Today I went with my friends from the Bayside International Women's group to the Royal Botanic Gardens in downtown Melbourne. Spring has sprung!
September 24, 2016
I went on a "girls" trip to the Gold Coast. This area is a 2 hour flight northeast of Melbourne and is similar to the Florida of the US. Except, here, when you head north, the weather gets warmer cause it is closer to the equator. Judith had a timeshare booked and her daughter wasn't able to go with her, so I stepped up to the plate. We had a nice 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment with a pool and Jacuzzi. The first day we got settled in and provisioned the apartment with food and wine.
September 25, 2016
Today we went to a nice arts and crafts show near the beach in the morning. Then went on a 2 hour sea kayaking trip. Only have one picture of this since I didn't have a waterproof camera.
September 27, 2016
Today we went on a whale watching trip! This was way cool! This is the time of year when the moms and babies are migrating from the Great Barrier Reef area where they mated and gave birth back down to the Antarctic. We were only out about 10 minutes when we saw a mother humpback teaching her calf how to tail slap. (Unfortunately I have spent 3 hours trying unsuccessfully to attach the video, but I have to give up!) In the meantime, here are some still photos.
We went to Byron Bay today, about 55 miles from where we were staying. Byron Bay is the Eastern most point of Australia. We hiked to the lighthouse. It was a cloudless day with temperatures in the 70's. We could see quite a bit of whale action out to sea. I was mesmerized by the hang gliders in the area. I called one to see if I could get on today, but they were booked. Damn. I was ready to go!
Today we went to Tamborine Mountain, about 26 miles drive. Thank goodness Judith has been the chauffer because I don't drive on this side of the world. Too scary!
We hiked through a beautiful rainforest where there was a waterfall and a little further down the trail, some bats. I was not too keen when it came to the part where we had to cross the slippery rocks though!
Throughout the Gold Coast area, there are many large koalas painted in crazy patterns.
Overall it was a great trip. Weather was spectacular all week except for one day.
October 2, 2016
I had not planned on doing anything today, rather rest up from my vacation on a vacation. I know, it's tough. But there is always something going on in Melbourne, and I saw that a new free exhibit had just opened at the National Gallery Victoria. "Italian Jewels Bulgari Style" Oh boy, here I come! Many of these pieces belonged to Hollywood stars. The ruby necklace was Sophia Loren's and the emerald pieces were gifts from Eddie Fisher to Elizabeth Taylor when he was trying to woo her back from Richard Burton's arms.
October 6, 2016
Well, here we are with more flower pictures. This time I went with our ladies group to the National Rhododendron Gardens outside of Melbourne. I never knew that Rhododendrons (or Rhodie's as the Aussies say) grow as big as trees. Spectacular! This place reminded me a lot of Middleton Place in Charleston.
With this great view from our table.
That's it for now. G'Day mates!
