A Day with the the Dills (and Padleys)

Catching up with my mom and dad.

As you probably gathered from earlier posts, my mom, dad, aunt, and uncle came from Michigan through Melbourne on their way to New Zealand at the end of January. We spent a long weekend in Byron Bay, but more about that later. Before leaving for our disastrous "beach" weekend, we had one day (a Thursday) in Melbourne, and we tried to make the most of it.

Uncle Greg and Aunt Kathy enjoying Australia.

I met up with them all at their hotel in Southbank, and we walked across the Yarra River to the CBD to meet up with Zack and enjoy lunch at an outdoor cafe on Degraves Street. We had little cupcakes for dessert and wandered down some of the famous alleys and arcades of Melbourne.

We walked down Bourke Street Mall, browsed the souvenir shops on Swanston Street, had the obligatory stop in front of Flinders Street Station for some pictures, walked through Federation Square, and enjoyed the graffiti on Hosier Lane.

I let them rest at their hotel for a few hours before they were invited over to our house in South Melbourne for dinner. I made them Thai food, using fresh ingredients from the South Melbourne Market and recipes we learned at our cooking class in Chiang Mai. We had tom yum soup, green curry with chicken and rice, and mango sticky rice for dessert. The weather was still beautiful, so we carried our dining room table out to our patio and had a little outdoor party. Emily and Adam were staying at our place during this time, so they made a delicious appetizer and helped dinner run smoothly!

After eating, Zack and I performed a few songs we had prepared on the violin and guitar (my mother's request). I had a few silly gifts for my visitors, which I think my mom and aunt enjoyed a little too much (as seen below!). After the food and laughs, they headed back to their hotel to catch up on sleep.

In the morning, we went to St Ali's for brunch before heading to the airport for our flight to Byron Bay. They got to taste some good Melbourne coffee and enjoy the brunch culture of South Melbourne. More to come about our interesting weekend...

Do I look like my mom or dad?