Swimming Pretty in the Glass-Half-Full 2012: Day 113 - Another perfect day in Melbourne

We started off, after getting home at 2 am and having a nice long sleep in, with brunch in Maling Road, Surrey Hills. It's a great shopping strip with lots of one-of-a-kind shops and cafes, and we had a lovely time dining al fresco and watching Melbourne life happen around us.

Then we dropped into Brian and Sue's for afternoon tea with Brian, Stella and Hugo (Sue was at work and Lucy was at an AFL game in Geelong)...

Lucy had recently celebrated her birthday and got these crayons you can write on window with - so much fun! So we left a message for her that we told Stella and Hugo she had to find on her own.

Then off to Steve's mum and dad's for one last visit, some more yummy food, and then a trip to the airport and the flight home where Steve used the video facility on his Nano for the first time...

I hammed it up for Steve's 13 second cinematic masterpiece. Like I wouldn't...

Swimming Pretty in the Glass-Half-Full 2012: Day 112 - Off to Melbourne!

Steve's brother turns 50 on 24 April and decided to throw a big party at his home so we headed on down to Melbourne to join in the celebrations.

It was quite the journey to get there. Fog delayed our departure from Sydney - if only we'd known when we rushed down the banana bread we had for breakfast - and kept us circling Melbourne airport for at least an hour meaning it took us 2 1/2 hours to reach Melbourne. So much for an early Saturday morning arrival. (When we left my home at 6.30 am there was fog lingering everywhere which should have given us some indication of what awaited us.)

We spent a lot of time aloft - thank goodness I packed extra magazines to read and bought Saturday's Sydney Morning Herlad so we had something to keep ourselves amused.

Carolyn, Steve's sister patiently waited for us at Melbourne airport - she sensibly took along her e-reader so she wasn't stuck staring at the ceiling while our plane circled above - then took us home via the bottle shop (where we bought Ric's birthday present) where a beautifully made bed, with Lindt bunnies atop it, awaited us.

Next stop was lunch at Steve's parents' place - so lovely to see them as always and the food was lovely. We headed back home mid afternoon for a much needed nap, without which I would not have survived the party! Sad but true...

The party was wonderful. Melissa and Darren have fabulously good taste and the tables were set out beautifully, the food was delicious - they had two very cute guys making paellas in the traditional large dishes - their friends were so much fun to talk to, and the wine flowed smoothly.

A lovely night.

No, not alien craft landing but gorgeous lanterns Melissa had suspended in the trees,