were only a couple of ducks.  But once the others heard there was food, they came flying in from everywhere!!!!

When we were out of bread, we went over to the playground (another brilliant one) and let the Little Big Fella run around a bit.  This was his favourite "toy" of the morning:

You hit the silver bits at the top and they make different gong-like sounds.

While the Little Big Fella was playing, the Big Fella called.  He was out in a national park for the week and there was no mobile phone coverage, so I was surprised (and pleased) to hear from him!  He'd driven to the only place in the whole park where there was coverage, just to have a chat!

Grandma, the Little Big Fella and I had a bit of a walk and talk around part of the lake, then headed out for lunch before catching Grandpa's bus.  The Little Big Fella liked Grandpa's bus (or maybe it was the lolly frogs Grandma brought to eat on the bus???) and we drove around with him for about an hour.

Back at the Big Fella's parent's place, Grandma put a movie on for the Little Big Fella - "Pete's Dragon".  This movie has strong sentimental value for the Big Fella's family, but I was surprised at how into the movie my son was!  He's not normally a musical movie kind of kid, but he was completely enthralled!

Grandpa came home not long after the movie started and sat with the Little Big Fella to watch it.

We had dinner together, then Grandpa and the Little Big Fella had a spa, absolutely making the Little Big Fella's day complete!

While they were down there, Grandma and I were on the deck talking and we heard something in the tree.  We looked around and there was a possum!

After the spa, a bath and a bit of hanging out, it was time to head back to mum and dad's.  We said our goodbyes, somewhat sorrowfully because it will be quite a while before we see the Big Fella's parents again.  Unsurprisingly, the Little Big Fella was asleep before we'd gotten 5 minutes down the road!

So closed another big day in Melbourne!

Melbourne trip - part Aquarium

Week two in Melbourne seemed to be all about best friends!  I got to catch up with three of my best friends from various periods of my life and it was fantastic!

My best friend from Grade 1 until we moved towns in Year 9 just happened to be in Melbourne at the same time as us, and just happened to have a day free, so we caught up on Monday.

I caught the train into the city with the Little Big Fella, who'd never been on a train (despite his Daddy's job) and really enjoyed it!  We met P at the stairs of Flinders St station and walked to the Burke St mall.  My sister had told me about a place in Myer that have amazing desserts so we wandered our way through to there (stopping at the costumes for the Little Big Fella, and taking our time to convince him he wasn't getting one).

Apparently this store within Myer, Brunetti's, is the smaller version, and there's a much larger one elsewhere in the city.  I'm so glad we didn't go to the bigger one!  It was really hard to choose from the "small" selection!!!!

Eventually I chose a chocolate tart and the Little Big Fella chose an ice-cream/gelato.  For the first time in his life, he couldn't finish an ice-cream!!!  It was pretty rich, but absolutely delicious!

Realising that the Little Big Fella wouldn't cope well with being dragged around shops, I suggested we go to either the Museum or the Aquarium.  We chose the Aquarium and I'm so glad we did because it was brilliant!  Yes, it was expensive (although, if I lived in Melbourne I'd seriously consider buying an annual pass and going in pretty regularly - especially the shark area), and yes, we had to line up for ages to get in (and guess who had to use the facilities right then!).  But it was great fun, really interesting, and definitely worth it!

Here's a few pics to give you an idea:

As soon as we'd paid, we walked through an area where we were told to pose for a picture.  We knew they'd try to sell us the photos, but didn't realise they'd come out so well, and that we'd have access to the digital copies too.  The photos (3) were put into a book about the aquarium and the various creatures in it.

The first creatures we saw when we came in were the seahorses.  Seahorses are definitely my favourite sea creatures - not only because they're so interesting-looking, but the whole male baby-carrying thing has always fascinated me!

There were heaps of them, and in so many different colours and shapes (if you want to include the sea dragons in the seahorse category, of course).  I loved how they wrapped their tails around the seaweed to hold on.

There were several of these bubble things, where kids (and parents when they get dragged along) could crawl under the tanks and look up into where the fish and other animals were.  It was pretty cool.

There was also a really big tank/pond with lots of archer fish in it.  When the Big Fella and I lived briefly in Darwin, the couple we stayed with had archer fish in their pond in the middle of their living room (with a spiral staircase going over the top of it, mind you).  At night, when the flying termites came out, they'd turn off all the lights except the one over the fish tank.  The termites would fly over there, then the archer fish would spit at them, making them fall onto the water where the fish would eat them.  They're really good shots!

We went downstairs to the shark tank.  This was at the top of the ramp:

The shark tank is really amazing.  You walk through a tunnel, but the tunnel is made of very thick acrylic, and the fish, rays and sharks swim over and around you.  It is such a great experience!

I think if I lived in Melbourne, and had an annual pass, I would come to the shark tank as often as possible and just sit and watch them all.  Especially when it's not school holidays :-)

Eventually we headed back upstairs and had lunch.  Just next to the cafeteria area was a coral reef tank.  It was here that the Little Big Fella made a friend:

He sat talking and singing to this Moray Eel for ages!  And the eel seemed to be responding to him.  It was watching him, and even looked like it was talking to him, and didn't go away until he did!

Eventually it was time to go.  We headed back to the train station (on the tram of course!) and said our goodbyes.  I was really grateful for the chance to catch up with my friend, and that the Little Big Fella was entertained enough that we actually got to talk quite a bit.  There's even a chance that we might keep in touch a bit more than we have of late (I'm so bad at long-distance friendships!).

Melbourne trip - Part IV

After a day with the Big Fella's family, we got to spend a bit of time (when we weren't exhausted even!) with my parents.

Mum had taken the day off work and Dad ended up meeting us for lunch, which was awesome.

One of the local shopping centres had a dinosaur display for the school holidays.  There were large and small dinosaurs, all very realistic, as well as some that moved!  They were pretty cool!

Unfortunately, there was a very long line to see them up close.  Double unfortunately, the Little Big Fella wasn't in the mood for queuing.  We got to the end of the line and within about a minute he'd started losing the plot.

Just at that moment he spotted Toyworld.  And that was the end of us lining up to see dinosaurs!

We went to Toyworld and he conned Nanna into buying him a Spiderman glove that makes web slinging sounds when you put your hand the right way, as well as an Optimus Prime costume (incidentally, he was wearing his Iron Man costume at the time).

Mum and I decided that it was time for a coffee, so we headed for one of the cafés and partook of some very nice beverages.  The Little Big Fella was happily distracted by his new Spiderman glove :-)

After that we thought we'd have a little walk around, but first my son had to have a play on the digger.

We wandered around Myer and a couple of other places, and I ended up buying a new top (which I wore to the P!nk concert - post coming soon!).  Then we met up with Dad and grabbed some lunch.

Have you ever been to a food court in a shopping centre?  It's an area where there are a bunch of tables in the middle, and a range of fast food places around the outside.

They tend to be very loud.

Especially at the lunch rush hour.

Especially at the lunch rush hour in school holidays!

Thankfully we got a seat very easily and the noise started to settle when we were about half way through our meals.

After lunch Dad had to get back to work, so Mum and I wandered around a few more stores before the Little Big Fella started losing the plot on us again.  On the way home we stopped at Spotlight (a large craft store), which really pushed the Little Big Fella a bit too far.  He'd pretty much run out of patience for shopping.  That, and he wasn't allowed to put on his Optimus Prime costume until we got "home".

So we took him "home" and he was quite happy.

While we stayed with my parents, the Little Big Fella developed a couple of routines in the evening.  These included setting the table in the "winter room" for dinner with Nanna, lighting the candles for dinner, saying grace (which always includes holding hands and giving people a kiss after "amen"), blowing out the candles when everyone is done, then having a bath (definitely the most exciting part of the night!), and putting on Superman pjs.

We don't have a bath in our current house, so going to my grandparent's place in our old town, or now going to my parent's place has to include a bath... preferably with lots of bubbles!  And mum's bath is a spa bath, so lots of bubbles can become even more bubbles!!!

Grandma gave the Little Big Fella a Superman onesie (all-in-one pyjamas).  They're fleecy and very warm, and suited sleeptime in Melbourne.

They even came with a cape!  The Little Big Fella was in love :-)

A couple of nights Nanna got to read a book to the Little Big Fella.  They had two favourites; a book about a digger trying to find home, and a book of funny poems (which he's been partially repeating ever since - Oodnadatta, Paramatta, and Triantiwantigongalope!).

Some nights it was a little too warm for a fleecy Superman onesie and Batman covers!

I was very relieved that the Little Big Fella settled into a happy routine at Mum and Dad's.  Not only did it make night times that bit easier, it also meant that there was no stress when it was time for me to go to the P!nk concert!  But more about that in the next installment ;-)

Melbourne trip - Part III

While I was away, I didn't really have time to write a diary, or blog posts, or even much in the way of notes about our days.  But I had a single page document that I wrote a couple of dot points on, to help me remember what we'd gotten up to.

Turns out I really need those!

We were SO busy (but in a good way)!  By the end of the first week, I could hardly remember what we'd done the day before, let alone a couple of days before that!

So, using said trusty dot points, I can tell you that after our slightly more eventful trip down, and our fun day at the science museum, the Little Big Fella and I had a more sedate day with the Big Fella's parents, sister and her partner.  And it was absolutely lovely!

Unfortunately I don't actually have any photos of this day (sheesh!), so I'll just have to tell you about it and let you use your imagination.

We had a bit of a sleep in that morning (I have no idea why we were so tired!), then got ourselves ready and headed over to the Big Fella's parent's place.

They've lived in the same house for about 20 years, which is kind of amazing because Grandpa used to be in the Airforce and the Big Fella's family had lived all over Australia, and in Malaysia for a time.  Since the last time we'd been there (in 2010!), they've renovated the kitchen and upstairs entry, as well as both bathrooms.  It was so exciting to see it in person after hearing all about it!

So we got the grand tour, then had a cuppa in the downstairs lounge room, in front of the fire.  That's one thing I miss about living in Victoria.  We don't have much opportunity to really snuggle in front of a fire up here, and it is definitely one of the delicious things about winter!

The Little Big Fella wanted to check out the yard so we took him outside and walked down to the bottom of the property.  It's only a 1/4 acre (I think... there's a possibility that it's a 1/3 acre), but it's a very steep block!  The Little Big Fella (of course) ran up and down it a few times, while we struggled just a little.

And that's when he saw it.

Grandma and Grandpa have an outdoor spa.

Which, to the Little Big Fella, looks just like a pool.

And he loves playing in water!

So he convinced Grandpa to turn on the heater and get the water warming up so he could have a spa swim splash.

While we were waiting for it to warm up, Grandma got a delicious lunch started.  She did a Turkish bread (pide?), filled with delicious treats like olives, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and so on, and with a little cheese on top.  Then it got put in the oven to warm up and get a little crispy.  Served with a lovely salad, it was a fantastic lunch!

By this time, the Big Fella's sister and her partner had arrived as well, so we all ate together and had the chance to catch up.

Although I love where we live, I really do miss our families.  We enjoy one another's company, and there's something very special about families that you just don't quite get, even with very good friends.

Anyway, after lunch the spa was warm enough so Grandma, the Little Big Fella and I jumped in (amazing how I just happened to have our swimmers in the bag, huh?).  Even though the day was quite chilly, especially in the shade, we ended up getting rather too warm in the spa because the heater didn't get turned off until the water reached 40 degrees (about 104 Fahrenheit).

The Little Big Fella loved splashing about though, especially when Grandma found a pair of goggles that he could wear!  Talk about making your grandson happy!!!

After we got out, we all had a bit of a chat then the Big Fella's sister and partner took the Little Big Fella and I to a chocolaterie.  Seriously delicious!

They have a big window along one wall where you can watch the masters making the chocolates.  While we were there we watched one of the girls making chocolate covered licorice bullets.

And right at the front door are 3 big (and I mean big) bowls of chocolate drops that you can sample - white, milk and dark chocolate.  And it was very nice chocolate!

They had all kinds of chocolate delights, as well as a cafe with handmade ice-creams and desserts.  We decided to have a drink, and I got a fruit flan that was to die for!  With every order they give you a shot of "hot chocolate", which is basically chocolate drops melted to a thick, creamy liquid.  Very sweet to drink, but lovely in the cold wind.

The chocolaterie also provided buckets full of outdoor toys for people to take out onto the grassy area in front of the building.  The buckets had balls and frisbees and all kinds of things for playing with.

The whole atmosphere was really, really fun!  I'd highly recommend a visit if you're in that area!

We purchased a few treats, sampled a couple more chocolate drops then headed home.  The Little Big Fella was completely tuckered out and fell asleep before we'd gotten very far.

When we got back to Grandma and Grandpa's place, we went in, had a quick chat then said our goodbyes and went back to my parent's place for a quick dinner, bath and off to bed.  Then end of another lovely, eventful day.

Melbourne trip - Part II

Before we came on this trip, I did a bit of research online.  I wanted to make sure that the Little Big Fella would have a great time, and that the whole trip wasn't taken up with me hanging out with my family and friends while he was bored.  I also wanted to have a few ideas of things to do with other people - because sometimes having an unusual experience together is as much or more fun than just catching up.

So our first day in Melbourne included a trip to ScienceWorks with my brother and best friend.  It's a hands-on science musuem where you can learn about all kinds of science-y things by playing with them.

We picked up my brother (and met his housemate), then my friend, then drove to the other side of the city.

When we got there I realised I'd made a silly misjudgment - it was school holidays!!!  There were people everywhere!!!!  We had to park in the overflow parking lot and line up outside to get in!  The air was icy cold (although it was quite lovely in the sun).  And guess who had to use the bathroom right then!!!

Sheesh!  What a great start!!!

Thankfully all was sorted and we got inside (where it was comfortably warm) and started checking the place out.

First stop, electricity!

Then, into the house area.  This photo is where you could watch how sound waves work.

Of course, you have to take photos in wonky mirrors!

This was one of the Little Big Fella's favourite part of the "house".  It's the hose of a giant vacuum cleaner.  You could run through to the other end, where you found yourself inside the main part of a vacuum cleaner.  They had dust and bugs and coins and junk hanging all over the place to make it feel "right" ;-)

Incidentally, his other favourite part of the house was where you could make the fleas jump.  No comment!

We eventually moved from the "house" to the "sports" area.  There was a "sports" sign made of concrete and the Little Big Fella (a.k.a. Batman today) climbed all over it for ages!

Once inside the sports area, the Big Fella and my brother found this exhibit.  The idea was to press the start button (low for kids, high for adults).  The lights on the buttons would then flash and you had to press it as fast as you could.  A different button would then light up.  You had to hit as many as you could in 30 seconds.  We all had a turn, but we had to keep dragging the Little Big Fella away to look at other things!

Like this canoe.

We all tested our grip strength at one station, and how much weight we could pull sitting down with our feet against the wall.  There were a few ball-based skills test, and the Little Big Fella and I raced against Kathy Freeman (unsurprisingly, she won!).

My bro then helped the Little Big Fella have a go on a climbing wall.

We decided it was time for lunch, so we headed outside (brrrr!).  My friend saved us seats in the little amphitheater, because there was a circus show starting soon, while I got food for us and my brother took the Little Big Fella to the playground area to run off a bit more energy.

The circus performers were really good!  The show was informative, funny and very entertaining.  The girl balanced things on her chin - a juggling club, a bottle of wine, a hat stand!  The guy did most of the clown-like roles, but also walked across a bunch of wine bottles without knocking them over.  They both did juggling (together and separately) and some balancing tricks together.

I guess what I enjoyed most about it, was that they really involved the audience - not just by having a dad participate, but they got us engaged with what they were doing; laughing at their jokes, joining in, and following instructions.  Considering that the major portion of the audience were children, they were very clever!

We had a little time to kill so the Little Big Fella had a short play on the playground, then we went into the lightning show.  To be honest, I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would.  There were some great demonstrations - creating an instant cloud in a bottle, using static electricity, and making lightning inside the large cage - but it wasn't particularly entertaining and I got rather cold and uncomfortable.

It was getting late-ish in the afternoon, so we decided to skip the upstairs part of the museum (which is a pity, because I'm lead to believe there's a digger up there!).  We took a couple of goofy photos then it was time to head home.

Unfortunately, we hit peak hour traffic so it took a while to get through the city and out to our suburbs.  We were all a bit tired by then so it was great to get "home" and have dinner with my parents (gotta love the slow cooker!), before bathing the Little Big Fella and heading off to bed.

Baths at Nanna and Granddad's became a highlight of each day for the Little Big Fella... but that's a story for another post!  ;-)

Melbourne trip - Part I

In case you missed it, the Little Big Fella and I have just spent 12 days in Melbourne, Victoria, visiting family and friends.  It was a very busy 12 days!  We had an absolute blast!

But I have to say, I'm still recovering!  I'm looking forward to Tuesday because I'll be home, alone - the Big Fella will be at work, and the Little Big Fella will be at kindy.  I'm looking forward to just having some time alone, being quiet and restful and doing everything or nothing for a couple of hours.

I've finally sorted through all my photos.  Unfortunately none of them are particularly good (mostly because we were often indoors, and because I used my phone instead of my camera), but at least you'll be able to see some of what we got up to.

This was the first time the Little Big Fella has been on a plane (that he remembers - we went to Victoria when my youngest sister got married... when he was 1).  And he was SO excited!!!  We were counting down for about a week, and he wanted to go to the airport as soon as we woke up on Friday (the airport is an hour away and we didn't fly out until 3pm!).

I'd checked in online, but we still needed to drop our bags at the counter.  The lady was so lovely and let the Little Big Fella push the button to send our bags out to the plane!

Amazingly, we ran into one of the students from my college in Melbourne at our little airport!  Talk about unexpected!

Here is my boy inside the terminal.  And that's our plane outside (although I doubt you can see it).

And here he is on the plane.  I bought a bag of lollipops to help us settle the pressure in our ears.  Probably wasn't necessary, but we enjoyed it :-D

Here's the view from our window!

I hadn't really told the Little Big Fella what take off is like, but he loves going fast, so when the plane started picking up speed along the runway, he turned to me with the most excited expression on his face and said, "Mum!  It's going really, really fast!!!!"

Needless to say, he enjoyed flying.

There were only a handful of people on this first flight and the Little Big Fella got the hostess onside immediately.  She then offered him a juice, before we'd even taken off!

When we got to Brisbane we found the gate for our next flight and settled in to have a bit of a picnic on the floor, watching our plane through the window.

We saw our bags go on the plane.

Then we saw a bit of fuss around the tarmac.

Then we saw our bags come off the plane.

Uh oh!

An announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, there is an engineering fault on your aircraft.  At this stage we do not have an estimated departure time for you."

Awesome.

We continued our little picnic, because, let's face it, there's nothing you can do in that situation but sit around, try to be calm, and wait to be told what's happening.

On the way to our gate, we'd run into a guy from the Starlight Children's Foundation who was signing people up for donations.  They grant wishes for seriously ill children - everything from meeting a sports player, to a shopping spree, to a trip to Disneyland.  I'm pretty sure they granted my cousin a wish several years ago when she had leukemia.

Anyway, the guy had given the Little Big Fella a balloon, and he and a couple of other kids were playing with it while we were waiting.  I think some of the older passengers got a bit annoyed about it, but it kept the kids happy so I thought it was fine.

After not long at all, we heard another announcement saying that we had been moved to another plane at a different gate and would depart an hour after our original flight time.

I called my parents (who were picking us up at the other end) and let them know the good news.  Given that our last attempt to catch up with them ended with me and the Little Big Fella in a car accident, this was definitely a much better outcome!

We had a bit of time so I stopped and bought the Little Big Fella an ice-cream for dessert on our way to the new gate.

Eventually we boarded (after another 20 minute delay, we think there were staffing issues this time) and took off.  On this flight we were in a set of 3 seats, and the poor guy sitting with us (who was awfully lovely about it) had to put up with "excuse me" followed by a question or comment from the Little Big Fella every 5 seconds until they turned the seatbelt sign off.  Then I turned the portable DVD player on to distract him.

When we were almost in Melbourne the Little Big Fella finally fell asleep.  Which created some interesting dilemmas getting us out of the plane, because getting a backpack on when your 4 year old is asleep on you is kind of tricky!

We found mum and dad (the Little Big Fella kind of woke up, then didn't really sleep again until we were at their place - almost an hour away), collected our bags and headed back to their place.

I lived in Melbourne until 7 years ago, so it was kind of fun and strange to drive through it that night - seeing what has changed and what hasn't.

My parents have since moved house and it was lovely to see their new place in person.  It really suits them!

So, after a little drama and a lot of excitement, we were finally there and it was time to sleep.  Lots of big days were coming up!