Melbourne

I am really loving Melbourne. The weather has cleared up but it is much chillier than the more tropical northern part of Australia. Melbourne is much more culturally rich than Brisbane. After a few days of experiencing the natural beauty of the Port Douglas area, we are now in a bustling city. I am trying to write this as we travel the Great Ocean Road on Wednesday morning to see more of Australia's wonders and am also trying not to get car sick doing it, so this may take a while.

Both nights so far in Melbourne we had dinner in the Southbank area of the city where our hotel is located. The area is right by the Yarra River which runs through Melbourne. We ate in places overlooking the Yarra and the lights at night in this area create a spectacular view. After dinner last night we did a river walk and stopped to view a fire show outside the Crown Entertainment Centre. It houses a very elegant casino and, even though I hate casinos, I did enjoy checking out this one. The tour we are on today doesn't return until 9PM and I would not be surprised if Mark would want to go make a donation to the casino's poker room upon our return.

Let's see, I also want to write about some of the things I want to remember about this trip:

• Australians are very polite and welcoming to tourists.
• I love the accent and terminology such as........garbage is rubbish (remember Mom using that word Annie and Maureen?).....a line is a queue.....a sweater is a jumper...passing is overtaking....and cookies are biscuits to name a few.
• Some other differences are you can ride your bike on the freeway, businessmen wear suits without ties, food is very expensive, and the kids wear formal school uniforms with hats included.

We just arrived in Geelong which is the second largest city in Victoria. By the way, the Queen seems to be following us. She cruised the Brisbane River as we did and is in Melbourne today. I have a feeling she didn't use the local ferry though.