John lives in Spotswood, not far from Williamstown in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria. The trip into the city with the RV was a little hairy, toll roads and multi-lane bridges, and loads of traffic. Melbourne is now a city of over 3 million, and growing, and there are tram tracks in the middle of traffic lanes that you are somehow meant to yield too.... and pedestrians everywhere too. A tad of a stressful drive.
We tracked down John on Skype once we were at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, and pointed the RV over the West Gate Bridge (beautiful that) to park next to his spot, across from a primary school. Katie eyed the playground instantly, but school was in, so she played there until all the children were sent for recess. The kids are all dressed in uniform, and hats are a must due to the high level of "sun awareness" - they have a "no hat, no play" rule. Gone are the days of sunbathing in baby oil! Tans, apparently, are very OUT. (Opposite of the Vitamin D deficiencies we have!)
John's sister Frances brought her children by after school to meet us - Rachel and Will ages 14 and 9. Her husband Tim was away on a business trip to the US, so we were able to compare weather in Denver - Rachel was quite concerned Dad only packed a light "jumper", but luckily it was 11 degrees there today. We shared the incredible snow pictures that Travis' hockey coach sent us - snowmobiles parked ON the houses! wow, we are missing quite the winter.....timing or what!
Wednesday we arranged for a lunch date with John and Frances and Aunt Rachel (their mom) at the Boatyard, down in Williamstown near the ferry port. It was wonderful to see Aunty Rachel again, and we were sad to mark the passing of Uncle Billy (my grandma's brother, 15 years ago on Valentines Day). He was so wonderful to us on our first visit here over Christmas 1992. They had made us so welcome at a time of year that could have been lonely, and we were thrilled to share that time with them. Aunt Rachel is still lovely, hasn't aged a day, and Jaclyn and Katie were honored to gift her with an Irish jig at the end of the Pier (until the skies opened up and we were all drenched!) That Scottish humor, watching over us for sure!
We tracked down John on Skype once we were at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, and pointed the RV over the West Gate Bridge (beautiful that) to park next to his spot, across from a primary school. Katie eyed the playground instantly, but school was in, so she played there until all the children were sent for recess. The kids are all dressed in uniform, and hats are a must due to the high level of "sun awareness" - they have a "no hat, no play" rule. Gone are the days of sunbathing in baby oil! Tans, apparently, are very OUT. (Opposite of the Vitamin D deficiencies we have!)
John's sister Frances brought her children by after school to meet us - Rachel and Will ages 14 and 9. Her husband Tim was away on a business trip to the US, so we were able to compare weather in Denver - Rachel was quite concerned Dad only packed a light "jumper", but luckily it was 11 degrees there today. We shared the incredible snow pictures that Travis' hockey coach sent us - snowmobiles parked ON the houses! wow, we are missing quite the winter.....timing or what!
Wednesday we arranged for a lunch date with John and Frances and Aunt Rachel (their mom) at the Boatyard, down in Williamstown near the ferry port. It was wonderful to see Aunty Rachel again, and we were sad to mark the passing of Uncle Billy (my grandma's brother, 15 years ago on Valentines Day). He was so wonderful to us on our first visit here over Christmas 1992. They had made us so welcome at a time of year that could have been lonely, and we were thrilled to share that time with them. Aunt Rachel is still lovely, hasn't aged a day, and Jaclyn and Katie were honored to gift her with an Irish jig at the end of the Pier (until the skies opened up and we were all drenched!) That Scottish humor, watching over us for sure!
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