From Aussie to Tassie

Our trip concluded with a short three days with Jeff and Sam in Tasmania -- an hour flight south of Melbourne.  In this laid back area of Australia we rented a car and drove around the island -- including visiting beautiful Launceston Gorge and Wineglass Bay (three pictures on the right side). One of the famous stops in Tasmania is the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). Lots of really unique pieces.  One of Mel's favorite was the "Fat Car" which was a sort of artistic statement about modern materialism. Or maybe it was just a car with bulges (left).  Other MONA highlights for us included a robotic digestive system (second from left) and the "White Library".

One of the highlights for us was attending an evening feeding at Bonorong wildlife sanctuary where we were greeted by many friendly (and hungry) kangaroos, fed raw meat to a Tasmanian Devil (they look nothing like the cartoons), hold a baby wombat named Max, and observe other unique Australian animals!

We were super-grateful for our hosts/travel companions Jeff and Sam and for the chance to visit this amazing part of the world.  

(From Mel):  An extra special aspect to our trip was that Sam and I are both expecting additions to the family in May!  Traveling with a fellow preggers was super helpful as we had to eat every 3 hours and definitely had to take an easier pace than our previous vacation together hiking in Peru. 

Belated post on the first part of our trip to Hong Kong/Macau coming soon.

It's Pronounced "Mel-bin"

We were so fortunate to have a week in January to visit Melbourne, Australia along with several friends. We (five of us) invaded Jeff and Sam's house, with rambunctious Bailey (dog pictured) and cuddly Nora (their other dog). They were gracious and generous hosts in this beautiful city including showing us the local market eats (oysters and sausages pictured), the public street art (middle) and beautiful parks (bottom right). 

A big highlight included spending two days at the Australian Open which was one of my (Warren's) lifelong goals. Despite the ridiculously hot weather on the first day (106 degrees) it was everybody's first time at the tournament - and we drank in the whole experience!  

The matches ranged from scintillating (Ivanovic upsetting Serena Williams) to somewhat boring (Djokovic crushing Fognini) -- the great thing is that you can always wander the grounds to see other matches.  We even saw two retired legends - Martina Navratilova and Martina Hingis!  Afterwards, we were inspired to go play on the local clay courts and do our best Nadal on clay impression.

An unforgettable experience.