It's already midway through January, so WHY am I still blogging about my Christmas/New Years holiday? Will somebody slap me? Well, get ready to buckle down and sit in your chair at your computer until your bum goes numb and your eyes glaze over in their sockets, because I'm doing all of Sydney in ONE POST! That's right. I'm not stopping. I'm going straight through.

On the morning of December 31, we left my beloved Melbourne to embark on a pleasant Qantas flight (they always are) to Sydney. We were in the air for less than an hour, but they still took the time to serve us cereal and a hot bread roll (the cereal was actually gross, but I forgive Qantas for all error). 

We then jumped into a big taxi that took us to our hotel: the Intercontinental. This is where Oprah stayed, so we knew it had to be good. We didn't get a suite, but we did get a spectacular view.

After we checked in, most of us got a much tastier breakfast at Pancakes on the Rocks. I didn't take any pictures, but let's just say that they have a lot of pancakes there. I go there every time that I go to Sydney. Afterwards, I took a much-needed nap on the biggest and most comfortable pillows I have ever sunken my  head into. After that, Al and I walked around to see if we could find a styrofoam cooler and a hearty supply of beer for the evening's festivities. We came back empty-handed and soaking of sweat. It was very hot out there. At least we had wine. More on that later.

Look at our views!

Helllloooo Royal Botanic Gardens and Sydney Harbour (I took this photo on the last day, when it was much more overcast)!

After our afternoon alcohol hunt, we prettied ourselves up for dinner. We ate dinner at Etch in the lobby of our hotel. It's a fancy-schmancy restaurant, and I was worried when I saw the menu in advance and could only understand about five words on it. There was no need, however. Our five-course meal was one of the best I ever had in my life! 

To start, we had pickled baby heirloom vegetables, Edith's Ash and grape gel. Are you starting to see why I was confused? The vegetables were a combination of tomatoes and carrots, and they were beautifully placed on the plate. They actually delicately peeled the bottom and sides of the skin on one of the small tomatoes and flipped it up inside-out on the top so that it looked like a flower. You can kind of see it in the left corner. The green and red dots are different sauces, so there were lots of tasty varieties. There was also a soft cheese (I'm not sure what it was, but it tasted like brie), so I was very pleased. I cleared my plate and then ate the rest of Al's veggies.

I guess I forgot to photograph the second course. It was the only one that I didn't finish. It was pork belly, scallops, pea and truffle. It tasted warm and buttery, but not in a bad way. I devoured my scallops, but I could only eat so much of the pork belly. I know that it was perfectly done, but I just can't eat pork belly. I don't like the taste of it.. Jon and Al had to fight over the remains.

The third dish was a Wagyu sirloin, kromesky, sarladaise potato and red wine vinegar juis (it's funny how my spell check on here is going crazy. I guess it doesn't know any of these words either). This was divine. I wouldn't have shared this with anybody. I used to never eat steak, but now I'll have small bites of it every once in a while. This seemed to melt in my mouth and made me wanting more with every bite. The sauces were also great for dipping. The meat in the middle was breaded and lightly fried. That was also perfect. So were the potatoes. I could have easily had a second helping of that plate.

The fourth dish was a cola cloud with raspberry sorbet and vanilla creme fraiche. It was unlike anything I've ever had before for dessert, and I loved it. The 'cola cloud' is that brown puffy thing that you see. It tasted like frothy Coca Cola, but so much better. They placed the sorbet on top of it and raspberries in the front. This was all on top of a thick vanilla ribbon that was edible but indescribable. I was very satisfied by this point, and I was even more pleased to know that there was another dessert dish on its way. 

The final dish was a cherry and coconut parfait with macerated cherries and cocoa bean tuile. Does this look like your normal parfait? It looks more like a tiny and edible checker board that happens to be pink. I think the cocoa bean tuile was the white ball on the right. The brown runner through the plate is actually some sort of chocolate that stuck very well to the plate, although you could sort of eat it once we ate all of the food. Believe me, we all tried.

We also had some drinks with dinner. We left feeling full, but not too full. I actually felt depressed when I left, because I did't know the next time I would be able to get food that good! Thank you, Etch! You made all of us happy. Really, if you can make my dad clean both of his dessert plates (and he never eats dessert), then you have done well!

After dinner, we headed upstairs to change into more comfortable clothes and grab what little booze we had for the fireworks. You see, although we were allowed to bring alcohol into our area, we couldn't bring anything in a glass bottle (hence why we searched long and hard without success for beer cans). They also threatened to confiscate our booze if we brought too much in with us, so we really didn't have that much. My parents bought two bottles of wine that they transferred to plastic water bottles, and Jon brought some of those teeny tiny plastic whiskey bottles. Unfortunately, they didn't sell any alcohol there. I usually wouldn't care about all of these alcohol rules, but I always celebrate my night with some champagne.

On our walk over, I caught a very blurry picture of police on horseback patrolling the area outside of the Royal Botanic Gardens. There were hoards of people. We were lucky to have gotten tickets in advance, because people without tickets literally camped out the night before to get a decent spot and view of the fireworks.

So many of the streets in the city were blocked off to motor traffic.

I can't stress how wonderful it was to have tickets. We whisked right through security and were guided to our viewing area in the Botanic Gardens. We could see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge almost perfectly.

It was just starting to get dark by the time we laid out our blankets and pulled out the wine. Oh yeah, there were definitely people who brought in champagne in glass bottles and gallons of booze. Too bad we followed the rules.

Once it got dark, we saw the 9pm fireworks display. This was for families with young kids and earlier bedtimes. It was nice, but it was nothing compared to the display three hours later. From 9:10 until 12, we sat around (after running out of alcohol about 15 minutes after arriving). Since I had wine at dinner, I was exhausted and even cranky. We had nothing to do (I forgot my cards), but it was still well worth the wait.

 I, of course, couldn't get any pictures that remotely resembled a firework in the sky. I tried again and again to get a good photo, but I finally decided that it was more important that I try to enjoy myself. I put the camera away. The fireworks lit up the entirety of Sydney Harbour. There were sparks flying off the bridge and illuminating the sky. There were all kinds of fun shapes and variations. It was impossible to pull my eyes away.
 
It was well worth every penny for a good view. All in all, sobriety and all, it was the perfect night. We planned to go out to some pubs afterwards, but everything was packed with people. We were also exhausted. I was thrilled to wake up on January 1st feeling refreshed and NOT hung over!

New Years Day was spectacular. We woke up to watch the London fireworks live (the time difference still shocks me). It was a hot and sunny day outside, so Jon, Al and I lathered ourselves up with sunscreen and headed over to Manly Beach. Of course, you can't just walk there from Sydney's Central Business District.

Manly Beach is a famous Sydney beach, although it's not quite as popular as Bondi. This is appealing to many people, because you won't always be competing for towel space during the summer months. I've already been to Bondi twice, so we decided to try something new.

Manly is on the far opposite side of Sydney Harbour, so the best way to get there is by ferry. We were less than a five minute walk from Circular Quay (I LOVED our location), so it was very easy for us to get there. We missed the first ferry, so we had to wait about 30 minutes to catch the next one. We were first in line, so we got our choices of spots. We decided to stand outside on the front of the boat. We wanted the best views.

Here we are, leaving the ferry dock!

Can you believe that people use this mode of transport to get to work every day in Sydney?

I snapped a photo of our hotel. It's the second building in the from the left. You can almost make out the "Intercontinental" letters on it.

Hello, beautiful! Really, it never gets old.

This view never get old, either :)

There are so many boats in Sydney Harbour. I wouldn't mind taking my boat out there every day.

We got surreal views without any heads in the way. I'm glad that we stood where we did.

I took a lot of pictures of the Harbour. Probably too many. There are many more than I posted. A woman eventually asked me to move over so that she could get some photos without my head in the way. Luckily, she didn't stay there very long.

This is where the Harbour opens up into the sea. It was also surreal.

A very short while after that, we arrived at our destination. Hello, sunny Manly! All together, our ride took about 25 minutes. That is, once it left the dock.

Lovely beach, yes?

Even though I was covered with sunscreen and kept reapplying, my back still turned bright red. It hurt for a couple of days.

We had to walk through the town to get from the ferry to the beach. There were so many adorable shops and places to eat. I was especially amused by this 'drinking station'. It's just for people to fill up their water bottles. They had a lot of those on the promenade.

After I realized that I had a burned back, Al and I left Jon at the beach in search of somewhere to sit in the shade. We walked back to the ferry dock, where there were tons of places to eat and sit around. We settled on the Bavarian Bier Cafe.

I sipped on a glass of savignon blanc (probably the only thing that was under $10, and it was gross) while we stared at this view. Not bad,right?

We caught the ferry home as soon as Jon came back from the beach. We met our parents for dinner in Darling Harbour, and then we went on our own little bar crawl. We had fun, but luckily not too much fun. I was lucky to have a hangover-free vacation!

The last day of our holidays was sad, but we still made it fun. My mom decided to leave all of the pictures until then (I guess we didn't have time to do them earlier, anyway).

The picturesque Royal Botanic Gardens

We were hungry around 2:30 pm (Al and I still hadn't had anything to eat), so the family followed us to Wagamama in Darling Harbour. I first discovered this place in London in 2009, and I never looked back. Terrible service, but great food!
I don't look happy in the photo, but I was enjoying my noodles and mojito very much.

Jon and my dad went to the aquarium (I've already been there twice, and my mom and Al have been there once, so we skipped it), and the rest of us went back to the hotel to relax. Then, we got ready for our final dinner.


Here is my dad sitting in the lounge in the lobby of the Intercontinental that night. It was so beautiful. I'm not sure why we didn't take more photos. There was a gorgeous old-fashioned elevator just to to left of him.

We had our last meal at East Bank in Circular Quay. It was my second time there, and I was not disappointed. It was raining and slightly cold (for us), so we decided to eat indoors instead of taking in the Harbour views. On the way to dinner, I posed with my hood. If you know me well, then you know I don't like getting my hair wet!

There is the lovely Harbour Bridge with some light display underneath. When Oprah was here, it was a giant red "O"!

Delicious mussles with the best tomato sauce I've ever eaten in my life! I was eating it right out of the bowl. Table manners are overrated.

Jon and Jen!

Jon, Barb, Jen!

NOOOO! I don't want this to be over! I've had so much fun recapping all of this. If I was a more consistent blogger, I would have blogged almost every day of vacation. As a result, I would have taken and posted more pictures and memories. I still think I did an okay job. I guess it's time for me to go back to my every-day blogging. It may not be as exciting, but it's all me!

In other worlds, I can't believe that Brazil and southeast Asia are also having terrible flooding. It's so bad here, but people are getting by day by day. The water has now spread to New South Wales and Victoria. Look at this from last week (this is from Queensland). 

The amount of support for the flood victims is remarkable. There are volunteers from all over the place helping clean up. I heard that there were 90 buses in Brisbane picking up volunteers and taking them around, and those buses kept emptying out and filling up with more people. It's all very inspiring.

Okay, good night friends! I hope your eyes are still in your sockets!

Other highlights from Melbourne include gambling in a casino for my first time and winning $48. It was a crown achievement for me at the Crown Casino. 

I went to a Belgian beer cafe in the Central Business District and found my favorite Belgian beer.

I strolled through the South Wharf area and the Docklands with my fiance. It seems that my finger wanted to be in the photo, too.

We wondered how much the condos cost here.

Melbourne is brimming with modern artwork. 

The rest of the photos are ones that I stole from my mom. This is Al's Aunt Susie, my mom, Grumpy (Al's grandma), me and my dad. At this point in our holiday, it was unseasonably cold. You can tell by our outfits. 

Al's Uncle Nick

This was our last  night in Melbourne. We took a picture in Southbank with the skyline in the background before dinner.

We all miss you, Melbourne! Guys, if I could live in any city in Australia, it would be Melbourne. It's always full of life and interesting things to do. It reminds me of Chicago in a lot of ways. 

This Queensland flood crisis is horrible. The official death toll is up to 12, although the amount of missing people is down to 43. The Brisbane River keeps rising, and it may flood up to 50 of the suburbs. The Brisbane floods are expected to peak tomorrow morning at 5.2 meters (about 17 feet). There are more flash flood warnings in other parts of the state. 
Look at these pictures here to get a better idea of the scope of the floods. Most of them are from the end of the year, when the first of the disasters began.

If you don't live in Australia, you might still have an idea of the disastrous flooding that's happening in the northeast part of the country. Queensland has been getting torrential rain for weeks. Parts of the state started flooding around Christmas. The rain stopped, and it seemed like it was all over. It came back, however, with fury. There was flash flooding yesterday in the southern part of the state that was described as an "inland tsunami". At least 9 people died, and about 70 are reported missing. Queensland's capital city of Brisbane is now in jeopardy, with people evacuating and the city more or less shut down. 

Queensland is used to getting flooding, but this is a whole new category. We don't even know when the rain is going to stop. It's very, very scary. While I live in a very different part of the country, this seems to be affecting everybody. We're all talking about it and watching the coverage nonstop on TV. All of these people are in our thoughts, and they will continue to be for a while. 

I almost don't want to continue blogging today about happier times. There are so many people who are suffering right now. I realize that people suffer everywhere, every day. It's just hitting closer to home right now. Anyway, I will continue on, because this holiday recap stuff makes me happy.

While we were still in Melbourne, we borrowed Grumpy and Gramps' car and drove an hour to Healesville Sanctuary in the hills. I expected it to be like Cleland Wildlife Park in the Adelaide Hills. All of the animals were the same, but I almost cried when we got to the kangaroo enclosure. You have to line up to pet them, and they weren't even letting people in when we got there! At Cleland, there are huge free-range grassy areas where everybody can pet and feed the 'roos. I had a good time at the park, but I didn't have nearly as much fun as the other place.

A dingo up close

An echidna

A koala sleeping awkwardly in a tree (and then my camera died)
I actually stole most of these photos from my mom 

Al, Dad, me, Jon in front of the pelican sanctuary. This was our first hot day in Melbourne!

Me, Mom, Jon

On the way back, we stopped at a winery in Yarra Valley. This was the most beautiful place, surrounded by small lakes and hills. There was also a winery golden retriever, which just made my day. Jon got a bottle of wine for 50% off, because the place is owned by Foster's. Good work, Al!

Unfortunately, we didn't get our posh city apartment that we wanted (refer to my previous post). I have to pass it every morning on the bus, and it makes me very sad. You know what makes me happy, though? Cricket! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I had a really good time at the twenty20 (meaning it lasts about three hours instead of all day for five days) cricket match on Saturday night. 

In the middle of the game (what do you call that? Half time?), a very happy piece of chocolate-covered fruit ran around the field.

It was the Fruchoc man! We weren't sitting close enough to the field to get any free Fruchocs. 

Night games are fun.

Hello Shona, Kosal and Rob!

I'm not saying that I'm on the cricket bandwagon or anything, but I actually paid attention to the game, understood the majority and had a very good time. We might go to another game next week! 

Hey, remember when I told you that I looked at an apartment last week that I loved but didn't think I had a chance to rent it because there were so many people there? It turns out that we do have a chance, because the realtor has already checked all of our references. She told me yesterday that the landlord just needs to decide between us and another applicant, and we'll find out Monday. How exciting! It's modern place in the city with a pool and a gym (although they're a little creepy). Honestly, I'm just looking forward to living in a place where we can fit a dinner table and can have people over, for a change.

Now, here's my St Kilda recap. If you haven't been keeping up with my holiday recaps, you can see them here:
Recap 1
Recap 2
Recap 3
Recap 4

During one of days in Melbourne, we took the tram to St Kilda. It took about 20 minutes to get there.

This was my second time to St Kilda, and I loved it just as much as the first time.

We all ate lunch together, and then my parents went back to the city. Jon, Al and I walked around the beach. It wasn't quite warm enough to lie on the beach in a bathing suit, but it was still a gorgeous day to walk around. 

In the sky, somebody wrote a message.

By this time, we figured out that it was a marriage proposal. Maybe Al was asking me to marry him a second time?

I knew I was wrong as soon as I saw that "K". 

The name  (as you probably figured out from my title) was Kerry. The letters faded very quickly, so we were never able to see the whole message in the sky at one time. 

We didn't have much to do (and I didn't feel like shopping), so we found some vacant cardboard seats in a grassy area across from the sand and watched Australia get their ass kicked by England in cricket. I was mystified by the spread of red Vodafone cardboard seats. They were very comfortable, actually. I didn't watch much cricket, though.

I was more interested in trying to get good pictures of my ring in the sunshine.

We realized after about 30 minutes that we were all getting sunburned. We didn't have any sunscreen, so we headed back to the city. We sat in the back of Federation Square and watched more ass-kicking cricket with a drink. It was a great ending to the afternoon.

Speaking of cricket, I'm going to my first match tonight. The Adelaide Redbacks are playing the Victorian Bushrangers. I'm worried that I'll get bored, but at least I'm going with fun people!

We don't often have visitors to our apartment due to the small size, but we have a friend that comes every once in a while. He stopped by for a quick chat yesterday. For obvious reasons, we don't let our pal inside.

He likes to hang out by my bike.

He often stares out into the distance and shows off his yellow mohawk.

He's so conceited.

I'm not sure why I just suppose the sulfur-crested cockatoo is a "he". It just comes out that way. "He" often hangs out for a few minutes and then flies away. We never want him to leave.

Now, I still have my Melbourne/Sydney trip to recap! Two days after Christmas, we met some of Al's family at Nick's house and then drove into the Yarra Ranges. Al's parents stayed at a friend's cottage there, and they invited us up for lunch. Once I got there, I met a family of garden gnomes.

The country shed on the side of the house

After lunch, some of us desired fresh air. So, we walked.

I wouldn't mind having a weekend or a holiday house up here.

I enjoyed the outdoors, but the best part of my walk came at the end.

A cute white animal!

It doesn't take very much to make me smile, does it? Have a great night, everybody!

I'm back! But I'm not happy about it. My family is currently on a plane crossing over the Pacific to the other side of the the world, and I'm only left with the memories and our pictures from our ten days together. We're all going back to work tomorrow, and I think I have the worst post-holiday blues of my life. 

As you can tell, I haven't blogged in ten days! I was planning on keeping my normal consistent schedule, but I was very, very bad. It's hard to do anything responsible when you're on vacation! I'm going to spend the next couple of days going over our holidays in several different posts. I also have to steal pictures off of my mom's camera, which I can't do until she gets home.

Below, I meant to put this picture up when I got to Melbourne and wrote my first post. It's the sun rising at the Adelaide Airport. I took it while drinking my coffee. If you don't like the look of sun rises, then you are a real grinch (I took that on Christmas Eve morning, so I can say that).

My mom gave me a whole bunch of presents when they arrived, including a very generous supply of Larabars! I learned about Larabars when I started reading healthy living blogs (which inspired me to blog in the first place). They seemed so good, and I can't find them anywhere in Adelaide. They're apparently in Australia, but they are very difficult to locate. I was very excited to try them.

Over the course of the vacation, we managed to eat all of them. They're one of those foods that taste funny at first, but then they taste good. I think my favorite bar was the peanut butter chocolate chip.

After we all got settled in, my parents, brother and I walked around the city. We walked from our neighborhood in Southbank to Federation Square (on the other side of the river) and then around to theFitzroy Gardens. I loved the detailed bricks in the ground.

Beautiful gardens.

We walked around for a couple of hours. We passed the major sporting complexes and stumbled upon the British cricket team practicing. My parents went back to the hotel to shower, and Jon and I strolled through the city to get some snacks and thongs/flip flops for him. It was so wonderful to be reunited.

We also switched our rooms around so that Al, Jon and I shared the two-bedroom apartment. This room was much bigger and had a balcony. I actually don't know what we were thinking with taking the one-bedroom apartment in the first place. It makes sense for the "young" people to be together.

We had a great view of the city. The lower old-fashioned building is the Flinders Street train station. It's very iconic for Melbourne.

We were across the street from the Eureka Tower, the tallest tower in the city. 

We ended up staying in Melbourne for a week instead of going to Noosa. It was the best decision that we made of the trip. We would have been stuck in our hotel room for four days with nothing to do, thanks to the never-stopping rain. We lost a lot of money, but I think it was worth it. 

My Christmas recap is next!

We made it! We're in Melbourne! It's a beautiful day. My parents and brother Jon are on a plane right now from Sydney to here. We're going to see them very soon.

This morning, we took the airport bus to the city and walked from the train station in the Docklands to our hotel in Southbank. With our luggage and my taking pictures, it took us all of 20 minutes to get from one place to another. We would have gotten there faster otherwise.

As we were leaving the train station, we found a place where you can rent bikes. You just put money in the machine and take it. I think it's smart, green and FUN!

We walked over the bridge to the Southbank area and got very good views of (part of) the skyline.

We passed the Melbourne Aquarium. They have a hammerhead shark exhibit there right now. It sounds very good, although I was not impressed with the aquarium the last time I went.

Here's a view of our hotel (on the left). It's across the street from the Eureka Tower (the tallest building in Melbourne).

I'm very happy with our hotel room. Al and I have a one-bedroom serviced apartment, and my parents and Jon and sharing a two-bedroom apartment.

Once we settled into our room, we walked to McDonald's to get an early lunch. The front of the restaurant was open (no windows or doors), and there were the funniest little birds begging for our food. As you see, I caught this one in the act of stealing a fry.

There were many hungry birds on top of the glass.

There were many hungry birds on the table!

After lunch, we took a walk through the central business district. Look at this Santa Claus! It's a real person!  He was surrounded by people, so I'm surprised that I got a clear picture.

We also walked past Myer, which has the Christmas stories in the windows. This version was The Nutcracker. You can slightly make it out in the photo if you look closely. It reminds me of being a little girl and seeing the Marshall Field's (NOT Macy's) windows in Chicago!

Melbourne is loaded with trams! They seem to have great public transportation.

We finally walked along the river before turning in to our hotel. There's a view of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It's going to be swarming with people in two days. 

Now, time to wait for the visitors to turn up!

No more Oprah posts. This is about one of my several recaps that I promised a few months ago. I'm going to Sydney very soon, so I figure now is a better time than ever to tell you about my birthday weekend in June 2009. My generous boyfriend (before he was my fiancé) took me there for four perfect days.

Here is photo documentary of what we did!

Below, I'm sitting on a fountain by Circular Quay (pronounced KEY). This is where the ferries dock by the Opera House. There are a lot of restaurants there, too. You eat there for the views; not for the reasonably-priced bill. You won't find one. There IS a Gelatissimo, though.

We were frugal and got our food from a cafeteria. I ate a tuna sandwich, and Al ate chips (fries). The seagulls watched our every move, hoping that they could steal some of our food. The generous Al donated one fry. We watched them fight over it.

While walking through Circular Quay, I got a kick out of the "toilet" signs. Come on, I had only been in Australia for a month. It was still funny (I need to add that to my next "culture clash".

I got up close and personal with the Opera House.....

...and posed in front of the Harbour Bridge. 

WE posed :)

I sat on Mrs. Macquarie's Chair in the Royal Botanic Gardens.....

....then we strolled up the Harbour Bridge.

We almost walked on a pirate ship....

...but instead got on a bus to Bondi Beach.

I wanted to have tea at the Icebergs...

...but we walked along the coast instead.

We went to China Town.

We spent so much time at Darling Harbour, we could have walked there with our eyes closed.

We found a dog with sun-sensitive eyes...

...and we waved to Sponge Bob at the Sydney Aqarium.

We saw more animals at Taronga Zoo. After that, it was time to go back to Adelaide. I was very sad that my long birthday weekend was coming to an end...

...until I found a homemade cake waiting for me at his parent's house!

Sydney, I'll see you for New Years Eve 2010-2011!

Melbourne Dec 24-27

Noosa Dec 27-31

Sydney Dec 31-Jan 3

My darling housemate is spending the next three days in Melbourne, so I think now is an appropriate time to share some memories from my first and only holiday there.

Last January, Al's uncle Nick picked us up from the airport and took us straight to the Australian Open. On the way, we passed the new soccer statium.

We spent about seven hours at the Australian Open. We didn't see any of the top ranked players, but we still watched a bunch of matches. I've never been a big tennis person, but I had a lot of fun. I would definitely go again.

It was raining when we walked there in the morning, and then it was hot and sunny soon after. The weather can be erratic in Melbourne (just like Chicago).

We explored the oceanside suburb of St Kilda the next day. We saw some crazy-colored poodles and beach markets. I did a lot of shopping that day.

We walked around Luna Park, which is a tiny amusement park. The inside is lame unless you're 5 or under, but the outside is pretty cool. There is also a Luna Park in Sydney.

When we got back to Uncle Nick's house, I met the friendliest spider. He posed while I snapped a bunch of photos. He was not shy at all.

The next day, we walked all over the city. We made a stop in the Melbourne Aquarium. 30 dollars later, I realized that the penguins and the jellyfish (not pictured) were the only entertaining sights. I prefer Sydney's aquarium.

We took in the views of Southbank. We went to the top of that tower.

We passed by Federation Square.

We spent our last few hours of our last day walking up and down the Docklands. Here's a fact: the one and only Costco in Australia is very close to this building!

We may have passed by a cow in a tree.

We also watched Uncle Nick buy gelato from a shop shaped like an ice cream cone.

I did NOT  want to get back on a plane. I could have stayed for weeks. You can never run out of things to do in Melbourne.

On December 24, I'm going back! More on that later :)