We haven't blogged in a while so there's a lot to catch up on.  First things first...Melbourne Cup.

 

The Melbourne Cup is the climax of what is known here as the Spring Racing Carnival.  The cup itself is also known as the race that stops a city as we get a special holiday just so people can watch the race.  Nice :-).  We didn't actually go to any of the races as we felt the girls are a bit young but maybe next year.  On the first day of the long weekend that week we took the kids to Melbourne Aquarium.  It was fantastic, it has the world's largest fishbowl in it where basically you're inside the bowl with the fish al around you.  There are apparently over 10,000 different species in there so you can imagine how big it is.  We all had a great time til we got to the Creepy Crawly exhibition and I literally came ovr in a cold sweat with the bird eating, funnel web and huntsmen spiders !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We took loads of photos but they are all on our cameras so we've not uploaded them yet.  Watch out for them soon though, there's some fab jelly fish shots.

 

On the actual day of the cup, we drove down south to the start of the Great Ocean Road.  First off we went to the world famous Bells Beach which was flat as a pancake and then we drove on to Torquay and Angelsea where we stopped for lunch.

 

Last week we also had our first visit to an Australian vet as the cats were due their annual boosters.  We had no idea hoe expensive it might be but it turned out to be about half the price of the UK as they don't vaccinate against feline flu here.  We had to laugh though as we've been advised tha the cats need to have sunscreen on their pink bits (ears and noses). 

 

This past Friday Becca and I drove ourselves to the Queen Vic Market and I got lost and ended up driving in the heart of the city for the first time AAAAArrghhhh!!  I had to make a fair few detours to avoid Melbourne's famous hook turns.  Anyway, we got there eventually and even met Mike and one of his colleagues for a spot of lunch.  Incidentally, while we were there we also bumped into Marty who, for those of you still in the UK was one of the top 4 in Australian Idol this year.  There's my claim to fame for the year lol.

 

On this Saturday past, we had a lovly picnic in the Botanical Gardens.  It was a fab warm and sunny day and we really enjoyed just sitting in the heat relaxing and playing with the girls.  It was also the first time in ages we've seen green grass.  Due to the water restrictions, most of the grass here is yellow. 

 

Sunday was a busy day as we had arranged to meet Sandra, Jim and the girls for a wander around the local Caroline Springs Market.  We met at 9.30 as it was a hot day and we all had lot to do.  Helen (Ellie's Mum) joined us and we (the mums) headed infor a coffee and a chat while Mike, Jim and Jonathan took the kids to the petting zoo, face painting and boucy castle.  That afternoon, Sandra had the girls for a couple of hours for us so we could go buy all the bits we needed to make Becca's birthday cake.

 

Actually, making the cake turned out to be quite an event.  Firstly as it was a nightmare baking in 28 degree heat but we also had decided to make a Fairy Castle cake so it took a fair bit of making.  It turned out lovely though, and the girls were delighted with it.