Emma picked us up at the airport. It was a very exciting re-union for Chiquita, since it was almost 7 years (!) since she saw Emma last. It was sunny but compared to Bangkok it was pretty cold. On the way to her house in Richmond she took us for a little tour of downtown Melbourne, pointing out interesting things on the way. We also had a quick stop in St. Kilda for lunch and a stroll by the beach, and then went up Melbourne’s tallest residential house, Eureka (80 floors I believe it was).
After installing ourselves in Emma’s room (she slept in her sister’s room during our stay there, thanks Emma!) and freshening up we went for dinner at a lovely restaurant called Cookie and had Thai food (funnily enough) which was delish!
The next day we went on a day trip along The Great Ocean Road. First we went to Bell’s Beach, which is the beach where the end scene in Point Break takes place (supposedly), after that many other beaches and small wonderful beach towns. The main attraction was the Twelve Apostles. We even took a 10 minutes helicopter ride, this went by so fast that I didn’t even understand that were in the air till we went down to land. The day trip also included a little hike in the forest (tempered rain forest I think it is) and searching for koalas in the wild, luckily we saw a couple. It was a great trip and even though it was a long day well worth it. Back at Emma’s we went to the pub for some pints, and I discovered Little Creatues and Beez Neez. :beer:
The next day, after catching up with our laundry we had a late breakfast (I had an Aussie pizza – it’s with egg on it) and went on to do Melbourne. Downtown Melbourne is very nice with Yarra River running through it. I won 27 AUS dollars at the casino and was very happy. Chiquita shopped a little and was happy as well.
In the evening we went for a proper Aussie BBQ at Emma’s brother Steven’s house. They had everything on the BBQ, and I mean everything! It was so yummy! Thanks a lot for that, this was one of the absolut highlights during our visit to Oz!
We did Yarra Valley the next day and sampled many good wines and cheeses. Emma’s mother and father had come down the day before (to the BBQ) and very kindly drove us around all the vineyards. We also made a trip to a zoo to check out the typical Aussie animals. We even got to feed a kangaroo up-close! Very exciting! When we got back Chiquita and I had a pot and a parma each and then I was so full that I couldn’t even finish my pint. The portions of food in Australia really are huge!
The last day in Melbourne we met up with Brad at the airport and had breakfast, after luckily getting transferred to another plane (since ours was cancelled).
It was with tears in our eyes we said goodbye (au revoir) to Emma and our wonderful stay in Mebourne!
