Yesterday Jen and I had a bit of a lazy day. She wasn't called in to work, so we spent most of the morning just reading, chatting with folks back home via our computers, and basically bumming about. But we did have a list of things we wanted to get done, so around noon we took off for downtown. The last items we both needed/wanted for our outfits for the Melbourne Cup next week were purses, and we'd had our eye on some purses at the Victoria Market for the last little while. Of course, it wasn't until we actually GOT to the Market that we remembered that it was Wednesday - and the market is closed on Wednesdays! GAH.Next we headed to Chinatown, in the hopes that we'd be able to find the sort of bags we were looking for at one of the shops there. No luck. Melbourne's Chinatown is pretty small but a fun place, full of restaurants and little shops. I kept finding myself saying "I can get that in Toronto for less!" though. Case in point. I've been looking at buying a fork/spoon/chopstick set for the last year or so. These kits cost $2.50 or so at Smart Maple in Toronto. In the stores here, the same kits were being sold for $45!!! (No, I'm not making that up!) So another fruitless round of shopping. GROAN.
Jen had been promising to take me to Fitzroy Park for quite some time now, so since we were in that neck of the woods anyway, that's where we headed next. It's a beautiful park, but it sure has some odd things in it. Like the Fairy Tree - whose trunk had been carved with all sorts of fairies and other magical creatures. Cute, but the magical effect was a wee bit ruined because the tree itself died a number of years ago and is now just a big decorative stump! The branches had to be all cut off for safety reasons. There was also a model Tudor village, a cool sculpture of various forms of sea life, and a swing set that bears a passing resemblance to a giraffe. Jen and I took a whole bunch of pictures and you can enjoy them by checking out my "Melbourne - Part Two" album on Facebook. (I'm liking the fact that Facebook, unlike Blogger, allows me to post as many pics as I feel like!)
Personally, I liked the slide the best. It was shaped like a dragon. You climbed up his neck and walked across his back, and then slid down his tail. It was cool. Unfortunately there was a young family in the playground (imagine that) and sure, it's OK for their little kids to have fun too, but it was fairly obvious that all we wanted was one clean photo of the dragon slide and they wouldn't move out of the way. GRUMBLE. The photo I've included here is pretty good, though!
After wandering around the park for about an hour, we decided it was time to go and try to complete our 'to do' list, which included paying off Jen's hospital bill from the stitches she had to get back in September. Would you believe that we got to the hospital about 10 minutes after the cashier's office closed for the day? GROAN. Not our day at all!
Since yesterday was a Wednesday, it was also trampolining night. Our streak of strange luck continued throughout the evening. I continue to struggle to do any tricks that involve twisting my body. Last night I managed to do several perfect 360's in a row, but then when our coach was watching, I couldn't do them at all. I'm also working on cradles (basically back drop, half twist, back drop) - and crash-landed one so badly that I figured I'd better stop trying them for a while. GAH. Jen was faring no better. She's been working on ball-outs and is having a hard time sticking the landing - and last night was no exception. Suffice it to say that we both came home tired and sore after all the walking we'd done and then all the bouncing! On the other hand, at the end of the evening, while we were waiting for Mark to finish up so he could drive us home, Jen and I were approached by one of the ladies who's in the adult gymnastics class that meets at the same time we're trampolining. She came over and complimented both of us on our bouncing skills, and told us that we were improving nicely! I wasn't even sure what to say besides thank you - it was so nice to be noticed/complimented by a complete stranger. Kinda made all the night's frustration worth it.
Tonight we fly to Sydney to meet up with Ruth and Carroll and to go abseiling in the Blue Mountains. Jen and I are also going to be running a campfire for a Guide group in Bondi tomorrow night. So it's going to be an eventful weekend! I won't have email access while I'm away, so my next update will be when I return on Monday.
