kidnapped!!

this morning i was stolen away. honestly. i was hijacked. sophie whisked me away to places unknown. okay, so she took me on a tram into the city, waited while i got the pre-requisite mocha frappacino and then led me down swanston street. so there was no actual gagging or binding but i still had no idea where we were off too.

being australia day there were bands and parades aplenty, pipers in kilts, ladies in saris, multiculturalism in abundance. and still we walked. ended up nearing the botanical gardens where there was a racv fete of some kind on... a whole lot of vintage cars on display (as you will note the photos that follow i got carried away), food, drinks and "aussie activities".









this beautiful mustang will be mine one day... mine, you hear...?




















but where we were heading was to government house. sophie had read in the paper that it was open for people to walk through, and knew that i would appreciate it. so YYYAAHHHH, off we went. it was really interesting. we trekked in with lots of other people and got to wander sedately around the first floor of the building. it was built in 1872-76 and the ballroom is spectacular, wouldn't mind attending a dance there - the floor is definitely suitable for a swing out or two. :)








we walked back through fed square where we were privileged to witness the running of the speedos. ha! we had noticed a dozen guys in various blue singlets, boardies and zinc cream sounding the national call of the yobbo, aussie aussie aussie OI OI OI in the beer garden of transit. then a few minutes later a cry goes out... and they have all stripped down to their speedos and are running along swanston street. the camera was away at this stage and they were just too quick. it was a moment though. sophie appreciated it. haha! we walked through some of the city lanes to catch the tram home. an absolutely beautiful australia day.