New Beginnings

Hello people, it seems like such a long time since I have caught you up with our adventures in Melbourne. It has been a busy time for us over the last month or so as we moved house. Our first year was full of adventure & we had some wonderful times exploring our local surrounds both on our own, with friends and also with some of our many visitors that came and stayed with us. Hard to believe it has been a year already.

Our move went well and we are now all settled into our new apartment. We are only 5 mins away so are still able to walk everywhere and have great tram access to places further afield. We face the opposite way now so our view is of the city skyline which is interesting during the day and quite spectacular at night. The early morning sees Balloon flights drifting through the buildings and this morning 2 of them sailed right over the top of the newly completed Eureka Tower which is 92 storeys high. It really is an amazing sight seeing them just float by.

Even though we have been busy we have still had time for some fun. Lorraine & Hans dropped in for a few days in May, quite unexpectedly (for Hans), as a surprise for his birthday, to see the West Coast Eagles play Essendon at Telstra Dome. Not the result we would have liked, but as it was Hans birthday we can be gracious about the loss. In fact we have learnt to handle losses quite well as that seems to be all we see at the moment. I'm sure their fortunes will change sooon. We had a wonderful few days with Lorraine & Hans, thankyou both for lots of help with packing & unpacking! And the hibiscus!

We decided to see how the other football was played and went to the MCG along with 95,000 other people to see the Socceroos play Greece before they headed off to Germany. What a night that was. Australia won 1 - nil but the real winners where all of us there being part of such a great event.

On Saturday night we had a change of pace and went to Her Majesty's theatre to see Fiddler on the Roof with a friend. Topal, at 70, has been playing the lead role both on Broadway and in the movie since it started and he is just magnificent. This is his farewell World Tour. It was an excellent performance and well worth seeing if it comes to a theatre near you. We had dinner at Chloe's, upstairs in Young & Jackson's before heading off to the theatre. Yes Chloe is still there but now resides in an upstairs bar right beside the restaruant named in her honour.



A Melbourne Icon (if not quite a sculpture). To find out all about Chloe just visit the Young & Jacksons website

Now on that cultured note I will say farewell for this week

so until next time..........