Ending week 3, beginning week 4
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Lotte
27 December 2013 | Australië, Barham
Week number 3 was a little different, because in the middle the kids' Christmas holiday would start. That meant that on Thursday and Friday I would have all 5 kids for the whole day. Challenge accepted! Thursday was a challenge, but Friday went a lot better. A couple of fun stuff: on Thursday we drank chocolate milk with marshmallows (Jaap asked that the week before and I promised I would do it over break), Laura backed some delicious eggs on Friday for lunch, did some games and we had a great team thing going for collecting eggs!
On the 21th of December I went to Melbourne alone for the first time. The bus from Barham left at 7.05 AM so it was an early start. Christel took me to the bus stop. Around 11.30 I was in Melbourne! So weird getting out there and just being in Melbourne. When I got over the shock of the weather change (45 - 14 and yes rain) I went to look for my hostel. It was a fair walk I noticed along the way. I had to walk about 35-40 min to get there. And it might have been like 5 min less if I walked in the right direction the first block. But anyway I got there and dumped my bag there. I had a 12 bedroom dorm and it was really nice. It was clean, so was the rest of the hostel. I went exploring. Just walking around first and getting some STARBUCKS! On my first day I saw federation square, flinders station, the Christmas square (which was more for kids it seemed) and a couple of other Christmas decorations.
I read in a book about Melbourne I got at the airport, that there were some markets and some only on Sunday. Perfect for the Sunday I was there. First I went to Queen Victoria's Market. I thought 'pff I'll just walk that'. Yeah I took the tram back into the city, because walking another 40 min back was NOT part of the plan. The market was really big and nice to see. They mostly had souvenirs, clothing and jewelry. I did went to Gloria's Bean Coffee along the way, which had a really good cappuccino, a great and big banana muffin and a nice chair where I did some reading. Around 2 I decided to go to St. Kilda's Esplanade. There was a market as well, which is only there on Sunday. I bought some really cute earrings there. It was nice! I did also go to the beach, but there were a lot of clouds so not really beach weather. So I took the tram back into the city and went for another drink and some reading. It was a relaxing day. Ended with McDonalds and 'the internship' in the TV room in the hostel.
Monday I had some more stuff planned. Started with breakfast at a bakery 2 doors down (JAM), then I went to the ACMI (Australia's centre for moving image). It was a free museum about the journey of the moving image (yeah didn't see that coming did ya?) and there were also some interactive stuff, like video games and clips you could see. Because it rained AGAIN, I stayed there for up to 2 hours. After that I faced the rain in my shorts, top and thin vest and went to the Eureka Skydeck! That was awesome! Tower with 88 stories (you get to the top in 40 seconds with the elevator) which gives you a great view of Melbourne. It was a shame there were clouds again, but nonetheless the view was great! After this I wanted to see the remaining Christmas stuff that was around the city.
On Tuesday I had to check out by 10. The night before I met a German girl who just arrived. She didn't have any plans that day and I asked her if she wanted to come with me to the Docklands. So I had a travel buddy that day! We went to the harbour and did a little shopping. Around 3 I went to Southern Cross Station. And at 4 I was in the bus back to Barham.
The trip was nice! I saw all I wanted to see in Melbourne, got some nice souvenirs and a great experience. I did have to get used to the 'doing-everything-alone-and-having-no-one-to-share-it-with-at-that-time-thing' and the awful weather in Melbourne, but all in all it was a good trip! Christel and 3 of the kids came to pick me up at the bus stop and after sharing some stories about my trip, I went to bed.
Wednesday was the first day of Christmas!!!! We started off with a really nice breakfast at 9, followed by the unwrapping of the gifts. Even Santa found me in Australia and blessed me with a calendar of the Outback, some nougat and an awesome cookie jar in the shape of papa Smurf. In the middle of unwrapping I noticed a cow in the garden and not on the good side. So we had to do some mustering in between to get the 3 cows back into the field. That was HILARIOUS! I said that and immediately shoes were thrown on and the three eldest kids, Jolmer and myself went out to get them. The dog was already chasing them. So funny! Only in Australia. One of Jolmer's friends from the Netherlands was there and later on a colleague from Bendigo came as well.
Thursday was the second day of Christmas, but that's not really celebrated here. Tried to sleep in, went to the house for a little bit and worked out. But I did have a real Australian barbeque at some of Christel and Jolmer's friends. That was really nice. Never seen so much meet at once, unless I was at the butcher's.
Today it's already Friday! Wauw days go fast even when I don't really have a lot to do. Well then let's plan my next holiday. And so I did. I'm going to do the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians (big national park) with Marianne, the au pair from another family. We'll leave tomorrow and be back in Melbourne on the 31st. I think I'm gonna spend New Year's with her there and come back later, but that's not set in stone yet.
Thanks for all the responses to my blog! And all the likes of Facebook. It always feels good to have an e-mail or a like for it. Love you al! Hope you had a great Christmas and I wanna wish you all A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
On the 21th of December I went to Melbourne alone for the first time. The bus from Barham left at 7.05 AM so it was an early start. Christel took me to the bus stop. Around 11.30 I was in Melbourne! So weird getting out there and just being in Melbourne. When I got over the shock of the weather change (45 - 14 and yes rain) I went to look for my hostel. It was a fair walk I noticed along the way. I had to walk about 35-40 min to get there. And it might have been like 5 min less if I walked in the right direction the first block. But anyway I got there and dumped my bag there. I had a 12 bedroom dorm and it was really nice. It was clean, so was the rest of the hostel. I went exploring. Just walking around first and getting some STARBUCKS! On my first day I saw federation square, flinders station, the Christmas square (which was more for kids it seemed) and a couple of other Christmas decorations.
I read in a book about Melbourne I got at the airport, that there were some markets and some only on Sunday. Perfect for the Sunday I was there. First I went to Queen Victoria's Market. I thought 'pff I'll just walk that'. Yeah I took the tram back into the city, because walking another 40 min back was NOT part of the plan. The market was really big and nice to see. They mostly had souvenirs, clothing and jewelry. I did went to Gloria's Bean Coffee along the way, which had a really good cappuccino, a great and big banana muffin and a nice chair where I did some reading. Around 2 I decided to go to St. Kilda's Esplanade. There was a market as well, which is only there on Sunday. I bought some really cute earrings there. It was nice! I did also go to the beach, but there were a lot of clouds so not really beach weather. So I took the tram back into the city and went for another drink and some reading. It was a relaxing day. Ended with McDonalds and 'the internship' in the TV room in the hostel.
Monday I had some more stuff planned. Started with breakfast at a bakery 2 doors down (JAM), then I went to the ACMI (Australia's centre for moving image). It was a free museum about the journey of the moving image (yeah didn't see that coming did ya?) and there were also some interactive stuff, like video games and clips you could see. Because it rained AGAIN, I stayed there for up to 2 hours. After that I faced the rain in my shorts, top and thin vest and went to the Eureka Skydeck! That was awesome! Tower with 88 stories (you get to the top in 40 seconds with the elevator) which gives you a great view of Melbourne. It was a shame there were clouds again, but nonetheless the view was great! After this I wanted to see the remaining Christmas stuff that was around the city.
On Tuesday I had to check out by 10. The night before I met a German girl who just arrived. She didn't have any plans that day and I asked her if she wanted to come with me to the Docklands. So I had a travel buddy that day! We went to the harbour and did a little shopping. Around 3 I went to Southern Cross Station. And at 4 I was in the bus back to Barham.
The trip was nice! I saw all I wanted to see in Melbourne, got some nice souvenirs and a great experience. I did have to get used to the 'doing-everything-alone-and-having-no-one-to-share-it-with-at-that-time-thing' and the awful weather in Melbourne, but all in all it was a good trip! Christel and 3 of the kids came to pick me up at the bus stop and after sharing some stories about my trip, I went to bed.
Wednesday was the first day of Christmas!!!! We started off with a really nice breakfast at 9, followed by the unwrapping of the gifts. Even Santa found me in Australia and blessed me with a calendar of the Outback, some nougat and an awesome cookie jar in the shape of papa Smurf. In the middle of unwrapping I noticed a cow in the garden and not on the good side. So we had to do some mustering in between to get the 3 cows back into the field. That was HILARIOUS! I said that and immediately shoes were thrown on and the three eldest kids, Jolmer and myself went out to get them. The dog was already chasing them. So funny! Only in Australia. One of Jolmer's friends from the Netherlands was there and later on a colleague from Bendigo came as well.
Thursday was the second day of Christmas, but that's not really celebrated here. Tried to sleep in, went to the house for a little bit and worked out. But I did have a real Australian barbeque at some of Christel and Jolmer's friends. That was really nice. Never seen so much meet at once, unless I was at the butcher's.
Today it's already Friday! Wauw days go fast even when I don't really have a lot to do. Well then let's plan my next holiday. And so I did. I'm going to do the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians (big national park) with Marianne, the au pair from another family. We'll leave tomorrow and be back in Melbourne on the 31st. I think I'm gonna spend New Year's with her there and come back later, but that's not set in stone yet.
Thanks for all the responses to my blog! And all the likes of Facebook. It always feels good to have an e-mail or a like for it. Love you al! Hope you had a great Christmas and I wanna wish you all A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
-
27 December 2013 - 09:05
Marieke:
Heel wat verhalen weer! Nog leuke plannen voor New Year's Eve? Goeie roetsj! -
27 December 2013 - 09:07
Riet:
Hi avonturierster, leuk je reiservaringen te lezen, het is wennen om dit in je eentje te doen en het maakt je rijker wat je je hele leven bij je draagt. Oh, wat ben ik "wijs" bezig, zal wel met periode einde jaar te maken hebben.
Ik heb meegedaan met het groot nederlands dictee en ik had het niet slecht gedaan, goed gedaan jochie! Kerst gevierd bij Esther met Vincent, Melanie en all kids. Oudejaar komen Wina en Lei naar ons.
Jij een hele fijne oudejaar en nieuw 2014 in Australia. Liefs, ook van Rob, Riet -
27 December 2013 - 11:14
Janine:
Wat goed! Ben blij dat het leuk is geweest. Goed dat je nog wat met het Duitse meisje bent gaan doen. Ben je niet zoveel alleen, en fijn om ervaringen te delen idd. Sjiek dat je nog wat gaat doen morgen tot nieuwjaar, heel veel plezier samen, ben trots op je! Kus, Janine -
27 December 2013 - 14:30
Henriëtte:
Ha meisje, zo te lezen had je een leuke trip naar Melbourne gemaakt. En nu opnieuw een trip. Leuk hoor. Dit vergeet je nooit meer. Verder fijn dat het gezin je bij de kerst betrekt, met zelfs nog cadeautjes. Gezellig die bbq's in verre landen. Ik vond het weer heel leuk om je verslag te lezen; kijk al uit naar het volgende.
Geniet van de jaarwisseleing en werk ze weer daarna.
Lieve groetjes uit Berg van ons allemaal. xxx -
27 December 2013 - 16:26
Danielle:
Ha die Lotte,
Ja, in je eentje dingen ondernemen valt niet altijd mee. Daar weet ik alles van! Maar als je positief bent ingesteld lukt het uiteindelijk toch.
Ik wens jou een goede jaarwisseling en heel veel geluk en gezondheid voor 2014!
Liefs Danielle en Mikki -
27 December 2013 - 19:38
Dayenne:
Looooooooooooooooo,
Super leuk um te lezen watste allemaol gezeen hubs! En och heel leuk dat de Kerstman dg in Australië heit weite te vinge, ze zurge dr in iig veur datste dg welkom veuls, toch? :D ech heel fijn!
Awesome dat ste un nuuje trip geis maken. Geniet dr van en g verheug mg noe alweer op de volgende blog.
xxxxx -
27 December 2013 - 20:54
Liane:
Hoi lieve mop, heel veel plezier bij je trip naar de great ocean road! We zijn benieuwd en tips zijn welkom!
Een gooie roetsj en een geweldige start van 2014! Maar dat zal wel lukken.
Veel succes weer met werken na de vakantie, want dat moet ook nog gebeuren :)!
We hebben naar All you need is love, kerst gekeken en er kwamen weer veel mensen uit Australie voorbij ;).
Liefs en knuffels, xxx papa en mama
-
29 December 2013 - 13:17
Marie-José:
Ha Lotte,
Veel gezien en gedaan en als je inderdaad alleen bent ,maak je snel contacten.
Ik hoop dat de Ocean trip ook mooi is en dat je gezelschap aardig is, maar dat zal toch wel.
Geniet van alle mooie dingen en voor 2014 alle goeds wat wenselijk is en in jouw geval ook avontuurlijk. Liefs Marie-José -
30 December 2013 - 16:30
Felicia:
Hee lieve Lotte !
Ik vind het super om te lezen dat je veel onderneemt! Het klinkt alsof je een leuke tijd hebt gehad in Melbourne (laat je me wel ff zien wat je hebt geshopt ;)??) en een fijne kerst hebt gehad! Veel plezier op de volgende trip en geniet ervan! Alvast een gooie roetsj! We proosten hier op je ;)
Veel liefs xxxxxx -
30 December 2013 - 16:30
Felicia:
Hee lieve Lotte !
Ik vind het super om te lezen dat je veel onderneemt! Het klinkt alsof je een leuke tijd hebt gehad in Melbourne (laat je me wel ff zien wat je hebt geshopt ;)??) en een fijne kerst hebt gehad! Veel plezier op de volgende trip en geniet ervan! Alvast een gooie roetsj! We proosten hier op je ;)
Veel liefs xxxxxx -
30 December 2013 - 16:31
Felicia:
Hee lieve Lotte !
Ik vind het super om te lezen dat je veel onderneemt! Het klinkt alsof je een leuke tijd hebt gehad in Melbourne (laat je me wel ff zien wat je hebt geshopt ;)??) en een fijne kerst hebt gehad! Veel plezier op de volgende trip en geniet ervan! Alvast een gooie roetsj! We proosten hier op je ;)
Veel liefs xxxxxx
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