So it’s raining outside. Welcome back to the States, huh? Oh well, it just gives me an excuse to post pictures of sunny sunny Melbourne. If you read the last post and got all confused, allow me to explain. Although the timing is uncanny, Alyson and I did not go down under for the Commonwealth Games. Those of you in the US might wonder what they even are. It’s basically summer-type Olympics for members of the Commonwealth. It used to be called he Empire games because the members of the CW are former members of the British Empire. I know I know so are we. I guess the Empire games started well after we revolted. There is, of course, no media coverage in the US. In fact, we had no idea they were in Melbourne until we arrived. But I digress. Today’s pics are from our time in Queenscliff. I’ll come back to the games later.
The main reason for the trip was the wedding of Alyson’s cousin Emma. The event brought all of her extended family (on her dad’s side) to the sleepy seaside town of Queenscliff. All of her dad’s brothers and sisters brought their families from the far reaches of the continent; Melbourne, Perth and Newcastle. It’s a big country so it’s rare to see all of those people in the same place at the same time. We had a great time catching up with everyone over the course of 3 days. Much beer and wine was consumed. Stories both tall and short were told. The wedding itself was beautiful. Emma and Jol were the picture of the loving couple. They also put on a hell of a party.
There were so many great moments, but I just have to recount one. The wedding took place in a farm about 10mi outside Queenscliff. Those of us staying in own took a specially chartered train to and from the ceremony (very freakin’ cool!). When the train left at midnight we were all still in a bit of a partying mood. The clan all piled into one car, along with one poor solitary couple. I never found out who they were, but I’ll bet they regretted their decision all the way home. They remind me a lot of my own extended family. We tend to take over a room. In this case it was a train car. We were already pretty loud when Yvonne decided it was too hot for pantyhose. Then the train stopped (musta hit a wallaby or something). Somehow they ended up on Don’s head. When we finally made it to our destination our poor couple in the back couldn’t get off the train fast enough!
Ok, enough for now. Here are the pics from Queenscliff
Day 3 Pics (The Wedding!)
Day 4&5 Pics (Drive along the coast followed by dinner back in Melbourne)
Next post: Melbourne, Phillip Island and Beyond!
