Fitzroy Gardens

Treasury Gardens

Our first day in Melbourne was fantastic. Actually, all our days in Melbourne were fantastic. Our children behaved practically perfectly because they were so happy and busy and excited. The tram rides were exciting for our children, who live in a small rural town and don’t see busy traffic too often – let alone large noisy trains and rickety old trams! They loved sitting on the trams and watching everything they passed. They were excited when waiting for the trams and they think that the people are very kind in Melbourne because people always stood up for me in the trams because I was invariably wearing Elora.

Our first adventure was to the Melbourne Aquarium. We walked through the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens and took the free tram to the Aquarium, where we spent a few hours marvelling at the array of spectacular aqua life! The kids loved it. The seahorses were one of everybody’s favourites, as were the penguins! We loved watching them dive into the water, swim around a bit, and then race out of the water and run (waddle) up to the diving spot to repeat the process over and over. My favourite creature was the tortoise! I loved watching it swim about. So majestic.

We fed the fish, an experience that the children loved, especially watching the giant sting rays swimming below us like ancient monsters of the ocean. I can’t express in words the excitement that emanated from our children’s faces, voices and bodies as they watched the aquatic life before them. I am so glad that we went. We have so many photos from the afternoon; I am sure the older two will remember the experience for a long time.

these penguins are amazing. I kept expecting one of them to break out in dance (ref. ‘Happy Feet’)

‘Finding Nemo’ is one of my favourite films. I just love these little guys!

It was all just so spectacular and beautiful