Melbourne, Australia - The Zoo

The kids and I took a little New Year holiday down south to Melbourne, Australia to visit friends we met in Tokyo years ago. Our friends have boys the exact same age as Miss M and the K Man and I wanted to let them reconnect with their friends. The flight was uneventful although I was traveling by myself with three kids. We bought the entertainment package so the big kids basically played games and watched movies for ten straight hours. Unless you have flown internationally with kids without letting them watch tv, then please do not judge. If you have done that, you are my hero! Our kids are great travelers. They do not complain standing in the immigration lines or security lines. They simply know the drill and go with the flow. We left Tokyo at 12:45 PM and arrived in Melbourne at 12:15 AM (10:15PM Tokyo time). Due to the long travel day we spent our first day enjoying the large house and backyard at our friends place. On our second day we ventured via public transportation to the Melbourne zoo. It was quite a beautiful zoo. I forgot what it is like to be around people who can understand me on the train. And I found myself listening to conversations. It was quite strange and felt a bit distracting. The Melbourne zoo is very big, spacious, and green. If you are ever in the city I highly recommend it. The kids loved the splash area. And another highlight was the butterfly house - a large house with thousands of butterflies around you. If you stand still long enough they will land on you. We had a great first day exploring the city.