melbourne, in the wintertime.

Because Ben has been working six-day weeks since March, he was able to use some of his time in lieu to take a whole week off. We decided to spend the time hanging out in Melbourne, as it's been a while since we've had more than a weekend at home together, due to our various travels.

home sweet home.

We made a trip to the Melbourne Zoo again, and finally got to see some wombats in action, scooting around their habitat. Whenever we've seen them in the past, they're always sleeping or mysteriously hidden underground. But now we know: wombats are adorable little waddlers.

so presh.

The Melbourne Museum is pretty awesome, and totally worth the $10 general entry fee. We spent a windy, wintery afternoon wandering through educational exhibits about the human body and mind, Australian animals, geological wonders, and Australian aboriginal history - probably our favourite area of the museum.

We also had a chance to visit the inside of the Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne's war memorial. The both the outside and the inside of the structure are gorgeous, and there's a great view of the downtown area from the very top of the building. Melbourne has a few iconic landmarks, but there aren't many locations where you can see all of them in a picturesque fashion, as many of them are pretty short. This is maybe one of the few viewpoints.

view from the top.

Recently, a brand new library opened not two blocks from our apartment. It's a beautiful space, with three large floors of books, media, computers, reading/study areas, an interactive children's corner, a cafe, and even a little table tennis room for study breaks. The Docklands area is rapidly expanding into quite the fancy neighbourhood - from the looks of it, we'll be seeing many new high-rise apartment buildings and even a giant outdoor community pool, in the next year or two.

outside of the library

I follow a few Melbourne social hubs on twitter, just to keep an eye out for fun promotions and events - and a few weeks ago I was thrilled to see an advertisement for free tickets to be part of the Australian Family Feud live audience. I've had the opportunity to watch a tv show taping before (the late late show w/ Craig Ferguson, with some buddies during spring break 2006!), but this was Ben's first time being part of a tv audience. It was a lot of fun - the producers and directors were all very friendly and informative, and the games were pretty fun to watch. We sat through two pilot episodes, which unfortunately means that they will probably never air on television - nevertheless, it was fun experiencing the behind-the-scenes workings of a tv network, and also watching Australian celebrity Grant Denyer do an excellent job of hosting.

no cameras allowed inside, but they sent us this nice shot of everyone as a thank-you. can you spot us?

We also did plenty of relaxing in our apartment, enjoying home-cooked meals, our fast internet connection (wi-fi at small-town hotels can be quite unreliable and/or extremely limiting), binge-watching the first season of Veronica Mars, and playing the new Mario Kart 8 game on the Wii U. Thanks to the wonders of technology, we were actually able to connect with our good friends Adam and Priscilla (all the way from Arizona, USA) to play a few rounds together via satellite. It wasn't the same as playing with them in person, but there were some pretty hilarious moments that were fun to share across the miles and time zones.

wine and a cult classic tv show.

international Mario Kart - so fun!

Also, it's the middle of winter in Australia now. Many of our friends and family were super jealous of us when we first moved to Melbourne - in the ides of November, they were heading into winter, while Australia was transitioning into summer. Now, it's our turn to be weather-envious!

brrr.

Winter in Australia is from the beginning of June to the end of August. Obviously, the climate depends on where you are in the country. Melbourne winters are cool and brisk, with crazy wind and some good rainfall, but it hardly ever snows in the city. On a side note, it'll be interesting to celebrate our birthdays in opposite seasons - Ben's will now be in the heart of Winter instead of Summer, and mine will be at the end of Spring instead of Autumn. I'm totally okay with this. Ben, however, might need some adjustment.

CK