My Trip to Melbourne

After a 5 week vacation with mom and family, I went back to the USA via Melbourne. One of my very best friends S lives in Melbourne. I stayed with her and her family for a week. A week is a very short time to catch up with friends who haven't met in years, but we were able to pack reasonable amounts of both chatting and sightseeing in to a week's time. 😄

On the first day we took the train to the city. We visited Eureka Skydeck, the tallest observation deck in the southern hemisphere. The view from the 88th floor was amazing.

Eureka Tower

Government House - The official residence of the Governor of Victoria.

We spent several hours in the city. It was colder than I thought and I had forgotten to bring a scarf. So I bought a scarf and several pairs of socks.  After having lunch at a Chinese restaurant, we  went to  a secondhand bookstore called City Basement Books. I didn’t buy anything, but S found several books for little T and L. 

The next day I met several members from the Homemakers Forum at a nearby restaurant. It was a wonderful experience. I was a bit nervous at first, but everyone was so friendly and I felt like it was a bunch of people that I already knew. I received lots of gifts.  Homemade cheese, eggs, a beautiful tote bag, a homemade soap, two packs of Tim Tam, bottles of chutney and sauce, two seed starter heat mats and Australian slang dictionary. I also received a raspberry cutting and a maidenhair fern for my friend.  I still can’t believe that I got to meet a group of ladies I met on an online forum especially the ones who live on a different continent on the other side of the world!

Some of the gifts from the lovely forum members.

On the third day I visited several places. The first stop was Edendale community farm. There were lots of kids because it was school holiday time. They were having a great time petting animals and climbing trees.

The next stop was the timber trestle rail bridge in Eltham. I learned about this from a forum member. This bridge is one the few rare timber bridges still in use in the State of Victoria.

After having  lunch in Eltham, we visited Diamond Valley Railway. Because it was school holidays, the railway was open on Wednesday. I loved the miniature train ride. The train went over bridges, and through tunnels for about 15 minutes.  The sound of the train reminded me of the trains in Sri Lanka.

After all that we were tired, so we went home and relaxed a bit.  In the evening we met a couple of friends for dinner at a Thai restaurant.  S and I were at the university with this couple, and hadn’t seen them since we graduated 17 years ago. It was so nice to see their kids for the first time.

We spent the next day at home, just chatting and watching a movie. I always like to have downtime  even when on vacation. Especially because S and I met after 4 years, we had so much to chat about 😄. There was more chatting on the following day because we visited another friend whom I hadn't met for 17 years.

The day before I left Melbourne, we went to see a waterfall about 100 km away. According to VisitVictoria website, Trentham Falls is the highest single drop water fall in the State. It was a cold, rainy day and I really enjoyed the drive on Trentham Scenic Reserve Road. And on the way back I saw kangaroos! I was pretty excited because I didn't see one kangaroo on my previous trip to Australia.

      

 

The week in Melbourne went very fast. I had an absolutely wonderful time meeting with new and old friends, and visiting places. After a couple of 14 hour flights and another delayed domestic flight I came home very tired, but my long vacation in Sri Lanka and Australia was great. I'm always  sad to leave mom and sisters though these months will go by fast and I'll be seeing them again soon next year. 💖

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Nil