Tues, Jan. 15 - Melbourne

We had the most brilliant of days! We started off with another tram ride, this time 2 stops the other direction, to Camberwell Junction. We went down to check out the lovely, huge, and long-standing "Market" which is a place to buy fruits and veggies direct. It's open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. We met Nonna down there and, after eating some fresh sushi from a stall at the Market, and feasting on fresh cherries, we walked to a few local shops. I was on the look out for nutritional yeast, a staple in our house, so I could make fresh pesto for dinner. We found it, and other things, at a lovely organic grocery. Next stop was a coffee shop for a latte for me and for Nonna and a yummy muffin for the girls. We headed back to Helen's then to eat some of the yellow watermelon we found!

The adventure for the day was to the Melbourne Museum - OMG it was amazing. We first walked around the "forest exhibit" which was a beautiful and huge ecosystem set up "inside" the museum (it was actually open air with netting on the top to stop birds and other animals coming in). We explored all kinds of trees and bushes, saw some more blue-tongued lizards (in a cage) (and had a lovely conversation about freedom versus cages), and read about the early settlers and the damage done to the first people, the Aboriginal people of Australia. Then we marveled at the HUGE whale carcass in the entrance to an exhibit that had hundreds of Aussie animals on display, including many who are now extinct.

The IMax theatre was playing "Turtle Odyssey", a 3D movie, so we got tickets to that. It was spectacular, and followed the path of Bunjee (which, in Aboriginal, means "friend"), a green sea turtle. We watched her hatch and then followed her (poetic licensing, of course) for 25 years while she grew in the ocean, before she returned home to the very beach she was born on, to lay her own eggs. It was a fantastic movie, complete with lessons about the importance of waste reduction and ocean protection. And, of course, spectacular footage of beautiful places and creatures in the vast ocean. The girls loved it, and enjoyed the 3D glasses and feeling as if they could reach out and touch the fish and other creatures as they swum by.

Before, and after, the 3D movie, we discovered the "Children's Area" which, to anyone who knows OMSI in Portland, it puts it to shame! This place was INCREDIBLE. We could easily have spent a full day there. As it was, the few hours we spent in there was not enough. There was so much to climb, read, do. There was an interactive butterfly design station, where the kids started with a blank butterfly and colored her in as they chose. Then they got to watch her take flight. There was also a giant dance floor with music playing and lights displaying sea creatures crawling on the floor and bubbles floating around. The outdoor part of this included huge blocks for building. It really was extraordinary. And, of course, a cafe, for coffee for the parents and healthy snacks for the kids. We found some date bites, some raisins, and then the healthy popsicles we found at the Collingwood Children's Farm. The Melbourne Museum would rate as one of THE best places I have gone with kids ever!

We headed back to Helen's for home-made pesto topped with fresh tomatoes, and to await the re-arrival of Grandma and Opa as they returned from Sydney. Grandma did bedtime!

And, yes, for anyone who knows C, she IS without her green hat ... for the entire day (her choice!). Too hot! (it was a blistering 100 F / 38 C again today).