More from Maude

Some views of the valley around Duncan's parents' house in Maude, Victoria, outside Melbourne.

Dried up grape vines, a few hopeful olive trees in front.

Whoops, no pictures of the in-laws themselves. Next time . . . .

Maude, Victoria

Duncs beside our lovely 1969 Holden Kingswood. On loan for the year from Duncs' brother Aaron. It is a sweeeeet ride. The speedometer is still on miles from when Australia was on the Imperial system. Now that they are on metric with the rest of the world, we have to make a lucky guess about our kilometers per hour! We drove out to Maude, Victoria, about an hour outside Melbourne, to where my in-laws live, Ian and Marina. Some views of their house, which is on a "hobby farm" where until the drought, they had grape vines and made their own wine. The house's energy comes mainly from the solar panels on the roof.

The cellar, inside and out.

Aussie Rules at the MCG

My 2nd live Aussie Rules Football game! This time at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), in the heart of the city, seating 90,000 plus. The Geelong Cats are victorious again!

Seagulls galore!

Goal!

Royal Exhibition Building and Melbourne Museum in Carlton Gardens, Melbourne

Temples and Auctions

Newly constructed temple near Footscray, Melbourne, short walk from our house, along the Maribyrnong River (no, I cannot pronounce that).
In Australia most houses are sold at live public auction in front of the house, run by the real estate agent. People just show up and place bids to buy their home. This little number went for AUS $685,000!

Melbourne Zoo

Tiger!

Spent a lovely afternoon at the zoo with my brother-in-law Warwick and nephew Gilby

Monkeying around

First Footy Game!

Kids run on the field after the game when the players are clear to play "footy", aka Aussie Rules Football

In Duncs hometowon, Geelong, about 40 minutes outside Melbourne, watching his team, the Cats! Note he still supports his favorite baseball team.

Dim Sim

Melbourne is an awesome food/coffee/restaurant town, but in general Australia doens't seem to have a lot of food it is known for. However, Dim Sim, an australian "delicacy", is a yummy little half dumpling/half simosa, either fried or steamed. This one was fried--yum.

St. Kilda, inner suburb of Melbourne

Some hunky old dudes at St. Kilda Pier

Is it really winter?!

Views of Melbourne skyline from St. Kilda

Parrots, first in a palm tree, second in a peppercorn tree (apparently pretty common!) Correction: my husband informs me the white bird is a cockatoo, NOT a parrot.

Our kitchen

Washer (yea!), but no dryer (boo).

Backyard

Our house in Melbourne

Lemon tree--they should turn yellow soon!

Veg garden

Some flowers and plants

Me, at the front door

Our house in Melbourne

Yes, I have created a blog!! I wanted a place to post all of my photos from my time in Melbourne and travels around Australia. Will post the first photos soon!