Back from OZ!

I'm home again after two weeks in Australia!

Melbourne- the Yarra River

We arrived in Melbourne just in time to turn on the TV to watch the Melbourne Cup (The Race that stops a Nation ) then head to a sidewalk cafe to watch the fashionistas strut their post race  fascinator bedecked selves on stunning but increasingly wobbly high heels. It is hard to pull off an outfit while limping with tissue paper sticking out of the heels of your Jimmy Choos.

A fascinator is a "must have" in Melbourne!

Only Australia can take the sport of horse racing and spin the accompanying fashions into a competitor sport! There are fashion competitions on race day! The tabloids are filled with salacious gossip about competing milliners.  It's all about the hats and everyone wears them with panache!! I think there was some betting going on here and there too- what a sports mad country!

My husband and I at a Melbourne Dinner Party...fascinator locked and loaded.

 We love Melbourne with it's mix of old buildings and cutting edge new millenium architecture. The innovative repurposing of dreary old lanes to create fabulous areas to shop, make art, drink coffee, eat, see and be seen is a major part of the culture of the city .

I took this photo outside a Melbourne Shop, the "doll" in the background
 was a little girl dancing in the store.
It was pure luck to catch her.

After Melbourne we took a circular route along the Great Ocean Road to Apollo Bay and continued 

to Port Fairy pausing to see wild koalas in gum trees and kangaroos in a volcanic crater before heading inland through Hall's Gap and Ballarat in the Grampion Mountains and back to Melbourne through rolling wine country and Daylesford with its beautiful Convent Gallery

 From Melbourne we took a sleeper car in a night train (which was underwhelming in its romanticism)  to Sydney where we were dumped with a monsoon that soaked us to the core. Our first views of the harbour and Opera House were quite soggy! 

I was too cold, wet and miserable to attempt to take an artsy shot of my first view of the Opera House.
I had packed for Australia, not the west Coast of Canada!

The Medusa Hotel  was a lovely refuge for warming up and getting our bearings. It was also a feast for the eyes for anyone with a passion for colour !

...and speaking of colour, don't get me started on the flora!! 

When the rain stopped we enjoyed our days in Sydney- particularly the galleries, gardens and weekend craft markets in Paddington and The Rocks and a  beautiful afternoon at Bondi Beach where the ocean is a riveting shade of blue and most bodies are buff and if they aren't no one seems to care.

Sun bathers and surfers- Bondi Beach

Art? Oh yes!! I saw lots of terrific galleries through the entire trip and the Aboriginal art was joyful and inspiring. here are a few venues and items that got me thinking.....one of my favorites was the breathtaking Aboriginal Gallery at the Rocks in Sydney.

I loved the woven willow house  "Ballroom" by Patrick Dougherty which is on display at Federation Square in Melbourne.

Woven wire at The convent Gallery- Daylesford

Figurative sculpture- Daylesford

...window shopping in Sydney

On Monday the 19th our flight left Sydney at noon and arrived in Vancouver at 7:30 am on Monday the 19th so if I'm a bit confused these days that may explain why! I took heed of the stern reminder that this kangaroo gave me as we headed to the Air Canada Gate to head home to begin preparing for the Christmas festivities!