Melbourne Grand Prix

Finally made it to the Melbourne GP after being here almost 5 years ! Me and the little un (Anthony) headed to Albert Park this afternoon to get our eardrums blasted and watch a rain shower affected race. The shower made for interesting watching as the teams struggled in the early stages and a couple of crashes thrown in for good measure. Happily for the brits watching, Jenson Button managed to stay safe and eek out the win. Lewis Hamilton took a hit in the final lap from Mark Webber so the local boy had a bit of a mare, making plenty of news over here in the process. A few more pics are here.

A day at the museum

On Sunday we all took a trip to the Melbourne Museum as Aidan was desperate to see some Dinosaur bones for some reason (he's re-found his love of dinosaurs recently). It made for a good day out as it's been a while since we've been down there and the kids love it. Here's some pics from the day.

Rough Coral (Sea)

With Cyclone Ului hovering it was never going to be a smooth trip was it ! Yes, we're fresh back 'me hearties, from several days at sea. Maxine has now returned from a nice shade of green to her usual pink. To say the first few days at sea were rough is an understatement... however, as you'll see from the pics here, it was great when we got to dry land and the tropical islands of Lifou in New Caledonia & then on to Efate in Vanuatu. We had to miss the first port of Noumea as we were 7 hours behind schedule due to the rough seas. Facing a 2.5 day trip across choppy seas back to Brisbane ... and Maxines head down the toilet, we opted to fly back to Brisbane & spend 3 stable nights on dry land again. It proved to be a wise choice as Ului headed for the northern Queensland coast and we're pretty sure it wouldn't have been plain sailing back ! Brisbane is a great city to just relax in, so we just ate (& drank) very well in some nice resturants & squeezed in a trip to the XXXX brewery for a bit of culture & beer!

Cruizin' the South Pacific

Well the folks arrived at the weekend and brought with them the rain from the UK. On the day they arrived one of the worst hail / rain storms ever to hit Melbourne struck !! Read here. I kid you not, the Hawkins seniors are a climatic disaster zone. Anyhoo, the sun is back shining again and on a happier note (for me and Maxine) we're about to abandon them with the kids again and head off to the Melanesian islands in the South Pacific on a 7 day cruise !! We head up to Brisbane tomorrow to spend the night there before boarding the ship and heading off to Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Tropical Islands here we come !