Tordal Mortensen Family Blog

After their big 2-day trip to the Grampians and Great Ocean Road, we spent Thursday at home relaxing and playing Settlers pretty much all day. We took turns winning, even though Josefine seemed to somehow win a few more than the rest of us!!

Friday we decided to go into Melbourne city to see a few sights and show the girls some of the nice places in Melbourne.

We parked at Crown Casino and did try to take the walk through the casino, however because you have to be 18 years or older to enter, unfortunately we were denied entry and had to just take a look at the massive casino from the entrance.

We also walked through the Crown Towers Hotel foyers to give the girls an idea about the 5-star luxury hotel.

walking along Southbank towards Eureka Tower (in the background) which is the tallest building in Melbourne and has a viewing platform at the top.

We then walked along Southbank next to the Yarra River towards Melbourne CBD and Eureka Tower, which is the highest residential tower in the southern hemisphere. It also has a 360 degree viewing platform at the top so you can enjoy the views over Melbourne. In addition to the 360 degree views, there is a little platform called "the edge" where you are in a little room that slides out from the building, and while you are in there the frosted glass bottom becomes see-through glass so you can see all the way down to street level under your feet!! Not an experience for the fainthearted or for people afraid of heights.

To give the girls an idea of the size of Melbourne, and of course to enjoy the fantastic views, Yasmin took the girls to the top while Kasper stayed on the ground floor with Oscar.

Here's some more information about Eureka Tower: https://www.eurekaskydeck.com.au/

Josefine and Caroline at the top of Eureka Tower - 360 degree views of Melbourne and the bay

views towards Williamstown and Point Cook

views of South Melbourne, Albert Park (with the lake they drive around for the F1 Melbourne Grand Prix) and St Kilda

Caroline and Josefine checking out the views

Safely back on ground floor - Oscar was also getting bored so time to move on...

We were just up there at the top :-O

We continued our walk along Southbank until we reached the bridge leading across to the CBD. We walked towards Flinders Street Station and Federation Square towards Melbourne's little laneways and arcades.

Walking from Southbank towards Melbourne CBD

Cosy cafes in Melbourne's laneways - Degraves Street

walking through the Block Arcade

Watching how to make lollies :-) (oh my god there is a LOT of sugar in there!!!)

Afternoon tea stop in the Block Arcade so Oscar could have his bottle of milk - hot chocolates all around, except Kasper who had tea.

Daddy giving Oscar banana cake before he turns 1... oh my here comes sugar chock!

Uhmmm, that's yummy daddy! :-)

Ha ha fun and games at afternoon tea!

More about Melbourne's laneways and arcades can be found here:
http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au/visitors/Documents/Melbourne_ArcadesLanes.pdf

After our afternoon break, we made our way back towards Crown, where we had parked. During the walk we had a cool little view of Eureka Tower through some of the CBD skyscrapers.

view of Eureka Tower through Melbourne CBD skyscrapers

Taking in the beautiful colours of the sunset as we drive home over the Westgate bridge in peak-hour traffic. (at least we are moving).

Friday evening we enjoyed playing some more board games with the girls.

We didn't really have much planned for Saturday, so I decided to take the girls to Highpoint Shopping Centre, so they could experience one of the massive shopping centres we have here in Melbourne (it is the 4th largest shopping centre in Australia). Plus they had a few items on their shopping list that we probably would not be able to find in Thailand...

Here is some information on Highpoint Shopping Centre: http://www.highpoint.com.au/
Map of the shopping centre: http://www.highpoint.com.au/centre-info/centre-map

We had talked about trying new and exciting food, so I managed to convince the girls to have YUM CHA with me, which is Chinese small steamed pasta-like parcels with seafood or meat and vegetables inside. Luckily, we found a place in Highpoint which was able to deliver on the promise.

Yum cha lunch with the girls

Caroline really like it :-)

Josefine liked some of it, so she only had those types she liked

After lunch, we went shopping. We mainly visited shops that the girls knew from home, but as I needed to buy a few things for Oscar for the holiday, we also needed to find Toys 'R' Us. Unbelievably, we got lost, so ended up running around a lot more than we wanted!!

Josefine had been going on for days about pancakes, so as an afternoon treat I took the girls to Pancake Parlour, where we had the most decadent afternoon pancake servings!!
http://www.pancakeparlour.com/restaurant-menu

Josefine very excited about her pancake order :-)

I had a salted caramel with almonds pancake dessert

Josefine had the strawberry delight pancake

And Caroline had the choc-chip, chocolate sauce pancake dessert :-)

Of course we all also had a really nice hot chocolate with our pancakes. I don't think any of us managed to finish our dessert...

After the massive afternoon snack, it was time to "roll" home to Kasper and Oscar before Oscar's evening routine started (with dinner, bath, bed)...

We again spent the evening playing some board games, something I really miss now that the girls are no longer here :-(

Sunday had been planned for a long time, as I was taking the girls to see some Australian Rules Football (Footy). Of course I had tickets booked well in advance, as I wanted to make sure we got good seats and went to a game with "my" team the St Kilda Saints. Kasper would stay at home with Oscar, so it was (again) a girl's outing :-)

The footy game was not until the late afternoon, so we just relaxed at home in the morning, so we could be ready for a good afternoon/evening with a "stadium dinner".

Oscar testing out the Saints gear prior to departure

All the girls are ready for the footy match :-)

two beautiful new Saints fans ;-)

The match was at Etihad Stadium, which is one of the two big footy stadiums in Melbourne. You can see more information about the stadium here: http://www.etihadstadium.com.au/

The match was St Kilda Saints against Richmond Tigers, who are also a Melbourne team, so there were lots of spectators, as it was a "local" match.

At Etihad Stadium, which can seat close to 80.000 people for sporting events

The girls really loved the game (as I knew they would), and was excited there was plenty of action, not like a soccer match where you can watch for 90 min and the result could still be 0-0.

view of the footy action from the 3rd level at (almost) front row :-)

More footy action, gives you an idea of how big the stadium is

We had a lovely burger dinner at the half time break (the teams play 4 quarters of 25 min) which is about 30 minute break.

Unfortunately the Saints didn't win the game :-( At halftime, they were far behind and we had sort of accepted it was going to be the result, but then the Saints took off in the 2nd half and made a great competition out of it and in the end was very close to winning, so a good match!

After the match, we walked along Docklands by night to get back to the car and get home.

Docklands by night with Etihad/Docklands Stadium next to the harbour

Monday we had set aside for packing for Thailand, and it was good we had the whole day, because it was a massive task to pack for Oscar, as we needed to bring everything from nappies to formula to bottles and steraliser AND of course all his clothes and sleeping bags etc., so we ended up packing 2 large bags just for Oscar :-D (luckily by the time we were going home, one bag was empty and we could fold it into another bag).

The girls were quite happy with their half-empty suitcases, as they had emptied out all the gifts they had brought along from Denmark.

Of course, we did also have some time to play some final board games before going to bed.

Tuesday morning we left for Thailand, so that part of the holiday will be covered in future posts...

Sunday morning, Caroline was much better, so we decided to take one of our long 1-day trips up to lake Eildon as planned. This is a bit of a drive, so the girls brought along their pillows, which allowed them to sleep during the 2 hour drive. On the way to Lake Eildon, we decided to have a morning tea at Beechworth Bakery, as it was Oscar's lunch time. We then had our home-made sandwiches in the car as we continued after the break.

2nd stop was then Lake Eildon at Eildon. It was quite cold and cloudy as we arrived, so we only had a short pit stop for checking out the lake/views before getting back in the car.

Quick lookout over Lake Eildon as it was quite cold (3-4 degrees)

Brrrr, freezing!!

Someone's happy :-) must be all the layers, I don't think Oscar was that cold...

From Lake Eildon, we proceeded towards Bonnie Doon along the scenic route - Skyline Road. This road takes you along Lake Eildon on top of the hills, so you (normally) have magnificent views over the lake and the landscape. As much of the road is gravel road, you probably don't want to go along this route if you have a fancy car...

"Views" along Skyline Road - visibility was quite bad because of low hanging cloud cover and rain :-(

More views along Skyline Road

Oscar being a good boy even though he was in his car seat most of the day

Caroline checking out the view through the window, as it was bucketing down at this stage...

On the way down from Skyline Road, getting closer to Bonnie Doon, we saw hundreds of kangaroos - we even had a close call in one of the hard needle swings down the hills when a kangaroo jumped across the road just in front of us as we were coming around the corner! Unfortunately, we were not quick enough to get a picture of this... Here are a few of the kangaroos we saw on the lawns along the way.

Soo many kangaroos :-)

When we reached Bonnie Doon we decided it was time for a break, as Oscar needed his bottle and a nappie change. So the girls relaxed in the car while Oscar was being "serviced".

Oscar getting a nappie change in the back of the car

Fun and games in Bonnie Doon

As we were approaching 5 PM, we then decided to start the long 2 1/2 hour drive home. Unfortunately due to all the driving and not enough water, Josefine started feeling really bad with migraine headache on the way home, and we made it as far as Saltwater Coast Promenade (2 min from home) before Kasper had to pull over so Josefine could get out of the car, as she was very sick.

We got her home to bed and made sure she had her migraine medication along with some banana and water. Luckily she fell asleep quickly as she was feeling really sick.

The rest of us had some take-away which Kasper picked up, and spent the evening with Julia and Sara (Sara had come to stay for 1 night before travelling back to Germany after having traveled around Australia. She also used to be an Au Pair for a family here in Point Cook.)

Josefine woke up after a couple of hours and had a bowl of spaghetti to get her feeling good again.

Monday was a stay-at-home and relax day after our big trip on Sunday. We also sent Julia on her way on her campervan trip around Australia (up the East Coast and back through the Outback) with 2 other Au Pair girlfriends she met here in Melbourne.

Josefine and I went shopping in the local shopping centre for supplies for the rest of the week until we were going to Thailand. Here she is with some local produce...

Big yummy watermelon!!

Tuesday and Wednesday Kasper was taking Caroline and Josefine on an overnight trip to the Grampians and Great Ocean Road. We agreed it was going to be too much driving and difficult to manage Oscar's schedule, so I stayed home with Oscar for these 2 days.

Unfortunately, winter had really set in in Melbourne at this stage, so the weather was really cold and rainy and not the best for doing sightseeing.
They left Melbourne around 9 AM and first went to the Grampians. I think they had a plan for a few sights and view points to see, however it was a very wet and misty day, so the views were not that great.

Here are some pictures from Grampians from their trip.

a view point without much of a view but a lot of mist

Trekking through the Grampians on their way to a waterfall

At the waterfall

At the waterfall, you can see the steps leading down here in the background

On the way from Grampians to Port Campbell where they stayed overnight

View of Grampians in cloudy grey weather

From the Grampians, they went down to the coast to Port Campbell where they stayed overnight, so they could get an early start to the Great Ocean Road the next morning.

Wednesday, luckily the weather was a bit better, so they could see the sights and enjoy the trip a bit more.

Here are some pictures from the Great Ocean Road.

Enjoying the view of Great Ocean Road near Port Campbell

London Bridge with huge waves

Caroline enjoying the view at London Bridge

Limestone detail

The girls enjoying the view and huge waves

Josefine in Loch Ard Gorge (standing a bit too close as seconds later she was running from a big wave)

Loch Ard Gorge - Beautiful even in cloudy, rainy weather

Josefine in Loch Ard Gorge

Caroline in Loch Ard Gorge trying to shelter from the rain and cold wind.

Luckily not too many snakes around in winter :-)

The Twelve Apostles

The girls at the twelve apostles

View of the rugged coast along the Great Ocean Road, on the way back to Melbourne.

After lunch, they made a last stop at Kennet River Koala Walk where they saw a few koalas and lots of cockatoos and parrots. It was especially good fun to feed the parrots!