We arrived in hot and sunny Melbourne on Monday and we’ve packed in a lot this week, I think I really should have done a post earlier as I now have so much to write and remember! 

Melbourne is a beautifully fresh and vibrant city, it’s so leafy and green and we are so lucky to be staying with family who live so centrally. An added bonus is that the Australian open is also on at the moment, so there’s a real tennis buzz going on with large screens up in federation square and lots of deck chairs out with crowds cheering the players on. So great to catch a bit here and there as we wander past as we explore.

The last two days we have enjoyed lots of the fabulous museums and seen and taken part in lots of the summer kids activities going on. They sure do cater well for the children here!

At the NGV Ian Potter centre we managed to get a last minute spot for the girls to take part in the power painting workshop with Melbourne Artist Esther Olsson. They had a fun filled hour of colourful painting with music and created some gorgeous work!

Today we have been to the NGV international and taken part in a workshop created with Viktor & Rolf, the Dutch fashion designers. The girls could choose from white card, tissue, paper and twine to create fashion accessories and then when they were finished could use the designer booths to capture themselves wearing their creations! So fantastic and amazingly free! There were many other activities that we took part in, but I think this was our favourite! (Probably helped by my love of textiles!)

Afterwards Molly and I bought tickets to see the Hockney exhibition, well it was pretty outstanding! And Molly loved it just as much as I did, which was so great! A lot of the artwork for the exhibition was created using an iPad or iPhone, which was pretty incredible! We loved seeing his take on the English countryside and Yosemite park! We wanted to buy up all the gift shop afterwards but settled for a postcard!

We have also spent a bit of time visiting the city lanes full of colourful street art, and it was interesting to discuss with the girls which they liked and disliked and why! Seems we all like something a little different.

Today we have also visited the the shrine of remembrance and taken in the incredible views from the top of the Melbourne skyline! We followed this with a walk around the very beautiful botanical gardens which were close by and had a picnic by the lake.

Yesterday we also visited the Acmi centre (the Austrailian centre for moving image) well this went down so well with us all, from learning about the inventions of TV, radio, internet to films, special effects and mine craft! There was tonnes of interactive things to do, and if you’re ever in Melbourne put it on your to do list! Thumbs up from all of us!

We also couldn’t come to Melbourne and not take the tram…..the city is full of them and the ones running in the city centre are free! Such a great and fun way to get around!

Tomorrow we are off to the tennis, followed by a weekend of fun with my brother and sister in law! The fun continues….