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Melbourne, Australia
Jan 5th - Melbourne’s Science Museum
 MI
& AKC went off to work after a long holiday break. Most
Australians take their vacations this time of year. We are
told that “it used to be for the whole month of January”. It
took us a while to get our act together and leave the house.
We braved the freeway system and drove across to the west
side. Most of Melbourne is on the east side of the city
center. Some sections of the freeway are toll and must be paid
with an E toll, in advance.
 Melbourne’s
Science Museum sits in one of the oldest neighborhoods. It is
on the mouth of the river where it meets the bay. The museum
is very much like Toledo’s COSI. Many of the exhibits are the
same. Forces of the earth (wind, earthquakes, water and
volcanoes) are in the first section. There are some simple
demonstrations that kids are able to manipulate. The section
that AD liked the best was sports. Like Toledo’s, you are able
to participate in activities like sprinting, rock climbing, or
racing. You have to pull kids away from those displays. My
favorite was a visual reenactment of rotting foods. After the
museum, we drove around the Williamstown neighborhood and the
waterfront.
We drove across the city to Chadstone Mall to do some
shopping. It is advertised as the largest mall in the southern
hemisphere. Not much success but we did get lunch. It was late
in the afternoon before we returned to the house. AD swam and
played with his shark. While the water is heated, the cool air
kept us out of the water. We fixed dinner for the guys when
they got home.
Jan 6th. - Sovereign Hills
 The
words for the day are “Happy Anniversary”. Today is TD’s and
my 14th anniversary. We spent the day at Sovereign Hills in a
town called Ballarat, about 1.5 hours drive from Melbourne. It
is a beautifully done outdoor museum that depicts the Ballarat
goldfields in the 1850’s.
Despite the cool temperatures which had us immediately wishing
for sweaters and long pants we had a great time. As we entered
AD was given a map that required him to go to different
locations and get it stamped. When all the stamps were in
place he had a completed gold license that allowed him to pan
for gold with out being arrested. He took to this adventure
immediately and the map provided us with a tour of the town.
We visited old shops, a school house, a bowling alley and an
old theater. They have actual wheel and carriage making, candy
making, gold smelting and much more. The tour of the mine
shafts was dark and musty but very interesting. It gave you a
lot to imagine, if you were to spend a life time in those old
tunnels.
As we were dragging AD away from the gold panning which he
would have spent hours doing it was beginning to rain and
drizzled throughout the rest of the evening. We arrived home
shortly before the boys and prepared tacos and guacamole dip
for dinner. Unfortunately margarita mix is unheard of in this
country so there were no quervo margies to go with it. Boo Hoo!!!!
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AD Journal |
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 Today
we went to the Science Works in Melbourne. It was almost
exactly like COSI, a similar museum in Toledo, except a
lot smaller. One of the learning centers was a giant
puzzle of the world. Putting it together was very hard.
They had a sports activity center that was my favorite.
The only thing that I thought was different was that
they had a wheel chair race instead of a bike race. I
learned that being in a wheel chair is really hard.
The section called the “Earths Fury” was another neat
activity center. In this part they had a tornado viewing
room. You stand in the corner of a box and a fan under
you creates a tornado shaped form. They also had a table
that had a hand pump for wave action that showed you how
big waves crash into the shore and wear away the land.
That was my favorite.
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Victoria Market...»
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