I Heart Melbourne. Again.

We left Coota about 8.30 yesterday morning and made good time, we found a shorter way other than the tedious drive through awful Junee, then Wagga et al.  It was all good till we hit the outer suburbs of Melbourne then it was bumper to bumper, trams and cars and people and I loved every bit of it.  I swear I must have lived here happily in a former life because the three times I have been here it has all seemed so familiar and homey to me.
The resort is as it was depicted on the website, although the main spa and sauna is out of action due to "water restrictions" and the pool seems to be only half filled.  It's been too cool for a swim so far anyway and the kids didn't seem fussed.  The cabin is nice, very comfortable and well appointed.  There is a shopping centre right next door with a Safeway (Vic equivalent of Woolies) and a few other little shops.

Oh look Phill propped on the lounge.  Again.  Where he has spent all of the time we weren't out and about.  And there's Josh in the corner.  Again. LOL

We went to the European Masters at the NGV on Friday morning and I was quite disappointed.  I am no stranger to art exhibitions and have been to many so I was expecting a bit more.  I was happy to see a Monet, a couple of Degas and a Cezanne but the rest were not real good and not well known.  Fine for the hard core art buff but for families, especially with high school kids, not of great interest.

We left the NGV after a short time and walked across the Princes Bridge up to Flinders Street Station where we got the best sushi/sashimi I have never eaten, Tower was the name of the place.  The boys got other stuff, a churro for Josh and some kind of Japanese pancake thingie for Phill.  Em and I devoured our sushi boxes and the seagulls had what little was left (none of mine!)

We went to the Aquarium next which was awesome and more than made up for the disappointment of the art gallery.  I wish I'd inisisted on staying at the NGV and looking at the general gallery as I know they have some excellent Aussie painters on show there.  But the troops were eager to leave so we did.

The penguins at the Aquarium was worth the entry ticket and the whole trip down here, it was so amazing.  They were so big, and so engaging to watch.  They have them in snow, one female had an egg that we could clearly see and another was on her nest.  Some of them were gleefully throwing themselves into the water then scrambling up the icy slope back out as if to say "look at me! Aren't I clever?"  I could have stood and watched them all day.  All up I felt that it was better than the Sydney aquarium at Darling Harbour but Phill didn't agree.

I won't upload all the photos now as we're on a mobile device and I don't want to use up all the bytes.

We went to the QV Markets next, something I have wanted to do for years.  The general section was a lot like Paddys in Sydney but the food hall was great and we got some fresh scallops in the shell and some oysters, some French camembert and some stuffed figs and made them our dinner with the heaps of leftover Indian from Friday night.