Koalas, Ned, Puffing Billy.....

Thursday:
We set out on Thursday to hunt down some koalas. I had been constantly gazing up into the eucalyptus trees since we arrived hoping to spot one so James decided it was time to put me out of my misery. They are really hard to see up so high and nestled into all of the leaves.... but they are everywhere and the road signs remind you of this. So we visited a koala sanctuary and were able to see a few close up. And the icing on the cake was seeing our first kangaroo bounce by as we were leaving the sanctuary :) What a successful outing!!! LOL! I think I was more excited than Coral!

That evening we did Bikrams Capalaba while Coral hung out with Russell, Lidy, and Snowie. We had a great class and experienced a little thunder down under and lightning on the way home!















Fri, Sat, Sun......
On Friday morning we took an early flight to Melbourne. James had a work event to attend and we were put up at the Crown Tower. Ooohhh La La! We had a beautiful view of the city and river from our room way up high. We had a busy and fun visit in Melbourne. Monique cooked us a delicious Thai dinner the first night and on Saturday we met James's sister and fiance out for a delicious Italian dinner on Lygon St.

















































We spent Saturday afternoon touring downtown. The Melbourne Gaol was really intreresting due to the fact that this is where Ned Kelly was held after his arrest and later hung. We watched a very well done show in the jail that told of the story from his mothers point of view. They even used hand selected extras for the performance which they chose out of the audience. James was so happy to participate! They even gave him a fake gun as a prop! Sorry but no picture taking was allowed during the performance so his brief acting career was not recorded. Ned's original armor, valued at 7 million, was on display as well so this was an absolute plus to the experience! Later on Coral rode her first roller coaster at "Luna Park" A classic and well known board walk carnival where the rides have the potential to make you loose your lunch.
Monique and James planned a surprise trip for us on Sunday...... How sweet are they? They drove us to the mountains where we went on a fabulous vintage steam train ride. "Puffing Billy" was something that they both experienced as kids growing up in Melbourne so it was great heart warming fun for all of us.
Monique took such good care of us while we were there and I will always remember our visit fondly :) Hopefully we can return the favor soon.....

We also had a chance to visit the neighborhood where James grew up and make a few stops before we headed to the airport. Neddless to say.... this was a cozy end to a cozy day :)

Looking forward to Sydney next weekend!