Tabitha, Cally and Flynn ...

... arrived in Melbourne for a two week stay on Tuesday evening.

Freyja and I went to the airport to meet them. Their flight was due in at 21:45.

This would not matter, except that I am usually in bed by then, or at least getting ready for bed. 

I managed to stay awake anyway. Lindsey is in Cairns this week so I borrowed her car for the pickup. It's bigger than Ziggy and also was in East Melbourne and not Northcote. Much more convenient, especially since I would be taking the travellers to East Melbourne and not Northcote.

Waiting, waiting, waiting ...

Finally, they're here

Cally and Flynn have never been to Australia, although they have both British and Australian citizenship. Tabitha hasn't been since Stella's 70th birthday party, 23 or 24 years ago. It was an adventure for them all.

We got them settled into the flat in East Melbourne (it was free because Ian is in Canada and, as mentioned, Lindsey is in Cairns). Freyja and I went to our respective flats by taxi.

On the very top of Flynn's list of "I absolutely have to do this while I'm in Melbourne" were: visit the MCG, eat East Asian food. The flat is not far from the MCG so we dropped by on way from the airport so he could have a look at it. Yesterday morning, we all, including Freyja and Simon, walked back to the MCG for a proper look at it in daylight

Then we walked to the river and strolled along the riverside until we reached Flinders Street

We saw this sculpture from the river on Monday

Then we went to a dumpling bar in one of the laneways. I'm not sure that Cally enjoyed the dumplings much but we have now ticked off the top two wishes from Flynn's list. Top of Cally's list is to visit a bookshop. There are some specific books that she is looking for. There are lots of bookshops. Shouldn't be a problem - although finding the exact titles that she wants might be a bit more challenging.

They came to visit my flat and went back to East Melbourne on a tram. Another tick on the To Do list.

They've now gone to Ballarat for a few days. They're at the Wildlife Park today, playing with kangaroos and other fauna. The wildlife park is predominantly but not exclusively Australian animals. The weather is good. It should be a good. day. I remain in Melbourne. I have a Japanese class this evening, am down for Ghost visiting tomorrow and have various other things to do.  No trip to Ballarat for me