Melbourne trip

Over the years I have made a few flights to various parts of Australia, but have never actually flown into Melbourne from Adelaide. As I live on the border between South Australia and Victoria, I am almost half way to Melbourne from Adelaide, so usually go there by train, or car.  As I arrived back in Bordertown on Wednesday evening, and saw the signpost that said Melbourne was about 4 1/2  hours away, I thought how strange my journey really had been. I drove 3 hours to Adelaide on Saturday, flew to Melbourne on Sunday, (in a direct line over Bordertown), flew back to Adelaide Wednesday morning, and then drove 3 hours back to Bordertown!! 

Now on with the rest of the story. Elaine and I are at the Adelaide airport, waiting to board.

And here we are, packed in like sardines in our economy seats! 

We arrived in Melbourne after a flight that only took one hour! We caught the Skybus into the city.

Then we met up with another friend, Alison who had arrived by train, and the 3 of us caught a taxi to where we were staying. We were very fortunate to be able to stay at Elaine's sisters apartment at Docklands, which was conveniently located to the venue for our classes. By this time it was mid afternoon and we had not had lunch, so went in search of food. We ended up in the food court at the DFO (Direct Factory Outlets).

Then it was time for a wander around the shops, looking, but not spending. After a while, we headed where we thought the way out was, but found a car park instead!! After another walk, we ended up back where we had already been, so it was time for Elaine, (who had said she knew where to go?), to ask for directions on how to get out!!

The building on the left is where we were staying, up on the 19th floor, and once again I apologise for some blurry photos, as most were on my phone. Some turn out ok and some don't. I am still working on this problem.

And this is the view out the front of the building, looking towards the city.

There were 2 days of classes, and a walk along the South Wharf Promenade to get to the venue. I took these photos on the second day, and you can see that Alison is taking her bags, as she was leaving for home straight after the day's class.

I was wondering what makes it a Really Happy Hour??

Now it is 2 floors up, and there were escalators, .......

or stairs, and Elaine was showing off, and took the stairs to both floors.

The view from the second floor.

And here is where we were going for the next 2 days.

These 2 ladies were our teachers and travelled from the USA to teach us about the new software that our Statlers use. The lady on the left is JoAn Knight, from Alabama, and it did not take us too long to get used to her Southern accent. Karen Farnsworth came to us from Missouri, and taught in Australia last year, at the AMQF in Adelaide, so this was the second time I had attended her classes. There were more than 50 people attending the classes, from all states of Australia, and New Zealand. We all learnt lots about what our machines are capable off, and there were many lightbulb moments.

The class setup.

Some of the class in the foyer during the breaks, and a chance for networking with each other.

This photo is of some of the girls who come to Bordertown for the Statler Gatherings, and we had our photo taken with the teachers. We are looking forward to our next gathering in October, and will have much to talk about from the classes.

The catering for this conference was amazing, as you can see in the photos below.

On Monday evening DD3 and DSIL came to take me out for dinner, in a restaurant not far away.
We had a great catch up and it was good to see them.

Wednesday morning it was time to pack up and head home. We caught the sky bus to the airport again. Although the weather had been very cold during our time in Melbourne, the rain had held off, until Wednesday morning, Apparently we missed some very wet weather in South Australia during our absence.

The clouds out of the plane window, that look just like cotton wool.

That concludes my report on my few days away. It has been back into action since my return, with Max getting some edge to edge jobs done and a few customers picking up quilts that had been finished before I went away. This afternoon I have sat in the chair at the hairdressers, and had a long overdue "renovation". And looking back at the photo above, I probably should have made time much earlier. It might be a good idea to schedule an appointment into the diary in future??

I will be back soon with some more quilt photos, as once again there are a lot "unblogged" ones.

Blessings, From Jude