touristy adventures!

invading santa's throne!
let's play e spotting game: can you spot e seagull?
spotting game 2: spot my pretty boy!
spotting game 3: spot a pretty rudolph?
ahha poor papa sil... came to melbourne in summer, but e weather has been terrible! i'm sure she'll bring back plenty of memories from her adventures here boy!

her first day here was fine, nice and sunny. we went ard e city, and she had fun exploring e city herself while suet, steph and tlp went to max brenner for drinks (hehe horrible hosts - but she had fun!) then we went to lygon for dinner, and got lost (yes, once again).


steph and tlp - after dinner photo on e walk back to e city

day 2 of papa's visit, she went to e gardens alone, suet had church stuff, tlp went to meet dear joycelyn, and steph rested at home. still relatively uneventful..

present from dear joyce: peach schnapps (sp?) and buttermilk chocolate from hunter's valley and a dear postcard

day 3: papa went for caregrp with suet and mx @ maggie's house, then they went to see e lights @ ivanhoe. tlp went to e city w steph - took photos w santa, saw e choir @ crown again, and wanted to watch e christmas carolling @ st pauls, but were late, and it wasnt a free event anyway *sniffle*. so we took more photos, then went home.

day 4: adventure started! e 5 of us went to chadstone, and it was drizzling slightly when we left. weather forcast predicted thunderstorms.. when we got to chadstone it wasnt raining, but sky was pretty grey. pearline and her friend were supposed to meet us, and meet us they did, but they were drenched to e bone. (we could hear e rain from inside e shopping centre, and it sounded damn bad) e 2 of them had to get clothes and slippers, and mx had to buy them some towels for drying them up w. she wasnt allowed into safeway though, cos it was flooded. and then e train lines were disrupted quite badly due to a fallen tree and flooded tunnels @ e train station. people were really starting to get quite upset, and e poor connex staff looked super stressed. it took us 1.5 hours to travel 7 stops, super long waiting times, changes in plans, trains and platforms, and many starts-and-stops. very sleepyfying...

christmas tree! e 5 of us
at e end of e day - when waiting for buses turns one a little kookooday 5: e adventure continues... were supposed to go to docklands for some craft market thingy, but it was POURING like crazy, and e 4 of us had to share 2 umbrellas. met a nice tram driver, who insisted that we board e train to e next stop, where there would be a shelter. there were plenty of wierdos that day though... first these 4 guys were trying to wave us up to their apartment when we were at docklands, trying to look for e craft mkt or an information centre, then we met this drunk who wanted to wish us merry christmas, and tlp decided that it would be safer to entertain him and shake his hand than to refuse so he shook all our hands, then got nagged at by a (also drunk looking) friend who managed to catch up with him. then some nut wanted to share our umbrella in e middle of e bridge, and finally some guy asked us if we had drugs while we were waiting for e bus @ flinders. but still, there were all rather harmless. anyway, we didnt manage to find e craft mkt, had to squish under 2 umbrellas, poor papa's shoes were terrible wet and squishy, and tlp has a knack for stepping into unseen puddles, and we weren't sure if the weather would clear so that we could see e fireballs @ crown. - but it did and we did =)
pic on e bridge with a happy group of strangers

while waiting for e balls of fire @ crown. e 3 of us are smiling like manics cos while we were trying to take this pic of ourselves, a guy was standing in front of e camera making funny faces. he then offered to help us take a photo =)
day 6: went to williamstown w papa. weather forcast said 70% chance of rain, and e 2 of us werent sure if we should proceed w e plan. were supposed to carry on with e plan if it didnt rain by lunch time, but as we were staring into e sky, it started to rain, but cleared after a while. bus was supposed to come at 1.37, but at 1.20 we were still undecided, cos clouds did not look too friendly. tossed a coin. coin said go. to be safe, papa tossed it again. and it said go again. so we went. mistake num 1: not wearing enough layers. it was c c colddddd! reached williamstown - was happily raining, so we had tea at one of e cafes there. then rain slowed to a drizzle, then finally stopped. we thought we'd won our 30%chance of no rain, and were happily taking pics @ e pier when it decided to POUR again.

luckily there was this glass house shelter thingy there, so we hid there, with e umbrellas ard our legs, looking like 2 toots =) after awhile rain cleared again, and we decided to walk to e timeball tower. mistake num 2: not getting super strong umbrellas - e typhoon kind. e wind was blowing super duper extremely stongly, that e raindrops were hitting so hard, they were like mini hailstones - i kid u not. we had to struggle to walk against e wind, and e poor seagulls were either walking sideways or flying backwards.

out of pure determination to do our toursity stuff, we pressed on. e umbrellas were totally useless in e wind, and i had to use e closed umbrella to shield face from e painful rain. evil people did not stop to offer us a ride, and papa said one car was laughing at usl.. sobs.. ahha but then. we were laughing v hard at ourselves and e seagulls too.. wind was so strong that e umbrella and my coat were totally dry by e time we'd walked to e train station.

then we went to yarraville to walk ard, had some adventures w e train timing, running to and from e bustop to e train station, and looking like 2 rabbits at attention trying to figure out which direction e train was coming from, and running for e train like 2 maniacs, laughing all e while. met e other 3 for dinner @ footscray, when it decided to rain like mad again. it was so cold that we were breathing out steam once again - just like in winter! then back to city, someone decided that we were perfectly fun to bully, and could not resist one last disruption. our bus got stuck for a happy 30mins cos of a tourist bus which had got stuck in e middle of a u turn, and was happily blocking off the entire street.

tlp's dinner: grilled chicken noodle soup
tlp's tea: tomyam soup disguised as tomato and basil soup
5 sgreans

day 7: the 4 perthians arrived, and papa went to st kildas with them. we had a combined service w e main church, then had coffee at lygon w half of caleb 1. =)

went door-to-door carolling today, had dinner in e city with snr dr, logan, simon, ying and 2 of e perthians. it was a nice new experience, and those who welcomed us REALLY welcomed us. could see true appreciation in their faces, and though we experienced a fair share of rejection, the reactions of those who opened their doors and their hearts was really warming. one lady's father had just passed away this morning. and apparently it's the first time anyone's ever done any carolling in this neighbourhood in more than 30 years.

we'll be gg to e beach for a picnic lunch tmr *mmmmm*