Melbourne, Australia – 1- 8 June, 2006
Our week in Melbourne flew by in a blink. What made it extra special was spending it in the home of Dahlia’s cousins Helen and Wolf Sharp in Melbourne. We felt so very much at home and Helen spent most of the week showing us the major attractions of this beautiful city. The highlight of the trip was a family dinner in which we met the extended Sharp and Wegrow families, with all the kids and grandkids. It was fun to hear all the talented musicians in the family playing and singing together. The little video clip will give you an idea what it was like. Lani and Stephen (Helen and Wolf’s son and daughter in law) put together an incredible dinner party in their gorgeous home. It was a really memorable evening. It was so exciting to get to knows we have such a wonderful family on the other side of the world. Helen and her late brother Jacque are Dahlia’s Mother first cousins. Jacque was a marvelously talented artist and Colette; his wife invited us to her home and showed us all the beautiful paintings and silver sculptures he created. At the Melbourne Jewish Museum, we saw Jacque’s amazing painting in memory of the holocaust victims. The painting actually has 6,000 faces representing the 6 million victims. It took 5 years to complete.
Helen took us to the Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary about an hour out of Melbourne. Here we saw kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, beautiful white parrots with yellow crests, Galla’s with pink breasts and grey backs, graceful white ibis, laughing kookaburras, pelicans, platypus, Tasmanian devils, lyre birds in a mating dance and emus and many more.
We took a 14 hour bus tour along the Great Ocean Road and saw the “Twelve Apostles” land formations and the remains of the “London Bridge” land formation as well as the famous surfing beaches. It was beautiful scenery but our California Route 1 is no less impressive. The other highlights of this tour were seeing Koalas in the wild!!!! How cute! Although they usually sleep we were lucky enough to see them scampering up the tiniest branches reaching for the freshest leaves. It was hard to walk away..
The city of Melbourne is gorgeous! A very cosmopolitan, diverse city of about 4 million people built on the banks of the Yarra River, with lots of gardens, many lovely neighborhoods, lots of terrific eateries, fabulous markets, and interesting ethnic neighborhoods. Melbourne has a vibrant downtown area with many interesting buildings; new fanciful skyscrapers alongside graceful old buildings and public buildings with marvelously interesting architecture. The Ian Potter gallery on Federation Square which exhibits primarily Australian art was most interesting.
On our final day we spent with Helen visiting the Royal Botanical gardens and the highlights of the CBD (Central business District), Collins and Bourke streets, which are lovely wide, tree lined boulevards with smart shops beautiful old buildings and an authentic Chinatown.
The only unfortunate thing about this visit was that Wolf spent the whole time at the Hospital awaiting surgery. Hopefully all will go smoothly and we’ll see Helen and Wolf in Los Angeles in the fall.
Helen took us to the Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary about an hour out of Melbourne. Here we saw kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, beautiful white parrots with yellow crests, Galla’s with pink breasts and grey backs, graceful white ibis, laughing kookaburras, pelicans, platypus, Tasmanian devils, lyre birds in a mating dance and emus and many more.
We took a 14 hour bus tour along the Great Ocean Road and saw the “Twelve Apostles” land formations and the remains of the “London Bridge” land formation as well as the famous surfing beaches. It was beautiful scenery but our California Route 1 is no less impressive. The other highlights of this tour were seeing Koalas in the wild!!!! How cute! Although they usually sleep we were lucky enough to see them scampering up the tiniest branches reaching for the freshest leaves. It was hard to walk away..
The city of Melbourne is gorgeous! A very cosmopolitan, diverse city of about 4 million people built on the banks of the Yarra River, with lots of gardens, many lovely neighborhoods, lots of terrific eateries, fabulous markets, and interesting ethnic neighborhoods. Melbourne has a vibrant downtown area with many interesting buildings; new fanciful skyscrapers alongside graceful old buildings and public buildings with marvelously interesting architecture. The Ian Potter gallery on Federation Square which exhibits primarily Australian art was most interesting.
On our final day we spent with Helen visiting the Royal Botanical gardens and the highlights of the CBD (Central business District), Collins and Bourke streets, which are lovely wide, tree lined boulevards with smart shops beautiful old buildings and an authentic Chinatown.
The only unfortunate thing about this visit was that Wolf spent the whole time at the Hospital awaiting surgery. Hopefully all will go smoothly and we’ll see Helen and Wolf in Los Angeles in the fall.
posted by Dahlia and Lance Riley @ 5:01 AM
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