Flying Melbourne visit.

Paul and I returned today from our 3 day visit to Melbourne, Australia. We flew out last Friday evening at 9pm, after spending a day in Auckland ogling yachts at the Viaduct Harbour, and checking out motorcycle gear at the bike shops. We arrived in Melbourne at 11.10 Melbourne time after a 4 hour flight.
We spent Saturday in Melbourne central city checking out the sights by the Yarra River, The Queen Victoria Markets, China Town and the Central City Tram. It was all very lovely, exciting, BIG, and crowded, but for people like Paul and I, it was just "consumerism". We don't often do cafe's/restaurants for lunch, we don't buy things just for the sake of owning them, we don't like to fork out money for something that we don't really need. Perhaps we could be called tight-asses, in fact I call Paul that all the time. So going and seeing it was nice, but it was a bit the same as going to Auckland/Wellington/----------------- (insert name of any city). They are all about consumerism..... ..........Bah Humbug.
On Sunday we drove up to Healesville and caught up with the Lonergan/Sears Clan. We then all left together for the "Stones of the Yarra" vineyard for my Nephews wedding.
The Stones of the Yarra is a vineyard not far from Yarra Glen, and is one of the many vineyards in the area. It had extensive views over the valley to the range of Mountains in the distance.
The ceremony was to be a Handfasting, it was held outside under some big shady trees, Paul and Georgie (Groom and Bride) went barefoot, we all stood in a circle around the wedding party. An unusual ceremony, but then not that different from a traditional wedding, I think there was definitely more meaning in the handfasting, than in some wedding ceremonies. I loved the whole ceremony and found it very uplifting.

.....My Nephew Paul and Lovely new Niece Georgie.

We then headed for the wines, ahhhh the bliss. The reception was held in a barn that was over 100yrs old and had been restored, the food was vegetarian and absolutely delicious. After the Reception, the younger and not so younger ones headed off to a brewery for drinks and Pizza. Paul and I decided to head back to the motel instead, as we are not into big bar scenes. We spent the evening with members of the family as they came back from the brewery.

......My adorable Great Nephew Otis.

The next morning we had breakfast in Healesville with the family, then we headed to the Healesville Sanctuary for a look at the wildlife. After that we headed slowly back to Melbourne and eventually to the airport, to fly out at Midnight. We arrived in Auckland at 5.30am NZ time, picked up our car and drove 2 hrs home. Bed looked great............