We took a little fieldtrip to a little known Aboriginal historical site pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The photo above is Thomas standing in a field of canola for no reason other than his mother wanted to take a photo of him in a field of yellow flowers. He was surprisingly cooperative.

But that’s not what we came to see. We actually came to see this…

It looks like three holes in a big rock and…well…it is. But there’s a story. These pools are very deep and were carved out of the rock by Aboriginal hands hundreds of years ago. The pools are strategically situated to collect as much water as possible from the surrounding rocks, even during times of drought. Then the animals come to drink from the water and, well, the people need to eat so you can pretty much guess the rest of the story. The holes were chipped away over many many years and it’s all very impressive when you know the story and when you figure that these pools are so full even in the middle of the current drought.

The surrounding landscape is also very interesting.

I just love the variety of colours in the landscape. My parents tell me the purple flower is actually a weed but I think it looks pretty. Sometimes weeds get a bad rap.

And we even found some cool bones (blech!). Think these are from a Kangaroo or Wallaby but it’s hard to tell without the cute fluffy fur. Sigh!

But even with with all these interesting things to look at and learn about, it seems there was one person who was less than impressed. One day you too will get to touch animal skulls Samuel, and then you’ll truly appreciate it. Love this photo.

Warm enough for bare feet. In the middle of winter. Gotta love that.

Back to the homestead. I have to say it was nice to have a break from the traffic and noise and just have a chance to relax. And Thomas was happy – he found the dirt pile. Yes, a huge pile of dirt that my Dad created in the backyard became the playground of choice through the remainder of our visit. Samuel and I chose to spend our time lying on the grass and basking in the sunshine. Ahhhhhh!

That thing in Thomas’ hand is a fake wooden snake that looks frighteningly real. I admit that I screamed when Kei first pushed it in front of me. Hilarious.

The Wiggles – a three year old’s obsession. But unlike Thomas’ other obsessions (and there are MANY), this is one that I fully support for a few reasons – 1. He loves music 2. They’re not too annoying (unlike Elmo, for example) and their songs are sometimes quite catchy and 3. The Wiggles are Australian, which means they have Aussie accents. Anything that helps me reinforce the Aussie accent on a daily basis is OK with me.

Of course The Wiggles are popular in America but they are HUGE in Australia. A trip to the grocery store becomes a game of “Spot the Wiggles”. Wiggly canned spaghetti, Wiggly Yogurt, Wiggly Cookies and even special Wiggly DVDs that come with the newspaper.

…And then we visited the supermarket near my brother’s house and came across…. THE BIG RED CAR! How could I not pay the $2(!) to let him ride in the car and listen to the Wiggles sing to him from the dashboard? Thomas could barely contain his excitement so it was definitely worth it. I may have to print this photo and put it in his bedroom as a reminder.

The downside is that now we are back in The States and there is no Wiggly spaghetti or Wiggly yogurt and a trip to the grocery store has become a series of disappointments as I try to explain that the American Grocery store people just don’t appreciate The Wiggles as much as he does.

Good thing we stocked up on a few items of clothing while we were in Australia and the Wiggles figurines I bought proved priceless during our return trip layover. Now if only I can get Thomas to take off his Wiggly pyjamas so I can wash them…

The last night we spent at Uncle Ben and Auntie Em’s before leaving the big city. Tonight Ben had the honour of reading story after story to Thomas. Looks like they bonded.

A trip to Melbourne with a three year old is just not complete without a visit to the Melbourne Zoo. It really is a wonderful zoo and they are still making improvements. From the Gorilla Rainforest to the Thai Elephant exhibit and the Australian Outback where you can touch the wildlife – it was all wonderful. We struggled to fit it all into 6 hours.

The Elephant exhibit is new and particularly impressive. The elephants are moved between a number of different (beautiful) enclosures which gives them the opportunity to roam and enjoy a variety of environments. They were also surrounded by lots and lots of bamboo – which photographs beautifully. I am currently looking for the right place to hang thes in my house.

And once again Thomas showed that he is one with the Australian Fauna. The little girl is the daughter of some friends who met us at the zoo.

He even created a bridge across their heads with a stick. No fear. The perfect end to a fabulously fun day.

This is the view from the guest room of my brother’s townhouse. He lives in Brunswick, an inner suburb of Melbourne that has become very popular with people wanting to live near the heart of the city. This popularity has led a number of people to sub divide their land and build two or three new structures on a block that originally had one house. As a result the houses are very close together and you definitely feel like you are living in an urban neighbourhood. The upside is that you are close to everything, including public transport.

There was once a time when I would have happily lived in this type of neighbourhood but with children it becomes a little more difficult. I am now more aware of the benefit of wide open spaces and good supermarkets and have less of a need for the restaurants and bars that come with a cool inner city suburb. I feel very old all of a sudden. Sigh!

While in Melbourne we took the opportunity to catch up with a number of old friends, most of whom have had children since we last saw them. Although it took him a little while to warm up, Thomas had become fast friends with Gemma by the end of our visit. Here they are enjoying the olympics together. They later had an indepth discussion about the moon and the stars as they gazed out he window together. So cute!

Can I just say how nice it was to be in Australia during the olympics? I would have almost entirely missed seeing the Aussies at their best if I’d been watching the games from Portland. With all the American superstars to watch, the Aussies don’t really get a look in. I loved having the opportunity to cheer them on, even if the TV coverage wasn’t brilliant (my brother complained about that ad nauseum).

The water wall at The National Gallery of Victoria. We had intended to check out the Art Deco exhibit (which looked amazing!), but unfortunately two tired kids (one who had decided to skip his nap) and a gallery full of art lovers don’t really mix. Instead we decided to spare the people of Melbourne and limit ourselves to the foyer, the gallery shop and the water wall.

Kei taught Thomas to hold his hands on the wall with fingers pointing down so that the water didn’t run up his arms.

This was a fun end to a difficult day of walking around the city looking for a place to eat and then a place tofeed the baby and then a place to change diapers. Traveling is definitely not as easy as it used to be but we can always find our own fun – even if we didn’t make it to the exhibit.

We walked up Southbank on the way back to the train and Thomas spent about 20 minutes trying to throw a leaf over the railing only to have the wind blow it back to our side of the fence each time. 20 minutes. See? Who needs world class historical art exhibits? We make our own fun.

I love photos like this – artsy and colourful.

Our first day in Melbourne and we decided to visit the Aquarium. The best thing about traveling to Australia now is that we are always on vacation when we’re there so we don’t mind so much when we have to spend close to $60 to visit the Aquarium (and the kids were free!). OK, so it was a little spendy but it was our very first visit and Thomas loved it.

My favourite part – the jellyfish. Aren’t they spectacular?

The massive oceanarium was also pretty amazing.

But for fabulous photo opps, I will always go back to the jellyfish.