Saturday 28th January 2023.
We all stayed over at Hannah's place in Cairns on Friday evening, and as a family went out for dinner in central Cairns - art was very warm and also very sticky - but we were booked into a restaurant on the Pier side. Excellent meal. We then had a wander around, visited a market place, had some ice cream and the kids actually bought us a ride in a bicycle rickshaw, accompanied by the singing off 'What a Wonderful World' by Louis Armstrong - we actually had this at our wedding. Such a lovely gesture from our Australian Grandchildren. We got up early Saturday morning and all met up for breakfast at a ''Waffle parlour called 'Waffle-on'. A great choice of both savoury and sweet waffles - everyone had a great 'brekky'. We had the 'gang' take us to Cairns Airpost quite early as both of us are not good at 'goodbyes. Back in 2 years - hopefully.
Sunday 29th January 2023
We caught the train from Flinders Street Station to Frankston - which takes about an hour. Frankston is a terminal train stop on the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne. There we were met by John - Jenny Middleton's son-in-law and headed back to his and Caroline's home, where we were royally entertained in a really relaxed atmosphere followed by a classic UK Sunday lunch - Roast Leg of Lamb and all the trimmings, accompanied of course by some excellent wine. A lovely day out, and made our way back to central Melbourne late in the afternoon.
Monday 30th January 2023
Today we had pre-booked tickets for a experience at the Lume in Melbourne. This is a very large arena, and contained within it is an absolutely amazing visual and musical experience called Monet & Friends. The whole area is a constant movement of projected images and music all related to the art of Monet together with such friends as Manet, Renoir, Pissarro, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Cezanne, Berthe Morisot, Caillebotte, Mary Cassatt, Sisley, Guillaumin, Seurat, and Signac, Edmund Cross. There is a constant change of imagery both on the walls, the floors and building blocks - see some of the pictures below, other will follow. Treated ourselves to a Chinese Takeaway in a food hall. In the evening we made our way to are area in the north of the city - utilising the free circular tram service, where we met up with our friends Rod & Geri from the USA who also just happen to be in Melbourne at the same time, and they bought along some very old friends of theirs. It was a very pleasant evening in an excellent Italian restaurant. We need walking all the way back to the apartment, as we discovered that the free tram actually stopped at 6.00pm. A lovely walk, and thankfully all downhill - Melbourne is actually quite hilly.
Tuesday 31st January 2023
Today we went and met up with a distant cousin - Campbell Horsfall - who is the son of my late uncle 'Dick's' wife's sister. I think that it correct? We caught a train from Flinders Street Station in central Melbourne and went out to a place called Clifton Hill. Met up with Campbell and had a very pleasant morning drinking coffee, nattering, and generally catching up. Then on to his house, an then back to central Melbourne where we met up with Campbell's wife Sue and had sa very pleasant luncheon followed by a general stroll around the many interesting alleyways - with their boutiques and trendy eating places. We actually ended up in the somewhat palatial Royal Automobile Club of Victoria Members Club - very nice, relaxed and a pretty good Gin & Tonic!
Relaxed in the evening and thinking about tomorrow and getting ready.
Wednesday 1st February 2023
We are now in Melbourne, and are getting ready to make our way to the airport tomorrow lunchtime, ready to fly back to the UK via Singapore and Paris. All being well we should be back in Birmingham early evening on Friday 3rd.
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