Trip to Melbourne to meet our granddaughter. :)

Off we go again! 5/12/18
 At least , this time it's not so far away.
Only 4 hours flying and we are there.
Brian comes with me this time. Michael is home looking after the dogs.
I have booked with AirNZ , " the Works" package, which gives you all you need onboard and makes the flight much better. It has 1 checked in luggage of 22 KG's. And all meals onboard and inflight movies etc.
We drive the night before, to " Gold Star Motel" in Mangere.  It is quite close to the airport. We stay one night, and are allowed to keep the car there for free for all the 10 days that we are away.
This is cheaper than if we did the " Park and ride", but only IF you have an early morning flight.
If you have an afternoon flight, you might as well park it in the secure parking place" Park n ride".
So we have a good flight in the 777-300 ER plane.
Jos picks us up and we get to go in his nice new BMW car.
We finally get to meet our granddaughter Lexi. She is now 5 months old.

She was born in July. After her, one month later, Daisy was born. I was in Jerusalem when Daisy was born and heard the news.
It was also great to see Jos and Rachel's new home they recently purchased. Beautiful home in a very quiet street, in a nice quiet suburb near the beach.  Close to walkways and little playgrounds. Also close to Williamstown.
We stay one night with Jos and Rachel in their borrowed big double bed Air Mattress.
We have a nice Greek dinner, made by Rachel and sleep very good that night.

6/12/18: Wake up to a clear day. Stay at home till about 4 pm then we get Jos's car
and then go to a nearby Airbnb cottage at Altona Beach, of Lorraine. It is about 5 min drive from Jos and Rachel's place. We get a bedroom with a double bed, good mattress and the rest is all shared spaces. We find out that it is shared with a young German couple and the owner herself. The house is cozy and we can use the kitchen whenever we want or sit in the lounge or outside. The bathroom has the toilet inside, which is a pain. If someone takes a lot of time to shower, and you are busting to go, then tough, you just have to hold up till the other person comes out.
But for the rest, it is good that we have our own space. But we plan to spend a lot of time with our son and daughter-in-law and our grand baby.
We go for a walk in the park in the afternoon. Brian and Jos carry on longer.

7/12/18 Good sleep, but this day is really, really hot: 38 C. It reminds me a lot of Tiberias. So hot!After a nice cereal breakfast we drive to Jos and Rachel's place. Jos takes us to a nice shopping mall called" High Point". Nice and cool inside. We also go to Bunnings earlier to buy in indoor and outdoor thermometer. Like a little weather station.
The shopping mall is very nice. We have a nice coffee here and a sandwich.
At home again and it is 37 C in the later afternoon. We have a cheese board platter for starters and then a very nice Indian Takeaway.
Back to the Airbnb of Lorraine after a busy day.

8/12/18Cloudy today and much cooler, maybe about 26 C. Later this afternoon it gets to 20 C.
Have a nice breakkie again and some reading, we both walk to the train station and catch the Werribee train heading for the city. Use our Myki cards and get off at Flinders station.
Some anti coal mining demonstrations are going on right now as we head for the coffee place at the Federation square. Also big Africa day going on and lots of nice Christmas display with a proper Christmas story next to it.
We take the free tram ride to Bourke Street to see David Jones department store and other stores.
I find the Target store and find a few nice tops and buy that.

( so much cheaper than David Jones store)
Train back and arrive back at the cottage at 5.30 pm.
We have nice pizza's at Jos and Rachel and watch the  new Mowgli movie from Netflix.

9/12/18.
Today it's cloudy, much cooler, but still warm.
To Jos and Rachel's place who take us to their church at Hooper's Crossing.
A good feel /spirit in that church. Preaching is about Baptism. People give their testimonies on why they want to get baptised.
After church back to J&R for toasted sandwiches.

It is good that we have our own place to go to as I am starting to feel really tired so we go back tot he cottage and I am having an hour's nap.
After this we walk to the Pier of Altona beach and we walk to the end, see people swimming there, but there is a strong wind and it looks dark and gloomy.

At evening time we go back to J&R and her parents and there too and we get a very yummy roast lamb dinner. Also a very nice desert.

10/12/18
Cloudless day. 24 C.
Had a good sleep and breakfast, we go to J&R at 9.30 am.
Leaving at 10 am in their flash BMW car for Trentham. Going on the Motorway, we stop at Bauchus Marsh, buying strawberries straight from the grower.
Then we drive through beautiful scenery ( and through black bark eucalyptus trees, which has been burned some years ago, but is now recovering) to the little village Trentham.
At this high altitude, it is much cooler, and reminded me a lot of the area of where I have been before, the Macedon area. It lies in the same triangle, so can't be too far away. It has old history for a small town. We have lunch in the " Red Beard Bakery" which has an old 11th century oven. Bread is all sour dough.

We have a sour dough toasty and after this we walk through the town to see other shops.
Also to the park with nice little lake and see the Ibis birds there.
Back to Jos at 3.30 pm and I am having a nap and Brian writes his diary.

Watching the kite surfers at Altona beach for a bit ( at least 15 kite surfers) after which we make our way back to R&J for a nice spaghetti Bolognese dinner.

Oma with Lexi

The train to Melbourne

View to the CBD from Williamstown.

Trentham park

Oma and Lexi

Oma is feeding Lexi

Big shopping centre Light Point.

Opa with Lexi

11/12/18
Perfect cloudless day! We are going to see the market here at Altona beach. Very nice market with lots of stalls. I am seeing a nice " horse" t-shirt, and I buy it for $15-
After the market we drive on to Williamstown, where I find a nice, white sandy beach and I have to swim here. I go into the water, not too cold, and stay in it for a good half an hour or more. It is really clear water. After the swim we go into Williamstown itself, to the shopping area. I remember exactly where the ATM machine was, that belongs to ANZ. I walk up to it and get some cash out.( it is at Fergusson street, turn right at the roundabout)
We have lunch at a bakery of Fergusson Street ( Vietnamese bakery) and we drive back to Altona and stop at the beach there. I am having a second swim here. Not as good as the Williamstown beach, but still ok.

Market day at Altona Beach

At Williamstown beach

swimming at Williamstown beach

Back to the Airbnb for a rest .
Jos came to pick us up in his car to Spotswood for a dinner at a restaurant for a pub type meal there. Rachel's parents are also there. I am having a Barramundi fish dinner.  It's very tasty.

12/12/18
An other very hot day today. 36 C. At 10 am we head to Jos place. Jos decides he takes us to Werribee to the Rose gardens and the mansion House museum. It reminds me of Chatsworth estate, just a bit less grandiose. The mansion has huge grounds and a lake.

Back to Rachel's and we have fish and chips for lunch.
It is too hot to sit outside.

After lunch Brian and I decide to go to the cottage to get our togs and go for a swim at Altona beach. The tide is out but we can still wade out a lot and get to the point where the water is waist deep and have a nice swim. The water is warm. It gives us a bit of a cool down on such a hot day, We just don't know this kind of heat in NZ.

Back to J&R for dinner later that night.

13/12/18
Bad weather today with lots of rain in the forecast, so we decide to stay home and be safe.
We had planned an other train ride to the city but it's not a good idea with a weather warning in place.
Instead we go to the mall nearby the cottage and I find a nice top from the Miller's shop. Also a 3/4 pants, aqua blue. We watch more Net Flix movies that afternoon. I am cooking Dutch meatballs for that evening. Everyone enjoys the food.

14/12/18
Our day to fly home. It is cloudy and has some heavy showers . We drive to Jos and get there at 9 am.
Jos takes us to the airport at the drop off point at departures. perfectly in front of the door. He takes us in his BMW again.
We get there at 10:15 am. The plane from NZ is an hour late so we get to fly an hour later than planned. It is an 777-300ER . All checked in early anyway and have something to eat before we fly.
Get to see the view of the city as it makes a move turning left and then heads out to sea.
The flight is bumpy to start with but smooths out later.
We arrive back in Auckland at 6.20 pm but because there is a lightning storm going on, we have to wait an hour in the luggage room, before the staff is allowed to unload the luggage from the plane.
The thunder and lightning storm goes on for 6 more hours.
We ring the Gold star Motel and they come to pick us up after a 15 min wait. We then drive to the Autobahn cafe and have our diner.
After dinner I drive and the whole way through, there is sheet and fork lighting and thunder that we could hear while we are driving, and carried on even after we arrive home.
 BUT WE ARE HOME SAFELY AND ARE GRATEFUL FOR A GREAT TRIP.