G'day Australia!

We arrived in Melbourne on Friday after a 26-hour journey from Omaha!  Luckily, we were able to sleep on the plane and made it through customs without any problems. One funny story: As we were driving back from visiting friends in Des Moines for New Year's, Alex and I were talking about what we needed to print off and finish preparing before we left for Melbourne two days later.  All of a sudden, Alex looks at me and yells "WE FORGOT TO GET A VISA!!".  We had originally started planning our Australia trip while in London and knew we would be in the country for six months which meant a visa would take around two weeks to process.  We were planning to apply at the beginning of December, but it totally slipped our minds!  Thankfully, we have since altered our plans and are now traveling to New Zealand midway through, so we will not be in Australia for longer than three months at a time.  This means we could apply for the expedited visa which was approved immediately!  Crisis adverted!  Phew! 

We spent our first day in Melbourne walking around our new neighborhood of Prahran which is known for its restaurants and shopping.  We live a block from the main area, Chapel Street, and it was great being able to stroll up and down the sidewalk looking at all the boutiques and food options.  Two grocery stores are also nearby which makes things super easy.  Below are a few pictures from the area around which we are staying for the next three weeks while in Melbourne.    

We have only been here for three days and the weather has been so funky!  It was 85 degrees when we arrived, 107 degrees (!!!!!) yesterday, and today it is a high of 71 degrees!  So random!  We are making the most of this cool day and heading out to do some sightseeing!  So grateful to be back in this beautiful country after 14 years and looking forward to this next part of our travels.