A Busy Weekend!

After an entire week of ridiculous heat and being stuck indoors, Jer and I decided to get out and see the area a bit. We didn't have a ton of funds and no ideas, so we decided to use our GPS to get us lost and then back home again! Nothing better than aimless wondering with the one you love :)

So . . . we started our adventure by heading up to Dandenong Mountains - mostly because we liked the name! It was an AMAZING drive up cool little dirt roads on the edge of cliffs and such, and in no time we were at the top! Their mountains here are pretty whimpy, more like hills, but B-E-A-UTIFUL! There is this Sky High place at the top, complete with a Giant's Chair, statues, and gardens.







Their trees are so cool here and they have a way huge variety - including palmy ones with big leaves and the awesome one in the pictures above (with vines and such all intertwined). No offense to lovely Utah, but I like the trees here a billion times better. They also have this cool tree where the bark peels off and then hangs down to the ground.

After we were done there, we travelled down the mountain to this idyllic little town with cafes and antique shops where, unfortunately, I didn't take any pics. Next, we travelled to Yarra Wine Valley and explored the vast vineyards found around every corner. They are so . . . just so . . . i don't know. They are perfect, and beautiful, and just amazing. If you haven't seen a vineyard, you should put it on your list of things to do.



These pictures don't even show half of this vineyard - they are HUGE! I think I like them because of my OCD - they are perfectly ordered in compltely straight lines as far as the eyes can see!

The next day, we rode the train to downtown Melbourne, where we explored the Melbourne Museum. Now, I LOVE art museums, so that's kinda what I expected. But, to my great suprise, what we encountered was WAY different and cool! The Museum is HUGE and includes giant exhibits for Science, Aboriginal Culture, Rain Forest, The Mind, The Human Body, Evolution, and Melbourne History. It is so big, that we didn't even have enough time to see it all! Unfortunetly, pictures were only allowed in a couple areas, so here are some pics of the Science exhibit:



They have tons of LIVE and dead bugs - including ants, walking sticks, bees, and SPIDERS!



I loved this. It's like dead bug art!



And here are some pictures of the Rain Forest Exhibit. It was so cool because it is inside of the Museum!








Stay tuned in the next couple days for a HUGE list of trivia questions!