Melbourne - Part 2

Wednesday February 1

Rusty hit her terrible two's at the exact moment we hit a bustling café sidewalk in St. Kilda, Melbourne.  What a show - we could have put a hat in front of her and made some money.  Maybe I was being somewhat unreasonable in insisting that she didn't crawl down the busy sidewalk, but she decided that was how she was going to roll and she wasn't budging.  When I tried to pick her up she would holler and go limp - when I tried to put her down she would bend her legs and refuse to be put on her feet.  There was no way to win.

We decided she must be thirsty (I mean why else would a two-year old act this way?) and sat her down on a chair at the nearest café.  When the waitress came over she tried to have a go at calming down our Tasmanian Devil.  "Allo," she said as she leaned in towards Rusty. "An what would you like?"  Apparently Rusty wanted a ten-decibel "AY AY AY" right in the poor woman's face.  She quickly exited as I asked for a glass of milk and looked for a place to cower under the table.  I'm sure this was payback for the time that I yelled at the top of my lungs "He punched me in the stomach" when my Dad tried to move me from playing under a rack of coats in a busy store (and no, he didn't punch me in the stomach).

Rusty decided that she didn't want milk (in a lovely and definitive milk-flying-everywhere kind of way) along with the snacks that we offered her.  She ended up in a timeout on the edge of the sidewalk while I wondered if it was really so bad to let her crawl along the sidewalk amidst cigarette butts and broken glass?  I mean - pick your battles right?  Luckily, she calmed down after the time out and returned to her cheerful happy self as if nothing had happened.  We were left in a bit of a confused daze, terrified of when or if the tornado would touch down again.  What was that???

We spend the rest of the day meandering around St. Kilda.  We follow the boardwalk along the beach past skateboarders practicing huge tricks, topless sunbathers and swimsuit shoots.  This is a happening place.  We stumble across an old-school amusement park (Luna Park) complete with a carousel ride.  Rusty can't believe her luck.  She runs excitedly up to the carousel and picks out 'her' horse.  After the ride she asks for 'more, more' and we decide that a bracelet with limitless rides is the way to go.  There are three rides that she is allowed on and we get our money's worth on the carousel alone (I think she did about 10 rides in a row).  After that it was off to the elephants and finally the aeroplane for a solo ride (the others were adult accompanied).  I was far more nervous than her for the solo ride (I thought she might freak out when she was up in the air by herself) but she loved it and couldn't have cared less whether we were there on not.  I guess she was feeling rather brave after her solo ride as she got off and made a beeline for the giant octopus.  She needed another 24 inches to qualify for that ride!!

Rusty's 1st Solo Ride

Rusty wishing she was 2 feet taller

In the evening we headed to the South Bank promenade (which follows along the Yarra River) to check out a fire show that we'd heard about.  It didn't start until after  dusk (around 7:30 pm) we thought it was time that we ventured out after dark.  When we got there we discovered that the show wouldn't start until 8:30 pm.  When Rusty persistently decided that she wanted to go for a swim in the Yarra River we seriously considered turning right around and heading home.  Luckily, there was a gelato place next to her chosen swimming spot and a chocolate cone kept her entertained (and out of the water) until the show started (what can't gelato fix really).  The South Bank is beautiful to stroll along especially after dark and is filled with leafy trees decorated with white lights, talented buskers and countless fine dining restaurants with menus that made us start discussing the possibility of childcare.  The show was spectacular with gigantic fireballs being shot out of towering pillars lining the bank of the river.  Audrey wasn't a huge fan of the finale which was quite impressive but very loud - when her cries rivalled the boom of the shooting fireballs we took that as our cue to head for home.  We decided to take a different route home and ended up a little lost.  Both girls fell asleep in their carriers as we walked, and walked, and walked looking for the proper tram station.  A friendly Aussie gave us directions and we made it home just after 11:00 pm, quite exhausted.  We decided that venturing out after bedtime with the kids should be an infrequent affair!

Thursday February 2

We all sleep in today and spend a quiet day around our flat enjoying the novelty of not sightseeing.  Once the sun dies down we venture out to Luna Park (as I promised Rusty some more rides) and stumble upon a busy market on our way.  We decide it looks like a good place to practice our new grazing technique and pick up some calamari in a paper cone.  We jokingly offer one to Rusty and low-and-behold she takes it, and EATS IT, and then EATS MORE.  Her first meat - Calamari - go figure!

We walk back to our flat along Ackland Street - which is renowned for it's delicious cakes.  There are countless bakeries with 10 feet x 10 feet window displays filled with various cakes and treats - sheer decadence.  We struggle to put a reign on ourselves and I suggest we each pick one dessert from two shops which Clark enthusiastically agrees with (and later admits that he thought I suggested we each choose one from every shop - glutton!) 

Friday February 3

Friday morning we set out to meet up with some friends that we met rock-climbing in Thailand on our honeymoon.  Turns out they live in St. Kilda and when we parted ways they invited us to drop in if we were ever in Australia - so we did!  It seems we have been living parallel lives as they also have two daughters within months of the same age as both of ours.  And all four with blue-eyes (quite against the odds given the father's are half Chinese and half Persian).  We had a wonderful visit and catch up (well as much catching up as you can do with four children under three anyway).  The girls wear themselves out playing and in the late afternoon we drive to Geelong to begin our Great Ocean Road adventure.