And another trip out not gone the way we expected!

 Okay so our trip for yesterday was to go here, http://www.zoo.org.au/healesville, to the Healsville Sanctuary.
On Sunday Martha had asked if she could go too, since she doesn't really understand the trains and buses, choosing to drive, so this would be an adventure for her as well.
This day was destined to be stubborn!
Firstly I had asked Martha to meet us at seven am, which she did, but we weren’t ready. In fact we weren’t ready till 8:30am! And this meant that we missed the train and had to wait an hour till the next one.
That was okay. The children (there were eight of them) were behaving pretty well.

So we finally got on the train, and started our journey. The children got tetchy by the time we got to Moe, but we staved them off their Leap Pad's till Warragul. So far it's still okay.
One and a half hours later we get off the train at Dandenong, and wait 20 minutes for the next bus (as we watched the one we wanted to be on drive away as we got off the train). This is still okay, as we take this opportunity to eat lunch.
Finally on the bus going to Ringwood. We cannot sit together, as the prams take up a bit of space, but we manage to fit in and stay in control of the kids okay. This bus ride takes another hour.
FINALLY get to Ringwoog, and, once again, watch our train leave as we alight. Its okay! Another one is coming in 10 minutes.
Everyone runs for the toilets.
Here's the train! On we get for Lilydale! Woohoo!
Half an hour later we are finally tumbling off the train and into the station house, asking when the buss leaves for the Healsville Santuary.
...
Its coming in two and a half hours. It takes a further 40 minutes on THAT bus to get there. By which time the zoo will only be open another hour. And we have to go home again.
....
Um, no.
So we explain all this to Martha, who is looking very tired by this stage. We finally decide to head back into Melbourne.
Now, that whole trip to get there took us roughly four hours. It took us about half an hour or maybe a bit more to get back to Flinders Street.
We had no plan in mind, but when we got out of the station we saw the masses of people who were there for the Moomba Show, so that is where we headed (after we found toilets again).
 We pushed our way through the people onto this grassy area, where there were photo booths set up, and this bloke came over to us and started telling us about the native wild life and giving the children cards

 After they had a hand full of cards each we moved on, and the children stopped entranced by this carousel!
It was $8 per person to ride, and I only had a $20 left, so I told them, its not gonna happen! I don't have enough! But Martha came to the rescue, and paid the difference, so six of the eight children got to go on the ride (the younger two stayed in their prams).

 Michael wearing Tomuto's glasses.

 They got off the ride ecstatic ... right up till the point that they were informed that they weren’t getting on any more. Then Hadassah lost it a bit.
We made our way over to the stage and sat down, having our ears slowly melted by the loud music.

 And of course, we ate some more food.

 After we had sat down as long as the children could stand (har har) we made our way back to the Yarra River, and joined the masses who were walking there too.
Finally we were back at the train station, where, after some difficulty, we were on out platform.
The announcer said that the Traralgon train was arriving at platform 10 - no! number eight! It was on number eight! What?
There were over a hundred people on platform ten with us, realizing our train was Waayyyy over there! We all bolted!
And every one of us made it onto that train without any casualties! Pheeuuhhh!!
Travelling home again, the children are torn between being VERY tired and being hyper, but over all, the ride home wasn't too bad either.
On the Morwell train station, the air was pretty clear.
We bid Martha a tired goodbye, and make our way to our car.
Home again, we have baths, then sausage sandwiches for tea, then bed.
The day is over.