We spent the whole of Saturday morning through midday at Sting Ray Bay in Warrnambool (reference last post's map, if necessary). A horribly ugly place with dirty beaches, and it rained the whole time. Or the opposite of that ... except for some of the rain. Once we were all finished playing and tired, a couple of random rain clouds broke down on us and passed away just as quickly. Gosh, what a beautiful place this is! There's a river that meets the sea (with Antarctic [cold] water), so there are several shallow, kid- and baby-friendly places, plus beautiful rocks for nook-climbing and exploring. It really was freezing water, which doesn't stop the kids, of course, but it sure did keep this Gulf Coast gal in the shallows. I dunked once, yes, just to participate, but I enjoyed that 100º+ sun afterwards. Ada had a nap on the beach, too. This night was the scream-y night, for some reason; took poor Dylan ages to get them nice, quiet, and asleep, and then the four adults had a nice chat over cuppas til bedtime.
We spent much of the last Sunday of Advent in Mortlake with Wayne, starting with Mass at his local church. This church is quite small and, clearly, not terribly full of young families; nearly every old church lady talked to us afterwards, complimented the kids, asked about travels, and showered the kids with hot chocolates and bikkies. It was really cute. Then we got some much-loved playground time before heading to Wayne's for a lamb roast. We travelled over nap time so the kids could sleep in the car (again), and spent the afternoon and evening back in Cudgee with cousin time. The big kids were so awesome with our little kids - there was lots of laughter as Reuben played with his self-professed "mini-me" and Gracie sprinkled Ada with lovely girlie attention. I loved seeing them together and wish they could be together more often.
Monday was a much-welcomed slow morning before a big, big lunch out with all three Knoll siblings, their children, and Wayne for his 62nd birthday. It was wonderful having this group together, and course we forgot to take a picture. But it was a yummy time!
Part III
Tuesday was already packing day - again! While it was sad to leave the Cudgee crew, Paul and Ada were excited to take the train from Ballarat to Melbourne. We arrived at the huge Southern Cross Station mid-afternoon, and Dylan and I were pretty pleased with ourselves for planning a day in the city; we both love Melbourne! Without any immediate family directly in the city, though, we rarely get a chance to revisit the things we love there. Because of clever credit card usage, Dylan scored us a fabulous hotel room with a beautiful view of the Yarra river and city, and we ended this busy, busy day with an Indian dinner, yessssss.
Next up, our last full day in Australia and a full day in Melbourne. We started it with trams, and I'm pretty sure we ended it with trams, too. Much to the delight of two little public-transport-deprived children. Our first stop was scrounging up some breakfast from bakeries, and then we headed to the Myer windows. Myer is a big department store, much in the way of Macy's, and, like Macy's has its holiday "thing" in the Thanksgiving Day parade, Myer decorates its street-front windows elaborately with a story you can follow from one window to the next at Christmas. We stood in line for about 40 minutes at 9-something in the morning, and I may have been a Debbie Downer ... but I apologized afterwards and admitted it was definitely worth it. What a treat! Then we spent some time just walking through the city semi-strategically to squeeze in a café stop on Degraves St and a look at the Fed Square Christmas tree - this year made out of Lego's! We went back to the hotel for well-earned naps, and then headed out for dinner once everyone was awake. Dinner didn't disappoint either. We met Susan & Gerry and Great Nan & Great Pop for pasta & pizza in Melbourne's little Italy on Lygon St. and hit up an amazing café for gelato dessert. Pretty good run in just 30 hours. Well done, Melbourne.
Our trip home was mostly smooth, just long. It was the first time any of us had travelled on Christmas Eve, and we had typical waits in lines, typical stress in LAX (least favorite airport), and a sacked out last-leg from LA to Houston. We were just so happy to have the plane-ing behind us.
Let Christmastide begin!!
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