Melbourne and the Ryan Family

As mentioned in the "A Day at the Races" blog, Tracey's brother Peter and his wife Caroline graciously hosted Tracey and I for the weekend. On Sunday, the last day of our visit, we thankfully didn't have to set our alarm clocks and be anywhere at any particular time. When we eventually got out the door, we headed to the St. Kilda area of Melbourne, which is by the water. It was a beautiful day - very sunny, very light breeze...ahhh! First we headed to the St. Kilda markets and saw some very nice things. Then we went for fish and chips and a long walk along the boardwalk. Here are some pictures from that day.

Here is Tracey with her beautiful niece Penny...




















Peter and Ben...




















The beach at St. Kilda















The beach at St. Kilda (the "Spirit of Tasmania" ferry)















Penny waiting for her fish and chips















Peter, Caroline, Penny and Ben Ryan

A Day at the Races

The weekend of November 9 - 11, I was excited to meet up with my good friend Tracey Barker in Melbourne. Her brother, Peter Ryan, and his family live there and were kind enough to host us for the weekend. It all started on Friday, November 9 with some wine tasting at four wineries in the Mornington Peninsula region. Let's just say the wine (for the most part) was spectacular, but the stories are not appropriate to repeat here!

The highlight of the weekend was on Saturday, November 10, when we spent the day at the horse races. Peter works for the engineering firm BMD, and Tracey and I were kindly invited to join their corporate group for the day at the famous Flemington Racecourse, which was placed on the Australian National Heritage List in 2006. The Melbourne Cup is actually a four-day spring racing carnival that started in 1869. It takes place over 6 (or so) days. The four races are The Derby, The Cup, The Oaks, and what is now called The Emirates Stakes. We were there for Emirates Stakes day, which is also known as "Family Day".

It felt like being treated like royalty....we had a table for ten in a beautiful indoor facility (see pictures below)....air conditioning.....multiple waiters and waitresses serving us constantly...computer screens showing us races and odds...delicious food and yummy drinks... etc. This is what the view looked like from where I sat for the day:
















And this is the view of the finish line from where I sat:
















Here they come!.....not bad for looking through a window...
















Here are Caroline (Peter's wife) and Tracey...two beautiful women!
















Caroline, Tracey and I at our table......
















Tracey and her brother Peter


















Peter took us for a walk around the racecourse. This is what the finish line looks like from ground level.















Caroline, Tracey and I outside. The building that our seats were in is on the left behind Caroline. We sat in inside the window that is furthest to the right, and near left of the "Emirates Stakes Day" sign.

















Tracey and I with "the band"...















There were 9 races that day, starting at 11:30 and going until around 5:30 pm. After the day at the track, a group of us headed to a wonderful restaurant called "The Flower Drum", where Peter treated us to the most amazing Chinese food I'm sure I'll ever have. Here we are with Peter's friend and colleague Tim, and his wife Kelly. I don't think this photo really shows what a great time we had......

Thank you Peter for a wonderful day!

Pool Party at the Anderson's

The weather had substantially warmed up while mum was visiting earlier in October; after all it was/is spring and summer is just around the corner. So we thought we'd have a pool party with some of our Staff College friends/families. The invitations went out and the temperatures promptly began to fall. Thankfully everyone likes a party, so they all still came.

Here is Alexandra Sealy-Thompson enjoying a pre-pool sweet...




















I must say with air temps of 15 C and a cool/stiff breeze, these kids were very brave. Thankfully the water was around 28 C.

This is Abigail Wylie and Mads (short for Madeline) Campbell.















Calum Wylie and William...
















The view from above....where you could go inside and be warm!















....and the responsible parents minding their kids....

Thanks everyone for coming - we had a great time!

Melbourne Cup Day

Australians love their horse races. In fact, horse racing is apparently the fourth largest industry in Australia. Tuesday, November 6 was the day of the Melbourne Cup - the race that is known as the "race that stops the nation." In several states, including the ACT, it is now a public holiday. But there was no holiday at Staff College. Well, there was a bit of a holiday.... After a morning of lectures, classes broke and families joined the students at the Mess for a buffet lunch and an afternoon of race festivities. If you caught our earlier blog about the Braidwood Races (January), you'll realize that a day at the races (from my perspective) is all about the clothes and hats, and this day was no exception. Everyone was gussied up in their best frocks and suits, and many of us donned some stunning hats. Here is a bit of the view.....

This is William with Myra Keating and her five month old Patrick. Patrick's dad is Gavin Keating who is an Officer in the Australian Army. Myra's hat was definitely the most child friendly!
















Ian and William...aren't I a lucky girl?!















This is Ian and his classmate Donna Manton. Donna's husband Tim just got back from a very long deployment in Afghanistan. Donna has amazingly kept her head above water through Staff College, with three busy children while he was away. Wow!















A handsome couple!















This is me with Julie Hawker, one of the Brit girls. You've met Julie on this blog before during our Cairns vacation. Ian, William and I have really enjoyed her family - Julie, Alan, Calum and Abigail - throughout the year.















This is me with Lesley Sealy-Thompson. Lesley is a dentist in the British Army. She is on leave while her husband Nick (also British Army) attends Staff College. Lesley and Nick were stationed in Alberta prior to coming to Staff College - they love Canada!
















From Right to left, Lauren, Donna, me and Deb, Australian Air Force nurse. Great hats!















A family photo....if you look closely there is a fly on Ian's nose. Very Australian!




















Oh yeah, there was a horse race at some point that afternoon. Some horse called "Efficient" won. He is a New Zealand horse......

Again, great hats!

Grandma's Visit - Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens

Our next stop was the Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens, which are situated at an altitude of over 1000 metres in the northern Blue Mountains. The 28 hectare garden was established as the cool-climate garden of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney. Opened to the public in 1987, it is home to over 5000 species of plants from the cooler parts of the world including South America, Southeast Asia, China, Africa, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and the alpine regions of Australia (funny how they don't mention Canada!).

Mum and I explored the gardens for an hour and a half while William and Ian went on a children's "quest" (a treasure hunt of sorts). Unfortunately we didn't write down the names of all of the plants and flowers that we saw....but here are some of them.

This is a rhododendrun variety

















Another type of rhodo

Wisteria

Another rhodo

Mum and a Banksia Rose bush.

Thanks to the Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens web site for all of the above info!

Grandma's Visit - More Blue Mountains

Because the weather had worked against us on our first day in the Blue Mountains, we decided to return to the Three Sisters and see them in the light in which they are best seen - sunshine!

If you're wondering why the Blue Mountains are called the Blue Mountains its because "the ever present haze that gives the Blue Mountains their name is casued by rays of light striking droplets of oil dispersed by gum trees. Haze usually results when sunlight illuminates floating particles such as dust, water droplets, air molecules and, in this case, the fine mist of oils."

We then went to "Scenic World" where we took the world's steepest incline railway into an old (now defunct) coal mine, walked through the rainforest in which it is located, and William and I took a cablecar back up to the top. Ian and Mum decided that there was no need for them to be dangling from a cable that many metres above the ground, so they took the railcar back up.

First, here is the view of the Three Sisters and the other local ranges from Scenic World.

Here are two Sulfur-Crested Cockateils that were feeding at the entrance of the railway at Scenic World. The railway is the steepest incline railway in the world. It takes you 415 metres down into the rainforest where, in the late 1800's, men dug for coal.

Once you're in the rainforest, you can't even see the Blue Mountains. It is so dense with foliage, the air is cool from being shaded from the sun, and you can smell eucalyptus. Here are a few pictures from the rainforest.

You can find out more about the very interesting history of coal mining in the Blue Mountains on the web at http://www.scenicworld.com.au/info_history.asp. Next it was on to the Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens......