Our visit to Melbourne

Lauren with Findlay

Suzi, Katelyn and I flew to Melbourne to stay with Lauren and Findlay. Steven was working away in Orange, but he joined us on the Thursday, along with Brian, who had flown in for the weekend from New Zealand. Katelyn and Findlay hit it off immediately, and it was great to see the two cousins playing together (or should that be "first cousins once removed", as Lauren and Suzi are first cousins).

Katelyn loved playing with Rigs, Lauren's Rhodesian Ridgeback.

 

Children play while the Mums drink coffee

Lauren introduced us to the Melbourne coffee culture. Many cafés in Melbourne have playgrounds attached so that the children can play while the mothers socialise.

Findlay enjoyed the sandpit...

 

...while Katelyn played on the slide.

After coffee, we went to a book shop where they regularly have entertainment for children in the form of songs and readings from books.

The story book lady.

Suzi and Katelyn at story-time

 

Findlay is such a happy little boy!

Lauren looked after us very well and I knew Suzi was in good hands as I left to fly to Mt Gambier to visit an old school friend, but more of that in my next post.

This Week in Ellerston

 

Emily's Christening at the Anglican Church in Moonan

The day after the Ellerston Carnival, we went to Emily's Christening, which was held in the Anglian Church in Moonan, and afterwards at Alice and Matt's home. The tiny church was filled with Ellerston families, there to celebrate this happy occasion. Katelyn was an angel and behaved so beautifully throughout the service, that I was a very proud granny.

Neil and Katelyn

Katelyn enjoyed playing in Emily's Wendy House

Every morning, Suzi goes to feed some of the mares with foals at Ellerston, then checks others to make sure they are OK, and haven't come to grief somewhere. This take about two hours as there are lots of horses spread over a large number of paddocks.

Suzi feeding two foals

There is some stunning scenery at Ellerston

This week, we also watched Neil play polo for Ellerston in The Kerry Packer Challenge Cup; the final is on Sunday. It was a great game and there was lots of cheering and encouragement for Neil from us, and from his fellow Ellerstonians.

 

Neil is white number two in this scrum

Neil rides off his opponent

Katelyn wants to ride like Daddy

Carnival Night at Ellerston.

 Katelyn had lots of fun on the babies' Bouncy Castle!

The Kerry Packer Challenge Cup is being played at Ellerston at the moment, and while the tournament is going on there are all sorts of entertainment events to keep the participants and spectators amused. On Saturday, we had great fun at the Carnival Night, followed by a delicious BBQ. There were Dodgem Cars, two Bouncy Castles, a sheer drop of a slide, and a Bucking Bull, so there was plenty to keep everyone amused.

Suzi had lots of fun too. Here she is lining up with the children for a turn on the  terrifyingly high slide. If you look really carefully, you can see Katelyn on the Bouncy Castle behind, being watched by her beloved Daddy.

Yes, that's Suzi on the right.

 

Suzi also rode on the dodgem cars while 

Granny and Katelyn cheered her on from the side.

...and then she took a turn on the Bucking Bull, 

while Neil and Katelyn watched.

Jack found the secret to staying on was to hook your feet
under the bull's horns!

The food was cooked on an enormous outdoor BBQ

Katelyn loved the Bouncy Castle, but even she got off eventually!

Getting Around in Istanbul

The Galata Tower

Public transport in Istanbul is one of the cheapest and best I have experienced anywhere in the world, only Buenos Aires comes anywhere near. Recently, I have been showing Sue how to get around the city on all the various types of transport. Our first venture was over to Beyoğlu, as she had read about the Galata Tower in the Lonely Planet Guide, and was keen to see the famous view over the city.

The view of the Bosphorus from the Galata Tower

We live on the Asian side of Istanbul, and as we needed to cross to the European side, we first caught a yellow dolmuş to the Kadiköy ferry docks. The word "dolmuş" means "stuffed" in Turkish, and is the name of the shared minibus taxis. They travel up and down set routes throughout the city and are a great way of getting about. They have no scheduled stops along the way, as they pick up and drop passengers on request. The drivers are always on the lookout for potential customers and often hoot as they drive along, to let people know they have room for more.

The view down to the ground from the Galata Tower

The dolmuş drivers are very adept at driving on Istanbul's busy roads, and weave in and out of the traffic at a hair-raising pace; all the while collecting fares passed to them from behind, distributing change, answering calls on their mobiles, and remembering passengers instructions as where to drop them off.

 

We saw this knife grinder sharpening a knife for the kebab shop.

From Kadiköy we took the ferry to Karaköy, on the other side of the Bosphorus. Ferries criss-cross the Bosphorus every day, and mostly manage to avoid the international shipping passing through the straight. Amazingly, there are very seldom any accidents involving ferries on this very busy waterway.

To access the ferry, I used my akbil (see left). The word "akbil" is a condensed form of the Turkish words "akıllı bilet", which means "intelligent ticket", and is so useful for travelling around Istanbul. It is a pre-paid electronic pass that can be used on ferries, buses, trams, the metro, Tünel, and the funicular. It consists of an electronic button, set on a plastic fob, that conveniently fits onto a key chain. An akbil means no waiting to buy tickets, and not only gives a 10% discount on the original fare, but for any subsequent transfers within 2 hours, the discount is 50%. There are machines to fill the akbil at all ferry ports and railway stations. It is very easy to do, and there is always someone nearby to offer assistance should you need it

 

The vintage tram that runs from Tünel to Taksim Square

Once across the Bosphorus, we headed for Tünel. This is a short funicular railway connecting Karaköy, at sea level, with Beyoğlu, 60 metres higher up a very steep hill. Tünel was built by French engineers and has been used continuously since January 1875. It was built to transport people and goods up the steep incline from the waterside in Karaköy to the embassies and residences in Beyoğlu. From the station at the top of the funicular, we walked a little way back down the hill to Galata Tower; from the top of which we had a magnificent view of Istanbul.

Istiklal is always crowded with people

We saw these mouthwatering desserts in Istiklal

After descending from the tower, we had lunch at The House restaurant, and then walked all the way up Istiklal to Taksim Square, where we caught our dolmuş home.

Sue at the top of Istiklal, by the roasted chestnuts stall.